Prime Minister Viktor Orbán: A new era is about to begin 

A new era is about to begin, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated on Sunday in Vienna where he announced a new European political cooperation scheme together with President of the Freedom Party of Austria Herbert Kickl and former Czech Prime Minister-President of the ANO party Andrej Babis. 

At a press conference held in Vienna, Mr Orbán said a new era began in European politics in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall, and now this era has come to an end with the latest decision adopted in the European Parliament. 

The Prime Minister said the first decisive moment of this new era is the establishment of a new European political group which will change European politics.

Today, a political formation is being established which will “charge forward” and will within a very short time become the European Right’s strongest bloc, its strongest group, Mr Orbán said.

The Hungarian Prime Minister expects this to take place within the next few days, and after that “the sky is the limit.” 

Mr Orbán pointed out that the European situation was clear: European politics must be changed, in Europe we need a change.

He underlined that in 20 of the European Union’s 27 Member States, parties had won in the European Parliament elections which had promised citizens a change. 

At the same time, he clearly saw in Brussels in the past few weeks that the Brussels elite is resisting this decision, and refuses to accept it. They do not want change, they want to maintain the status quo. This is unacceptable, this is why they are establishing a joint group and platform, in order to implement change despite the will of the Brussels elite, he laid down. 

Mr Orbán said they have adopted A Patriotic Manifesto which summarises the ideals and goals around which they will organise their efforts.

In the Hungarian Prime Minister’s view, the European economy is in a crisis, its weight is diminishing, while the threat of terrorism and migration have become permanent features. There is a war under way in our neighbourhood, the outbreak of which the European Union was unable to prevent and which – after its outbreak – it was unable to isolate.

We are living in the shadow of war escalation, he said, adding that the European people want three things, namely peace, order and development. At the same time, what they are receiving from the incumbent Brussels elite is war, migration and stagnation.

In addition to poor external circumstances, the current Brussels elite’s flawed, poor political decisions have also contributed to this crisis, Mr Orbán pointed out. 

In his opinion, they have rendered the European economy uncompetitive, we are on the verge of a trade war with our most important potential trade partners and the green transition has turned into a fiasco. 

What is being pursued in Brussels at present is not a green policy, it is a toxic green policy, Mr Orbán stated. This green policy is poisoning, rather than curing us, he said, adding that today more coal is being used in Europe than before the green transition, and energy prices are much higher than earlier which are in turn destroying the economy.

Mr Orbán pointed out that a change had begun in Europe as multiple European governments had been compelled to resign due to the European Parliament elections. He saw this as evidence of the fact that democracy is only possible within national boundaries.

National governments were compelled to accept the European people’s decision and resigned, but the Brussels elite is resisting because Brussels is not a democratic construction. 

In this situation, it is their duty to enforce the will of the electorate. The strongest Austrian party, the strongest Czech party and the strongest Hungarian party are taking responsibility for launching this new platform and group, the Prime Minister stated.

Mr Orbán stressed that in Hungary in politics, a few things are done differently to the way it is customary in Brussels. Hungary does not support migration, stops illegal migration, stands for the traditional family model and believes in national sovereignty. Important ideals are responsible for the fact that today Hungary is ‘an island of difference in the vast European liberal sea,’ he said. 

Mr Orbán highlighted that he had learnt from Andrej Babis that ideals in themselves did not amount to much; ideals must be combined with governmental achievements. Andrej Babis was once Europe’s best finance minister, performing “a feat nothing short of a financial miracle” in his VAT system, and his premiership was an outstanding success story in the Czech Republic, the Prime Minister said, praising his Czech partner.