At the event held in the Puskás Arena, the Prime Minister said at the European meetings he attends, everyone without exception, from the German chancellor all the way to the French president, keeps talking about how the European economy must be switched to a wartime footing in the next four years.
Referring to the speeches of central bank governor Mihály Varga, Minister for the National Economy Márton Nagy and President of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Elek Nagy, Mr Orbán indicated that they had to put everything they had previously spoken about to one side as at these European summits they spoke not about a peacetime economy, not about plans and developments, but “the defence industry, army numbers, fiscal expenditures, military preparations financed from deficit, and the money to be given to Ukraine.”
He stressed that the question facing the Europeans, including the Hungarians was, whether there would be a war in the next, 4, 5 to 6 years, and if so, what kind of a war. Mr Orbán recalled that in 2023 the EU’s economy had grown by 0.6 per cent, and also since, it had only been capable of a growth of around 1 per cent. A million industrial jobs have ceased in Europe, factories are being closed down, entire sectors are in a state of liquidation, he indicated.
He recalled that Europe’s leaders had nonetheless decided to detach themselves from Russian energy carriers, and as a result, today, they were paying three to four times higher energy prices than the United States or China. Since the beginning of the war, Europe has paid EUR 1,800 billion more for energy carriers than had we not detached ourselves from Russian energy, he pointed out.
He added that austerity packages had been introduced in France, the Czech Republic, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Poland, the Baltic countries and Romania. Yet, the enormous amount of money that the European economy still generates is being sent to Ukraine, he indicated. We are doing the very opposite. We will stay out of the war, and will also stay out of its financing. And we will not send a single forint of the income generated by the Hungarian national economy to Ukraine, he said regarding the Hungarian position.
If we are unable to firmly occupy and protect this position, our money, too, will go there, he warned. He stressed that we had to fight for this every week. “This is how we stayed out of the 90-billion-euro loan together with the Slovaks and the Czechs. Here, they’re useful auxiliary forces, but we can hardly rely on them as main forces in these battles,” he pointed out.
In the past four years, we have moved in the opposite direction, Mr Orbán observed, adding that they want to follow this direction in the next four years as well. As part of the Demján Sándor Programme, they have sent HUF 1,800 billion not to Ukraine, but to the Hungarian economy; there is an allocation worth HUF 440 billion for energy-related issues; and the tax exemption of mothers of two under the age of 40 has positively affected 120,000 mothers. But they have also doubled the tax benefit available in relation to children, while everywhere else there are austerity measures because the money is being sent to Ukraine, he laid down.
He said the Hungarian economy and the government representing the Hungarian economy stand on firm feet, robust foundations, and so the country cannot be forced to embark on the path of a wartime economy. Mr Orbán said if the Hungarian economy rested on weak foundations, not even the bravest government would be able to accomplish the feat the incumbent government has accomplished in the past four years and would like to continue in the future as well: it has the courage to say no to enormous countries and the European bureaucracy of 30,000, to stay out of the spending Hungary deems to be flawed, to spend the Hungarians’ money on better things, and to stay on its feet nonetheless.
He pointed out that no one liked this, and if they could, they would be only too happy to teach Hungary a lesson with economic means, and then the Hungarian government, however brave it was, could be forced to embark on the path of the war and a wartime economy. He added that in international talks, the government’s greatest strength stemmed from the performance of Hungarian businesses, Hungarian employers, small and medium-sized enterprises, thereby making Hungary strong.
He said if Hungarian businesses had not maintained full employment, if the Hungarian government had to fight against the war in Brussels against the background of rising unemployment, and due to the arising social dissatisfaction, there would be pressure on the government, then they would not be able to persevere because their opponents would “incite all the unemployed to riot” against them.
If there were no pay rises, there would be social unrest which their opponents would exploit and would force Hungary into the wartime economy it is now fighting against, he stressed. The Prime Minister regards pay rises not only as an economic, but equally as a political issue. He recalled that compared with 2010, by 2026 the minimum wage had increased by 123 per cent to HUF 322,800.
He said the flat-rate Hungarian income tax regime is attacked from time to time, but the government has protected it and regards it as “the very heart of the success of the Hungarian economy.” He described progressive taxation as unfair, saying that a flat-rate tax means that if you earn ten times more, you will pay ten times more, while progressive taxation means that you pay not ten times, but fifteen, twenty or as many times more as the government of the day sees fit without any kind of just or principled consideration.
Speaking about the various sector-specific special taxes, Mr Orbán thanked businesses for having tolerated them with patience.
Mr Orbán pointed out that through these special taxes – that the government regards as a fair scheme for the sharing of public burdens – since 2010 they have taken some HUF 15,000 billion away from the wealth and profits of businesses, while in 2026 they will collect another two thousand billion forints.
In continuation, the Prime Minister said he understands the arguments of businesses when they complain about this, but “quite simply, we are unable to maintain public rest, public trust, economic growth, social involvement and inclusivity if we give up these special taxes.” He added at the same time that they would like to reduce the rates of these special taxes, in proportion to the country’s economic growth, to a fairer level; however, amidst the present wartime economic circumstances, this is not possible or would only be possible with great difficulty.
Mr Orbán spoke about the fact that since 2010 the value of national assets had doubled, and during the present term, between 2022 and 2024, they had increased it from HUF 22,000 billion to HUF 24,000 billion.
He described the change at the head of the National Bank of Hungary by saying that “an unorthodox monetary policy has been replaced with Protestant ethics at the central bank,” hence the high currency and gold reserves. The quantity and value of gold bought clearly shows that our life instincts worked well, he observed.
Regarding Russian energy, the Prime Minister observed that low standards had finally arrived in Hungarian politics as well. He said diversification means when procurement sources expand, rather than contract. When an option is sealed – Russian oil shipments in the case of Hungary – it is called the opposite of diversification, the restriction of options. “It would appear that our rivals are not even aware of the evident meanings of Hungarian words,” he said, observing that they talk about diversification, while wanting to detach us from Russian oil and gas. These are two completely contrary things, Mr Orbán laid down.
Rather than detaching ourselves and shutting off sources, we must open up ever further new opportunities. This works quite well in the case of gas, while in the case of oil, there are two options, and we want to surrender neither our main supply route, which is Russian and in the easterly direction, nor our supplementary supply source, which is Croatian and in the southerly direction, he indicated.
“I will not conclude any pact whatsoever, there will be no compromise whatsoever,” “we will break them, we will break the oil blockade,” Mr Orbán stated in connection with the fact that Ukraine has blocked the route of Russian oil shipments. He said we will win, and will win from a position of strength, adding that they will force the Ukrainians to resume shipments. “We will achieve this, not with deals, not with pacts, not with compromises, but from a position of strength,” he laid down. He added: there is no military strength for this, this option does not feature in their plans, but they do have political and financial means with which they will force the Ukrainians to reopen the Druzhba crude oil pipeline soon and without conditions, and to meet their contractual obligations laid down in the Ukrainian-EU association agreement. This stipulates that Ukraine cannot hinder the energy supply of a single Member State of the European Union.
We will enforce this, this is a battle we must not be afraid of, the Prime Minister stated, adding that this is not some sophisticated affair, a dialogue between gentlemen, but open blackmail; we will not negotiate, but will turn against them and win. We will force them – before we run out of our reserves – to reopen the pipeline so that everyone should learn once and for all that they can try to bite into us, but their teeth will break, he said, underlining that this must be made clear now to everyone.
He also spoke about Ukraine’s EU membership, indicating that the EU’s next seven-year budget includes an amount of EUR 360 billion intended for Ukraine, while the European economy is shrinking, or stagnating at best. If they want to send money there, that must be taken away from somewhere, Mr Orbán pointed out, describing agriculture as the number one loser. The plan is to reduce the grants intended for agricultural farms by minimum 20 per cent in the European budget and to redirect that money to Ukraine.
The cohesion fund designed to develop less advanced regions will be the second big loser as according to plans, 20 per cent will be taken away from that area as well in order to send it all to Ukraine. He described it as a “minor hiccup” that the adoption of the EU’s seven-year budget requires unanimity, including Hungary’s vote, and said that they will fight in order to change this.
The Prime Minister said the government’s task for the next four years will be to not allow Hungary to be dragged into the war, to not give the Hungarians’ money to the Ukrainians, to maintain access to cheap Russian energy and to not allow anyone to make the Hungarians pay the price of the war in the form of tax increases.
“Our job in the next four years is to not allow anyone to drag us into a war, to not give the Hungarians’ money to the Ukrainians, to give that money to the Hungarians instead, to maintain access to cheap Russian energy which is the basis of the Hungarian economy and the reduction of household energy bills, and to not allow anyone under any circumstances to make the Hungarians pay the price of the war in the form of tax increases,” he stated.
To this end, Mr Orbán suggested to members of his audience that they maintain their relations with Russia and the Russian energy market, not allow the Ukrainians into the European Union, and prevent all financial transfers, in consequence of which they would indebt “the future of our children and grandchildren.”
The Prime Minister said thank you to President of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Elek Nagy, indicating that the agreement to be signed at the event by the government and the Chamber is about how to delegate ever more tasks which the Chamber is better-equipped to fulfil from state bureaucracy to the Chamber. He added that the agreement had been supplemented even on Thursday morning with the issue of the handing over of state powers relating to passenger transportation by car.
