Hungary, Poland Want a Strong Say in EU

Hungary and Poland want a strong say in the future of Europe and firmly reject the EU’s migrant quotas, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Wednesday after meeting his counterpart from Warsaw, Mateusz Morawiecki, in Budapest. “The EU’s migration policy... has failed,” Orban told a news conference. “We want to have a strong say, as these countries (in Central Europe) have a vision about the future of Europe,” Reuters reported. Orban, a long-time ally of Poland within the EU, said in December that Hungary would block any action to suspend Poland’s voting rights in the EU. Poland is facing possible sanctions from the EU because of its perceived erosion of democratic principles, including recent steps increasing government control of the judiciary. While Orban has vowed to block any punitive measures against Poland by the EU, neither leader mentioned the issue during Wednesday’s news conference in the Hungarian parliament.