Greetings to the Honourable President of the Republic and your dear wife. I welcome Hungarians from beyond our borders. You know this: only countries have borders, but the nation does not.
Honourable Congress, Dear Friends,
Today’s congress has been convened for the nomination of candidates. Stepping into the public eye today are brave men and women who are willing to fight for the trust of the Hungarian people and who, after victory, are ready to support the Hungarian government for four years. For four years they will take responsibility for decisions on the most important issues facing our country. They undertake to unwaveringly defend and lead a free and independent Hungary. Vivat, vivat, vivat! Today we are presenting the candidates, and then – by February 20 – we will present the Fidesz–KDNP list and its leader. First of all, I would just like to say that even after twenty years as Prime Minister, I stand ready for the task. I stand ready because I am once again in my prime. More than ever! Here is a survey of the international scene: the American president will turn 80 this year, the Russian president is 74, the Chinese president is 73, and the Turkish president is 72. No wonder I feel like a youngblood – even after twenty years of governing. Bring it on, I’ll take on all comers!
My Friends,
The winning team is standing here before you – or rather, they are here among us. I respectfully greet and proudly present to Hungarian voters the 106 individual constituency candidates of Fidesz–KDNP. Please stand up, so we can applaud you! “Don’t change a winning team” is a well-worn piece of wisdom. But did the person who came up with it know – or could they have known – what we know? Did they see what we have seen? Did they see four consecutive parliamentary election victories with two-thirds majorities? Victories in every local election for twenty years? Triumphs in every European Parliament election since we joined the EU? They could not have seen that, because no one but us has been able to do it. And no one will be able to for a long time to come – if ever. Today we are starting the election campaign with 65 old candidates and 41 new candidates. Instead of the principle of “never change a winning team”, I believe that “the Church must always be reformed” – because in Fidesz, only Fidesz is better than Fidesz. Our candidates are calm, confident, experienced people. These are exactly the people Hungary needs today for it to live in peace and security.
Dear Delegates,
On behalf of us all, I would like to thank our proven brothers- and sisters-in-arms who are not standing again in individual constituencies. They have all agreed to pass on their knowledge and experience to the young people who will be taking their places, and to assist them in the campaign. Thank you very much! In this way, they will guarantee – and with them I will guarantee – that all our candidates represent the same virtues, ideas, principles and values of productive life that have made Hungary successful, and that have also made us unprecedentedly successful.
Honourable Congress,
Reliability, security, experience. In Fidesz, generational change is taking place in a manner that is orderly, thoughtful and consensual. Everyone knows their place, everyone is aware of their role and can perform their duties with confidence. Those who belong to us can be sure that the community will always count on them, and they can count on the community. If there is such a thing as a Fidesz quality, that quality is camaraderie. Developing and continuously maintaining a culture of camaraderie is the task of the serving party president, and I could not be prouder of this success. The exception proves the rule… Why is camaraderie important in a political party? Because only a political force that is capable of achieving unity within itself can create national unity. A small group of twenty-six members or a fragmented Left – such as the MSZP [Hungarian Socialist Party] or DK [Democratic Coalition] – has no chance of creating cooperation and unity in the country. One can joke about the politics of national cooperation, one can harp on about NER [System of National Cooperation], but in the life of a nation there is nothing more important than unity. There is nothing more important than a shared belief in the future of the nation: national unity. And today only we – Fidesz–KDNP – can give this to Hungary. And, my friends, camaraderie provides an opportunity for honesty – and honesty creates clear, understandable and straightforward speech. In today’s world, honest, straightforward speech is something special. Something in the world has changed. We do not yet know whether this change is permanent or reversible, but we can all see that the direction of change is not good. Frivolity and irresponsibility are gaining ground. It is possible to lie about everything. With digitalisation, fake news, deception and fraud are spreading faster than ever before. This is also the case in Hungarian politics. Someone can swear that they will not take up their parliamentary seat, then do so anyway, and suffer no consequences. Such a person can promise to abolish the institution of parliamentary immunity, then when he is in trouble hide behind the shield of parliamentary immunity, and suffer no consequences. Someone can admit to carrying a firearm where that is prohibited, and then deny having done so. They can argue in favour of a progressive tax increases on live television, and then deny it. The key phrase that sums it all up – and is a kind of portrait of the times – is this: “We won’t tell you everything, because if we do we’ll lose.”
Dear Friends,
That is not our world. And I believe that it is not the world of Hungarians either. Lying may be commonplace in liberal democracy, but it cannot become so here. It may be commonplace in Brussels and the liberal West to deceive people; but here, among patriots, it is unacceptable – even a capital offence, politically. Honest, serious speech is respect itself. Lying, flip-flopping and fudging, concealing one’s true thoughts and plans, saying “I won’t tell you what we’re up to” – this in fact is impudence, disrespect and arrogance, which treats people like fools.
My Friends,
Our world is one of straightforward speech, factual argumentation, and objective reasoning. Let us be proud that we are the only government in the entire Western world that has asked the people about migration, child protection, reductions in household energy bills, and the war. Only honest, serious discourse can provide the confidence necessary for calm and composed governance. I ask you to cleave to this during the campaign as well. A good government’s best ally is reality. And the reality is that we promised a work-based economy – and we delivered on that promise, creating one million jobs. The reality is that we raised the minimum wage from 73,000 forints to 323,000 forints, and the average wage from 202,000 forints to 700,000 forints. And it is also true that in the coming years of government we will achieve an average wage of one million forints and a minimum wage of one thousand euros. It is true that we have promised a family-based society, we have protected Hungarian children from gender distortions, and we have created the first family tax system in Europe. People still marvel at this today. Reality gives us calmness, tranquillity, and governance based on experience and a steady hand. Right now this calm confidence is what Hungary needs most. No clowning around! This is no time for moonstruck experimentalists! We live in an age of danger. Only trustworthy, loyal and experienced governments can give nations a peaceful, secure, and predictable life. This is why, in the upcoming election, we must defeat not only our political opponents. We must defeat them too – preferably by a large margin; but in reality we must triumph over the spirit of lies, frivolity, cynicism, dissimulation and submission, and all the Hungarian representatives of that spirit. This will entail enormous personal responsibility and serious work for all 106 of our candidates in individual constituencies. I wish you all good luck and every success!
Honourable Congress,
I have spoken with all 106 candidates and reached an agreement with each of them. It is a strong team – a team comprising 106 carefully selected, high-quality candidates. A team from which tomorrow I could form not one, but two complete governments. The most striking thing is that – unlike our opponents – they have intact vocal cords. They have a voice. Our candidates have everything: a voice, opinions, positions, views, and a programme. And they are not afraid to talk about them. We do not lie low or sneak around: we stand proudly before the Hungarian people, asking them for another four-year mandate. We do not look down on anyone, and we do not forget anyone: to us everyone is important.
Dear Candidates, Dear Friends,
You must talk to everyone, as in the “Lázár-info” forums: talk to everyone, about everything, everywhere, at all times. And, among other things, I ask you to talk about the war, about migration, and about the dangers of gender ideology. These issues may seem unrelated, but they have one thing in common: they are irreversible. Once you have made a mistake, you cannot correct it: you can never return to the starting point before your bad decision. We are familiar with migration, we have tangible experience of it. We see it here in our neighbour, Austria – and from there onward in every Western European country. Once you let in migrants, once you surrender to their invasion, you can never return to the way things were before the influx – not even if voters realise they have backed the wrong horse and then elect a right-wing, anti-immigration, nationalist government. Look at Italy! They have a fantastic prime minister, but no matter how hard they try, it is impossible to turn an immigrant country back into a non-immigrant country. You can make fish soup from fish, but not the other way around. Those who have let them in can now only decide on the terms of coexistence; they can no longer remedy the problem at its root. This is how our Western European friends irreversibly became immigrant countries, whom even we cannot help – except with expressions of sympathy. And their situation is only getting worse. Brussels is ruthlessly implementing its plan: to turn everyone who does not rebel into an immigrant country. The Brusselite bureaucrats do not want to stop immigration, but to regulate it. Brussels is the enemy of European Christian civilisation. It is exactly as the US National Security Strategy states today: Europe is losing its civilisational roots. But the Americans are wrong on one point, and perhaps the most important one: Western Europe is not losing its classical Christian European civilisation, but abandoning it. In fact, it is replacing it! However, neither Jesus Christ, nor patriotism, nor the instinct to protect their children have been erased from the hearts of the European people. In other words, from the liberals’ point of view, the majority of native Europeans are a hopeless cause, because they cannot be re-educated. Even if they managed to reform them, it would only be temporary. They would return to Christian teachings again and again, their love of country would flare up, and they would not allow their children to be treated as guinea pigs for gender experimentation. We are a backsliding breed. Yes, we native Europeans are a backsliding breed: in their eyes we are incorrigible and irredeemable – and therefore useless, and even dangerous. We must be neutralised: the concentrate is too strong, and must be diluted. And if that is not enough, then we must be replaced: step by step, denying the ultimate goal, presenting as an inevitable process that which in fact they themselves are organising and directing.
My Friends,
The European liberal elite use the Brussels bureaucracy, European law and Luxembourg judges to crush the resistance of rebellious countries. This is why they imposed a daily fine of one million euros on us Hungarians. They thought this was an amount that Hungary could not afford. They were wrong. They misjudged the Hungarians. They did not know that when it comes to mathematics, we are among the best. It is easy to calculate that a daily fine of one million euros paid to maintain Christian Hungarian civilisation is much less than the migration costs that Hungary would incur if it became an immigrant country. And this is not even taking into account things that cannot be measured in monetary terms. Furthermore, Hungary will even get back the money it has paid in fines so far. Now they have come up with a new ploy: the Migration Pact. They are demanding that we build refugee camps capable of accommodating tens of thousands of migrants, and that we immediately take in hundreds of migrants from Western countries – migrants whom they have allowed in. The Migration Pact is supported by Tisza and DK, who always vote in the European Parliament for its accelerated introduction. In the election, one of the issues at stake is whether we will bow down to Brussels and turn Hungary into an immigrant country, or whether we will continue our rebellion and repel all of Brussels’ migration attempts – including those of Tisza and DK. My advice to you is that we continue our rebellion!
My Friends,
Anyone who does not vote for Fidesz is voting for migration. Migration brings not only violence, but also anti-Semitism – and indeed violent anti-Semitism. Jewish families are leaving Western European countries on a continuous basis. Slowly but surely, Hungary is becoming home to the largest Jewish community in Europe. The Jewish community in Budapest is safe solely because Fidesz–KDNP governs the country and we protect them from what is happening to them in Western Europe. In Hungary there is zero tolerance for anti-Semitism, and safety for everyone. We know that Budapest has a strong liberal, left-wing tradition, while Fidesz is a patriotic party of the Right. Times are changing, and this must be understood in Budapest as well. Today liberal, left-wing parties pose a threat and bring trouble to the Jewish community here. Fidesz–KDNP is the only political force that is willing and able to guarantee their safety. This is a serious achievement for a patriotic party of the Right. Let us be proud of it!
Dear Candidates,
And please talk about the gender threat emanating from Brussels. Anyone who sets foot on the Brussels path must also embrace gender politics. There the family can be any combination you like, and someone can even have two mothers. Sleeping Beauty can become Sleeping Benny, and there are not only men and women, but also other strange creatures. As they say, over there “the world is no longer binary”. And that is what children are taught. Whether you like it or not, sensitisation and propaganda for deviancies reaches everyone – in schools, kindergartens and bookstores. They are rewiring children’s brains and changing the cultural foundation of countries in a single generation. And this is irreversible! This must not happen here, which is why we must keep the likes of Tisza and DK away from governance!
My Dear Friends,
There is a great amount “on the table”: a change in the world order; the disgraced Brussels elite; aspiring proconsuls deployed here from Brussels; the millions of rolling euros now being slid in from Brussels, into the pockets of our opponents here. And yet the situation is as simple and clear as day. Before us there are two paths. In April, Hungary will say “yes” to one path and “no” to the other. One is the Hungarian path, the path of peace. The other path is that of Brussels and of war. Cast: it is rare for a nation to be able to decide its fate so unambiguously, amidst such clear conditions. But this suits the Hungarian character – and it suits Fidesz too. In fact, this is perhaps what we do best: Communists or freedom? Comecon or the European Union? The Warsaw Pact or NATO? Migrants or security? Gender or the family? And now, in this election: war or peace?
Dear Delegates,
Tisza and DK want to switch the Hungarian economy to the Brusselite war economy. The war economy is no joke. The war economy is not child’s play. The laws of the war economy are ruthless. If you step onto that path, you will eventually have to sacrifice everything on its altar. And Brussels has decided. European leaders have decided. They are going to war. Historians will write about how Europe drifted into war. I, too, will be available to them as an eyewitness. But now we must focus on the facts, the unforgiving facts of today and tomorrow. Brussels wants to wage war, but without the money to do so. So far it has spent 180 billion euros, and now it is giving Ukraine another 90 billion euros in war loans. We know that the Ukrainians will never pay it back. How could they? We are now at 270 billion euros. The only way to get this money back is to defeat Russia and force it to pay war reparations. That is why they are going to war. They are throwing good money after bad. Victory, or an ocean of wasted money? And most of that wasted money has been borrowed. If they cannot get it from Russian reparations or the spoils of war, then they will have to take it from their own resources, from their own economies. In other words, they have spent, burned through, their own children’s future. And let’s stop here for a moment.
Hey, you young Hungarians!
If you vote for Tisza or DK, you are voting against your own future. Tisza and DK will carry out Brussels’ demands without batting an eyelid. Do not forget that Tisza’s boss is Herr Weber, Europe’s biggest warmonger. Young people who vote for Tisza are ruining their own futures and will spend their entire lives groaning under the weight of their share of the war loan given to Ukraine. With a war economy, you will be pawning your own futures. Be vigilant, and listen to your conscience! Join us! Join us before Weber and Brussels conscript you and send you to Ukraine. Then, if you survive, for decades they will collect interest from you for the war loans. Hungarian youth deserve a better future than that. And once you have ruined it, there will be no second chance – it cannot be fixed. Let’s be honest, my age and responsibility give me the authority to say this. If a Tisza–DK government sides with Brussels in the war and reorganises the Hungarian economy, then, dear young Hungarians, you are done for! Young people tend to believe that things can only get better than they are now. Sometimes this is true, sometimes not. This is how we got rid of the communists, and we were right: things got better, we won. But I also remember how, in 2002, many people thought, after our first civic government, that things could only get better. Then they got Gyurcsány: economic collapse, eight wasted years. And then they called us back. It would be good, dear young Hungarians, if now you could spare yourselves that.
My Friends,
Meanwhile, the Ukrainians have submitted their claim for the next ten years, which amounts to 800 billion dollars. And this figure does not include their security or war expenditures – those will be submitted as separate items. Brussels has also issued an order: Hungary must join the European war economy. They have put in writing what Brussels demands from Hungary. It demands that we abolish preferential housing loans, the CSOK [Family Home Creation Support] programme, and tax exemptions. We should abolish the thirteenth and fourteenth months’ pensions. Instead of a flat-rate, proportional income tax, we should introduce a disproportionate – or, as they say, progressive – tax system. We should abolish tax allowances for families. We should abolish the system of reductions in household energy bills. We should tax government bond yields. We should close hospitals. We should raise corporate taxes and abolish workers’ loans. And all this so that our money can be sent to Ukraine. As we say around here: Do you want me to say it to you or show you? [Mayor of Budapest] Gergely Karácsony would also do better to direct his hand gesture towards Brussels rather than us – because Brussels would take most of the money from Budapest, since that is where most of it is. Poor people of Budapest, how long will you let them cheat you? Sending money to Ukraine is like pouring it into a bottomless pit – not to mention the corruption. I agree with the Czechs: “Steal, but not from us!” Sooner or later, Brussels will have to face the truth that Ukraine is not making us stronger, but weaker. In fact, if this continues, it will destroy the European economy. The Americans are smarter. If Trump had been President in 2022, the war would not have broken out; but the Democrats came along and pushed the Europeans into it. But now they have pulled out in time. Those who wage war should pay for it! They are doing all right thank you, the numbers worked out for them, and they are fine. The Americans can do that. There is a new president, a new pro-war president. The previous Democratic leadership is responsible for the hundreds of thousands of deaths, for those maimed in combat, for incomprehensible cruelty and destruction. In Europe, however, the leaders who have led their countries into war are still in power. They are unwilling or unable to back down. They should bear responsibility for a losing and senseless war. We are now at the point where they have signed a written agreement and are ready to send troops and station them on Ukrainian territory. With this European leadership it is impossible to change course, reverse, or turn back from this dead end. Anyone with common sense – and we have it – will not join this war effort. Anyone with common sense will not switch their country to a war economy. And we have common sense. Just make sure it is at hand when the time comes to vote.
Distinguished Congress,
We must concern ourselves not with our opponents, but with ourselves, and above all – as the ruling party – with our country. But propriety demands that we also say a few words about our opponents. As I see it, Brussels’ plan for 2022 has also failed in 2026. They really should realise that it is a waste of energy: the Hungarian government cannot be removed from power remotely from Brussels. It cannot be removed because we do not trust outsiders, nor do we trust their candidates for proconsul. In these parts the honour of the heirs of Mihály Károlyi – if they ever had any – is quickly dissipated. It rapidly becomes clear that the whole Tisza game is just a rehash of the Left, a left-wing facelift. Ever since Kálmán Latabár, everyone in Hungary knows that “A new show needs a new man, and a new man needs a new show.” What we are seeing now is the old show – with a new man. Here, on the banks of the Danube, that is a box office flop – a play like that will always fail. If I am not mistaken, it has already failed. When someone talks about false flag assassination attempts, drones being flown in and election fraud, we know that they are already giving explanations for their election defeat. And when Gordon “austerity” Bajnai has to be flown in from London, then there must be big trouble on that side. It is no use: every story time must come to an end eventually – this is the end of the tale, run along now! The end is already here, and the only thing left is the running: run off to Brussels, where Papa Manfred and Mama Ursula are waiting for you, waiting to comfort you!
My Dear Friends,
That is perhaps enough about our opponents; let us talk about more serious matters. We also need to talk about international politics, because the world after 1990 – in which we learned to live, work and develop – no longer exists. The liberal international order is crumbling before our eyes. President Trump has delivered the final blow. The changes will bring restructuring, uncertainty and danger. This is what awaits us in the coming years. International treaties and organisations no longer command authority. They are like toothless lions that still roar loudly in the savannah, but no longer frighten a single antelope. We cannot turn our backs on them, nor can we trust that they will be of use to us in times of need. The age that has arrived is that of bilateral agreements, of personal relationships, of interests and power. The age of nations. The good news is that we began our preparations in good time. Those who are weeping the loudest today over the coffin of the liberal world order did not understand – or did not want to understand – what Hungary was doing and why. They simply laughed at Hungarian foreign policy. But we know that he who laughs last laughs longest. Today, Washington, Beijing, Moscow and Istanbul all have an interest in Hungary’s success. We have concluded – and continue to conclude – dozens of agreements with the world’s leading powers on trade, investment and defence. These are agreements that will guarantee Hungary’s secure development – even in a new world order reminiscent of Wild West movies. Peace, international prestige, development, a Hungary that is once again great and strong. Fidesz: this is the safe choice.
Distinguished Delegates, Honourable Congress,
Our strong argument in favour of the Hungarian path is that the other path is a dead end: it mortgages the future and brings the constant threat of war. But our main argument is that the Hungarian path is the right path, and that we can achieve things that others can only dream of. With 4 per cent inflation and 0.6 per cent economic growth, only we are capable of an 11 per cent increase in the minimum wage. With even half of this, any left-wing government would be as happy as a monkey with a box of shiny trinkets! Any trade union in the world would be over the moon! And we are achieving this on a national basis, with market- and business-friendly policies of the Right. Nowhere else in the world have they been able to grant mothers with two children a lifetime exemption from income tax. But we have done it – only us, only here, only in Hungary! While there are austerity measures in every country under the Brusselite war economy, we have undertaken to build 150 factories – 101 of which are already under construction. They are imposing austerity measures, while we are doubling tax allowances for families with children, introducing a fourteenth month’s pension, and launching our fixed 3 per cent first home creation programme, which is unique in Europe. And we are doing all this at once!
My Friends,
The Hungarian path is peaceful, the Hungarian path is safe, the Hungarian path is successful, the Hungarian path leads upwards, and on this path everyone can take one step forward every year.
Honourable Congress,
It is no exaggeration to say that in the spring of 2026 we in Hungary will be deciding on a destiny – a destiny for Hungary. We are not fighting for a party, a government, a prime minister, or the next four years of government, but for the future of the Hungarian people. And if everyone does their part, if you do not lose faith, if we remain humble, we will be rewarded. And we will win again.
Fly the flags high! Onward to victory!
God above us all, Hungary before all else!
Go Hungary, go Hungarians!
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