Hungarian leader calls multicultural society a 'delusion' in speech denouncing migrants

By PABLO GORONDI, Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban denounced multiculturalism and liberalism Friday and vowed to fight a rising wave of migration that he said is threatening to turn his country into a "refugee camp."

In his annual state of the nation speech, Orban called a multicultural society "a delusion" and defended his conservative government's attempts to abandon "liberal social policies" that he accused of rejecting Christian culture.

"(A Hungarian) does not want to see throngs of people pouring into his country from other cultures who are incapable of adapting and are a threat to public safety, to his job and to his livelihood," Orban said.

He was referring to the torrent of migrants who have entered European Union-member Hungary this year, many of them fleeing poverty in Kosovo and seeking to reach Germany and other western nations.

Orban has been criticized in the West for declaring last year that he wanted his nation to be an "illiberal" state and that he considers Russia, Turkey and Singapore to be models of success.

On Friday, he hailed the success of his government's unconventional economic policies, some of which have been criticized by investors for involving higher taxes for banks and many foreign companies.

"Hungary has become an economic success story, which is slowly being recognized by Europe," Orban said, noting the country's 2014 estimated growth rate of 3.5 percent, one of Europe's highest, and its low inflation and unemployment rates.

Orban also said a decision last year to convert some $12 billion in mortgages denominated in Swiss francs into forints, the Hungarian currency, had impressed economic analysts.

The conversion, Orban said "simultaneously saved the debtors and the banking system."

It was announced just weeks before a January move by the Swiss National Bank, which led to a steep rise in the value of the franc and would have greatly increased mortgage payments for Hungarian homeowners.

In his most colorful quote, Orban praised native Hungarians.

"The Hungarian man is, by nature, politically incorrect. That is, he has not lost his common sense," he said.

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