If there is no Fidesz, there are no one million jobs, there is no safe old age, but there is war and there are plenty of migrants; if there is no Fidesz, there is no party, Prime Minister-President of Fidesz Viktor Orbán said on Saturday in Szeged at the anti-war rally of the Digital Civic Circles.
At the event, which was held in the Szeged Pick Arena, the Prime Minister answered questions from members of the audience together with Minister for Construction and Transport János Lázár as part of an extraordinary ‘Lázárinfó’ press conference lasting for more than an hour. The first question was why it would still be worth voting for Fidesz in 2026 after 16 years in government.
Mr Orbán’s reply was that he would rather tell members of the audience what there would not be if there was no Fidesz. If there is no Fidesz, there is war; if there is no Fidesz-Christian Democratic People’s Party alliance, there will be plenty of migrants, there would be no one million extra jobs and 200,000 Hungarian children would be missing from our lives; if there is no Fidesz, there is no safe old age, there are no tax benefits available in relation to children and first homes for young people, he stressed.
“If there is no Fidesz, there is no party,” he stated. He also said Fidesz and the Christian Democratic People’s party are a community which is always able to present the kinds of leaders that the Hungarians, the country as a whole need. This is our greatest strength, he added.
Mr Orbán – before whom former head of state János Áder delivered a speech – argued that if the people wanted reliable, slow-moving and calm governance, they should ask “János Áder to take the job.” “Once we are tired of what we have and want an adventure, something new, then we’ll ask János,” he said, pointing at Mr Lázár, adding that if the people think that the top priority is to have the country’s finances in order, then they will ask [central bank governor] Mihály Varga “to come out of the central bank.”
In answer to the question of why people should vote for him, Mr Orbán said, first of all, he is a man from the country, from a village, and “if you have a choice, you should choose your own kind, that’s my recommendation.” His second argument was that he was at the best age, and while it was true that he had been at the best age constantly for 30 years, this still counted for something. Thirdly, he also stressed that he had not endeavoured merely to put together and lead a government which would then govern well because this was something that others could do as well. “I endeavoured to change the fate of the Hungarians, the fate that others intended for us after World War I. They intended the fate for us to be small and poor, while I want the Hungarians to be great and rich, and I haven’t quite accomplished that feat yet,” he said.
Answering another question, Mr Orbán pointed out that the threat was not the Tisza party; the name of the threat is Brussels, except right now the agents of Brussels in Hungary are called Tisza. He added that they had to fight not against Tisza, they had to defeat Brussels and to prevent them from guiding Hungary back onto the pre-2010 path when everything that happened in Hungary was what Brussels wanted.
In Brussels, we managed to avert the direct threat of war, the Prime Minister said, answering a question relating to the EU decision that frustrated the confiscation of the frozen Russian assets. Mr Orbán said with the confiscation of the frozen Russian assets Europe would have sent a declaration of war to Russia, but “we managed to catch the carrier pigeon in time.”
Ukraine and Russia are at war, and taking away the assets of one warring party and giving them to the other warring party means that “you have entered the war […] and you’re in it up to your neck,” he stressed.
He also spoke about the fact that money usually played a role after the end of a war. There are situations when the losing party is obliged to pay reparations, Hungary itself found itself in this situation after both world wars. We can talk about this once the war ends, but you cannot do this in the middle of a war because that means that “you have become involved” in the conflict, the Prime Minister pointed out.
Mr Orbán said the Belgian prime minister played the key role in this operation that saved European peace. He fought heroically, “they stabbed him with molten iron rods, they picked at his flesh with pincers the whole day, but perhaps even for weeks before. The experts – because they were Germans – were not joking,” and this man stood his ground, endured it and persevered, he stated.
The Prime Minister pointed out that Ukraine’s collapse would be a very big problem for Hungary. Not only is this not in Hungary’s best interests, but we must do everything we can to prevent this from happening, he pointed out. People in the countryside understand perfectly that the value of a plot is also affected by the neighbouring plot, the state of your neighbour’s plot and who your neighbour is, he said. It would be best if we were surrounded by multiple Austrias all around, he observed.
In answer to the question of whether there will be European peace and security and whether we can count on America’s support after the conclusion of the conflict, Mr Orbán said it is the same in international politics as in our personal lives. Peace means that we have no rows, while peacefulness means that we like being together. Europe does not just need peace, but also peacefulness, he laid down.
He does not see any chance of the latter at this point in time, there are too many wounds and the stab wounds are too deep, and things like this take time to heal. There may be peace which means that there is no war, he added. As to whether we can rely on anyone other than ourselves, he answered the question in the negative.
He stressed that if the Europeans believed that the Americans would protect them, they were very much mistaken. Europe has to be able to defend itself. Rather than financing the Ukrainian army, we must reinforce the armies situated on the western side of Ukraine and must reinforce the European defence industry to ensure that in the event of any trouble, Europe should not be at anyone’s mercy, he laid down.
Mr Orbán also spoke about the fact that as Europe was heading in the direction of war, Hungary needed a pro-peace government. He described both the European People’s Party and the Tisza Party as pro-war parties, while the Patriots and the Fidesz-Christian Democratic People’s Party alliance as pro-peace.
He stressed that 2026 was going to be the last election before a European war. If we do not have a pro-peace government in 2026, all of us will find ourselves at the receiving end in 2029-2030. This question must be decided now: war or peace, he stated.
Mr Orbán said we have averted the direct threat of war, but the threat of war is even greater now than it was before the Brussels summit. He referred to the war loan of EUR 90 billion to be provided for Ukraine, observing that Tisza should win an election in Hungary with the same odds as that the Ukrainians will repay this loan.
He also said we must not have faith in that European politicians are sober enough not to take us into a war. He added at the same time that he had faith in the European people, he expected them to hold anti-war rallies within six months in Germany and France as well. We should have faith in the outcome that the people will enforce peace from below, he stressed.
When asked about the losses caused by the war sanctions to the Hungarian people, he said according to his calculations, losses sustained by the Hungarian economy due to the war and the sanctions must be above EUR 20 billion.
In answer to a question related to child protection, Mr Orbán stressed that while in 2010 just 80 persons had been in prison due to crimes related to paedophilia, today there were more than 700. Mr Lázár added that the question as to why paedophiles had not been persecuted and locked up before 2010 “should not be asked at this rally, but at another one, later this afternoon.”
He pointed out that in the past 15 years, hundreds of charges had been pressed against people due to crimes committed to the detriment of children. He said he cannot promise that everyone in this country will always behave well, and not even that every state institution will always function well, every moment of the day. He promised, however, that if the laws are violated anywhere, if crimes are committed whether to the detriment of children or to the detriment of adults, “we’ll catch them and punish them,” “while we will put right the institutions that have gone wrong.”
Regarding correctional facilities, these are reserved for children “whose lives have gone astray,” who have committed crimes, including murder even. These are criminals who are detained, not in prisons, but in correctional facilities, he pointed out. Naturally, the lives of those young people who have been killed or raped “have gone astray even more,” and for some reason, they and their parents are never mentioned, he observed, adding that these young offenders aged between 14 and 18 years are detained in special correctional facilities, but as far as he can see, these do not function well and the system must be changed. Unless correctional facilities are transferred under the supervision of the prison service and unless this situation is approached with a policing logic, “there will be trouble time and time again,” he stated.
He stressed that order must be restored, correctional facilities must be placed within the system where they belong, the prison service.
Answering another question, the Prime Minister said the idea of the Digital Civic Circles emerged due to the fact that the opponent attacked in an organised fashion those who stand for patriotic, civic and Christian values and who “who do not pursue the genre called vomiting bile.” “If they attack us, we must go there; if they send 500 people onto us commenting on our posts, we should send a thousand in reply; if they send a thousand, we should send two thousand. We must stand up for each other in digital space as well,” he pointed out.
In answer to the question of whether there is a chance for the construction of a new bridge at Csongrád, Mr Orbán said in reply that they built at least one major bridge and established at least one university during every term of their government. There is already a university here, let there be a bridge, he stated.
In connection with a question relating to Szeged’s third bridge, Mr Lázár said they have consulted with Mayor László Botka several times, planning is ongoing, the construction plans have just been completed, the expropriation of plots will begin shortly, they will need another half a term under any circumstances, but the bridge will be built because it is of strategic importance, and “Szeged deserves that bridge.”
In this regard, Mr Orbán indicated that Hungary had a few cities which had national missions, and Szeged was one of those cities. He mentioned as examples that Debrecen was “a fantastic power centre,” and so was Győr. However, Pécs and Szeged are as yet unable to draw people, energy and business opportunities to themselves regardless of boundaries and circumstances.
The Prime Minister was also asked about why European leaders supported the war, what their motivation was and whether there was some master plan behind it. Mr Orbán said in response that it is not that there is a master plan and there is some evil man sitting somewhere pulling the strings. What is happening is that everyone started seeking what opportunities the military conflict might have for them. Some countries say the conflict must be used to weaken Russia as much as possible, while there are countries which see the Russians as a constant and imminent threat because previously they belonged to the Soviet Union. And there are “great European traditions,” he said, with reference to the fact that Russia was already attacked in the past by both Napoleon and Hitler.
“They didn’t succeed, perhaps this time Kaja Kallas will,” he observed ironically.
He pointed out that rather than Russian paintings hanging in Paris or Berlin museums, there was loot taken from Europe in Saint Petersburg. He cautioned everyone against provoking or attacking the Russians. In his view, neither did Miklós Horthy want to wage a war against the Russians, “had the Germans not pushed us in, we wouldn’t have gone to the Don Bend.”
Mr Orbán recalled his speech he delivered on Thursday to the other 26 EU leaders. In his words, he said at the time that he had previously made two attempts to achieve a strategic change in the Council’s war policy, but had failed both times. First, he recommended a U-turn when Donald Trump won the election in the United States, while he recommended a change of strategy the second time when the US and Russian presidents met in Alaska.
He stressed that this week he had suggested also for a third time that they execute a U-turn, line up behind the US president, support Donald Trump’s peace efforts and restore peace because it was cheaper to finance peace than war.
The Prime Minister was asked about the V4 having been reduced to V3, while he was also asked in which European country we could expect the next patriotic turnaround. The Prime Minister said it is good news that the V4 have become V3 because “until now it was V1.” He added that in actual fact, the three were not three, but three and a half because “the Polish president is with us.” The V3 or V4 must be reorganised so that they can defend themselves against the Brussels sanctions and ward off the attacks coming from there, “though their strength and seriousness are diminishing,” he stated.
In conclusion, he pointed out that they were making good progress in Europe. He observed that he had heard the pearl of wisdom from his mother-in-law that ‘all’s well if it ends well, and if it doesn’t, it’s not the end yet.’
