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He said the first challenge is the issue of peace, while the second one is competitiveness. The goal of the Hungarian presidency is to create a new competitiveness pact because without this we can compete neither with the United States, nor with China; neither with the West, nor with the East. The third challenge is migration. The regulations forced upon us a year ago have failed; we must enact new regulations. Without new regulations, migration will cause the European Union to disintegrate and we must stop that. However, peace is the foremost challenge, he stated.
Mr Orbán highlighted that the previous European Commission had equally failed to stop the war, the decline of European competitiveness and migration. Despite this, the Brussels elite decided to re-form effectively the very same commission, „and this is not good news.” He added that he was hoping that people were able to change and to render a better performance. Therefore, he will seek to support the Commission as much as possible. “However, being a rational person, I believe that we neglected the people’s desire for change,” the Prime Minister said.
In answer to a question concerning a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Prime Minister said in all the libraries of European governments and capitals, there are hundreds of books about how to create peace. “According to the relevant literature and in my own personal experience, communication is the number one issue,” and if you fail to initiate communication at the right time, the situation only continues to escalate and later things may become even more difficult. This is number one; a ceasefire is number two.
He added that in western public opinion, there was a widespread misunderstanding that we were first required to compile a peace plan, next to engage in talks and to then reach a ceasefire. That is not true. If we take a look at how peace has been achieved in the past 30 years, we will see that a ceasefire was always the first step, while a peace agreement was only the second. “This is why I say that communication is number one, followed by a ceasefire, and only after that can we start talks about a peace agreement,” Mr Orbán stated.
He recalled that he had been active in politics for more than 30 years and had been a member of the European Council for more than 14 years. “And my experience is that the language we have used and the political goal we have set for ourselves has always been peace. And now, talking about peace appears to be blasphemy. To say that the main goal of the European Union is to create peace is something negative,” Mr Orbán stated, adding that he does not believe that this is good for the European Union.
In answer to a question, he said Azerbaijan has become a key country from a strategic point of view, and so holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, we support the establishment of even closer, strategic relations between Azerbaijan and the European Union. He described Azeri-Hungarian relations as being better than ever at present. Hungary is the second largest energy buyer from Azerbaijan, and an agreement has just been signed with other countries regarding the importation of Azeri green energy.
Talking about Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, he said “she is not only a colleague, but also a Christian sister of mine.” He added that earlier this kind of relationship had not played much of a role in European politics, but now we were approaching a new era. This has fundamental significance for both Hungary and Italy, and the return of this kind of cultural aspect of politics to Europe is a legitimate development.
Regarding the fact that the Italian Ilaria Salis who was arrested in Budapest due to committing acts of grievous bodily harm has become a Member of the European Parliament, Mr Orbán said this is an internal affair of Italy. Beating up peaceful citizens in the street is a crime in Hungary. He added that coming to Hungary or to any foreign country in an organised manner, resorting to violence against citizens walking in the street and then rewarding this with European Parliament membership “is a very Italian way of doing things.”
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