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The fact that they are launching the Demján Sándor Programme and small businesses will have access to help on an unprecedented scale is directly related to the opportunities offered by world politics, he highlighted, adding that it is now possible to take important steps towards cheaper housing because international political changes have created the possibility of this. That next year the government will want to increase the purchasing power of wages or will be able to make the 13th monthly pension a permanent feature is possible because the situation in world politics has taken the turn that it has; we Hungarians understood well what would happen and we had prepared for it, he said.
Mr Orbán highlighted that the war in Ukraine was our biggest problem because if there had been no war or if it had ended earlier, inflation “wouldn’t have spiralled out of control,” energy prices would not be where they are, there would have been no sanctions, a number of trade activities would not have been severed, and economies in the whole of Europe would be in much better shape.
He said they knew that if the Democrats had won in the United States, “this whole misery would continue,” and Hungary would be required to draft a wartime budget for next year in which we would have to spend not two, but more like three or four per cent of the gross domestic product on military expenditures at a forced pace. He added they also knew that if Donald Trump won, it would be possible to draft a peacetime budget. He indicated that they had accordingly changed the order of legislation. He asked the National Assembly to wait for the result of the US presidential election in order to enable them to understand whether 2025 will be a year of peace or a year of war, and to submit a budget that corresponds to the outcome. He highlighted that they had now submitted a peacetime budget.
He also spoke about the fact that there is the philosophy of economic neutrality, there is a new economic policy adjusted to these changes, and there is a twenty-one-point action plan which will have a specific positive impact on the people’s daily lives. It is no exaggeration “to say that we will have a fantastic year in 2025 because we now have the conditions necessary for that in the world,” the Prime Minister pointed out.
In answer to a question about a possible trade war with China, Mr Orbán said “here is the America-China issue, there will be debates, there have been and there will be debates.” They say we must decide whether we take one side or the other, but in actual fact, we want nothing other than what the Americans want, he added. He pointed out that Donald Trump and the Americans wanted to strike a good deal with the Chinese. We ourselves want nothing other than to strike good deals with them. Everyone wants the same thing, so there is no need to take sides with one party to the dispute or the other. “Why don’t we take our own side?” he asked the question. We have Hungarian interests, for us the Hungarian people are important, we must do what the Hungarian interest dictates, Mr Orbán stated, adding that this is the policy we must pursue in relation to both East and West.
He observed that he was always surprised that “even serious brainiacs” were unable to regard the Hungarian self-interest as the starting point, that they constantly wanted to adjust to someone else, that they constantly wanted to tie themselves to someone else, “to tie their horse to someone else’s post,” but this was no way to do things. He stressed that if we wanted to do serious things, if we wanted to improve, if we wanted the quality of our lives to depend on our own performance, we must own up to the fact that we are Hungarians with our own interests and will orient ourselves in the political universe accordingly.
According to some, this is not possible because “we’re too small for this,” he said, adding that he never believed this because “first of all, we’re not small, this is a great nation;” additionally, he has seen successful countries of the same size which – following purely their own interests – cleverly gathered friends all over the world and then turned that into an economic advantage. The fact that the president of the United States is now a friend of Hungary is an unprecedented economic opportunity for the country, the Prime Minister pointed out, describing Donald Trump’s victory in the US election as an enormous victory which “can be seen not only from the Moon, but also from Mars.”
He said everyone knows that if in 2020 Donald Trump had won in the United States, this nightmare of the past two years would never have happened, there would have been no war because America would have had a strong leader who would have concluded the necessary agreements in good time. In the absence of this, we are now paying and have paid in the past two years a terrible price. The Europeans – with an exception or two such as the Slovaks and the Vatican – have all supported this bad outcome. Now, this is over, Mr Orbán stated.
He took the view that evidently, if the new president of the United States wants peace instead of war, an anti-migration policy instead of migration and a pro-family policy instead of a pro-gender policy, this will also leave a mark in the wider world, and we Europeans will have to respond to this somehow.
The Prime Minister said the situation on the front is evident; there is a military defeat. The Americans will quit the war in Ukraine, will not encourage it, will not say that war is a good thing.
Mr Orbán pointed out that people said many things about Donald Trump, but no one questioned the fact that he did not start wars. He is a man who hates war, a genuine businessman who believes that life and things go well if there is no war, he said, adding that Europe will not be able to finance this war on its own. There are some who still want to and continue to send enormous amounts of money to this otherwise lost war, but the number of those who have fallen silent – though they were very loud before – is steadily increasing. And there is us who have always said the same thing, and we believe that the time has come to change from war to peace.
It is this process that is currently under way, this is what made the Budapest summit of European leaders – which was the biggest diplomatic event in the history of Hungary – exciting, Mr Orbán said, thanking the people of Budapest for having put up with the inconvenience resulting from the hosting of the event. Everyone now leaves here with the impression that they have been to a fantastic country, they have been to a splendid city, they have been the guests of a great people and a great culture, he took the view, observing that it is not the current size that matters, it is history.
Regarding the Russo-Ukrainian war, in answer to the suggestion that according to one of the warring parties, peace takes strength and peace must be achieved in the language of strength, Mr Orbán said this is a good idea if you are strong, but it does not appear a good idea if the other party is stronger. He added that this was not his business; it is for the Ukrainians to decide who have fought heroically in the past two years. He stressed that he was not one of those who belittled or underestimated the heroic fight the Ukrainians had put up. As to whether their leaders have guided their country in the right direction, that will be decided by the Ukrainian people.
Mr Orbán said Europe’s biggest problem is that it is not communicating with those it should be communicating with. If you do not go to Moscow, Kiev and Beijing, if rather than seeing Donald Trump as a prospective US president, you criticise him, look down on him and are hostile towards him, how will you put your plan for the future together? This is a luxury you cannot afford in politics, Mr Orbán laid down.
The Prime Minister recalled that four months previously he had been to Kiev and Moscow, he had spoken to the Chinese and Turkish presidents, he had met with “the US president whose name was Biden back then” and also with Donald Trump, and that he had then also prepared a report for European prime ministers. Based on his communications, in that report he wrote down what was going to happen. “Now, we’re exactly where we predicted we were going to be,” meaning that not a single leader has any reason to say that they are now surprised because everything was precisely foreseeable as a result of the Hungarian peace mission, he said. Not because we have an ability to see the future or that we are good at gambling, but because “if you don’t communicate, you won’t understand what will happen,” Mr Orbán said.
He stressed that, other than Hungary, effectively no one has prepared for this; Hungary is, however, well-prepared. He added that we now had to make swift and important decisions within a short time, subject to the risk of error, but “we got together in order to help each other” so that everyone can make their own good decisions.
Mr Orbán indicated that the meeting with former Italian Prime Minister-former President of the Central European Bank Mario Draghi – who compiled a diagnosis of the European economy as a result of the work of many long months – at the informal summit of the European Union’s heads of state and government will be very exciting for Hungary also intellectually. The “very core” of Europe’s competitiveness ailments lies in the fact that today a European business pays four times more for gas and three times more for electricity than an American business operating in the same sector. This is a competitive disadvantage which no good decision can compensate for, he concluded.
We need completely new energy regulations which do not destroy European businesses, and consequently European families either, said Mr Orbán, stressing that Hungarians “are always up in arms whenever they see a bill, but they would be truly up in arms” if they compared their gas or electricity bills with those of their western counterparts, even if their earnings are higher. He stressed that the fact that gas and electricity were the cheapest for families in Hungary “is an enormous competitive advantage for Hungary which people can’t even appreciate, unless they step out into the international arena” as the others are suffering much more than we are, he pointed out.
The Prime Minister said – as a problem and challenge to be solved – we must find markets for Hungarian products, stressing at the same time that Hungary is fully prepared for this. He mentioned as part of the social division of labour that politicians “are there in theory to keep thinking all the day long” about what will happen, to then draw up plans, to implement those plans, and to tell the people what will happen in the very last house of the very last village.
The Prime Minister also spoke about the fact that the centre of judicial activism supporting illegal immigration is to be found in Brussels, meaning that a change must be achieved there.
He highlighted that if the issue of migration could be settled purely at the level of national courts and national legislatures, it would be a simple thing, but Brussels interferes with the process, and “that’s where the problem comes from,” “that’s where the head of the snake is.” He mentioned as an example that while the Italian government “adopted excellent laws” which could curb migration, the Italian court sent them to Brussels, claiming that it is unclear whether those regulations are contrary to European law. At the same time, it was foreseeable that Brussels – the home of federalist judicial culture thinking in terms of a United States of Europe – would conclude that the national regulations were contrary to the European Union’s current migration rules. With this, they “immediately destroyed the splendid rules adopted by the Italian government,” said Mr Orbán, adding that “they’re doing the same with us,” except “we have rebelled against them.”
Regarding the national consultation, he took the view that while in Brussels the opinion of the Hungarian government, rather than the Hungarian people will be taken into consideration, the government’s strength depends on the strength with which the people stand behind it. If you have fewer people behind you as is now the case in Germany, “you’re history,” but if there are many people supporting you, “you stand firmly on your feet, you take on conflicts, you continue to fight and keep struggling,” he said.
Mr Orbán observed that he was able to rebel in Brussels and was still alive because the Hungarian government had the support of the sober majority of people who did not want migration, but wanted a pro-family government, peace, normal energy prices, and a 13th monthly pension. He also said it is good if the people are aware that if Brussels’ policies were directly enforced in Hungary, every family would be worse off. However, in order for the government to be able to defend itself and families, the people sometimes have to clearly state that they stand with the government. The government needs stable positions, and these can be provided by the people, he stressed, asking people to complete and to send back the consultation questionnaires, and to thereby give the government enough strength for the struggle.
