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Mr Orbán said the many changes that have recently occurred – pandemic, wars, energy crisis, inflation and the rise of Asian economies in the meantime – have changed the world economy, and anyone who fails to adapt will be on the losing end of those changes. “We would like Hungary to win the decade ahead, the decade we’re in now, the same as it won the previous decade, the decade between 2010 and 2020,” Mr Orbán said. For this, we need new means, new methods and a new economic policy, the economic policy of neutrality, he added. He stated that Hungary must ward off the trend currently unfolding, as part of which the world economy is being torn into blocs. The Prime Minister likened what is happening now to the Cold War as in his view the great powers are tearing the world economy into two. He said, two blocs, an eastern block and a western block are coming into being, and there will be much pressure on every country to choose which half of the world economy they want to belong to. Economic neutrality means that Hungary cannot join either bloc, Hungary has a vested interest in maintaining vivid, robust and in-depth economic relations with both economic blocs, he laid down.
Mr Orbán, who is on an official visit to North Macedonia on Thursday and Friday, said it is important that there should be good economic cooperation between Hungary and North Macedonia. He said North Macedonia is a fantastic country, but a complex place, they also have a dispute with the Bulgarians who are currently blocking their EU membership process due to disputes about minority issues. He added that Hungary currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, and at times like this, it is our duty to visit the countries which are in a difficult situation from the viewpoint of their accession to the EU and to help resolve the existing conflicts.
The Prime Minister indicated that, at the same time, there was also a more important reason for his visit as “the EU presidency passes like flu.” North Macedonia is also important because it lies on the busiest route of illegal migration. In 2015-2016 when “there was a major migration attack and invasion against Europe and Hungary,” the Macedonians helped Hungary very much, “perhaps without them we wouldn’t have been able to curb this migration invasion,” he said, recalling that at the time Hungary sent border guards to the southern border of Macedonia. He highlighted the country’s geographical location, adding that if we want to transport our products from Hungary to the sea, one of the most important routes leads to the ports in Greece via the Balkans, via North Macedonia.
Mr Orbán also spoke about creating economic neutrality, stressing that in order to achieve this, we must first understand ourselves and our own interests. He also highlighted that Europe is setting out “on a suicidal path” when it responds to the rise of China and its own economic difficulties with the development of blocs. He said he is trying to convince his colleagues in Europe “not to stray onto this path,” but they are under very great pressure, and economic neutrality is not yet so close to everyone’s hearts. The very core of economic neutrality is that we must not allow anyone to force us to view the economy through a political lens because we should observe these processes solely through the lens of our own interests, he said. This means that we should only adopt practices and ideas from both the East and the West which are useful and reasonable; we should not adopt anything that is not good, not useful for the Hungarians, he stressed, adding that we must reject all pressure, all attempts which may harm the future of the country.
Mr Orbán said the development of blocs always slows the growth of the world economy down, while nation states, communities, including the Hungarian community benefit from trade and economic cooperation with maximum freedom. When there are acts of interference, bans and sanctions, we lose our economic dynamic, he added. He stressed that regardless of the development of blocs in the world economy, Hungary must remain in the vanguard of technological development, be that about the manufacture of cars, technologies related to green energy or the cutting-edge products of digitisation.
Among the new instruments to be introduced in the future, Mr Orbán mentioned a worker loan programme for school-leavers with qualifications who choose not to go to university, a new approach to home ownership which will – in addition to retaining the old elements of the system – help young people to home ownership, and grants serving to alleviate the shortage of capital among small and medium-sized businesses. We must continue to insist that, at the end of the day, families constitute the basis of the economy, and so – if we do our economic policy right – already next year, in 2025 we must double the tax benefit for children in one or two phases, he stated. He added that Hungary’s economic growth is currently between one and two per cent with which we are already in the vanguard of Europe, but if we do not want to get stuck in the pace of growth from which Europe will suffer in the next few years, Hungary will have to try – despite the unfavourable circumstances, with the aid of its policy of economic neutrality – to climb to a growth range between 3 and 6 per cent. We have had that before, and also this time we will succeed in that feat. “Hungary, the Hungarian government can do this,” he stressed.
The Prime Minister said it is to be hoped that by the end of the Hungarian presidency, we could move closer to adopting a European competitiveness pact. Mr Orbán said there is a good chance that by November European states may reach an agreement which may improve economic competitiveness and adopt a pact before the end of the Hungarian EU presidency.
In the context of the migration dispute, he highlighted that the Hungarian wisdom ‘speak the truth and they will knock your block off’ was especially true of the present situation. He mentioned Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s recent visit to Budapest, and observed that the Italian politician has found himself in an even worse situation than him because while he is only “continually flogged, pushed about and criticised,” they want to sentence Mr Salvini to six years in prison because as interior minister he did not allow the boats transporting illegal migrants to dock in Italy. “We are fully behind Salvini, with all our hearts, he is our hero,” he stressed, adding that we would need more of such European politicians who – even at the expense of personal risk – want to stop illegal migration. At the same time, in his view, despite the criticisms levelled against Hungary and the lawsuit brought against Mr Salvini, ever more countries are now saying that “these guys were right.” He took the view that today it is “an old chestnut” in Brussels and Europe that “it’s true that we keep flogging, beating, punishing the Hungarians,” in the meantime we all know that they are right because “we have a single chance of a better future: if we don’t let illegal migrants onto the European continent.” “While they are criticising us with one hand, they are adjusting their own policies to ours with the other,” Mr Orbán pointed out, referring to the fact that the Germans have adopted a policy of stringent border controls.
“Hungary has always defended itself, it defended itself in the past, it is defending itself today and it will defend itself in the future as well with all possible means as the Hungarian Constitution makes this compulsory for every Hungarian,” said the Prime Minister in answer to the question of whether it is possible to draw the conclusion that Hungary would not defend itself from a remark made by Balázs Orbán, the Prime Minister’s political director in the context of defence against Russia and 1956. Mr Orbán stressed that the debate between the pro-war and pro-peace forces will intensify both in Hungary and in the world during the period leading to the presidential elections in the United States in November. He added: he can see that most recently even the issue of the 1956 revolution was successfully introduced into the debate about war and peace. He warned that “we must keep our wits about us,” when you talk about such sensitive issues, you must choose your words very carefully and must not leave any doubt about your own position. “Now, my political director made an ambiguous statement which is a mistake in this regard because our community stands on, grew out of the foundations of the 1956 revolution, it wouldn’t be our political community had there not been heroes of 1956,” he said.
He added that he has no doubt about the political views of a single Fidesz leader, and is absolutely certain that should history take such a turn that we must fight for our country again, Balázs Orbán, too, “would be there with us, in Corvin köz.” He stressed that therefore rather than introducing the sacrosanct events and heroes of Hungarian history such as 1956 and the 1956 heroes into the debate about war and peace, we must keep them as far from it as possible. “I wouldn’t like the Russo-Ukrainian war to cast a shadow on the memory of the 1956 freedom fighters to whom we are eternally gratefully, and whose glory we should keep on the agenda instead,” he stated.
The US presidential elections could decide whether the world will continue to proceed on the path leading to wars and resulting in ever more desperate fights, or will stop, turn around and conclude peace and ceasefires not only in the Russo-Ukrainian war, but in all other conflicts as well, the Prime Minister stressed, describing former US President-incumbent Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as “a president of peace.” In his view, as President of the United States Donald Trump did not start wars and in fact, took steps towards resolving old conflicts with peace. It is therefore no surprise that “the peace-loving part of the world, the part desiring peace,” regardless of political affiliation, is rooting for him becoming president again. By contrast, there is the pro-war camp, they are rooting for the Democrats’ success “because they want to continue the war.” In Hungary, that position is “typically represented by politicians on the Left,” while right-wing politicians stand for a pro-peace position. We must make sure that when the international debates about war and peace arrive in Hungary, they should not destroy, derail, remove from the agenda the internal political debates which are truly important and meaningful,” he said.
Regarding the flood defence effort, the Prime Minister stressed that Hungary “has passed the test with flying colours,” the unity of the effort was exemplary, and we had both the heart and the expertise that were necessary for success. He thanked everyone who took part in the flood defence effort. He recalled that also during the 2013 flood, the greatest flood on the Danube in history, it was his duty to oversee the defence effort as prime minister as was the case now. However, compared with 2013, today the Hungarian state is in much better shape, is more effective, more organised and better-prepared. In the neighbouring countries, the flood has caused much material damage and there have also been casualties. In Hungary, however, no human lives have been lost and the material damage sustained is also moderate, he stressed, recalling the flood protection projects carried out in the past 10 years. He indicated that based on the recommendations of water management experts, the government will prepare an action plan for any further flood protection developments that may be necessary in the medium term.
