But it turned out that there is no identity that could replace the earlier ones, Orbán said. He said it had now become clear that only countries with strong identity could be successful.

Twenty years ago young Europeans were always told that if they complete their studies, respect the laws and work diligently then they can get further in life than their parents had, Orbán said. But young people in most of the old EU member states would laugh at this idea today, he said, arguing that central Europe is now the home of the “European dream”.

On the topic of migration, Orbán said that as the countries represented at the forum have cultures rooted in Christianity, they cannot behave as if they had “hearts of stone”. But, he said, these countries have conflicting feelings on migration: on the one hand they feel threatened by migration but on the other hand they empathise with the migrants and feel sorry for them.

He said European countries should help those in need but at the same time preserve their own identities. Orbán noted that the migration wave into Europe is coming from the south and Hungary is the Visegrad Four member state that lies farthest south in Europe.

He insisted that it was not true that war was the root cause of the migration problem. Instead, the root cause is that Europe is currently wealthy but weak, and others also want to attain the European standard of living, he said. Orbán said it had to be made clear that there is a legal process that needs to be followed if one wants to enter Europe.

If Europe does not make this clear it will lose everything it has worked for and it will be overrun by another community that has a stronger identity.

Many overestimate the impact multiculturalism has on integration and underestimate migrants’ ability to preserve their own identities, Orbán said. Regarding EU-Ukraine relations, Orbán said Europe today plays a smaller role in the future of Ukraine than the US and Russia.

He said Russia and Turkey could develop the same kind of influence in the western Balkans region. He said that if Europe wants to help Ukraine it would first have to regain its own confidence and ability to act.

The EU needs to be reformed in order for it to be able to help Ukraine, the prime minister said.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

MTI photo: Szecsődi Balázs