The Hungarian PM defended his visit as a show of support for Georgia.
“Instead of useless lecturing, they [Georgia] need our support on their European path,” he said on October 28.
Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto Szijjártó decried the “usual chorus of critics,” claiming that 13 European foreign ministers continued to struggle with the concept that democracy is determined by citizens, not dictated from Brussels.
“For the Liberal mainstream, it seems that democracy only exists when their preferred party wins,” he said.
Notably absent from the EU coalition’s statement was Austria – set to host Orbán for discussions.
Walter Rosenkranz – the newly elected First President of Austria’s legislative assembly – is due to welcome the Hungarian PM as his first guest of honour.
The decision to meet Orbán sparked an outcry from the country’s left-wing parties. Jörg Leichtfried, MP of the Social Democrats (SPÖ), called the meeting “unbearable”. The office of Karl Nehammer, Austria’s current Chancellor, announced that he would not meet Orbán.
Rosenkranz, a veteran MP for Austria’s right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ), was sworn in as the First President of the National Council, the main chamber of the country’s parliament, on October 24 in its first session after the September 29 general election.
He was narrowly elected with a majority of 100 of the 183 MPs – even though it has been customary that the strongest party nominates the first president. The FPÖ came top in the September elections with 29 per cent of the vote. Rosenkranz’s deputies, Peter Haubner (ÖVP) and Doris Bures (SPÖ), received 148 and 131 votes, respectively.
The three are responsible for the administration of the National Council and direct its sessions. Before the vote, several left-wing politicians had tried to find a majority to deprive the FPÖ of the traditional right to the presidency.
On October 26, an Austrian national holiday, Rosenkranz announced he would welcome Orbán as his first guest in office.
Rosenkranz said the Hungarian PM had asked him for the meeting shortly after his election as First President. “If foreign dignitaries want to meet with me, it is in my nature and my job to make this happen – as well as a matter of courtesy,” he said.
Other FPÖ representatives also defended the meeting. Markus Abwerzger, head of the Tyrolean FPÖ, noted that Orbán’s country currently held the Presidency of the European Council.
Orbán is set to be in Vienna for a discussion on geopolitics on October 31, together with German ex-chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The Hungarian PM is also set to meet FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl.
