For us Hungary’s security is the number one priority; therefore, Hungary is not at war with anyone, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated on Kossuth Radio’s programme ‘Good morning, Hungary’ on Friday.

The Prime Minister recalled that the beginning of the war and the Hungarian election campaign had more or less coincided, and an election campaign is a period when one has to talk in an honest and straightforward manner. Therefore, Hungarian leaders were forced to state what they wanted in an honest and straightforward manner, he explained.

He took the view that “the Left did state loud and clear that they would do what the international community told them to do,” and so if the Left were in government today, “we ourselves would be in the war up to our necks the same as the Germans.”

“We, however, said that there was a Hungarian national interest” which dictated that Hungary should be left out of the war, and so in the elections the people also chose between war and peace, he pointed out, adding that they chose peace.

The Prime Minister highlighted that “we stated at the very beginning that this was not our war,” that this is the kind of war which should be localised, rather than internationalised. Hungary will not be dragged into the war, and if the government were to accidentally take steps in that direction, it would find itself up against the will of the people, he stated.

He said every possible means is being used “to force us into the war, and the Hungarian political actors financed by the West represent that position.” The Left continually attack the government “for staying out of the war, but we made it clear that for us Hungary’s security is the number one priority, therefore Hungary is not at war with anyone,” he said, adding that we want a ceasefire and peace talks.

He observed that elementary human and moral compassion dictates that “we do everything we can to freeze action on the front, for a ceasefire and the commencement of peace talks.”

Mr Orbán said the national consultation as a method of political participation is a unique Hungarian invention which is not employed anywhere else. In 2010, there was an economic crisis in the country, and the question was with what method it was possible to “minimum maintain the national unity or majority” that was required for the management of the crisis because it is impossible to manage an economic crisis well without the people’s support, he explained, adding that we also needed to amend our Constitution.

He said this is why they invented the national consultation which embodies a post-election form of democracy.

The Prime Minister said the consultation has made it clear that the Hungarians believe that the sanctions are not helping the Ukrainians. They are likewise not bringing the Russians to their knees, “but are causing us, Europe, the European economy with Hungary in it devastating losses,” he pointed out.

He said this year Hungary will lose HUF 3,764 billion forints in the form of lost growth. Meaning that the sanctions are causing the Hungarian economy losses in the magnitude of the totality of the personal income tax paid by all Hungarian taxpayers, he explained.

He stressed that the people are aware of and understand the grave losses involved, and reject the sanctions. He also said there are plans for further sanctions; they now also want to extend the sanctions to the nuclear industry which we must evidently veto. This will be a major battle, and “for my results achieved at the negotiating table it is very important to be able to make it clear” that it is not the Hungarian prime minister who has a problem with the sanctions, but the people as a whole are uniformly against them, he said, adding that “such a successful national consultation is a big help for me, perhaps, the number one condition of success.”

While criticisms were levelled from Brussels at the number of participants, “luckily, what they say is neither here, nor there.” He added that at the negotiating table it is the prime minister that must be defeated, and the more loudly the people state their opinion, the more difficult that becomes.

He said the Hungarian people want their voice to be heard in Brussels as well. However, in Western Europe, there is no room for the voice of the people. Wherever the voice of the people is contrary to the official pro-war position, they try to suppress it and regard it as non-existent. “In Western European countries, leaders are making every effort to go through this war period with the people’s voice giving them the least possible trouble,” he stated.

He said in Western Europe the media, too, are monochromatic, over ninety per cent of media outlets are globalist and liberal, and so whatever the media neglect to talk about effectively does not exist.

In Hungary, the media are much more diverse, he added, Hungarian readers have access equally to the liberal and globalist approach to the war and to the nationally-oriented, conservative approach.

Changing over to the Left’s campaign funding, the Prime Minister said the most important conclusion of this case was that there existed not only a ‘dollar Left’ but also ‘dollar media’. He said on the most important issues, in particular, on international issues, the Left regularly take positions which are bad for Hungary, including on the issues of migration, gender, the war and the sanctions.

We have now received an answer to why they are doing this: this is what they get paid to do. They represent these positions because they are paid to do so, he added.

“There is perhaps no more despicable thing than to represent the interests of one’s handlers, rather than one’s own country, for money,” he said, adding that we must appreciate this because the Right cannot give up the hope of aiming for full national unity on important issues.

The Prime Minister expressed hope that the source of the money would be revealed. The technique for the importation of funds has already been revealed: the money came via a network associated with George Soros, he said, adding that at the end of the investigation of the facts, we cannot walk away without building systems of defence on the foundation of laws against politicians who can be bought with money.

The Prime Minister also said the Hungarian government will not support sanctions that would boost inflation. The Prime Minister described the issue of energy as the most important question, adding that the sanctions against Russia could be extended to nuclear energy. He recalled that in relation to the importation of oil, Hungary had previously received exemption.

While the government gave back the 13th monthly pension, significantly increased the minimum wage and refunded families the taxes they had paid for an entire year – and in the Prime Minister’s opinion, these measures proved to be right – for people the reality of shopping is the daily reality they are faced with, Mr Orbán pointed out.

This is why the government is fighting against inflation, and has “administered the vaccine” which is already working in the Hungarian economy. Inflation could start decreasing from February or March, and could fall to a single digit by the end of the year. The central bank and the government are coordinating their steps to this end, he stressed.