Luxembourg foreign minister calls for Hungary to be expelled from EU

Luxembourg's foreign minister suggests Hungary should be expelled from the EU for treating asylum seekers 'like wild animals' 

Luxembourg's foreign affairs minister Jean Asselborn
Luxembourg's foreign affairs minister Jean Asselborn

Luxembourg’s foreign affairs minister Jean Asselborn called for Hungary to be expelled from the EU over its tough anti-immigration policies, including building a razor-wire fence to keep refugees out.

“We cannot accept the founding principles of the EU being violated,” Asselborn said in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt, just days before an informal EU summit in Bratislava on September 16.

He accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban of treating refugees almost like “wild animals”, pointing to the fence his government has built to prevent asylum seekers from crossing its borders.

"The fence that Hungary is building to keep out refugees is getting longer, higher and more dangerous. Hungary is not far from issuing an order to shoot refugees," he said.

 “Those who build fences against refugees like Hungary does, or who violate press freedom and judicial independence, should be excluded temporarily or forever from the EU.

“It is the only way to preserve the cohesion and values of the EU.”

Asselborn added that a treaty change would be “helpful” in order to allow the EU to suspend members without their consent. He argued that Hungary would not stand a chance of joining the EU if it had to apply today.

Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto played down Asselborn’s call, dismissing the Luxembourgian minister as a “frivolous character”.

“It is evident that [Asselborn] lives a few kilometres from Brussels; he is so condescending, arrogant and frustrated. He wants to shut Hungary out from the EU, but he has already excluded himself from among the politicians who can be taken seriously.”