Mr Orbán also said the extraordinary weather is a trial for everyone, but on the whole, “the country has withstood this snow test.” He said the country works well in peacetime. However, we are able to organise life not only during normal periods, but also in extraordinary circumstances. The Prime Minister thanked everyone who took part in averting the many threats that faced us, including transport and road operators, railway workers, members of the police and disaster management, and the army.
He added that at times like this people tended to be impatient because their lives were tipped off their normal course. But compared with the extent to which their lives were tipped off their normal course – rubbish was not collected from some streets for several days – the people got on top of things in a patient and disciplined manner; the country made a promising and positive impression.
He said when they last had similar difficult moments, harsh weather struck unexpectedly: a large number of motorists found themselves stuck on the M1 motorway, and people had to be given life coaching advice in mass emergency SMS text messages to avoid serious harm.
These dossiers are available. The interior minister and the prime minister are today the same as at the time, and so now they opened the dossiers to see what they did back then, he said, indicating that this experience was of much help.
He said the operational group was formed at the right time, the interior minister – as always in situations like this – was able to guarantee the operation of the institutions falling beyond the remit of the Ministry of the Interior through the operational group, with a firm hand.
Mr Orbán pointed out that it was not over yet. Freezing rain may come at any time, severe cold weather may return and major snowfall, too, is on the cards. We must take good care of each other, children and the elderly especially, the Prime Minister recommended, asking everyone to go about their day-to-day business with caution.
There are plenty of gas reserves, we started the winter with reserves well in excess of forty per cent of the annual consumption, the Prime Minister stated.
Mr Orbán said we may not even have to draw on our reserves, or if we do, only to a minor extent because supplies are ongoing. There has been no disruption in the country’s gas supply, the Prime Minister laid down.
He highlighted that this was a key issue because if gas stopped coming and we had no reserves, we would be in trouble. But we are not and our gas reserves are far greater than is customary in western countries, he added.
He also spoke about the issue of firewood, stating that those who are not connected to the gas mains, can’t afford gas or are unable to heat with electricity need firewood. Every winter the government has a firewood subsidisation campaign which they have now doubled and methods have changed, too. Local councils are involved in the distribution process, and are forwarding many tens of thousands of cubic metres of firewood to the people much more swiftly and more effectively.
There is no upper limit, the operational group and the interior minister have been authorised to make available the required quantity of firewood cost what it may, he stated.
There cannot be a situation where a person should freeze to death or has no access to this form of support because the available allocation has been exhausted, he added.
Mr Orbán also spoke about the fact that a red alert code was in effect. The capacity available in social institutions is well in excess of the number of people who have no shelter or safe shelter above their heads. They are able to receive and to help the needy throughout the winter. There is an established system for this, and this is working now, too.
Regarding Ukraine’s support by the EU, he said according to Brussels’ own records, so far Europe has spent more than EUR 193 billion on supporting Ukraine. He observed that the Americans were smarter, they had quit this at the right time. The Europeans are not proceeding on this course, we tend to ignore the rules of common sense, and the Brussels leaders keep giving Ukraine financial support continually and almost unconditionally, he added. He pointed out that a part of the EUR 193 billion was a loan, but everyone knew that Ukraine would “never in a million years” be able to repay this.
He recalled that the EU had no money to give Ukraine for this year and next year, and so they had decided on taking out a loan of EUR 90 billion. However, as a result of “a long and bloody night of knifing,” Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia stayed out of this.
He also said the Ukrainians now submitted a financial demand for EUR 800 billion for the next ten years. This is such a vast amount of money that you should catch your breath, he said, adding that according to their calculations, from this sum we could pay all Hungarian pensions for forty years and all Hungarian family support grants for sixty years.
He stressed that with the national petition, every Hungarian would now receive a chance to say no to financing Ukraine and the war and say together with the government that ‘we won’t pay, you shouldn’t count on us, we will not change the Hungarian welfare measures.’
Mr Orbán said the European Union is betting on Ukraine winning this war against Russia on the frontline, and Europe is providing financial support for this victorious Ukrainian war. With the national petition launched by the Hungarian government, every Hungarian will be given a chance to say no to this, he added.
They will defeat the Russians on the frontline via the Ukrainian army, the Russians will pay reparations and everyone will get their money back. The Europeans will recover the money given to Ukraine from Russia, and Russia causing the damage will pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine, he summarised the Brussels plan.
It is based on this assumption that they are squandering, sending off or burning European taxpayers’ money in the hundreds of billions in a situation when Europe itself does not have money, he warned.
He added that there was no expert of note who would claim that the Russians could be defeated on the front, and at that, to such an extent that they would be obliged to pay reparations.
“This is even beyond fairy tales. Meaning that they’re feeding a story to Western European citizens, they’re keeping the dissatisfaction or common sense-based questions of Western European people at bay with a story which is evidently not true,” he pointed out.
In his opinion, until the people finally rise up over there as they would here in Hungary within a week in such a situation, they will continue this in Western Europe.
Mr Orbán also said the European Union says they can provide funds for Ukraine from two sources. One is that Brussels will send to Ukraine the more money they collect from the Member States. Should this not be enough, they will borrow. However, as a first step, “they are squeezing everything out of everyone,” he indicated.
He recalled that compared with Hungarian household energy bills, today people in Western Europe paid three to four times more during such a cold winter.
In order to finance the war, they are squeezing all the money out of the people in the West, and as they can see that Hungary is not prepared to follow suit, they have a list of demands for us, he pointed out.
He added that these demands had been laid down in various European documents, including a number of expectations: we should scrap the taxes on multinational corporations and the bank levy, they are not yet saying anything about the fourteenth monthly pension, but want us to do away with the thirteenth monthly, and demand the transformation of the family support system and the housing system.
However, today, Hungary is in a privileged position because “in the past few years I have always resisted these demands, that the Hungarians should pay more and shouldn’t do things that Brussels doesn’t like. I vetoed them, rejected them, if needs be, we rebelled as we did in the case of migration,” he recalled.
The Prime Minister also said the government gathered together Brussels’ demands vis-à-vis Hungary in a document and published it. Today, every Hungarian can read the official report about how Brussels wants to take away or change good things in Hungary, he observed.
The Prime Minister described the Tisza Party and DK [Democratic Coalition] as pro-Brussels and pro-Ukraine political forces, adding that it is a realistic threat that young Hungarians may be sent to Ukraine as soldiers if a pro-Brussels government is formed in Hungary.
The Prime Minister said on the left-hand side of Hungarian politics where Tisza and DK are to be found, there are pro-Brussels and pro-Ukraine political forces, while on the other side where they are – Fidesz and the Christian Democratic People’s Party – there is a pro-Hungarian political force that resists, rejects and rebels against Brussels’ demands.
“This is the Hungarian reality. This is the choice on offer,” he added.
He drew attention to the fact that Europe was increasingly drifting into the war. In recent weeks, major countries of the European Union signed an agreement on sending and stationing troops in the territory of Ukraine in the future. Therefore it is evident, he said in continuation, that the pressure on the Member States, including on Hungary, will intensify, the pressure to also send young Hungarians to Ukraine as soldiers.
In the Prime Minister’s view, it is therefore a legitimate fear that the pro-Ukraine forces, DK, Tisza will yield to all the pressure, including this, and sooner or later, if there is a pro-Brussels government, they will send young Hungarians to Ukraine. Mr Orbán described this as a realistic threat which must be prevented at any cost.
He said the government side does not want to send either young Hungarians, weapons or money to Ukraine, does not want to become involved in this war and does not want to allow this war “to suck us in.”
He took the view that there was no national concord on this issue, and the approach to the issue of the war was in fact the most disputed issue from the viewpoint of the future of the Hungarian community. He warned that Hungary could not stay out of either World War I or World War II which both began as European wars. According to the Prime Minister, the most important question of the coming years is whether Hungary is strong enough to keep itself out of the war despite the enormous international pressure.
According to the Prime Minister, “what is bubbling and taking shape magma-style” did not come a surprise for them, they have prepared for it, though surprises may well happen at times. “Because other than palm readers, no one would have been able to predict the intervention in Venezuela,” he said. He recalled that he had been saying ever since 2010 that a new world was coming. The liberal world order is finished, to be replaced with an era of nations. He added that he had not waited for the European Union to do something that would benefit Hungary, “I don’t believe in that anyway.”
2026 will be a year of threats and opportunities for the Hungarians all at once, the Prime Minister stated. Mr Orbán said we must reduce the probability of threats and must use opportunities: the April elections will be crucial from this respect.
This is why the government parties say, he stated in continuation, that the 2026 elections should be about electing a safe choice, meaning that if the government preserves its continuity and acting capacity, then the country will be able to avert threats and to use the emerging opportunities.
If Hungary changes over to the Brussels path, if the pro-Brussels forces win, that means a wartime economy, and that in turn intensifies the threats we are facing and will cause the country untold damage, Mr Orbán stressed.
He added that if the country stayed on the Hungarian path, it would be able to seize the opportunities. He said this year there is an 11 per cent minimum wage increase, the personal income tax exemption of mothers will be extended, the 3 per cent fixed interest loan is a roaring success, the introduction of the fourteenth monthly pension will start, and there has been a tax reduction for small and medium-sized businesses.
He observed that by the end of the yar, the average earnings of teachers would rise to above HUF 900,000, meanwhile there was a 15 per cent pay increase in state administration, social services and the cultural sphere, and there were ongoing pay rise programmes in the judiciary and water management as well.
Mr Orbán said the continuation of this path is what the government has to offer: let us not stray onto the Brussels path, let us say no to a war economy, let us stay on the Hungarian path, the path of a peacetime economy.
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