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The Prime Minister said a natural talent such as Judit Varga very rarely emerges in politics.
In politics, there never is such a thing that someone is ready, experience is what matters most which you can always accumulate more of. Former Justice Minister Judit Varga would have needed another four to eight years, but she had everything it took to take a country on, to adopt the important decision, Mr Orbán said, stating his opinion.
He described the former justice minister as nothing short of brilliant, it is painful and infuriating what happened to Judit Varga. At the same time, it is an enormous waste for the country.
He recalled that he had “endured” the last year to eighteen months of the former minister’s time in office together with her. She wanted to resign at least three times, saying that she could not cope with what was going on at home. “She persevered as long as she could,” he added.
The Prime Minister said timing is the most important in the tactical part of politics.
A governing party needs enormous discipline. A country cannot afford the luxury of its government concerning itself with its opponents more than 10 to 15 per cent of the time during periods outside the campaign such as the period we are in now.
He added that as soon as preparations for the campaign started, followed by the campaign itself, this percentage shifted because “you must get on with the fight.” We are now during the pre-preparations phase. This is nothing compared with what will come next, he stated.
He also said he is arguing not with Péter Magyar or the Tisza Party, but with “their masters.”
The fundamental structure of Hungarian politics has remained the same for centuries, “the question is who your masters are.”
He added that his masters were the Hungarian people, “I’m a servant of the Hungarian people, I serve the Hungarians,” while the opponents and their masters never wanted what was good for the Hungarians. They have always deduced what this country would need from somewhere outside, and these people are always successfully recruited by the foreign powers which regard what is happening in Hungary as important and want to influence events in Hungary, he said, observing that this is why he keeps arguing with the Tisza Party and Péter Magyar in Brussels every month.
“It may sound like a funny sentence, but there is also a little dose of pain in it when one says that even those who don’t vote for us are better-off with us, while even those who vote for them are worse-off with them. And yet, people vote for them,” the Prime Minister added.
He said politics resembles not so much football as rugby where “you have to fight your way through whilst running, and when you have the ball, rather than you attacking others, you’re being attacked constantly,” and “if you go soft, they floor you.”
Mr Orbán said the government side has realised the promises it made fifteen years ago, there is a national government, there is a national-Christian Constitution, the economy has been completely transformed, but this does not mean that everything is now in the right place. “There is plenty more work yet to be done,” the Prime Minister stated, stressing that they must not allow themselves to sit back and relax, but “we don’t look like the people who just lounge about from morning ‘till evening,” “we put in 14 to 16 hours of work every day.”
He highlighted that we should get to a point where things were going smoothly “regardless of the kind of government in office.” Hungary is not one of those European states where “if there is no government, you barely notice it,” he pointed out. We are one of those nations which are such due to their history and character that “if there is no well-functioning state and a government to lead it, then the whole community falls apart, becomes paralysed, comes to a halt,” he underlined.
He said for the time being in politics he is observing a fall in standards, rather than the emergence of a new quality, and those who are unable to adapt to the new communications situation “will drop out of this business.”
He described Minister János Lázár as “an internationally outstanding master” of the genre; he is able to talk to the people of the street for three hours where “not only will he have responded to his opponent,” but “will have also said everything that’s important.” This is a very great feat, only very few in politics are capable of this. The new era will vet us, many will not stay on their feet, he stated, indicating that they need a politician at the head of every constituency who is able to rise to this challenge.
Regarding whether Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu’s mission is being attacked on a party political basis, he argued that the question was whether all this was indeed happening on that basis. He is inclined to believe more that we are Hungarians, and we find it extremely difficult to speak and think concordantly. When Tibor Kapu returns, everyone will say that this was a great feat, he pointed out.
He said the planned experiments can only be carried out in space, and 25 of the 30 are connected to Hungary one way or another.
He is certain that in the civic-national world, those are in an overwhelming majority who say out of pride and from their hearts that we Hungarians are capable of anything if we combine forces. On the other side, there tend to be people of a character who doubt this, Mr Orbán said.
He highlighted that it was very important how a community looked upon itself; whether in such a way that there are things in life that we can never have anything to do with because we are too small and we are not dealt cards here, or in such a way that we, too, are somebody, we, too, are competitive because size is not the only thing that matters, and whatever others are capable of we ourselves are capable of, too.
The Prime Minister also spoke about the fact that in his mentality he followed the radical Hungarian tradition.
In his opinion, you must think radically, you must think through everything down to the last consequence, or else you find that you delude yourself and that can lead to very big trouble, but in politics you must not act radically, Mr Orbán laid down. “In my thinking I’m radical; in my actions I’m moderate,” he said, describing himself, adding that Hungary has a prime minister to think everything through bravely, without fear, not sparing any energy. “I’m a man of thinking things through, and in this I’m competitive, perhaps, even on an international level,” he observed.
“Rather than a crystal ball, I have a radical intellectual approach to understanding the world,” he explained. He mentioned migration as an example, highlighting that he has invested an enormous amount of energy into understanding what will happen. “Not even half of what will happen to the whole European world has happened yet,” he stressed.
The Prime Minister also briefly portrayed some figures of politics and sports from the recent past and the present in response to the reporter’s questions. Regarding former President of the Republic László Sólyom, he said while he construed the Constitution negatively from the viewpoint of Hungarian sovereignty, he did the country a great service; had he not been president of the republic during the Gyurcsány Government, the country could have fared much worse.
He described former head of state Katalin Novák as another “super talent” of the country, while historian Mária Schmidt as the bravest woman he has ever known. Regarding István Stumpf, he said he was a fantastic chancellery minister.
The progressive liberal generation of 1968 – János Kis, Gábor Demszky, Bálint Magyar, Iván Pető, Péter Tölgyessy – had a chance at the time of the fall of communism, and all but defeated the Hungarian Democratic Forum, but they were eventually beaten to it by the old conservatives, in 1994 by the old communists, while in 1998 by the young members of Fidesz, he said.
Concerning boxer István Kovács Kokó, he said he sees political talent in him, and therefore he made multiple attempts to invite him into the world of politics. In the context of football, he said he expects the Hungarian team to play a World Cup final in eight years’ time. He said he is convinced that he will yet see a World Cup final in his life. He has faith in Dominik Szoboszlai as a leader, and he even has his secret team line-ups, Mr Orbán observed, praising footballers András Törőcsik, Tibor Nyilasi and Lajos Détári.
He believes that it is a positive feature in the reporter Henrik Havas that he is an Újpest supporter, while he described the late broadcaster György Baló as a journalist with a rare intellectual talent who could nonetheless speak to the people.
Mr Orbán believes that journalist András Hont “understands politics because he got his fingers burnt in it,” while Dániel Bohár is a star of the new world. He is not acquainted personally with Márton Gulyás, but believes that “he is a member of the team that has masters,” while he wanted to attend Bence Apáti’s most recent show, but he was in Brussels at the time. “Putting a show together with Egon Rónai will be inevitable sooner or later,” he said regarding ATV’s journalist, while his reaction to the name of journalist Zsolt Bayer was “to the death” whether it came to politics, literature or just a spritzer.
He described singer Azahriah as a young and very talented person, but was of the opinion that him talking about Fidesz supporters as “amoebae” was too much.
In answer to a final question, Mr Orbán said the world is going through such changes that even what was still in order last year needs adjusting in order to be in order also next year. There is no state of rest or ease, he pointed out.
In answer to the question of whom he would like to speak to from the opposition side, he mentioned the socialist István Hiller, saying that “while he’s very much a leftist,” and “from his point of view” the prime minister “is very much a rightist,” he believes that they would be able to conduct an exciting conversation.
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