PM: Immigration more crucial than death penalty

Orbán said that the death penalty cannot be introduced in Hungary and the country does not intend to do so, Hungarian online daily Index.hu reported. The prime minister said, on April 28, that the question of the death penalty should be kept "on the agenda". Hungary has received wide criticism over the issue in the international press. National Economy Minister Mihály Varga and junior governing party alliance KDNP also said they were against the introduction of death penalty.

According to the prime minister, however, there are more important issues than the death penalty, namely: immigration. The prime minister said he believes that if we view immigration not from an EU perspective, but following a “holistic” approach, it is not immigration that is taking place but “great modern migrations”.

“There is no way back from a multicultural Europe to a Christian Europe, nor to a world of national cultures,” Orbán said. “Today we are experiencing great modern migrations that could restructure the image of Europe, and once this happens it cannot be restored,” Orbán reportedly said.

The prime minister also reportedly said that multiculturalism is “a threat to the continent”, and if it becomes commonplace for “groups of different cultural roots to live together” in Europe, there is no way of returning to a fundamentally Christian Europe.

The issue of immigrants has been a hot topic for the past couple of weeks in Hungary. The government has initiated a national consultation on the issue of immigration both by mail and online.