Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke of the hurdles faced by Christians in Europe during talks with his Georgian counterpart Irakli Garibashvili in Tbilisi on Thursday.
Religion was a big theme of the Hungarian leader’s trip to the South Caucasus nation as the two prime ministers visited a monastery together with their spouses and commended each other for upholding Christian values.
“It is not easy to be a Christian in Europe, to govern a Christian government in Europe,” Orbán said as he shared his concerns that Christian traditions are “doomed to fail” unless they can be protected.
Speaking in support of Georgia’s European aspirations, Orbán expressed disappointment at the EU’s decision not to grant Georgia membership candidate status “while it was given to countries that are far inferior to Georgia in terms of development.”
Three countries applied for EU membership last year, with Ukraine and Moldova granted candidate status while the Commission said that Georgia should be “given the perspective to become a member of the European Union” but not yet granted candidate status.
“If it is a merit-based process, what happened was very unfair toward your country, and it must be corrected as soon as possible,” said the Hungarian PM.
For Garibashvili, who has made “the sanctity of family and traditions” a cornerstone of his conservative rule, Orbán’s support comes at a critical moment as the Georgian government faces criticism for embracing illiberalism to the detriment of democratic values such as human rights.
But although every bit of support counts, teaming up with Hungary may not be helpful for Georgian’s European ambitions. Hungary itself has faced repeated criticism within the EU over its poor record on the rule of law and human rights.
As for Georgia, the country was given 12 benchmarks to tick off by the EU, including protecting human rights and reforming the judiciary, in order to be granted candidate status.
Since then, the country’s government has been at odds with the EU’s leadership, arguing it has already done more than enough.
But according to the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell “additional efforts are required” and as Georgia’s progress will be reexamined by the European Commission in October, Georgian authorities need to “seize the opportunity.”
