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Mr Orbán said at a Hungarian initiative, there is an offer on the table which is about the idea that at least at Christmas no one should die on the frontline. If the parties can also agree on a prisoner exchange, then many hundreds of thousands of people and families can be made happy, he said. The offer is not overly complex; after all, Christmas is about love, life, birth and happiness, he argued, adding that there was a ceasefire at Christmas also during World War I, while the summer Olympiad, too, could have served as a good opportunity for suspending the war for a few days on the basis of “a European civilisational tradition.”
The Prime Minister said Hungary did everything it could, one of the parties accepted the offer, while the other one evidently rejects it, but there are a few days left until Christmas, “we hope that the situation may change.” “While we must also bathe in international waters, the Hungarian pool is nonetheless the most important, it is this that we must keep tidy,” he said with reference to the fact that Hungary is holding the rotating presidency of the European Union during the second half of this year. He added that next year’s Hungarian budget was now being finalised, and families and businesses may begin to see what kind of a year Hungary can expect in 2025.
Hungarian diplomacy has done everything it could and even more for a ceasefire of a few days, he said, adding that Hungary proceeded as can be expected of a Christian European state of a thousand years.
Regarding his talks conducted in the past week, he highlighted that he had spoken to the Americans, the Russians, the Europeans and the Turks, and he could confidently say that as soon as the US president took office, the world would take an enormous turn. He added that we were in a dangerous period for the time being; the government in Germany has been toppled, while the governments have collapsed in France as well as in Syria which has been the largest migrant issuing country in the past decade. The Prime Minister said “we must somehow sail through” this stormy section of the sea, but afterwards “calmer waters will await us.” As soon as the US president takes office, a turnaround will take place in the entire western world. He took the view that we would only have to wait a day or two after 20 January for this because “in the United States the new administration will get off to a flying start.”
Mr Orbán also said changes taking place in the United States regarding the issues that are the most important for us as well will reach the European continent, and “will force changes that are close to our hearts also here.”
The Prime Minister described the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen Area as a fantastic achievement, highlighting that Romania’s accession is a step long awaited by Hungarians beyond the borders which is also important from the viewpoint of Hungarian national unity. He indicated that for this achievement much of the credit is due to Interior Minister Sándor Pintér who has headed the Home Affairs Council in the past six months and Minister for EU Affairs János Bóka. Mr Orbán stressed that “we’re talking about an affair that was in a state of agony for more than a decade.” Important European countries blocked the accession of these two countries to the Schengen Area, and the removal of this obstacle “was no mean diplomatic feat.”
In his view, in the storm-beaten history of Romanian-Hungarian relations this is “a sunny afternoon” when the Hungarians did something good that also benefited the Romanians. He also indicated that after a transitional period, it will be possible to redeploy Hungarian police officers from the protection of the Romanian-Hungarian border, and as there are staff shortage problems in the police force, the elimination of this task will be a great help.
Mr Orbán also spoke about the fact that for him the fake news reports about the appearance of Syrian President Assad in Budapest constituted the most important development of the week; this is the most painful affair that requires maximum caution. He recalled that sometime in 2015, in the first phase of the Syrian civil war, an enormous wave of migration and terrorism – originating from Syria – swept through Europe. Terrorists who mixed with the refugees fleeing from Syria – who were then controlled in an organised manner – committed terrorist attacks in Western Europe, claiming many hundreds of lives. “So, what’s happening in Syria is no child’s play, and its impact on Europe is not something funny that you can fabricate jokes or false stories about; it’s as serious as it gets,” he said. He also recalled that the Hungarians had got off lightly, “with some bruises,” a few border incidents because they did not let migrants in and built a fence. He added that what happened now was that some people wanted to implicate Hungary in a burning hot conflict with a false story which means that they wanted to turn Hungary into a target, given that there is a hunt on for President Assad at present. Those who claim that President Assad entered the territory of Hungary turned or wanted to turn Hungary into a hunting zone, he pointed out.
“We have to know who these people were and why they did what they did. It is the duty of our national security services to investigate this. You can’t play with something like this, here the security of the Hungarian people is at stake,” he laid down.
In his view, Hungary is a free country, people can also do “stupid” and irresponsible things; these cannot be regulated solely with laws. There are civilisational norms, however, which politics cannot transgress, he observed. At times like this, we must ask very simple questions. Who is behind it? Who invented this story? To what end? Who were involved in Hungary? Through whom was this rumour capable of creating panic spread? What did they want to achieve? he listed the questions.
Concerning next year’s budget, Mr Orbán stressed that the war was key in this regard as all the problems of the European economy stemmed from the war. If we want to cure the European economy, including the Hungarian one, we can only begin by putting an end to the war, he pointed out.
He added that this was why this year the budget would only be adopted in December as with the presidential election in the United States, we had found an answer to the question of whether to prepare a war budget or a peace budget for 2025. “A turnaround will take place, and we do well to base the 2025 Hungarian budget on this turnaround,” the Prime Minister indicated. So far, there have been years of war, while now there will be a peace budget and years of peace; the goal is to make the Hungarian economy strong again. For Hungarian families this means that in 2025 we can start upward again, Mr Orbán said, adding that we have a fantastic year ahead.
He said the “billowing cloud” of the war will pass, life will change overnight, and our efforts, too, will pay off more; the budget is based on this psychological fact, too. We expect a high growth in the first peace year after the war, we targeted an economic growth above 3 per cent, and have introduced a number of measures which will start the country on an upward course, meaning that Hungarian families will be able to start upward again, he said, outlining the government’s plans.
He recalled that they had succeeded in accomplishing a three-year agreement with trade unions and employers which would allow for a 40 per cent pay increase in total, the largest European pay rise of recent decades. He highlighted that agreements on the minimum wage always had a beneficial effect on other wages as well, and the government had additionally been able to decide on a few specific pay rises. After Covid, there was a significant salary increase in health care, while teachers had an enormous pay rise this year which will also continue next year. And finally, people in water management, too, will receive the financial reward they deserve as part of a three-year pay rise programme, while an agreement has also been reached with the judiciary, Mr Orbán listed.
He added that “there are a few more places where the situation is unfair, we’ll take care of these in 2025, 2026 and 2027, but now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, meaning that we’re coming out of this war situation, and finally, everyone can appreciate that their hard work pays off. In fact, it doesn’t just pay off, but is amply rewarded.”
Regarding the fact that last week a credit rating agency revised the outlook on the Hungarian sovereign debt from negative to stable, the Prime Minister took the view that it is an enormous achievement that credit rating agencies confirmed that the plans of the Hungarian economy for 2025 had sound financial foundations. He added that some credit rating agencies were more positive than others, but in his view, “you can feel that things are changing for the better,” that “this thing will fly,” and “not even our harshest critics rule out the possibility that this could indeed happen.”
He stressed that next year 500 projects would be completed and 300 new ones would be launched, the factories of BMW and the Chinese car manufacturer BYD would start production, and several large battery manufacturing plants, too, would launch their operations. This indicates that the government’s hopes regarding Hungary’s economic growth have firm financial and economic foundations.
Mr Orbán identified three conclusions in connection with the case of the little boy Tamás Till who was murdered 24 years ago. The first one is that the search for missing children must be continued and must never be given up. The second conclusion is that in Hungary “we have fantastic police officers” who have never given up, did not close the file, and take seriously that their calling is to prosecute crime. “The third thing is this, putting all legal debates to one side: I can only say that justice must prevail,” he added.
In answer to the question of whether there is any legislative task in connection with the case, the Prime Minister said if there is, the legislature should then take action.
