Euronews/ AFP: In a joint press conference following the talks, divisions between the pair were clear. Orban argued that closing borders was the only way to deal with migration. “If the help offered by Europe to migrants leads people in Africa and Asia to conclude that they can come, then they will come,” he said.
“We have to be humane without creating a pull-factor, and the only way we know of doing that is closing the borders and taking help (to those countries), and not let in people who bring trouble.” Merkel, meanwhile, said the issue was about “humanity”.
“The soul of Europe is humanity and if we want to retain this soul and play a role in Europe with these values then Europe can’t simply decouple from the need and suffering,” she said.
Earlier :
“The moment came that no one thought possible no matter what the circumstances: Angela Merkel requested a meeting with Viktor Orban, and not vice versa,” the daily Magyar Idok, which is closely aligned with Orban’s government, wrote this week. “The initial, much-criticised Hungarian resistance,” as well as the “persistent unity” of Central European states against migrants, and a recently declared Austrian-Italian-Bavarian “axis” on border policy “have together decisively turned the EU debate on the refugee issue in a different direction”.
“New winds are blowing in Europe,” it said.
Merkel’s decision in 2015 to leave the German border open to those fleeing Middle East conflict zones was prompted primarily by Orban’s refusal to offer them refuge, effectively blocking the so-called Balkan route into the EU. At the time, Orban railed against Merkel’s “moral imperialism” while the chancellor, who grew up in communist East Germany, said she had seen enough walls in Europe for a lifetime.
Since then, far-right parties are sharing power in key countries such as Italy and Austria while the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party won nearly 100 seats in the Bundestag lower house. Merkel’s tone toward Orban has changed of late as well.
Last week she even thanked the Hungarian leader for his efforts to bolster the EU’s external borders, while Orban declared the “enormous success” of his tough stance in the conclusions of an EU summit last week.
