Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Thursday there is “a very clear link between terrorist acts and migration” as he went into an EU summit discussing a reform of the bloc’s asylum rules.
Orban stressed that Hungary was resisting Brussels’s plan to share out responsibility across the bloc for hosting asylum seekers, or to contribute to the costs of that.
He regularly clashes with the EU, not just on migration but on issue such as media and judicial independence and LGBTQ rights.
Last year, when the European Commission froze billions of euros in funds to Hungary over its stance on rule of law and rights issues, Orban likened its reaction to Soviet-era behaviour.
“I very much hope that more and more people here in Brussels will see that there is a very clear link between terrorist acts and migration,” Orban said ahead of a two-day EU summit in Brussels.
“Those who support migration also support terrorism. We are against terrorism and therefore we do not support migration,” he added.
His comments came after recent deadly attacks in Belgium and France committed by two radicalised individuals who had had their asylum applications rejected.
The leaders will also discuss an extension to the EU’s multi-annual budget, including aid of 50 billion euros ($53 billion) over four years to Ukraine.
That would be made up of 17 billion euros in grants and 33 billion euros in loans.
They will also hold talks on an extra 15 billion euros for migration management, which will include strengthening border control and cooperation with third-party countries.
‘Stabilise the region’
“The Hungarian position is clear that we do not support this form of migration,” said Orban.
“So we do not want to give money to migrants, nor do we want to give money to Ukraine, unless we see some very well-founded proposal.”
The Hungarian leader stressed it was in Europe’s interest to stabilise the region after Hamas launched its attack on Israel on October 7, setting off the war.
“If Israel and Egypt became unstable the migration flows from that direction will come to Europe immediately,” he said.
“So we have to stabilise these countries and this region. Stability is the interest of the Europeans.”
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned the “conflict will surely be accompanied by another powerful wave of illegal immigration”.
“There is also the migration dimension, especially if the crisis extends to Lebanon, which of course we do not want, it is something that we will discuss separately today as a matter of migration,” he told reporters.
