The opposition is not on the Hungarians’, but the opposition’s side on the issue of energy, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated on Thursday at the Pásztó station of the government parties’ tour of the country.
The Prime Minister highlighted: if needs be, we must turn against everyone, we must protect our interests as he did most recently. “When the situation called for it, I took on conflicts with Brussels and the Ukrainians,” he said, adding that the Ukrainians bet everything on a single card.
“The Ukrainians want a pro-Ukraine government in Hungary. They don’t hide this, they openly state it. Zelenskyy is threatening us. He’s threatening the country, threatening the government, and also the prime minister,” he said.
Mr Orbán pointed out that the opposition sided not with the Hungarians, but with the Ukrainians on the issue of energy. The Ukrainians, Tisza and Brussels “colluded behind our backs a long time ago” in order for Hungary to have a pro-Ukraine government after the elections which fulfils the Ukrainians’ demands, lets them into the EU, gives the Hungarians’ money to Kiev and detaches Hungary from cheap energy.”
He highlighted that energy was not a foreign policy issue, but an economic issue, a crucial economic issue, family budgets depend on it. Today in Hungary, an average family pays HUF 250,000 a year for energy, a Polish family pays HUF 800,000 for the same amount of energy, a Czech family pays a million, while the Austrians even more, he stressed. He added: if there is no cheap energy, oil and gas that can be imported from Russia, the Hungarians will pay eight hundred thousand to a million forints a year for energy.
The Prime Minister also said that in Western Europe factories are being closed down and there are austerity measures because the money is being sent to Ukraine. In Hungary there are no austerity measures, “the tax benefit available in relation to children has been doubled, we are able to introduce the fourteenth monthly pension, there is a fixed 3 per cent housing loan because we’re not sending the Hungarians’ money to Ukraine, but are keeping it here in Hungary,” he laid down. “We’re supporting the Ukrainians,” Mr Orbán stressed.
The Prime Minister described the western plan that they will make the Russians repay the money they have given the Ukrainians as a flawed plan and overly risky, stressing that Hungary is opposed to this military, war and economic plan, we will not join it. If we are able to stay out, then we will be able to see through the housing programme for young people, we will complete the tax exemption for mothers of two, not only for those under 40, but for everyone, we will be able to see through the fourteenth monthly pension, and we will be able to accomplish the plans which the Hungarians truly need, he said, pointing out that this is what is at stake in the April parliamentary elections.
In addition to immigration, the family and work, Mr Orbán described the issue of war as one of the most important civilisational issues, observing that “on this issue we sing from the same hymn sheet not only with the people of Nógrád, but also with the majority of Hungary.”
“We don’t even know in which part of the world another war will ignite,” but “for us the one between Russia and Ukraine is the most important and the most dangerous as far as we are concerned,” he warned, highlighting that the Russo-Ukrainian war could have ended a long time ago, but European leaders “keep convincing the Ukrainians to carry on.”
He added that a normal person with a history like that of Hungary could not possibly want war. “The Hungarians can only ever lose on war. Therefore, we must always do everything we can in order to stay out of the wars which even in the 20thcentury we did not initiate ourselves, but were imposed on us,” he stressed.
“If I look at the thing from this angle, we must win these elections. As to what the other side has to say about this, we have no idea, but we suspect not what we say. And we have good reason for that,” he said.
He pointed out that the government had accomplished everything it had pledged 4 years previously, without exception.
Touching upon the issue of migration, Mr Orbán stated: “We don’t want migrants, we don’t want to let them in, and we want to decide whom we want to live together with.” He recalled that the so-called migration pact would take effect in Europe from 1 July which would impose two obligations on the Hungarians: one of them is to take in migrants from Western European countries, while the other one is that we build a refugee camp for twenty thousand for the ongoing management of refugees or migrants.
“We must say no, we will be punished for it, but we must nonetheless persevere,” he stressed.
Regarding the county, he said he sees the alliance between the people of Nógrád and Fidesz-KDNP [Christian Democratic People’s Alliance] as natural. He said the common political objective of the people of Nógrád County and Fidesz is that the country should be a country for families. There is agreement between Nógrád County and the country’s leadership that the country can only lead a happy life if families receive the respect and assistance they deserve and need.
“We are a family-friendly government, and therefore regard the alliance of the people of Nógrád which is a strong Catholic region and Fidesz-KDNP as natural,” he added.
Also recalling the years of the change of regime after the fall of communism, he said “it was very difficult to forge that alliance between Fidesz and the people of Nógrád.” “This was a county where supporters of the old regime persevered and fought for a long time. And it took us many long years to accomplish this change – taking the country’s development in a civic, patriotic and Christian direction – also here in Nógrád,” he added, indicating that from 2010 onward, however, this was finally achieved.
“We all look upon the upcoming election as one that we will win both nationally and here,” the Prime Minister pointed out.
He stressed that the contest was so close that the election could only be won with hard work. The Prime Minister highlighted that there was a keen battle, “we must defeat not just the party called Tisza.” The problem is not Tisza, but “the inordinate amount of money that is behind them and that is being sent to them from both Brussels and Kiev.” “We should win, and I think we will, but if we don’t work hard enough, we won’t be able to convert our chances,” he pointed out.
He asked members of his audience “to vote as if the country’s fate depended on your vote.” “We need this mandate,” if we do not have that, then there is no patriotic, Christian and civic government,” the Prime Minister said in reference to Zsolt Becsó, Fidesz’s candidate in the constituency. He added: “We must stand up for ourselves, […] you can’t win an election in a cowardly way.”
Mr Orbán said towards the very end, during the last week, there will be a major mobilisation race. “Also until then, we will have important days ahead, but the last few days will be the most important, the week after Easter.”
He said “as we have done an honest job, we can’t set a lesser goal for ourselves” than the goal we achieved in the last elections: “then we won 87 constituency mandates.” “I believe that I have the best chance in Hungary of keeping our country out of the war,” he said, adding that “I’m ready, I could also say that I have at least one more bullet in the chamber, and I will be able to accomplish the next four years if you agree to do it together with me.”
