Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Tuesday that "ethnic homogeneity" was vital for the country's economic success, in a fresh tirade against importing workers to solve labour shortages. Addressing the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Budapest, Orban said that improving competitiveness was not the only way to bolster economic growth and "enhance the value" of the "homeland".
"How to do this? First, by preserving ethnic homogeneity. One can say such things now, which you would have been executed for during the past few years, as life has proven that too much mixing causes trouble," he said. Hungary's population, like those of many European nations, has a mix of ethnic backgrounds, but Orban said this diversity "is within a certain band ethnically... within one civilisation". Orban, an admirer of US President Donald Trump, has called the wave of mostly Muslim migrants into Europe since 2015 a threat to the continent's cultural and religious heritage, and has built border fences to try to keep them out.
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