Hungary will have to face four major risks already in the coming months, and therefore, on 12 April, let us vote not for risks, but for the safe choice, Prime Minister-President of Fidesz Viktor Orbán said at the election rally of the government parties on Saturday in Miskolc.
Mr Orbán argued: the Russo-Ukrainian war will be coming ever closer to us because Europe and Ukraine want to continue it. This is what is at stake in the elections. The question is not who wants war, but who has enough strength to say no and to stay out of the war, he pointed out.
He added: “here experience, routine, the years behind us are all weighty arguments.” “In order to be able to preserve our security and to keep our country out of this financial and economic tragedy, there is a need for a clear head, cold blood and a firm hand, and in Hungary these can only be found at the Fidesz-Christian Democratic People’s Party alliance,” the Prime Minister laid down.
He warned that “everything else is a risk, change is the greatest possible risk which could destroy not only your, but also our children’s and grandchildren’s lives.”
The Prime Minister also warned that we would have to face the oil blockade. He observed that we had managed to ward off the thousand-forint per litre fuel price, while there were European countries where fuel already cost that much, and we had also succeeded in preventing our stocks from running out.
He described migration as the fourth source of threat, observing that there are four million Afghan refugees in Iran. “None of these are easy challenges,” he pointed out. He observed that this week in Brussels they had discussed what to do when “another wave of many millions of migrants set out from Iran in the direction of Hungary via Turkey and the Balkans.” He added that there was reason for self-confidence because we had succeeded in protecting Hungary against migration.
“We built a fence and kept them outside, even if we must pay Brussels a daily fine of 1 million euros for protecting ourselves and also protecting Europe,” he said. “Because Hungary is a country – and in this, too, we must not allow a change to occur – where we Hungarians alone have the right to say whom we live together with. And mostly we would like to live together with ourselves,” he underlined.
At the beginning of his speech, Mr Orbán recalled that in 1989 they had gathered together also in Miskolc in order to put an end to communism, to create a free Hungary, to regain our country’s independence, to send the Soviet troops back home and for Hungary to be worthy again of its old glory. Miskolc has always been there in the frontline, they gave the country Members of Parliament and leaders already at the time of the first free Parliament in 1990, he recalled.
Addressing the crowd, the Prime Minister said no one should be surprised to read that only a handful of people from Miskolc gathered together, but neither should they be surprised to see in the polls that the opponent is already above 100 per cent. In the whole of Hungary, they are trying to make people believe that after 16 years we need a government other than a civic, patriotic and Christian government, he observed. He added: we naturally do not believe that.
“We look around in the world, see the situation of our country and think that while we have quite a few years behind us, important and difficult years are coming, and at times like this, we must all be at your disposal, at the service of the country,” he highlighted, adding that “I am here to serve my country.”
Regarding the opponents up against each other in the elections, Mr Orbán told an anecdote involving 19th century statesman Ferenc Deák: when a young Member of Parliament accidentally took Ferenc Deák’s hat and returned it after realising his mistake, he apologised by saying that ‘our heads are about the same size.’ Deák responded: ‘Maybe on the outside, but not on the inside.’ “So much about our opponents,” he observed.
Mr Orbán stressed that with the Peace March everything had changed. “We were so many and there was so much love and unity at Kossuth tér that everyone could feel the breath of victory,” he said.
“We will win because we are many, we will win because we are working hard for victory and because people professing civic, patriotic and Christian values are in the majority in this country, including in Miskolc,” the Prime Minister stated.
He also spoke about the fact that they recently formed the Fight Club, established the Digital Civic Circles, then they reorganised their activists, travelled around the country with anti-war rallies, and then came the Peace March. Since then they have been to “Somogy Land,” to Heves, Fejér and Pest Counties, and now they are in Miskolc. “Everywhere we go, we are more, we are present in huge numbers everywhere and we are ready for victory everywhere,” he said.
Mr Orbán recalled: in 1990 Miskolc was “a derelict socialist city,” and the big question was whether Miskolc could ever be turned into a modern industrial city. “Let me inform you that we’ve completed most of the job,” he laid down. They have not yet finished the job, but today Miskolc is one of Hungary’s most important industrial centres, he pointed out.
Without Miskolc there is no Hungarian industry, without Miskolc there is no Hungarian economy, the Prime Minister stated. Miskolc has regained its old rank, even if the local football team does not quite reflect that status at this point in time, he observed.
He also said Miskolc is not only an industrial, but also a historical city. Therefore, in addition to developing the local industry, they will do everything they can to complete the project of the Diósgyőr Castle in a way which “will invite the whole world’s admiration.”
After the elections, Hungary will again need great national unity, Mr Orbán said, asking Tisza voters “to not allow emotions to harden your hearts.”
Four years ago, they made a formidable pledge, that come what may in the world, they will keep Hungary out of the war, Hungary will be preserved as Europe’s safest country, he pointed out. The war has been under way for four years, and despite the fact that it is blocking the economy, they restored the thirteenth monthly pension to pensioners, and even began the introduction of the fourteenth monthly pension, the Prime Minister listed.
He said families are at the centre of their politics “because if there are children, there is a future, and if in addition to children there are also jobs, then there is security.” In the past four years, they have doubled the tax benefit available in relation to children, and introduced – “something that no one had been capable of anywhere in the western world” – tax exemption for life for mothers with minimum two children. Additionally, young people have access to fixed 3 per cent housing credit which is “by far the most favourable facility in the whole of Europe.” “And all this in the shadow of a war,” he stated.
The greatest threat is wartime indebtedness as “the dogs of the war and European leaders who are unable to say no” have decided in favour of the continuation of the war, but have no money, he said. Mr Orbán added: if they want to give Ukraine money, they have to borrow. So far, they have given Ukraine EUR 200 billion, now they are taking out a loan of EUR 90 billion – which they managed to keep Hungary out of – and there is a package worth USD 800 billion supporting Ukraine and an armament package worth USD 700 billion on the agenda. To cover these, they will take out loans and will give them to the Ukrainians, he pointed out.
Even our grandchildren will be repaying the loans which European leaders are now taking out, the Prime Minister stressed, confirming that the stake of the elections is for Hungary to avoid this economic tragedy. He said there are not only countries behind the war, but also actors who profit from the war, they are “the dogs of war.” These actors with a vested interest in war include arms dealers, large energy companies with Shell in the vanguard – they have already delegated their man to the shadow government as they want to detach us from cheap energy in order to sell their more expensive product – and bankers because the war must be financed from credit. “It is for a reason that Erste Bank’s representative is there on our opponents’ team,” he said.
“We will put up a good fight in the spirit of love and unity, and because it is about our future, our children’s and grandchildren’s future,” he highlighted. “If we were able to bring down communism, to fight for freedom, to send Soviet soldiers back home, and were able to build a Hungary resting on civic, patriotic and Christian foundations, we will not retreat in the face of a Ukrainian president called Zelensky, the people of Brussels and their agents in Hungary,” he laid down.
“For our community, it is a duty of honour to win, if we don’t win, we will lose everything we have worked hard for in the past 16 years: not only our money and the economy, but also respect for families and the appreciation of the elderly. Young people, too, will lose hope and the prospect of having a better life than their parents’ was,” Mr Orbán said.
He recalled: in the past sixteen years, they have created more than a million jobs, instead of just 3.6 million people in the past, today as many as 4.7 million people have jobs, and they will intend to increase this number to five million in order to maintain the honour and appreciation of work.
Over the course of sixteen years, they have multiplied average wages, and by the end of the next term, they agree to achieve that average earnings will reach a million forints. “All we need for this to happen is for the Hungarians to listen to common sense on 12 April, to vote for Fidesz, to stand up for the safe choice so that together we can preserve our civic, patriotic and Christian Constitution, our workfare economy and our family-centred social system,” he said.
He took the view that in the past four years, they have only managed to keep Hungary out of the war because there has been national unity. We did not succeed in this feat either in World War I or in World War II. The Hungarians did not want war at those times either, but we were pushed in. This could only happen because there was not sufficient national unity for peace, he observed.
What we need is for us to renew our anti-war alliance that we concluded in 2022, we should ask Tisza supporters to understand that Fidesz is the only safe choice and to vote for safety in the spirit of national unity.
“I can promise you that […] I will do my job better and better with every passing day, and also in the next four years, I will serve Hungary, Miskolc and Diósgyőr with all my heart,” he said, asking the attending members of the electorate to support Fidesz’s candidates for Member of Parliament András Hollósy and Katalin Csöbör as well as the mayor of the city.
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