The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, emphasized on Saturday that “racial discrimination” is contrary to EU values, answering a question related to the statements of the Hungarian Prime Minister. Viktor Orban about “mixing of races”.
Although she did not explicitly condemn the statements of the Hungarian leader, which caused a revolt primarily in Washington, von der Leyen reminded that “all EU member states, including Hungary” should respect common universal values that are not “negotiated”.
“To discriminate on the basis of race is to trample on the values” contained in European and international treaties, von der Leyen said in an interview with the Slovakian portal aktuality.sk.
“The European Union is based on equality, tolerance, honesty and justice,” she added.
Von der Leyen has so far not publicly reacted to Orban’s statements. A spokesman for the European Commission, when asked on Tuesday, said that the EC “never comments on the statements of European political officials”.
Along with the condemnations from the USA, the Hungarian leader’s words caused the resignation of one of his advisors who condemned the “pure Nazi text”, as well as the condemnation of the International Auschwitz Committee, which was “horrified” by the speech.
Earlier on Saturday, the European Parliament strongly criticized the Hungarian Prime Minister’s statements, which the body considers racist.
“We, the leaders of the political groups within the European Parliament, strongly condemn the recent openly racist statements of Prime Minister Orban that he does not want ‘people of mixed race,'” the statement reads.
“Such unacceptable statements, which clearly violate our values contained in European treaties, have no place in our societies,” adds the EP.
During a speech in Romania last week, Orban said that “there is a world where Europeans mix with people who arrive” from outside the continent, which is “a world of mixed races”.
On the other hand, Orban continued, there is the Carpathian basin where Europeans like Hungarians, Romanians and Slovaks mix with each other. “We are ready to mix, but we don’t want to become a mixed race”.