Orbán said it was certain that whatever plans migrants may have to take new routes into Europe, “it is absolutely certain they won’t be going through Hungary”.

He noted that preparations have already been made along a section of the Hungary-Romania border to build a fence, and the capacity is there to seal off that part of the border if necessary.

Orbán reaffirmed criticism he has already made of Brussels and what he termed “Brusselsisation”, saying that nation states are not given the option of finding their own solutions to problems. Instead, common European solutions are mentioned but nothing is properly done, he said.

Withdrawing powers from nation states while being incapable of providing alternatives will weaken Europe, he insisted.

On the topic of plans to amend the constitution in order to create the conditions to handle a terrorist threat, Orbán said Hungary merely wants the possibility to take action against terrorism that most western European countries already have at their disposal. In order to make the amendment, the votes of opposition lawmakers are required, he noted, adding that “this is not yet in the bag”.

He said opposition criticism of the government’s proposed measures are not rooted in fact. If a fraction of what the opposition has said about the emergence of a dictatorship were true then “we’d be under the yoke of tyranny”. Yet Hungary is “one of the freest countries in Europe,” he said.

Orbán also spoke in support of Poland, which he said had done nothing to warrant the criticism coming from Brussels.

He added that it irritated Brussels that there exist strong nation states and these speak straight down the line. “A Pavlovian negative reflex has emerged from European bureaucracy.”

Central Europe does not lag behind in terms of the requirements of democracy, as viewed by the western half of the continent, he said.

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