Don’t call them refugees: Hungary prime minister downplays EU migrant crisis

Hungary’s prime minister has rejected proposals to share responsibility for the migration crisis across all of the countries in the European Union, saying the stream of migrants flowing through southeastern Europe were immigrants attracted by the prospect of life in Germany and a “German life,” and were not refugees. As his nation tries to cope with the influx of migrants trying to cross from Serbia, Viktor Orban said protecting the union’s borders needed to be a priority. He also called on the EU to establish a fund to help countries most affected by mass migration, including Turkey. Unchecked, the stream of refugees would place an intolerable financial burden on European countries, he said, adding that this would endanger the continent’s “Christian welfare states.”

If they want to continue on from Hungary, it’s not because they are in danger, it’s because they want something else.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban

European leaders are set to meet later to discuss how to deal with the biggest movement of people across the continent since World War II. Germany said it was putting “no limit” on the number of refugees it would give sanctuary. Austria had suspended its random border checks after photographs emerged of the 3-year-old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi lying dead on a Turkish beach. But Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said his country would move gradually “towards normality.”

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