Western states in EU suffer from ‘enlargement fatigue,’ Hungary’s Orban says

13 Sep, 2019 16:47 / Updated 5 years ago

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Western countries in the European Union are suffering from “enlargement fatigue” and using newer members as a scapegoat for their problems, AP reported.

Orban said Friday on state radio that if countries like Serbia had been part of the EU during the 2015 migration crisis, “illegal migrants wouldn’t have reached Germany.”

The PM also expects former Hungarian Justice Minister Laszlo Trocsanyi, nominated as EU commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement issues, to encounter “heated moments” during upcoming hearings before the EU Parliament’s vote on the new EU Commission.

Hungary is facing an EU action regarding the rule of law and democratic procedures, including over laws enacted during Trocsanyi’s ministerial tenure. Orban said there could be no professional objections to Trocsanyi, only “that he is Hungarian.”