Economy
Dutch Foreign Minister calls ambassador's remark about Hungary "embarrassing"
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Scheltem, who had spent four years in Budapest, attacked Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s anti-refugee policies in an interview with political weekly 168 Óra published Thursday.Scheltema criticised Orbán’s regime for its ’you are either with us or against us’ approach which he labelled as a “classic Marxist way of thinking". As a diplomat, he said, he always seeks compromise and not whom he could fight with.
“Here, however, everyone keeps looking for enemies. It chimes together with the historic experiences people had. They got used to being classified as enemies as soon as they did not agree with those in power."
Asked if this is why the campaign against Hungarian-born financier and philanthropist George Soros is working, he replied that although the billionaire may be damned for his speculative deals, for instance, he deserves respect for the “gigantic funds" he has invested into democracy and to build up the civil society.
He noted this campaign may be easily linked to migration, which is an “extremely complex problem, without black and white answers" to it.
“You need to make a distinction between refugees and economic migrants. But the government here says everyone is migrant and no one is a refugee. So we do not speak the same language. Not to mention that there are no migrants in Hungary, this is a homogenous folk. [...] Absurdly, the campaign of the Hungarian government is working because if the danger is far from them it seems much greater."
Reminded that the last time a terrorist act was conducted in Barcelona, which is not really far from Hungary, the ambassador said: “A vehicle attacks may happen anywhere, the most in the Middle East. Now, should we bomb the Middle East? Here’s a group whose members are the losers of globalisation and consequently they turned to extremism and fanatic religiousness because these give them a sense of security. They create enemies on the same principles as the Hungarian government."
Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders called the incident "embarrassing".
"For me, it's clear there is no link between terrorism and the actions of the Hungarian government," he told Dutch news agency ANP on Friday.
"I can't imagine that this is what the ambassador had wanted to say," he added.
However, The Hague said that Dutch criticism of Hungary's rights record and crackdown on civil society groups was "justified".
At the height of the migrant crisis in 2015, more than 400,000 people, many fleeing the Syrian civil war, passed through European Union member Hungary on their way to western and northern Europe.
Orbán, a strong admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump, has repeatedly clashed with Brussels over his hardline stance on immigration, which he describes as the "Trojan horse of terrorism".
Volkskrant cited the minister as saying that the ambassador’s interview will need to be translated, and that he has not been able to speak with Scheltema yet about this matter.
Another Dutch paper Algemeen Dagblad said Koenders will contact Hungary’s ambassador in The Hague either today or in the coming days to officially indicate to him the Dutch government refuses any accusation that there is a relation between the Hungarian government and terrorism. The papercould not say, though, if the Netherlands would consider an apology or not, which was requested by Szijjártó, stressing a discussion behind closed doors will not be enough in this case.
“Here, however, everyone keeps looking for enemies. It chimes together with the historic experiences people had. They got used to being classified as enemies as soon as they did not agree with those in power."
Asked if this is why the campaign against Hungarian-born financier and philanthropist George Soros is working, he replied that although the billionaire may be damned for his speculative deals, for instance, he deserves respect for the “gigantic funds" he has invested into democracy and to build up the civil society.
He noted this campaign may be easily linked to migration, which is an “extremely complex problem, without black and white answers" to it.
“You need to make a distinction between refugees and economic migrants. But the government here says everyone is migrant and no one is a refugee. So we do not speak the same language. Not to mention that there are no migrants in Hungary, this is a homogenous folk. [...] Absurdly, the campaign of the Hungarian government is working because if the danger is far from them it seems much greater."
Reminded that the last time a terrorist act was conducted in Barcelona, which is not really far from Hungary, the ambassador said: “A vehicle attacks may happen anywhere, the most in the Middle East. Now, should we bomb the Middle East? Here’s a group whose members are the losers of globalisation and consequently they turned to extremism and fanatic religiousness because these give them a sense of security. They create enemies on the same principles as the Hungarian government."
Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders called the incident "embarrassing".
"For me, it's clear there is no link between terrorism and the actions of the Hungarian government," he told Dutch news agency ANP on Friday.
"I can't imagine that this is what the ambassador had wanted to say," he added.
However, The Hague said that Dutch criticism of Hungary's rights record and crackdown on civil society groups was "justified".
At the height of the migrant crisis in 2015, more than 400,000 people, many fleeing the Syrian civil war, passed through European Union member Hungary on their way to western and northern Europe.
Orbán, a strong admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump, has repeatedly clashed with Brussels over his hardline stance on immigration, which he describes as the "Trojan horse of terrorism".
Volkskrant cited the minister as saying that the ambassador’s interview will need to be translated, and that he has not been able to speak with Scheltema yet about this matter.
Another Dutch paper Algemeen Dagblad said Koenders will contact Hungary’s ambassador in The Hague either today or in the coming days to officially indicate to him the Dutch government refuses any accusation that there is a relation between the Hungarian government and terrorism. The papercould not say, though, if the Netherlands would consider an apology or not, which was requested by Szijjártó, stressing a discussion behind closed doors will not be enough in this case.
