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Mr Orbán said Hungary has already collected EUR 10 billion of this EUR 32 billion, but we must obtain the remaining EUR 22 billion. He said, “ten nil to us,” but another EUR 22 billion is still up in the air. However, this sum, too, “can be regarded as safely collected with great probability.”
He said if this money is sent to Ukraine, and if what the US Secretary of State said is true, meaning that 90 per cent of the money lands in the pockets of US companies, then this is not bad business for them, he observed. In his view, the reason why the “moaning” is so loud is that this sum has now been reduced by EUR 10 billion as the Commission had to give it to Hungary.
The Prime Minister said the underlying idea of the European Union is a good idea. Hungary does not want to leave the European community, but wants to take control of Brussels’ political leadership.
Our plan is to occupy the European Union, not to leave it, he said.
He added that the cooperation of European peoples, the development of a common market, the combination of each other’s strengths and the joint remedying of weaknesses are all great ideals and could serve Hungary’s best interests well.
According to the Prime Minister, there is, however, no need for creating a superstate which continually absorbs the powers of Member States, blackmails, punishes and lectures them, treating them as mere “provinces.”
“We don’t need a Brussels like that,” we need a Brussels which stands up for the appreciation and sovereignty of nations, allows countries to decide, based on their own cultural traditions, how they wish to live. One that regulates the market, but does not want to tell a Pole, a Hungarian or a Portuguese how to live, he added.
We must win at the next European parliamentary elections and must take control of Brussels’ political leadership, the Prime Minister stated.
According to the Prime Minister, those who are at the very centre of Brussels today have notions about the world which are positively harmful for Hungary.
“They believe that the era of nations is over,” and so Brussels and the EU should exist – instead of nations – as a new superstate, as a new united states, he said, adding that they also believe that the Hungarian family concept and child protection system are “from the Stone Age,” the world is now about same-sex marriage and “sex-change experiments with lives.”
The forces controlling Brussels believe that it is good if Europe has no protected borders because “what a beautiful thing it is if the needy of the world all come to Europe, and here mixing with the indigenous populations create a civilisation of some entirely new quality.”
He also spoke about the fact that today the United States is able to enforce almost all its interests in Brussels without difficulty.
In the context of the commencement of Ukraine’s EU accession talks, he said it only makes sense to talk about member candidacy if the distance between the applicant country and the recipient EU can be bridged. He repeated his proposal that the Ukrainians should have been offered strategic partnership.
He stressed that the European community was not prepared for Ukraine’s accession to the EU, not even mentioning the fact that it was a country, in the territory of which Russian soldiers were stationed. Will we admit them, too? he asked.
Regarding the EU funds intended for Ukraine, Mr Orbán said we can talk about this as the country was attacked and has severe problems, and while it did not treat the Hungarians well, “in actual fact, it positively harassed them,” in such a situation we can nonetheless offer them financial assistance.
According to the Prime Minister, it is unclear why a decision should be made about EUR 50 billion four years in advance when there is no way of knowing what will happen on the front in two months’ time.
He further said that this financial assistance would also result in additional contributions to the budget and the taking out of a loan for the Member States. Hungary has not received the funds it is entitled to from the budget, and now they want to give Ukraine money that we do not have. In the end, the Hungarian people’s money will end up in Ukraine, he said, explaining why he vetoed the related decision at the meeting of the European Council last week.
The Prime Minister said in recent years the EU “has grown weak,” has lost its capacity for action, is “infinitely bureaucratic,” cumbersome and divided.
In his opinion, this is the reason why the EU has not yet admitted the countries of the Western Balkans as members, despite the fact that their accession is geographically justified.
Regarding economic cooperation with China, he said in trade with China, Vietnam and Russia, EU Member States are ahead of us “in a long queue.” They are attacking us in order for us to be left out; they do not want competitors.
“This debate is, in actual fact, nothing other than bait” which a large part of the Hungarian intelligentsia is eager to immediately take because they believe that this is “a fantastic opportunity” to discuss Hungary’s identity, he pointed out.
Mr Orbán stressed that Hungary has a vested interest in accepting that what is called East and West meet in its culture and its territory. This is true even if Hungary is a member of NATO and the EU. Rather than denying this, rather than “playing the part of a ferry country,” we must realise that there is an enormous opportunity inherent in this on which a strategy must be built, he stated.
