Lázár added that Hungary does not want to deepen integration. “From our point of view, the EU is primarily a community of economic values and interests and not of politics. And now they want to force political interests upon us,” he said. The EU’s basic treaty includes the principles for political cooperation but there is not even a word about migrants, Lázár said.

“That was not mentioned in 2004” when Hungary joined, he said. Hungary is in a peculiar situation because “if we need more labour or people paying taxes, then we can call the Hungarians from Transcarpathia and Vojvodina to return home.

We do not need to take the social and cultural risks of taking in large groups of migrants. With our compatriots abroad, there are no linguistic and cultural differences, they are the same as us,” he added.

Commenting on the EU migrant quotas, he said “once that door is opened, it will be impossible to close it”.

An increasing number of migrants would raise social tensions because “our society will say no to migrants transferred from Germany to Hungary.

“There are enough people who need help here and if we support someone it should be them”, Lázár said.

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MTI photo: Kovács Tamás