As of: 07/25/2022 6:03 p.m
Statements by Hungary’s Prime Minister Orban are causing criticism at home and abroad. The right-wing politician had used racist vocabulary in a speech and, among other things, talked about “mixed races”.
Viktor Orban’s speech in Baile Tusnad, Romania causes massive criticism and rejection in Hungary and in EU countries. Referring to the alleged thesis of the – quote – “international left”, according to which Europe is populated by peoples of “mixed races” due to its own nature, the right-wing national head of government said last Saturday to members of the Hungarian-born minority in Romania:
There is a world where European peoples mingle with non-Europeans. This is a mixed race world. And where we are, only peoples from Europe, they mingle, work, move away. Therefore, in the Carpathian Basin we are not a mixed race, we are simply a mixture of the peoples native to Europe.
In the Carpathian Basin there are European peoples like Hungarians, Romanians, Slovaks and others, Orban said. Since “we are not of mixed race”, rather they have created their own “new European culture”. “We fought, we are ready to mingle with ourselves, but we don’t want to become mixed race peoples,” Orban said.
Criticism from the Hungarian Chief Rabbi
The Hungarian Chief Rabbi Robert Frölich then explained on his Facebook page: There are many different species on earth, but only one that walks, works, talks and sometimes thinks on two legs – homo sapiens, humans. Frölich continued: “Please take that into account.”
Hungarian MEP Katalin Cseh from the civil rights party Momentum said that “the regime” is now showing its true colors. Orban’s statements are reminiscent of times that “we would all like to forget”.
“Insane and Dangerous”
On the Romanian side, the criticism was similarly harsh: Talking about “race” or ethnic “purity”, especially in a region like Southeast Europe, is “purely insane and dangerous,” said Romanian MEP Alin Mituta on Twitter. And addressing Orban directly, the MP added: Being European is one of the great qualities because they all have different origins.
Orban had previously avoided the use of right-wing extremist terms in his countless public statements about migration, national identities and an EU immigration policy allegedly initiated by US billionaire George Soros. Orban repeatedly used his speeches at the so-called Fidesz summer academy in Romania to draw national and international attention with targeted provocations against the supposedly “decadent Western world” or against liberal democracy.
Criticism of Orban’s statements on “mixed race”
Clemens Verenkotte, ARD Vienna, July 25, 2022 5:36 p.m