Mr Orbán said everyone knows that the Russians will come to an agreement with the Americans. At the same time, the problem of the Europeans is that they declared the Russian president a war criminal, meeting with whom is therefore a problem for them. The US President has done no such thing, and so he can meet with the Russian president at any time. The Europeans are suffering from the fact that while everyone appreciates that there would be a need for a direct European-Russian summit, “how could this be carried off after everything the Europeans have said and done?” he asked the question, adding that if you do not think ahead, if you get carried away or if you only make short-term plans, then sooner or later you will pay the price.
He said since Donald Trump has been President of the United States, great achievements have been accomplished within just a couple of days. A decision was made on the Middle East peace summit at noon on Saturday – despite the fact that the situation in the Middle East is more complex than in the war in Ukraine, and also historically the situation is more charged – and by Monday afternoon there were signatures and half the world was there. Meaning that meetings can be arranged within just two to three days, he added.
The Prime Minister also said that the EU is ever less enthusiastic about financing the war in Ukraine. In his view, European leaders would be happy to rid themselves of this burden, but they have embroiled themselves in this war too deeply; in fact, “they themselves tempted, pushed” Ukraine in the direction of the war, and therefore, it is very difficult “to come back” from this war psychosis and war atmosphere.
Politics is a genre where once you get on a track on important issues, you cannot come off it without the people calling you to account. Losing a war or admitting the possibility of losing a war and so changing course is an extremely complex thing, he said.
The Americans could not do it either. Biden and his people knew precisely that they had messed this up, yet, they could not change course. If Donald Trump does not come along, there is no change in US politics. America could only “back out” of this whole flawed policy because along came a new president who could say ‘there was what there was, it was someone else’s doing, now I came along, I’m the new president, we’re doing something different,’ and this is accepted from a new president. But here in Europe the situation is different. There is no new president at the head of a single country, meaning that the policy pursued so far should be revised by the very people who messed it up.
Regarding the message of the Peace March that he took to Brussels, Mr Orbán said all enormous events carrying such convincing force, especially, the most recent one of such overwhelming size and irradiance, convey the message that the Hungarian people’s position that he stands for in Brussels is not the prime minister’s or the Hungarian government’s position, there is a people behind it.
He highlighted: everyone can feel that there is no point in putting pressure on him, in exerting pressure, in trying to corner him, in punching him in the stomach. First of all, “because I can endure it.” Secondly, “even if I couldn’t endure it, that would be of no significance because for all that a country’s population, the people themselves don’t want what the leaders of the EU want here in Brussels. And if they don’t want that, then they will resist.” “As in if they have enough courage and strength, but the 1956 commemoration is about the fact that the Hungarians have enough courage, have enough strength, have the stamina, we can’t be treated as a slave nation,” he said.
The Prime Minister described the 23 October national holiday as beautiful and uplifting. Mr Orbán, who arrived in Brussels to attend the EU summit, said Thursday was a tough day, it felt like 48 hours, rather than 24. He added that now, everyone approached the 23 October rallies from the viewpoint of politics, but in actual fact, this was a national holiday on which the heroes of 1956 were commemorated, along with the fact that they were able to stand for good causes “and for themselves” even in the most difficult times.
He especially thanked the artists performing at the commemorative event, stressing that not for a long time had he seen such a relaxed commemoration which had nonetheless touched the very hearts of the people.
At the same time, by the time he arrived in Brussels, “the house was already on fire” there. “Here in Brussels, reality immediately stares you in the face,” he said, adding that the items on the agenda of the EU summit included the Russo-Ukrainian war, competitiveness, housing issues in Europe and a few foreign policy issues. And there is no money left, he concluded, indicating that they heard the report of the President of the European Central Bank.
He stressed that the EU performed worse than the rest of the world. Therefore, economic difficulties are mounting, and meanwhile, the EU is taking on ever more, including a war, and has run out of money as a result. This is why there “was a tense atmosphere” at the meeting where several prime ministers spoke up against some items on the agenda “in a tone of voice belying the feisty Hungarian tone of voice,” including decisions ruining the EU economy regardless of the war and resulting in 8 to 10 per cent energy price increases which the European Commission wants to impose on the Member States, he added.
He also spoke about the fact that, in his view, the European People’s Party determines the Hungarian opposition’s policy. He said the Hungarian opposition, the Tisza Party and DK [Democratic Coalition] have their masters, the European People’s Party and the Party of European Socialists, respectively. Here, they both want war, he stressed, adding that the parties supporting Brussels usually only receive the instruction from Brussels to stand for the central line. In Brussels, the central line is the pro-war line, he pointed out.
He said there is only one single formation in the European Union which is pro-peace and anti-war, and that is the Patriots. When the European People’s Party clashes with the European Patriots, it is like Tisza arguing with Fidesz, he observed.
Regarding pension policy, Mr Orbán said he would caution everyone against tampering with the pension system. If we want to do anything with it, we should simply raise pensions or should introduce the fourteenth monthly pension after the thirteenth monthly one. This is on the agenda, the government is dealing with it, and is working hard to raise the funds for it, he added.
He stressed that he would also caution Hungary against introducing a pension tax as suggested by Tisza, or against giving more to some and less to others. These are all crazy ideas which should be firmly rejected, forgotten, he stated, adding that not only do they go against social fairness, but those who seek to tamper with the inner structure of the pension system are reaching into a wasps’ nest that they have no idea about.
Regarding the Tisza Party’s taxation plans, Mr Orbán said “the problem is that there is evidently a great deal of lying going on,” there are statements to the effect that they must not talk about certain topics before the elections because if they did, they would lose the elections. The leaders of Tisza openly told their own people that they could not reveal before the elections what they were preparing for because if they did, they would lose the elections, he recalled.
He added that hence all the confused talk on the other side because they wanted to conceal their actual intentions. However, in modern politics this is very difficult, everyone could hear with their own ears when Tisza members voted for the replacement of the flat tax with progressive taxation which means tax increases. Or when their experts were talking about the need to tamper with the pension system, doing away with the Women 40 [retirement[ programme or the transformation of the thirteenth monthly pension, he recalled.
The plan is “to skin pensioners, to skin the middle classes,” to take money away from families, he indicated, stressing that this plan about redistribution at a higher level is a kind of social engineering, “a communist mentality.” In their heads, there is an idea about what a just and fair life is like, and they try to force the people to live by the rules of a just and fair life devised by politicians, he warned, adding that this leads to tyranny, oppression, and eventually bankruptcy.
There is another concept, that is ours: if you earn ten times more, you should pay ten times more taxes, he indicated. The government only wants to take as much money away from the people as is absolutely necessary for the operation of the country. “We are happy if as much money is left in the people’s pockets as possible. We don’t want to take money away from them, in order to then create a just world. This is a leftist idea, we don’t dream of doing anything of the sort,” he pointed out.
In response to the Brussels plans related to the ban on the importation of Russian energy carriers, Mr Orbán said we are still fighting, this battle has not been lost yet, though we will need considerable manoeuvres. The Brusselites want Hungary to do away with the reduction of household energy bills because its price is paid for by large multinational companies and energy corporations, and Brussels represents their interests against the Hungarian people, he warned. He added that DK and the Tisza Party supported this line: they would do away with the reduction of household energy bills.
It is a good opportunity for the opponents of the reduction of household energy bills that there are sanctions in force against Russian energy carriers, he admitted, stressing that if we had to pay more, perhaps even twice more for oil and gas, we would not be able to sell it on at the present reduced prices. Meaning that those who want the reduction of household energy bills to continue will have to defend Hungary’s right to buy oil and gas from the Russians, or at prices that are the same as or lower than the Russian prices. This match is not over yet, Mr Orbán stated in summary.
He described the position related to energy diversification is “Brussels hypocrisy.” He said diversification means the procurement of energy via the largest possible number of sources. However, how would it amount to diversification if Hungary were required to drop one of the two currently operational crude oil pipelines, the Druzhba pipeline conveying oil via Ukraine?
In his opinion, “the cat is now being let out of the bag,” in actual fact, what is happening is that they do not want to accept the fact that in Hungary, in contrast to all other Member States of the European Union, household energy prices are extremely low. He added that the Hungarians were spending the smallest percentage of their wages on household energy bills among the citizens of European countries.
He took the view that it was also a problem for Brussels that the citizens of European countries looked upon the successful Hungarian social programmes as examples, including the reduction of household energy bills, the pension system and the country’s resistance to migration, and demanded change from their own governments with reference to these.
“Meaning that Hungary is a pebble in a shoe, an inconvenient example for those who are not pursuing the policies that Hungary is pursuing. Therefore, the pressure is double,” he stressed, indicating, however, that the government should not care about this, but should defend everything that is important and good for the people.
