Orbán: Hungarians working in the U.K. are not ‘parasites’

Viktor Orbán speaks with David Cameron during a press conference in Budapest yesterday. (Photo: MTI/Szilárd Koszticsák)

Responding to Cameron’s suggestion at yesterdayʼs press conference that Hungarians should be prevented from receiving benefits for the first four years of their stay in the U.K., Orbán said that Hungarians paid more into the country’s tax system than they received in benefits, according to the BBC.

Orbán also pointed out, during the press conference that approximately 700 British companies employ almost 50,000 Hungarians. “We would like to make it very clear that we are not migrants into the United Kingdom,” Orbán said, according to the BBC, adding that “we do not want to go to the U.K. and take away something from them. We donʼt want to be parasites.”

Orbán reportedly told Cameron that Hungarians are “citizens of a state that belongs to the European Union” and as such they have the right to seek employment anywhere within the EU and if necessary, collect benefits, the BBC reported.

Cameron promised, that he would work with Hungary and the other V4 countries (Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia) to reach an amicable solution.

The British prime minister met with Hungary’s leader yesteday as part of a tour to find allies in his conflicts with Brussels over issues such as migration.