In a Facebook video footage recorded in a former workers’ district of Vienna, János Lázár, the Minister in charge of the Prime Minister’s Office said that Favoriten has become dirtier, poorer and less safe due to immigration.

Minister Lázár claimed that ‘white Christians’ are rare to be seen in a district increasingly dominated by migrants who do not even speak German. He said unless Hungary forestalls mass immigration, Budapest in 20 years time will resemble the Favoriten district – and will become, as he put it ‘poor, unsafe and dirty’.

Austrian politicians from across the political spectrum dismissed Mr Lázár’s statement. The footage was temporarily made unavailable by Facebook due to user’s complaints against its allegedly racist content, but then reappeared following complaints by users who wanted to see it.

The government side criticized Facebook for ‘interfering’ in the April election. Fidesz politicians claim that major European cities including Vienna, London, Paris and other cities have indeed become unsafe as a result of mass immigration.

In Magyar Idők, Péter Szikszai finds Minister Lázár’s take on Vienna justified.

The pro-government columnist accuses Liberals of ignoring factual evidence in an attempt to silence critics of immigration. Szikszai recalls that one fourth of Vienna’s inhabitants are not Austrian citizens, and the number of Muslims is increasing.

He adds that police have arrested radical Muslims suspected of preparing terrorist acts. In conclusion, Szikszai notes that the main reason for the Left’s decline in Austria as well as Hungary is their unwillingness to abandon political correctness and acknowledge the threat posed by immigration.

Népszava’s Judit Kósa thinks that what she regards as Minister Lázár’s ‘propaganda stunt’ is unlikely to be taken seriously by any sane person. The left-wing pundit suspects that Mr Lázár’s opinion will further damage diplomatic relations between Hungary and Austria. Judit Kósa also suggests that as a result of what she considers a ridiculous, cynical and awkward propaganda video, Mr Lázár will lose any remaining credibility he retained as a politician.

Further ruminations on Lázár’s Vienna video

A liberal commentator suspects that Mr Lázár wants to divert attention from corruption through anti-immigrant fear-mongering. A pro-government blog accuses the liberal media of falsifying facts in order to help the opposition parties in the campaign.

In Heti Világgazdaság, Tamás Gomperz thinks that János Lázár made himself look ridiculous with his Vienna footage, in a clumsy attempt to divert public attention from issues which are awkward for Fidesz.

The liberal commentator contends that Mr Lázár’s statements were racist fabrications. Gomperz cites international comparative surveys to prove that Vienna is one of the most liveable cities in the world.

This explains why Vienna is so popular among migrants, including Hungarians who go abroad to work, Gomperz continues. He concludes by suggesting that the government constantly focusses on migrants, so that its members do not have to speak about the corruption scandals in their own ranks.

888.hu accuses liberal media outlets of falsifying facts and ignoring statistics on crime in Vienna. Media outlets ‘serving foreign interests’ turn a bind eye to official Austrian surveys which show that crime has increased by 6.6 per cent in Austria since the migrant crisis, and Favoriten, the district Mr Lázár visited was the most unsafe part of Vienna, the pro-government blog writes.

According to the data released by the Interior Ministry, in 2016 only 60.1 per cent of all crimes in Austria were committed by Austrian citizens, in the rest of the cases, perpetrators were foreigners.

Quoting other surveys, 888.hu notes that young Austrians whose mother tongue is other than German are twice as likely to lose their jobs than the average. 888.hu concludes by claiming that the liberal media distorts reality in order to help the opposition parties.

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MTI photo: Bruzák Noémi