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In the context of the Russo-Ukrainian war, the Prime Minister said we are in a very difficult and strange situation. There have been two news items emerging in the last few days which are shocking and draw attention to the responsibility of European politicians. One of them is that the Russians launched an intercontinental ballistic missile which is capable of carrying nuclear warheads. “If these are deployed, the war will indeed escalate into a world war, and it will also have a nuclear element,” Mr Orbán warned.
He also pointed out that according to Russian reports, US and French soldiers had also died in air strikes which clearly indicated escalation, the threat of the escalation of the war. This is an extremely dangerous moment, the Prime Minister stated, adding that he sincerely hopes that this “weapons display” will caution also people in the West.
The Prime Minister described Thursday’s proceedings in the European Parliament as depressing. He said it is quite evident that the European Parliament and a number of European prime ministers want the war to continue, and they even want to enhance its intensity. Regarding this they adopted a resolution in which they laid down that “while it’s true that in the United States a pro-peace president has won, the incumbent administration is a pro-war administration.” “The Trump effect cannot yet be felt” as the US government losing the elections decided to send further enormous amounts of money to Ukraine, Mr Orbán said, adding that “we must survive the next six weeks to two months.” He highlighted that they were engaged in intensive diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire and peace, and on Sunday he will also speak to the president of the new European Commission.
The Prime Minister said he has submitted his proposal regarding the nomination of the new central bank governor to Parliament. Mihály Varga is Hungary’s most experienced economic policymaker and economist, Mr Orbán said, praising the incumbent finance minister, adding that “without doubt, from 1 January, we will be working in a different economic management system.” He will be happy to share the details of this in good time, sometime in December, he added.
He pointed out that Mr Varga had been a Member of Parliament since 1990, had climbed the entire ladder of parliamentary economic policy, he had served as state secretary for the economy and finance, having acquainted himself with the ins and outs of economic policy “at middle-management level.” He has always served as finance minister for many years, and still holds this position.
The Prime Minister stressed that the central bank was an important element of Hungarian economic policy. It is the custodian of Hungary’s gold reserves and foreign currency reserves, and has the powers, knowledge and decision-making competence with which to protect the value of the forint and to take action against inflation. The central bank plays a key role not only in Hungary, but everywhere in modern economies, it is effectively the pledge of stability, he stated.
Mr Orbán said from among the many available good economists he tried to find the one who was “the most experienced, the calmest, the most composed, who has smelt gunpowder in the most difficult situations, who has seen it all, who is not scared, who is able to stand their ground in any difficult situation.” For this you need experience in economic policy, not simply just intellectual abilities, he pointed out, adding that in and around the government there are surely at least two such persons, the minister for the economy and the finance minister, while in addition to them the minister for energy – who previously worked in finance – was also considered as a candidate. The Prime Minister said he eventually chose the most predictable and calmest person, and resisted the temptation of asking the former deputy governor of the central bank – who today serves as minister for the economy – to return to the National Bank of Hungary. He has been consulting with Mr Varga about this issue for weeks now, and he is grateful to him for having accepted the nomination, he indicated.
Praising the incumbent central bank governor, Mr Orbán stressed that György Matolcsy “did an excellent, a splendid job.” “He has an impulsive personality, and he kept sending impulses, inspirations to the Hungarian government all the time,” he said, stressing at the same time that he is very grateful for all his work, for having proposed ever further innovations. The Prime Minister said it was an heroic deed on the part of Mr Matolcsy when he proposed the right decisions to the government at the right time, thereby having rescued foreign currency debtors from the trap which many hundreds of thousands of families in Central Europe found themselves in. Without this, hundreds of thousands of families in Hungary would have gone bankrupt, he said. In summary, Mr Orbán said they are saying farewell to a central bank governor who has historic merits under his belt.
Regarding the three-year wage agreement, the Prime Minister said it is their experience that the increase of the minimum wage pushes all other wages up as well. He indicated that based on the latest agreement, in the three years there will be a 40 per cent wage increase in total which is unprecedented in Hungary and is something that had only happened in Europe once before.
Mr Orbán said we have every reason to be proud of the fact that businesses and workers managed to agree on such a high wage increase. It also required assistance from the government which is able to help businesses through tax cuts. “If things continue like this – and why wouldn’t they? – we will reach a one-million-forint average wage in Hungary which is our goal,” he stated. The Prime Minister observed that when he announced the one-million-forint average wage target, he saw “the choir of doubters,” but in his view, this is not any different from the doubts that were expressed when in 2010 he announced the creation of one million new jobs. He added that in contrast to 3,700,000 people working back then, today as many as 4,700,000 people had jobs in Hungary. Meaning that Hungary will also be able to reach the one-million-forint average wage, will be able to do that, too, he said.
In answer to the question regarding the burden businesses are able to bear in the department of wage increases, Mr Orbán said businesses must make efforts to improve their efficiency and productivity, while the government is ready to listen to the proposals of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He mentioned as examples tax cuts, better vocational training, programmes serving to enhance efficiency such as the raising of the digitisation level of companies and the Demján Sándor Programme, as part of which small and medium-sized businesses will have access to capital grants.
Mr Orbán said in the Romanian parliamentary elections due to be held on Sunday, Hungarians living in Romania will have to ensure that they have parliamentary representation as without this it is not possible to effectively safeguard the interests of Hungarian communities in the Carpathian Basin. If Hungarians are represented with sufficient weight in the Romanian parliament, that will also facilitate the efforts of the Hungarian government and will make it easier to help from Hungary, he pointed out.
He stressed that in the first round of the Romanian presidential election, President of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) Hunor Kelemen had stood his ground in every respect and had represented in a worthy manner not only the Hungarians of Transylvania, but all Hungarians.
He also said the presidential election campaign was an example of technology meeting the electorate, it is an exciting and as yet unsettled question which social media platforms can be used and how these affect the decisions of the electorate. Romania “is now conducting this experiment for us” as a laboratory, and summing up the conclusions, we will be able to explore whether we have anything to do in order to avert similar problems in Hungary, Mr Orbán said.
Mr Orbán described Hungary’s budget for next year currently lying before Parliament as a peace budget which will, he said, offer the opportunity of a new economic policy. The 2025 budget is based on the assumption that Donald Trump will be able to bring the war to a conclusion. Hence the high minimum wage increase, hence the launch of the worker loan, hence the launch of the programme serving to promote small and medium-sized businesses, hence the instruments serving to facilitate access to housing and helping young people, he listed.
The Prime Minister stressed that Hungary was able to take advantage of the opportunities offered by peace; “we’re not sleeping, we’re not wasting a single moment.” He pointed out at the same time that the Hungarian government was compelled to implement the above measures against the European Union. “So, we’re engaged in battles on the issues of economic policy, migration and child protection all at once. The purpose of the consultation is to reinforce Hungary’s position and to successfully fight these battles,” he underlined.
Mr Orbán said the conclusion of the war means peace, peace means security, while security means a good economy. At the same time, the European Union is continually blocking, attacking the Hungarian economic policy, and “keeps calling on us not to do this, not to do that,” he said, adding that he wards these attempts off and wants to protect Hungary from these Brussels decisions, but for this you need to fight, and in order to fight you need strength and support. We are in opposition in Brussels, he observed.
Mr Orbán stressed that the implementation of the migration pact would be fatal for Hungary. He further said that as regards the gender issue, the hearing of the lawsuit seeking to annul the Hungarian child protection law has begun before the European Court. He mentioned as an example that there was a party which would enable same-sex couples to adopt children in Hungary. This is completely contrary to the child protection legislation, he pointed out, stating that the battles fought with Brussels must be won.
