He emphasized that with the inauguration of the new American president on January 20, “a new world begins,” but until then, it is wise to keep realistic goals in mind, and he also suggested a Christmas ceasefire. “I believe I was successful in seriously getting the Russian president to consider this, the Ukrainians, for some mysterious reason, are unwilling,” he shared, noting that Christmas is not here yet, so let’s not give up.
Viktor Orbán talked about a new reality on the front lines: the Russians are advancing, and the European Union has lost the war. If Europeans jump into the conflict, “calling it their own war,” a greater defeat awaits us. It is in our interest for this to be a small conflict – he noted.
As a second reality, he spoke about how in America, “a determined actor has stepped into the fray on the side of the Patriots, on the side of life, in the civilizational struggle for the soul and future of the West.” This will completely change the Western world – said Viktor Orbán, noting: he is already mentally living in this reality, the government is in this reality, the budget was prepared according to this reality. The Brussels people are still in the old one, this is a total misconception – he added.
Regarding the war in Ukraine, the Prime Minister also said that in April 2022, the parties were a few hours away from an agreement, which was made impossible by Western intervention. So, there was a chance for a ceasefire and a lasting peace, “the task was not impossible, they just messed it up,” said Viktor Orbán.
Talking about the relationship between America and the European Union, he highlighted that there is no need for any mediation; there will be serious, major debates. In these debates, we Hungarians need to participate in a way that first and foremost benefits us – said Viktor Orbán emphasizing: the most important thing is that the debates end with an agreement that is acceptable to both America and Europe.
The Prime Minister, speaking about the relationship between the European Commission and Hungary, said that there are issues where they are completely in sync with Brussels, but there are issues where they are irreconcilably different. As an example of the latter, he mentioned that the government will not allow “Hungary to be turned into Magdeburg” by having their rules imposed on us and having to let in migrants. There is also an irreconcilable conflict in gender issues – he stated.
Viktor Orbán said: we are the opposition to Brussels, and we think that if we cannot change Brussels so that we take the majority and do not transform them into an image that is good for nation-states, then we will all suffer. “Brussels must be conquered, we must gain a majority and transform it. That is the goal of the Patriots” – he stated.
“In the European Union, the Patriots need to set their flag, and then the others will gather beneath it.” The Patriots are successful, the European People’s Party is stuck in the past – emphasized Viktor Orbán, who called the war and peace issue the deepest fault line in today’s EU politics.
In this context, the Prime Minister classified the European Union countries into three groups: those who advocate for war, those against war – in this circle, the Prime Minister mentioned Hungary and Slovakia -, and those who continue survival tactics by “saying nothing”. He highlighted: “we are too close to the war not to say anything”.
Viktor Orbán added, the radical war advocates think that if they had spent more money on the war, if they had sent more weapons, troops, they would have won it, to which the Prime Minister replied that “this is not our war,” and here you can see the fault line, this is what most divides the European Union today.
Regarding the “ambitious” budget for the next year passed by the parliament, Viktor Orbán stated: the Hungarian economy has weathered the three years of war and has not lost the chance of a successful restart, “we have not gambled away our future in the past three years.” In Hungary, everyone who wants to can still work, the 13th-month pension has been successfully defended despite the higher budget deficit, wages have increased every year except for the past three years, nothing had to be given up from family protection, the tax benefits for children that have existed since 2010, with the utility reduction today Hungarians pay the least in Europe for electricity and gas, so everyone who today switches on the electricity or turns on the gas is part of a governmental protection program – listed the Prime Minister.
He emphasized that Hungarians have managed to convince each other since 2010 that “we are capable of something that we were not before,” among other things, this is also why today, not 53 out of 100 people, but more than 80 are working, and the country is connected with highways and high-speed roads.
He said: today the Hungarian economy is in such a state that the moment peace breaks out, it can take a flying start. The Prime Minister separately mentioned the work credit, the Sándor Demján Program, and the doubling of the family tax benefit.
On the issue of economic neutrality, Viktor Orbán called it an exaggeration that it would solve the problems caused by the difficulties of the German economy, but he is sure that “we can carve something out of trouble.”
The Prime Minister opined that the Hungarian economy was previously too unilaterally connected to the Western market.
“If we see that there is trouble in Europe, the answer is that we need to develop economic relations in every other direction” – he emphasized, adding: he has high hopes for the American connections, but it is also very important that we do not give up the connections with the Russians either. He advised Hungarian companies that in areas where sanctions do not prohibit, go and participate in the Russian economy, and he advocated translating the political connections with the Chinese into economic relations.
The greater the trouble in Europe, the more we need to advance in other markets, and the political preconditions for this are already given – said the Prime Minister.
The most important thing in economic neutrality is that we should not resign ourselves to weakening with the weakening of Western markets, but have a response to this situation and compensate in other directions for what we have lost in the European direction – emphasized the Prime Minister, adding that this will not be easy and will not work from one day to the next.
Responding to a question about the pardon case that broke out at the beginning of the year, Viktor Orbán said: “he just shook his head at what a loss had to be suffered by losing Katalin Novák and Judit Varga, whose previous performance he called the fruit of several years of intense work, and the two politicians were stars of politics everywhere in the world.”
The Prime Minister stated: from Christian politicians, perfection can be expected, but fairness must be sought, big mistakes should be punished severely, and small mistakes a little.
Source: MTI
