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Mr Orbán said various expert groups independently of one another – not only in Hungary, but also elsewhere – identified and added up the various hidden items in the budget delegated to the European Commission’s discretionary powers.
According to some expert groups, the EU could send 20 per cent of the total budget to Ukraine, but according to other experts, as much as 25 per cent. “I venture to say with some self-confidence – not based on my own knowledge, but relying on experts – that at least 20 per cent of this budget targets Ukraine,” Mr Orbán said.
The Prime Minister was also asked regarding the fact that the sum total of the EU budget could increase from EUR 1,200 billion to EUR 2,000 billion. Mr Orbán stressed that in addition to the 20 to 25 per cent intended for Ukraine, 10 to 12 per cent of the budget would be used for interest payments related to loans taken out earlier collectively.
He pointed out that Hungary opposed this practice because it was not a good idea for the countries of the EU to borrow collectively. It is a decision that Hungary is unable to prevent on its own, he said, drawing attention at the same time to the fact that since there has been a new German government, “they, too, are beginning to raise objections,” do not want to take out any further large loans resulting in a high debt rate.
According to the Prime Minister’s calculations, as “out goes another 10 to 12 per cent” with the interest payments on earlier borrowing, around 30 to 35 per cent of the planned budget would be spent on items that did not feature in the previous budget. Meaning that they are raising the size of the budget by a few percentage points in vain if 30 per cent of that is – compared with the previous budget – as if it had never even existed. This has nothing to do with the European people, they must pay this sum in, but they will receive nothing in return. “This is why every member of the European Union is wheezing, showing dissatisfaction, moaning, shouting, depending on each European nation’s temperament,” Mr Orbán stated.
Mr Orbán highlighted that this draft had a single evident objective: to admit Ukraine to the EU and to allocate the necessary funds, some “cunningly, covertly, some openly.” Despite the fact that there is no decision on whether Ukraine will become a member of the European Union, and so it is not right to allocate funds for this purpose, he indicated. Ukraine’s admission will not happen in the foreseeable future. If, however, the Ukrainians are not admitted to the EU – which he believes would be the right course of action – then we should develop a different kind of relationship with them, and the funds necessary for such cooperation should be allocated in the budget.
He said in the budget funds are also being taken away from agriculture. Meanwhile it is unclear whether they are doing so because they regard the previous regime as wasteful or because they want to spend the money on something else, and no longer regard the European food industry and agriculture as key sectors. He asked the question: What will happen to the many millions of European farmers whose work we have subsidised so far?
“In a budget, you can’t just tear into the living flesh with a sharp blade, and think ‘happen what happens’ because the patient will bleed out,” he warned.
“”So, this budget would destroy the European Union. I think this budget won’t even live to see next year. Either the Commission will have to spectacularly withdraw it, or they will have to retreat step by step and rewrite it,” he said, adding that judging by the reactions, European countries will not adopt the draft.
He also observed that the sums intended for agriculture should be channelled to farmers in the simplest possible way; instead, the whole procedure is extremely bureaucratic. Quite evidently, the European Commission has no concept of the future of European agriculture and in order to be able to give money to Ukraine, they cut every possible earlier item, he pointed out in summary.
He stressed that Ukraine’s admission was also unacceptable because it was like migration. “Once you let them in, you can’t put them out.” A country cannot be expelled from the European Union, with Ukraine’s admission “their economic problems become our economic problems,” he warned. In the case of Ukraine’s admission to the EU, all the money would keep going there for decades, and additionally, hopelessly, because today, the Ukrainian economy is not in a fit state to be modernised through membership and the resulting funds.
Mr Orbán described the draft as a budget of hopelessness which suggests not a forward-looking EU with optimistic, triumphant, clear plans and a promising future, but a desultory union in trouble, without a clear concept about its own development, settling for stagnation instead, desperately seeking to avoid disintegration.
Regarding the debate of the budget, at times like this, a very exciting period starts: several thousand people browse these pages, and then an extremely complex negotiation process starts in the hope that they will succeed in making amendments to the budget presented which will be acceptable for all 27 Member States because in the end a unanimous decision must be adopted, he observed.
Mr Orbán recalled that this was now the third EU budget in his life, this was why he was acquainted with this “jungle.”
“We ourselves already know whom we’ll negotiate with, […] whom we should come to an agreement with in order to have a budget that is also acceptable for Hungary in the end,” the Prime Minister stated.
Mr Orbán also spoke about the fact that in Brussels “they want to sweep off the table” the case of the Hungarian victim of forced recruitment as it goes against everything that the bureaucrats there claim regarding Ukraine’s state of preparedness for EU accession.
Mr Orbán said in Brussels, rather than saying that here is a Hungarian affair, we say that here is a European affair which is perceived not only by Hungary on account of the fact that a Ukrainian press gang beat a Hungarian citizen to death, but it is a European problem which is also perceived by others: those who put the relevant information together – this is a Strasbourg organisation – systematised it and issued a comprehensive assessment which says exactly what the Hungarian government is saying, he added.
The Prime Minister stressed that these were not one-off cases, but a routine practice. “In actual fact, there is a manhunt under way. They call it recruitment, forced recruitment, but in actual fact, they hunt people down whom they believe can be immediately spirited away into the Ukrainian army. If it doesn’t work with polite words, then it will work with force,” Mr Orbán said.
He added that the brutality involved was embarrassing for the Brussels bureaucrats. All you ever hear in Brussels is what fantastic progress Ukraine has made, how much progress they have made in the area of human rights, in the area of the judiciary, in the fight against corruption. They take the view in Brussels that Ukraine is not just ripe, but almost overripe for European Union membership which has nothing to do with reality if you know Ukraine as Hungary does being its neighbour, Mr Orbán stressed.
In general, you can argue whether a country’s judiciary is prepared or not, whether its taxation is prepared or not, whether its modalities for the settlement of business disputes are to exacting European standards or not, but that a person is beaten to death because he did not want to join the army or thought that the law – according to which he should enlist – did not apply to him, and rather than having been apprehended and subjected to a legal procedure, he was beaten to death – there is nothing you can say to that, Mr Orbán stated. The Prime Minister took the view that what happened amply demonstrated that Ukraine “is evidently not prepared for being admitted to the European Union as a member.”
Brussels would have to negate itself if they were to put this incident on their agenda. Therefore, they will not do so of their own accord. We will have to push this incident onto the agenda because the Brusselites will not deal with this matter of their own accord, Mr Orbán said, highlighting that European values and human rights declarations would demand that Brussels should deal with the incident. He added that the Tisza Party and Ukrainian diplomacy were not arguing with the Hungarian government, but with a report of the Council of Europe which wrote down in black and white that the practice of forced recruitment must be ended.
József Sebestyén’s case is important for us Hungarians as he is one of us. This is therefore important for us, a matter of honour, the Prime Minister stated, mentioning that Hungary has enacted sanctions against the three identified Ukrainian officials involved in the incident. These are the sanctions that can be imposed on a bilateral basis; these individuals are banned from the territory of Hungary.
He said it is sad that “there are parties which in a Hungarian-Ukrainian or Hungarian-foreign dispute always adjudicate in favour of the foreigners,” referring to the Tisza Party and DK [Democratic Coalition] as part of that tradition. These are parties which believe that the Hungarians can never be right because foreigners are always superior, they stand for something more precious than us, and we should not even argue with foreigners, but should subject ourselves, should follow their example, should accept the instructions coming from them.
This is the ailment that we should finally get rid of, this has been oppressing us for more than a hundred years, he added, mentioning that there are parties which “believe this, accept this, live off executing orders,” and there are national parties which are proud of being Hungarian and fight for their truth.
Regarding the Home Start Programme, Mr Orbán highlighted that it was a safe forint-based loan product with which young people could save many tens of thousands of forints compared with rental. Young people who must resolve their home ownership situation on their own are better-off taking out such a loan, buying a home and paying the amortisation instalments with interest reduced and subsidised by the government than spending the same amount of money on rental.
He added: in contrast to rentals that are payable to the owner of the property, with the amortisation of a loan taken out for the purchase of a home, young people are required to pay for a home which they will later become owners of, meaning that they will have their own property, he pointed out.
The Prime Minister highlighted that in contrast to high-risk foreign currency loans which the banks and the Gyurcsány Government had together “lured people into” – because they had failed to tell them that they would expose themselves to the risk of currency fluctuations – the Home Start product is a safe, forint-based loan. The loan – the details of which the government has already identified together with the actors concerned, primarily banks and construction industry actors – bears a 3 per cent fixed interest rate, has a maximum term of 25 years and is subject to a maximum 10 per cent own contribution. At the same time, the value of the home can be maximum HUF 100 million in the case of flats and maximum HUF 150 million in the case of family houses.
Mr Orbán also indicated that even according to his “most conservative calculations,” if 10,000 homes are built, that could bring about a 1 per cent increase in the gross domestic product, and now easily 30,000 to 50,000 homes could be built annually. He observed at the same time that this offer applied not only to newly-built homes, but also to second-hand flats and houses.
Praising astronaut Tibor Kapu who returned from his space mission on Tuesday, Mr Orbán highlighted that it was also fair to mention the second astronaut Gyula Cserényi who stayed in the background. His name is not mentioned often, despite the fact that he is just as prepared, a great individual with an equally brilliant mind.
