SOPRON, Hungary: German Chancellor Angela Merkel struck a conciliatory tone on Monday alongside her Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban as they commemorated the 30th anniversary of a pivotal moment in the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989.
Merkel admitted there were still “differences” between the pair over migration but she also emphasised that they agreed on many aspects of the issue, including doing more to tackle the causes of refugee movements.
The two leaders were speaking after marking the anniversary of the “Pan-European Picnic” held at the Austro-Hungarian border in 1989, which saw at least 600 East Germans cross the border and escape to freedom in the West.
The first mass exodus of East Germans since the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, it was seen as a key factor in the fall of the wall itself three months later.
The commemoration was a rare encounter between two of the great survivors of European politics, with Merkel in office since A2005 and Orban since 2010. Their last major meeting was in July 2018 when Orban made his first visit to Berlin for three years.
It was an awkward affair, during which their divisions were on full display and Merkel accused Orban of failing to respect “humanity” with his harsh anti-immigration policies.
Orban has been a sharp critic of Merkel’s 2015 decision to open German borders to those fleeing Middle Eastern conflict zones.
Merkel said at Monday’s press conference that she had faith in incoming European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen to give fresh impetus to finding a common European approach to the migration question.
Meanwhile, Orban was asked whether it was incongruous to celebrate the dismantling of borders given that Hungary has erected fences along its southern frontier.
He rejected any contradiction, saying that the walls in 1989 had been taken down so people could live in peace and security and “the new ones are built precisely in order to preserve European peace and security”. — AFP
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