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After the Tuesday Hungarian-North Macedonian governmental summit, Mr Orbán said “for three years, we have all lived in the shadow of war, and we now have the best hope that peace may finally replace war.” He said Hungary has disagreements with Member States of the European Union “who are also our friends and allies” but decided that “Ukraine must continue the war.”
We believe that the continuation of the war is bad, dangerous and a mistake, Mr Orbán stated, indicating that on Thursday this is what they will be talking about in Brussels. The Prime Minister said at the meeting he welcomed the fact that peace resolutions had also been discussed in the UN, and there, the North Macedonians and the Hungarians had stood for the same position. They supported the US proposal which was then also adopted by the Security Council, he recalled.
Mr Orbán also spoke about the fact that the issue of migration was a prime topic of the meetings. Hungary is grateful to North Macedonia for protecting its own borders because by doing so, it also protects Hungary, and “the better they protect their own borders, the fewer migrants attack Hungary’s southern borders,” he pointed out.
He said Hungary rejects the European Union’s migration pact, will never accept it, and for this it is compelled to pay a fine “in the name of European friendship.”
He said North Macedonia can continue to count on Hungary in its European integration process. It is shameful that this process is making headway as slowly as it is, and for this the responsibility lies with the Member States, he said. Mr Orbán highlighted that Hungary also supported North Macedonia’s EU membership because the European Union must improve its competitiveness. He said today he does not see any capacity in the EU for the improvement of its competitiveness other than enlargement. He underlined that so far every enlargement had resulted in improved competitiveness, including Hungary’s accession.
He said at the joint cabinet meeting they also reviewed bilateral relations. The volume of trade is continuously rising; since 2010 – since Hungary has had a nationally oriented government – the volume of trade between the two countries has increased seven-fold.
The Hungarian Prime Minister said in our minds North Macedonia and Hungary belong to the same economic region, including Serbia as well. In our view, this is a single economic region that can be organised into a whole where cooperation represents a major economic potential, he pointed out, adding that the problem is that we are inside the EU, while they are outside, and so they are unable to organise the region into a single economic force. According to Mr Orbán, this is what warrants the fact that rather than a simple prime ministerial visit, the two governments had a joint meeting.
This problem can only be rectified or bridged by building the most intensive possible intergovernmental relations, including the most regular, most intensive and profoundest communication and cooperation between the two governments, he pointed out. This further includes the connecting together of the two countries’ economic systems, he said, adding that they are also planning to conclude an intergovernmental economic agreement in the future.
He pointed out that, in addition to the two states, private capital and the private economy, too, must undertake a role. This is why they encourage the businesses of both countries to take part in each other’s economies to the fullest possible extent.
He added that they had also reviewed the situation of the western world which they both belonged to. Mr Orbán said they see the transatlantic chasm that has recently also become evident to the outside world. This transatlantic chasm warrants even more the maintenance of the most intensive possible relations between the two governments in the future, he stressed.
In answer to question from members of the press, Mr Orbán said on Wednesday he will have talks with the French President in Paris, while on Thursday he will attend the summit of prime ministers in Brussels. He highlighted that the issues that could previously be covered up and bridged with communication could no longer be bridged.
A strategic difference is clearly unfolding which was rendered unconcleable by the US presidential election: there are some who want peace and there are others who want war. He added that as long as – in addition to the Vatican – only the Hungarians and the Slovaks said that they wanted peace, this difference – if it existed at all – could not be regarded as determining. Now that America, too, has taken the side of peace, the difference between the positions of war and peace can no longer be bridged.
“There are those who want war, and there are those who want peace. It is this challenge we will have to rise to on Thursday. I will also have to do that on Wednesday, but that’s another matter,” he observed, adding that the Thursday summit of the prime ministers also has another item on the agenda. Regardless of the current Russo-Ukrainian war situation and the transatlantic chasm, what is it that Europe can and wants to do in the interest of its own military security? This will be an item of strategic, rather than tactical importance on the agenda, which will naturally also have financial, technological, trade, military development and technical “legs” as well, Mr Orbán stated, indicating that in this regard he sees a better chance for the development of cooperation than on the issue of war and peace.
He also said talks and meetings between US and Hungarian leaders can now be regarded as “par for the course” as the United States and Hungary are now fighting the same civilisational fight in the interest of saving the West.
In Mr Orbán’s words, from now on, there is no point in regarding instances when the Hungarian prime minister speaks to the US president as newsworthy, “this is how it is when necessary.” Neither is it particularly newsworthy that on Tuesday the Hungarian minister of foreign affairs meets with the US secretary of state, he observed.
The cooperation between us is not simply technical cooperation or cooperation based on economic interests, but cooperation that has more robust foundations: we are in the middle of a civilisational struggle; the progressives on one side, the patriots on the other.
In answer to the question regarding the topic of the latest telephone conversation he had with Donald Trump, Mr Orbán said they spoke about everything.
The Hungarian Prime Minister declined to comment on the fighting that broke out on Tuesday in the Belgrade Parliament.
He did say, however, that since the patriots won in the United States, destabilisation attempts have intensified in Central Europe, and the countries at the receiving end of these attempts are Serbia, Slovakia and Hungary. The global financial and political machinery that previously occupied the government of the United States, Brussels and a few European Member States had to be expelled from Hungary, Mr Orbán recalled, adding that they were planning to definitively conclude the fight – including any rearguard action – against the Soros network by Easter.
In his view, these global financial forces lost Washington, retreated to Brussels and are fighting for posts in Central Europe. In these three countries – in Serbia, Slovakia and Hungary – patriots are in government, “what you’re observing now is a consequence of that,” he said.
He highlighted that the networks have principals and masters who pay them, feed them, keep them, give them instructions. So, what we are observing in this region is a condensed period, but all three countries are able to defend their own stability, he concluded, adding that Hungary has a vested national interest in being surrounded by stable countries, and in that none of the countries that are important for us should be destabilised.
By his account, we have a responsible neighbourhood policy, and that also includes North Macedonia. In this region we support countries whose stability is important for Hungary. Meaning that we do not just provide assistance for North Macedonia or act out of considerations of humanity; the stability of North Macedonia is key for Hungary’s security, he pointed out.
He recalled that they helped us, too. There is a common regional set of interests; this is why Hungary provides financial assistance for North Macedonia, in return for which they offer us economic cooperation opportunities, and there is a profound Hungarian national interest in all this. The Hungarian government makes – say, financial – decisions that favour North Macedonia because it is not only the right thing to do, but is also a good investment for Hungary to keep North Macedonia a stable country. The same way it is important for us that Serbia and Slovakia, too, should remain stable countries, he stressed.
Regarding North Macedonia’s EU accession, he said as the leader of a Member State which conducted many long negotiations in order to become a member of the European Union, he finds the procedure of the European Union shameful. There are also other countries in the Western Balkans vis-a-vis which Brussels’ procedure is unfair, but North Macedonia is compelled to endure the worst injustice, the greatest unfairness. Brussels allowed individual Member States to set conditions for North Macedonia and referred these issues to bilateral talks, instead of helping to resolve them itself, he recalled.
“Therefore, today, the European Union owes the biggest moral debt to North Macedonia,” he said.
Acknowledging that Hungary is unable to change this European attitude on its own, he pointed out that what we could do, however, was to cooperate with North Macedonia as an EU Member State as closely as possible financially, economically, in culture, in security and at the level of police cooperation. This may accelerate the process of EU accession and will develop a region that will be viable independently of the EU, Mr Orbán stated.
