File photo of Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn. (Reuters)
Berlin:
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn on Thursday sharply criticised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for saying refugees should not come to Europe and Muslims were not welcome in Hungary.
"One has to feel ashamed of Viktor Orban," Asselborn told German broadcaster ZDF, calling Orban a man who was smashing European values such as solidarity and helpfulness.
"We don't need such paroles," Asselborn said, adding that Orban needed to be isolated in Europe and should not be an example for other leaders.
"All of us have seen these pictures of this little boy, we have seen these pictures from IS militants in Syria who use children as executioners. Orban cannot turn a blind eye on that, he cannot just say we don't want Muslims," Asselborn said.
Christian values dictated that all people in danger had a right to protection, Asselborn said, adding: "He (Orban) says he only wants Christians. If Orban is a Christian, then (former North Korean leader) Kim Il Sung is a Christian too."
Orban said on Thursday during a visit in Brussels that refugees should not risk their children's lives trying to reach Europe, as he defended his tough approach to border control on the frontline of Europe's migration crisis.
Orban also said that Hungary did not want to accept Muslim refugees and that the refugee crisis was not really a European problem, but "a German problem".
Asselborn called for the creation of an EU-wide refugee authority, saying the same standards needed to be used to deal with asylum applications across the region.
He suggested expanding the European Asylum Support Office, an EU agency based in Malta, into a European refugee authority.
Luxembourg currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
"One has to feel ashamed of Viktor Orban," Asselborn told German broadcaster ZDF, calling Orban a man who was smashing European values such as solidarity and helpfulness.
"We don't need such paroles," Asselborn said, adding that Orban needed to be isolated in Europe and should not be an example for other leaders.
"All of us have seen these pictures of this little boy, we have seen these pictures from IS militants in Syria who use children as executioners. Orban cannot turn a blind eye on that, he cannot just say we don't want Muslims," Asselborn said.
Christian values dictated that all people in danger had a right to protection, Asselborn said, adding: "He (Orban) says he only wants Christians. If Orban is a Christian, then (former North Korean leader) Kim Il Sung is a Christian too."
Orban said on Thursday during a visit in Brussels that refugees should not risk their children's lives trying to reach Europe, as he defended his tough approach to border control on the frontline of Europe's migration crisis.
Orban also said that Hungary did not want to accept Muslim refugees and that the refugee crisis was not really a European problem, but "a German problem".
Asselborn called for the creation of an EU-wide refugee authority, saying the same standards needed to be used to deal with asylum applications across the region.
He suggested expanding the European Asylum Support Office, an EU agency based in Malta, into a European refugee authority.
Luxembourg currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
© Thomson Reuters 2015
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