Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán asserted that neither he nor his government views the Muslims arriving in Europe to flee conflict as refugees, "but rather as invaders."
The Prime Minister's statement forms part of his response to a question regarding why Hungary refuses to accept people seeking asylum—a response included in an interview published today by the German newspaper *Bild*.
The Hungarian leader insisted on his country's right to refuse to accept Muslims and reiterated his rejection of multiculturalism, which, in the interview, he described as "nothing more than an illusion."
"We believe that a large number of Muslims leads to the formation of parallel societies, because Christian society and Muslim society will never merge," he opined.
"Multiculturalism is merely an illusion. We do not want such a thing," he concluded.
These are not the first controversial statements made by Orbán, who ordered the construction of fences along his country's borders with Serbia and Croatia to stem the arrival of asylum seekers, and who has on several occasions expressed his categorical rejection of the EU's refugee relocation system—a scheme that establishes mandatory quotas for the number of asylum seekers to be accepted by all member states.
"The EU's immigration policy does not work; it is a failure. The people of Europe do not want immigration, even though some European politicians are attempting to impose it," he said a week ago following a meeting with his Polish counterpart and ally, Mateusz Morawiecki.
On that occasion, he advocated for "a European Europe—one that preserves its Christian culture."