Europe’s ‘Christian state’ comes under fire for banning awakening classes and immigration laws: ‘People’s will’

[ad_1]

UNITED NATIONS, New York Hungary continues to chart a course that officials say best represents the “will of the people,” even if it puts the national government at odds with a liberal European Union.

“We have been a Christian state for more than 1,000 years since our first saint, King Stephen, offered the country to Mary the Virgin, and we take it seriously,” the Hungarian foreign minister said. Pter Szijjrt, at Fox News Digital. exclusive interview during his visit to the United Nations in New York.

“We stick to our Christian heritage. We stick to our Christian roots,” Szijjrt continued. “We are implementing a Christian-democratic political strategy.”

Hungary has found itself increasingly at odds with the European Union following aggressive moves by the European Commission to cut some €6.3 billion in funding to a number of Hungarian institutions. who recently voted to cut funding which will impact universities and students studying abroad under the Erasmus programme. .

CROATIAN PRESIDENT WAITING FOR EU SANCTIONS AGAINST HUNGARY

Hungary even threatened to sue the EU over the move, but the EU argued that Hungary’s education system did not adequately protect academic freedom from political interference.

“When you ask the liberal mainstream in Brussels, in Washington, what they think of democracy, then they think a political structure can be considered democratic if it’s the liberals who govern,” Szijjrt said. “That’s why they always talk about liberal democracy, but our position is that a democracy is a democracy. You don’t have to use any other words.”

Hungarian Foreign Minister Pter Szijjrt spoke to Fox News Digital in the East Lounge of the United Nations headquarters in New York. (Peter Aitken/Fox News Digital)

“We believe that a democracy means that you, as a government, as a political structure, do your best to respond to the will of the people,” he added.

Szijjrt accused the European Commission of suffering from “Hungarophobia” and continuing to add problems even as Hungary struggles to implement previously agreed targets.

TALIBAN WARN UNIVERSITIES NOT TO ALLOW AFGHAN WOMEN AND GIRLS TO TAKE ENTRANCE EXAMS

He called the action against universities ‘crazy’, saying other European nations have similar cases but are not facing the same kind of ‘double standards’, saying: ‘What is acceptable in a country is considered unacceptable in the other.”

“It’s really unfair that once you have an agreement on a closed list of issues, which are expected, you raise the question, is that enough?” Szijjrt argued. “Then we did it, and then the European Commission made a new request[s].”

Musicians and dancers perform on stage in front of the light-painted churches in Veszprem, Hungary, during the inauguration on January 21, 2023, as the city and its region became the European Capital of Culture 2023 with Elefsina, Greece, and Timisoara, Romania. (Attila Kisbenedek/AFP via Getty Images)

Two important issues raised by the committee were Hungary’s handling of LGBTQ+ issues and the country’s asylum system.

Specifically, EU leaders have raised concerns about Hungarian law that prohibits schools from teaching gay and transgender issues and accused the country’s government of failing to comply with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. .

UKRAINE REPORTS MORE THAN 60,000 WAR CRIMES AND CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL TO PROSECUTE VLADIMIR PUTIN

Szijjrt said the Hungarian government does not care “who people fall in love with, who they share their private life with”, but that the government believes that “educating children about sexual orientation is an exclusive right of parents “.

“When it comes to children, we will always protect them,” Szijjrt said. “So that’s why we banned NGOs from LGBT organizations, whatever they are, from going into our schools, into our kindergartens, and without any checks on our children. You know, that’s unacceptable.”

Hungarian soldiers patrol the Hungarian-Serbian border near the village of Tompa, Hungary, June 14, 2017. (Reuters/Laszlo Balogh)

“We are their parents,” he added. “We know them best. I’m pretty sure there’s no LGBT NGO in the world that would know my kids better than me.”

And while Szijjrt noted that it would be “highly inappropriate” to advise President Joe Biden on border issues, he noted that Hungary’s experience has shown that “only with human resources, namely, only with the police, the border guards, the army, it was impossible to protect the border.”

IRAN’S MILITARY SETUP FAILED IN EXPLOSION OFFICIALS SAY DRONE ATTACK WAS FAILED

Hungary tackled the problem by building a border barrier in 2015, which was intended to limit and control the flow of migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan, as well as a wave of migrants from Syria which has caused division across Europe.

“We will never give up our national right to decide for ourselves who we allow into our territory and who we don’t,” Szijjrt said.

A girl who fled Ukraine with relatives sits on a bunk bed in a classroom converted into an emergency shelter at a school in Zahony, northeastern Hungary, on the border with Ukraine , March 4, 2022. (Marton Monus/picture alliance via Getty Images)

“So there is no outside force that would have the right to take this decision-making ability from us,” he said, noting that when former President Donald Trump was in power, Hungary and the United States were aligned on their point of view on migration policy.

The border has come under renewed attention as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine approaches a year: Hungary has accepted some 1 million Ukrainian refugees but has prevented around 260,000 illegal migrants from further country to enter.

CLIMATE CHANGE PROTESTERS ON THE HAGUE BLOCK MOTORWAY ARE DETAINED AND TRANSPORTED BY BUS

“They went through a series of safe countries,” Szijjrt said. “They have no right to enter. There is no reason for anyone to violate the border between two peaceful countries.”

Hungary remains concerned about Ukraine, noting that the impacts of the conflict are “serious and immediate” for its country due to “refugees, soaring inflation, soaring energy prices, soaring food prices.

Szijjrt noted that for America the conflict could appear “from coast to coast”, but the consequences are “very serious at home”, which is why Hungary is advocating for peace talks and change. of “the current rhetoric of war”. He argued that the peace talks are also in the interests of the Ukrainian people because “they are suffering”.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“The longer this war lasts, the longer it will continue,” he said. “The worse it could get, the more people will suffer.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter specializing in national and global news.

[ad_2]