Viktor Orban offered a press conference on Tuesday in Strasbourg where he did exactly what was expected of him: stirring up the anti-immigration discourse and demanding more controls on access to the European Union. The Prime Minister of Hungary and current rotating President of the EU Council emphasized from the European Parliament that "the only way to stop migrations is with controls," adding that "external detention centers" are necessary.
"Once the immigrant has entered the EU, they will not leave," insisted Orban, whose discourse is echoed by many of the most voted forces in various EU countries. The Freedom Party of Austria, which recently won the country's elections, follows many of the Hungarian leader's principles. A similar situation is seen in Slovenia with the country's president, Robert Fico, who, despite coming from the left, has embraced Orban's ideas.
In addition, Orban has expressed his support for the Republican candidate in the United States elections, Donald Trump. Furthermore, he not only wishes for Trump to win the elections but has also stated that they will celebrate. "We will open some bottles of champagne if he wins again," he announced.
Budapest will host an informal summit of EU leaders on November 8, just three days after the US elections. If Trump wins, Orban has made it clear that this will be a key point of the meeting. "If Trump is president, he will not wait until the inauguration ceremony [in January] to address the war between Ukraine and Russia, as he promised, and I would propose taking him seriously," he stated in comments reported by EFE.
"He will act immediately. Therefore, as European leaders, we have no time to lose because there will not be two or three months as we usually have, so we must react, first intellectually, philosophically, and then strategically and act as quickly as possible," he added.
In addition to being close to Trump, Orban has also been accused of being aligned with Vladimir Putin and Russia, and of hindering European aid to Ukraine against the Russian attack. His supporters, however, argue that the Hungarian Prime Minister actually seeks an alternative solution and aims to end the conflict to avoid being affected by a possible escalation.