The Swedish embassy in Hungary has protested “personal attacks” from Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen toward a Swedish minister who compared the country’s new family policy to 1930’s Germany.
The initial comments that began the newest row between the two countries were made by Swedish Minister of Social Security Annika Strandhäll who took to Twitter to say the new Hungarian family policy “reeked of the 1930’s” in a clear reference to the German Nazi regime of the period, SVT reports.
“What is happening in Hungary is alarming. Now Orban wants more ‘genuine’ Hungarian children to be born. The policy reeks of the 30s. A right-wing populist you need smokescreens for what this type of policy does to the independence women have been struggling for,” the Swedish minister said.
‘We Need Hungarian Children’: Orbán Introduces Tax Breaks for Families https://t.co/sEGCeoujZ8
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 11, 2019
Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen reacted to the comments by calling Strandhäll a “poor sick creature” on Hungarian television after the government had called up the Swedish ambassador over the comments.
Hungary’s Family Minister Katalin Novák also wrote an op-ed slamming the comments in Hungarian newspaper Magyar Hirlap saying, “It is unacceptable to compare Hungary to Nazi Germany. I strongly reject this on behalf of the country.”
Novák went on to add, “I would like to draw your attention to the fact that your European Alliance, the Hungarian Socialist Party, is working closely with Jobbik, the far-right party in Hungary,” and demanded an apology over the statements.
The row between the two countries is by no means the first in recent years. Sweden has previously slammed the Hungarian government for using the country as an example of failed mass migration policies.
Sweden to Hungary: It Is Not OK to Use Us as an Example of Failed Mass Migration Policies https://t.co/aYJibO6cyu
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 29, 2018
“The picture that Sweden, when we had and received so many asylum seekers, still has a positive development when it comes to economy and work, it actually needs to be there too,” Swedish Education Minister Gustav Fridolin said on a visit to Hungary last year.
Later that year, following a Swedish objection to a transparency law for pro-migration NGOs in Hungary, the Hungarian parliamentary state secretary of the justice ministry Pál Völner accused Sweden of flooding their own country with migrants and said it’s political leaders were, “widely known to be pro-immigration.”
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com
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