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At the beginning of his speech, Mr Orbán described last year as a manly year, observing that “only yesterday we were heretics, while today half the world is knocking on our door.”
He recalled that the sky had thundered in vain before the EP elections; they stayed calm because they knew that time mattered, and “in politics change is the only constant.”
He observed that they had lost the head of state and Fidesz’s EP election list leader, while “betrayal wasn’t far off either.” “It turned out that the path that leads from the first row of the state-of-the-nation address to Mr Weber’s pay desk is not so long,” he said.
Those who betray their friends also betray their party. This kind of person betrays anyone as soon as they reach the first bend. So why would they not betray their own country? – he asked.
The Prime Minister described last year as “a nightmare.” The US Ambassador took charge of the opposition, we were being shot at both from Washington and from Brussels, while George Soros’s agents here at home started fires and poisoned our wells, he listed.
At the same time, he warned that the virtue and strength of Fidesz’s community lay in loyalty. “Those who don’t understand this or can’t appreciate the beauty of it are better-off outside. In the end, everyone gets what they deserve,” he said.
Mr Orbán stressed that in politics there was no victory without suffering, “pain is our friend,” and then victory compensates us for everything, that is the best medicine. “And we only have to wait for the next one for 14 months,” he added, referring to the 2026 elections. He said last year demonstrated that “if we combine forces, Hungary can do it.” From the resignation in February of the president of the republic, we got to our victory in the European Parliament elections: war or no war, inflation or no inflation, in the whole of Europe, Fidesz-KDNP won with the second highest percentage of votes; there was a greater victory only in Malta, he pointed out. He added that the word ‘patriot’ sounded louder in Brussels than ever before, despite the fact that talking about patriotism over there required death-defying courage.
He described the period that has passed since 2010 as follows: we have been fighting for fifteen years, “a handful of Hungarian rebels against an empire,” all alone, on our own, in a headwind.
He said we should be proud of the fact that we Hungarians have had our fair share of the changing of the world, way above our size, economic strength and population. We were the pioneers, the harbingers, and also the instigators of this riot. He pointed out that at times, it was extremely hard, and there were times when it seemed utterly hopeless.
He said “I’m not talking about Fidesz or the government, I’m talking about the Hungarian people. The Hungarian nation was there behind us throughout, collectively and one by one”
He highlighted that we must take a bow before the perseverance and determination of the Hungarian people. They did not give up for a second, they did not back down, and they did not once say ‘we should surrender to Soros.’ Not once did they say that we should surrender to Brussels, he stated.
Mr Orbán thanked every “rebelling Hungarian” who defended their country against the empire with their diligence, hard work and perseverance. He said “I’m grateful for the privilege of serving such a people, every politician in the world has reason to envy me.”
We gave the country a new Christian, national Constitution, we defended ourselves against migration, we protected our children from gender activists, we stood up for peace, and we kept ourselves away from the war. We defended Hungary against Soros and his people, foreign currency debtors against banks, families against sky-high household energy prices, he listed the results achieved, adding that never before had this many people had jobs in Hungary, the number of people in employment reached 4,700,000.
Mr Orbán said this year the struggle will continue; we have rebelled so far, now we want to win as well. “Now, we are walking down the main street of history, while our opponents are wandering aimlessly in muddy suburban back alleys,” he stressed. In connection with the summit held in Paris the other day, he observed that the attending European leaders looked “as if they’d bitten into a bad nut.” He added that the EU was upset that the negotiations started without it; they want to sit by the table. In this context, he quoted the late businessman Sándor Demján who said “If you want to sit down by the table where the big ones are playing, look around and find the weakest link. If you can’t find it, then you should know that it’s you.”
He stressed that after Hungary, the United States, too, had risen up. At the same time, he warned against believing that America’s successful uprising would bring about victory for Hungary. They cannot win for us, they can only improve our chances, he added, indicating that US President Donald Trump “is not our saviour, but a fellow fighter.”
He said “from Hungary’s point of view what happened was that during David’s fight against Goliath, along came David’s brother who appears to be a rather sturdy lad.”
He stated that we had now been given a chance “to break out of the besieged fort; in fact, not just to break out, but to break through the empire’s posts.”
Now, we must think big and brave.
Therefore, I suggest to you and ourselves that we make 2025 a year of breakthrough,
he stressed.
At the same time, he warned against “falling in love with last year’s advances.” He took the view that while our opponents had “suffered serious injuries,” and he now saw fear in their eyes for the first time, and they were now compelled to retire for the first time, it would be a mistake to underestimate them. We can only break through in such circumstances with a disciplined and carefully planned manoeuvre, he said.
The Prime Minister spoke about the fact that the empire had two heads and one depository: there is one head in Washington, another in Brussels, while the Soros depository is here in Budapest.
Mr Orbán added that we knew this because the Americans “threw the skeletons out of the cupboard.” He said the Americans “exposed and revealed the oppressive, corrupt-to-the-core power machinery which pumped billions out of the United States budget into fake non-governmental organisations, bought journalists, judges and prosecutors, politicians, foundations, bureaucrats; an enormous machinery operated the liberal opinion dictatorship and political oppression in the entire western world, including in Hungary.”
They created a robust financial and power machinery to crush, to suppress and to swallow the freedom and independence of nations so that the empire may survive, he pointed out.
Mr Orbán also mentioned that while what was happening in the United States was “a fine and inspiring affair,” “we Hungarians” must concern ourselves with our own business. First of all, “we must deal with the Budapest depository of the empire.”
The name of the working method is ‘full instep.’ “A high ball is coming, toe pointed down, body over the ball, bend from the waist, swing and shoot,” he said. This means, he said “for the benefit of those who pursue more gentlemanly sports,” that they will send a government commissioner to the United States and will collect all the data and evidence relating to Hungary. Next, they will urgently create the constitutional and legal framework so that “we don’t have to watch idly as fake civil-society organisations serve foreign interests and organise political campaigns before our eyes.”
He urged the creation of a new law based on the model of the American Magnitsky Act and the turning off of the money taps of the Soros Network, while he also urged state agencies to meet their obligation of sovereignty protection and to make the perpetrators of the past comply with the laws, he listed.
Mr Orbán added that they could finish with the empire’s Budapest depository by Easter. This has a political tradition in Hungary: Easter Article, Easter Constitution, Easter spring cleaning, he remarked.
Mr Orbán said we must engage in an ongoing and ever more extensive battle with the Brussels head of the empire.
People from the liberal networks are now retiring to Brussels, he said, adding that there is a tested route from America, but liberals are expected to flee to Brussels from other patriotic countries as well.
He added that “the truth is on our side against Brussels,” but that is not enough, we must also demonstrate strength.
He said “we are fighting against the Brussels bureaucrats in five battles all at once,” despite the fact that the Hungarians do not like war, they are tolerant, peace-loving, even devout people, but there are things they cannot and indeed will not compromise on.
As one of these, he mentioned the issue of migration, stating that if needs be, they will go all the way to the wall, and even beyond. “We will never swallow the migration pact which would direct migrants here. We’re rebelling, and are also inciting others,” he said, stating in continuation that the Poles and the Dutch have already stood up, the Italians almost, while “the Germans, too, seemingly.”
Mr Orbán said we cannot surrender the protection of our children; they take Hungary to court in Luxembourg in vain. The Prime Minister suggested that they write into the Constitution that a person is either a man or a woman, full stop.
The Prime Minister advised the organisers of Pride not to bother with preparations for this year’s march, “it’s a waste of time and money,” it does not matter what “Commander Weber and his Hungarian agents” say.
He said Brussels also claims that the Hungarian pension system is unsustainable, and they therefore demand the withdrawal of the thirteenth monthly pension. The Hungarian pension system is sustainable if everyone continues to work and we keep wages on an upward course, the Prime Minister stated. He said this is their goal exactly, along with the average income of one million forints.
He said in Brussels they want us to spend our money not on the thirteenth monthly pension, but that we give it to multinational companies. “We’re sorry, Herr Weber, the thirteenth monthly pension stays,” he stressed.
Mr Orbán said Brussels further demands the termination of the reduction of household energy bills, despite the fact that it means survival for millions of families. By his account, a bill of 250,000 forints a year in Hungary is 600,000 forints in Romania, 650,000 in Slovakia, 900,000 in Poland, more than a million forints in the Czech Republic.
Not even mentioning Austria where energy prices are sky high. This would await us, too, if we surrendered to Brussels, he pointed out.
He mentioned the issue of Ukraine as the fifth point. He said in actual fact, the war is not about Ukraine, but about the fact that the “territory called Ukraine” – which had previously been a buffer zone, a buffer state between NATO and Russia – should come under NATO supervision. Quite why the European and American liberals thought that the Russians would just watch this idly is a mystery to this day, he observed.
Mr Orbán said it is already clear that the attempt has failed. Ukraine – or what is left of it – will again become a buffer zone. It will not be a NATO member, and as to whether it will become a member of the European Union, that is for the Hungarians to decide.
Against Hungary and the Hungarian people, Ukraine will never be a member of the European Union, he stressed, pointing out that Ukraine’s accession would destroy Hungarian farmers, and not only them, but the entire Hungarian national economy.
Mr Orbán pointed out that we must achieve a breakthrough in the Hungarian economy as well. He highlighted that we must retain jobs which will not be easy as there is “the ever-expanding storm cloud” of a tariffs war which we cannot prevent, but we must figure out where there will be lay-offs, factory closures and other “economic ailments.”
He recalled the time when the Left disparagingly dismissed Hungarian automotive factories as assembly plants and attacked the government’s industry policy. Today, the new US president wants to acquire and relocate these factories to America. “I don’t think he would want to collect rubbish,” he observed.
He said services, the knowledge-based economy and tourism, too, are important; however, not a single country is able to survive without production, a work-based economy.
The Prime Minister announced the programme of 100 new factories. This is the only way to ensure that every Hungarian who wants to work should have jobs in the future, too, he said. Our goal is that while factories are being closed down worldwide and people are being laid off in the tens of thousands, even in Germany, businesses should develop, expand in Hungary, and should even hire new workers. Attack is the best form of defence, he highlighted.
He added that we must also pay attention to not losing sight of the future, to not locking ourselves into the present amidst all the scuffle. By 2030 technological changes will bring about a new world where for the first time in the history of humanity, there will be more computers in production than human brains. This is of the same significance as electricity was a hundred years ago, he indicated.
In his view, we are not doing badly as far as preparations are concerned, but we must pick up the pace, and the government knows what to do. It is time to invite in László Palkovics again, he added.
Mr Orbán also announced “Europe’s largest tax reduction programme.” He said in two stages (1 July 2025, and then 1 January 2026) they will double the tax benefit available in relation to children. It will be possible to deduct from the parents’ taxes and contributions 20,000 forints after one child, 80,000 forints after two children and 200,000 forints after three or more children; that is more than a million families, he stated.
He also said they will introduce tax exemption for the infant care benefit and the child care benefit as well as lifetime income tax exemption for mothers with two and three children. That for mothers of three in one step, from October 2025, while that for mothers of two gradually, from January 2026. “This is a world sensation, there is nothing like this anywhere else,” he stressed.
The Prime Minister admitted that this was an enormous expenditure, but added that the economy finally picking up, the programmes supporting businesses and full employment combined would be able to generate this sum, and meanwhile the deficit of the budget and the sovereign debt, too, would decrease.
He said it is an old dream that parents raising children should not be at a disadvantage financially compared with those who decide not to have children.
I’m convinced that more children are born if mothers feel financially safe with their children. Had we not introduced the new family support system in 2010, today there would be 200,000 fewer children in Hungary,
he recalled.
He highlighted that we needed a breakthrough also in housing. What is already in place: family housing benefit plus, village housing benefit, preferential VAT on the purchase of housing properties and the rural home refurbishment programme, while the housing support can now be requested from employers. The 5 per cent interest ceiling on housing debts will join ranks from 1 April. Along come the ‘Szép’ Card and the savings in voluntary pension funds, and the Student City is also coming with 18,000 accommodation places for students, he listed.
Mr Orbán said there is a breakthrough in politics and the economy in vain if we are unable to curb inflation. Inflation can undermine the success of the other programmes and makes people’s lives harder, in particular, food inflation, he pointed out.
He recalled that the government had already introduced price curbing measures in the past, including the cap on the prices of foodstuffs, a price monitoring system and mandatory promotions, and meanwhile, they had increased wages. He observed that higher salaries were the best defence against price rises. This is true in general, but is not always enough, and not under all circumstances. Here and now, this is not enough, he stressed.
Traders and supermarket chains have significantly raised the prices of some basic foodstuffs, and with this – naturally – also their profits. This January, they raised the price of milk by 39 per cent, the price of eggs by 35 per cent and the price of vegetable oil by 11 per cent. That is too much; in fact, it is unacceptable, he stated.
Mr Orbán said he instructed Minister for the National Economy Márton Nagy to come to an agreement with supermarket chains in order to stop price rises. “With persuasion. But if it doesn’t work with persuasion, then with officially fixed prices,” he added. No one likes price regulation, but at times like this there is nothing else for it, Mr Orbán stressed. If there is no agreement, they will have to resort to officially fixed prices. And if that is not enough, they will even limit the extent of the profits of traders, he pointed out.
The Prime Minister added, however, that they would not like to go that far because “it’s better to maintain peace and it’s better to come to an agreement.”
He said pensioners deserve special attention because food prices take a higher percentage of their pensions away than from the salaries of workers.
Therefore, in the second half of the year, in the case of fruit, vegetables and dairy products, they will reimburse the VAT up to a fixed monthly amount,
Mr Orbán announced.
In explanation he added that VAT reductions tend to only increase the profits of supermarket chains, and so they have opted for a different solution; VAT refunds are sure to reach the intended target group.
The Prime Minister said you must take party politics out of the army, rather than in. Referring to former Chief of Staff Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi who recently joined the Tisza Party, he observed that “I recommend moderation to everyone, I would have recommended it to him as well.”
Mr Orbán stressed that in the army, there was room only for nation strategy. Officers must be aware that this is high above party politics.
Rivalries, villa scandals, “ego storms” are beneath the defence forces; they are not intended for the public, and especially not for the stage of politics, the Prime Minister indicated.
He said he expects Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky to ensure that everyone in the army does their job accordingly. Respect to Hungarian soldiers,
the Prime Minister said.
Mr Orbán described the data regarding the increase in the sale and consumption of drugs as alarming. We have a problem here, he stated.
He said cheap, toxic substances, synthetic drugs have flooded the country, pointing out that this must be curbed at any cost.
He said he will appoint a separate government commissioner and the government will introduce zero tolerance, while he asked Interior Minister Sándor Pintér to order “a police hunt” against drug dealers.
Drugs destroy and kill someone else’s child. Therefore, they deserve no mercy, no pardon, and they will receive none, the Prime Minister said.
In his state-of-the-nation address, the Prime Minister also announced the protection of the use of cash and small settlements.
He said they will positively receive the motion of a Member of Parliament that would guarantee the right to the use of cash in the Constitution. He described this as “an issue of freedom,” adding that the use of cash “is not a habit, but a right.”
Only cash can serve as true and tangible security, he said. We do not want to be the slaves of banks. Bank cards belong to the banks, cash is yours,
he stated.
He also said he is detecting the emergence of a serious debate about the right of small settlements to self-defence; about the issue of whether they have the right “to protect their village, rural size and image” because if they do, then they must also be given means “to stop people from moving in.” The countryside, the village, the small town is not a site for experiments, but heritage, Mr Orbán laid down.
He also spoke about the fact that the only thing that mattered to Brussels was to have a government in Hungary that submitted to it. A government which does not build a fence, which does not tax multinational companies and banks, which does not adopt child protection legislation, which does not introduce 13th monthly pensions and household energy bill reductions, but allows the country to be nicely and thoroughly robbed at a satisfactory pace as is the custom.
They keep looking for people for this job. They already tried an ‘expert’ prime minister, a Canadian-Hungarian dual citizen, a mayor with hyper passive foreign language skills, and an opposition alliance extending from the far left all the way to the far right. Now, there is a new show, a new stage, a new puppet; only the hands are the same, and the familiar smile, he said.
The Prime Minister said we should never forget that our true opponent is not the Hungarian opposition, but their master. The Hungarian opposition only carries out orders, only serves the imperial will which pays, feeds and instructs them.
He added that we had often seen in our history “bought, kept lackey politicians treated like servants in imperial courts” who “always acted the part that served their own interests – zapadniks, Moscovites, pro-Habsburg Labanc – always acted the part that best suited their purposes at the given time, but they were never Hungarians, never patriots.”
He announced that in the future Members of the European Parliament would be required to submit asset declarations identical to those to be submitted by members of the Hungarian legislature.
He added that until 1990 Moscow had provided immunity for the communists; now Brussels is providing immunity for the liberals. How lucky that Brussels is not Moscow, he observed. While Hungary receives a fine of a million euros a day “for keeping migrants away,” their opponents receive immunity from the consequences of the commission of crimes. Immunity in exchange for a pledge of allegiance, the Prime Minister summed up, quoting lines from a poem by János Arany: “a buzzing insect strikes against the wall, a loud crash follows, then it is heard no more.”
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