‘Showing his real face’: Outrage at Viktor Orban’s ‘race-mixing’ comments

‘We do not want to become a mixed race,’ says the Hungarian leader, in comments which have alarmed EU critics, reports Liam James

Orban has been outspoken against non-European influences [file photo] (POOL/AFP/Getty)

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban has long posed as a defender of “western civilisation” against outside influences he deems invasive.

The populist has dismissed multiculturalism as an illusion and argued that Christian and Muslims “will never unite” in a single society – a view he has used as grounds for rejecting refugees and strengthening border control.

Now 12 years into his reign and recently emboldened by the biggest election victory in post-Soviet Hungarian history, the Fidesz party leader has again spoken out against diversity, this time shocking even longtime observers with his comments.