Orban’s Vienna visit highlights Austria-Hungary comradeship

EURACTIV.com with AFP

 31/01/2018

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said yesterday (30 January) that he aimed to ease east-west strains within the European Union, as his new right-wing government welcomed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Vienna.

Austrian Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache (L) and Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán give a joint news conference in Vienna, Austria, 30 January 2018.
[Szilard Koszticsak/EPA/EFE]

“In particular since the start of the migrant crisis (in 2015) tensions have grown in the European Union,” Kurz told a joint news conference with Orbán in the Austrian capital.

“Our great aim in Austria is to be a bridge-builder in this respect between the Visegrad states and the countries in western Europe,” the 31-year-old conservative said.

A rift has emerged in recent years between Brussels and the Visegrad group of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia — and in particular with Warsaw and Budapest.

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EU rebels Poland, Hungary show united front

Poland and Hungary are winning the battle against the EU over immigration, the two countries’ premiers said Wednesday, with Hungary’s Viktor Orban predicting “a year of great confrontations” with Brussels.

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A sweeping revamp of state institutions by the nationalist governments in both countries has raised concerns about the rule of law, judicial independence and media freedom.

 

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