Zoltán Kovács, the state secretary for international communication and relations, said on Facebook on Wednesday that although German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meant his comparison of CDU leader Friedrich Merz to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as an insult, "experience suggests it is actually a compliment".

In his social media post, Kovács said that the outgoing German chancellor compared CDU leader Merz to Viktor Orbán.

Kovács said Merz's "crime" was that he wanted to revise Germany's migration policy, with one of his proposals being deporting those who enter the country illegally. The state secretary said this criticism of Merz came from the leader of a country that is "plagued by repeated attacks from perpetrators with a migration background".

Hungary, he said, had been punching above its weight for ten years in protecting its own and the European Union's external borders and was penalized for it by Brussels instead of being shown gratitude.

He said Austria was also set to tighten its migration policy and Sweden, too, was reviewing its own regulations. The Netherlands has also rejected the EU's migration pact, Kovács said, noting that one of US President Donald Trump's first executive orders called for the deportation of migrants.

"It appears that while Olaf Scholz may have intended his comparison of Friedrich Merz to Viktor Orbán as an insult, experience suggests it is actually a compliment," Kovács said.