The Prime Minister said if they want to hold the peace summit in Europe – and the Russo-Ukrainian war is, at the end of the day, taking place in Europe – and take a look at the map and the leaders, it soon transpires that today Budapest is the only place in Europe where such a meeting can be organised.
He said Hungary is almost the only pro-peace country, consistently, openly, loudly and actively standing for peace for three years now. Mr Orbán observed that the Vatican, too, stood for a similar position, adding that he regrets that Pope Francis could not live to see this as he continuously encouraged him even when subjected to the most brutal attacks.
“If we take a look at the political map of Europe, there is a single country which has consistently been pro-peace throughout,” he pointed out in summary. He said the situation was similar in the case of migration, too. “It is as if we were going against the flow of the traffic on the motorway, and you sometimes have second thoughts about whether you’re right, and then from time to time the Almighty sends us signals to the effect that ‘no, we’re on the right track, we’re in the right lane,’ see the issue of migration and see the issue of peace.”
Additionally, there is another advantage, namely that the Hungarian prime minister has been in office for a very long time, he knows everyone, everyone knows him, he said, adding that Hungary has always been a loyal partner, has always persevered with its friends, and has never given up any friendship for tactical advantages. “If they were looking for a safe place from the viewpoint of peace, a place where things will be fine also from a technical point of view and there won’t be any political surprises, meaning that if they were looking for a predictable environment, then Budapest appears to be a logical choice,” he pointed out.
He said he will speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin during the course of the day, and an official Hungarian-US meeting in Washington is also “in the pipeline,” they are putting the finishing touches to the arrangement. “The water is boiling everywhere,” he added.
Mr Orbán said President of the United States Donald Trump informed him on Thursday that a meeting between the US and Russian foreign secretaries was on the agenda. The two foreign secretaries will seek to settle the issues that have remained open within a week, and then the Trump-Putin meeting could take place in Budapest a week later, he observed, adding that already on Thursday evening he issued instructions for setting up an organising committee; work has begun.
He warned, however, that we should not lose sight of the reality on the ground because these talks will not be about us. “Now naturally, everyone here in Hungary is excited because God only knows when we last had a diplomatic event of such significance in Hungary where we’re not only hosts, but it is a political achievement in itself that we have maintained a situation which makes Budapest a suitable venue for hosting a peace summit at all,” the Prime Minister said. He added that he understood that everyone was excited and curious, “but I’d like to ask everyone to exercise some restraint because these talks are not about us, but about peace.”
The three-year history of our struggle for peace clearly shows that on the truly great issues perseverance and humility are always the most important. You must persevere with good causes, he recalled.
He also said everyone in the EU, other than us, is pro-war, and therefore, they have been logically excluded from the Budapest summit, but must not be excluded from peace. Therefore, he encouraged the Europeans to do the same as the US President: we, too, should engage in talks with the Russians, not only “as an auxiliary team of the US President,” though for the time being, the EU is trying to pull President Trump over to the pro-war side, he observed.
Europe should stand up for its own interests, and should operate its own diplomatic channel, the same as Hungary has done, he indicated. He recalled that we had been the only European country that had said right from the beginning that war was a bad thing, but that this was no reason to close down diplomatic channels. If there are no diplomatic channels, if we do not keep them open, then there will never be peace, he warned.
He stressed that the war was Europe’s greatest problem, and the continuation of the war meant the continuation of the problem. The European Union has sent EUR 180 billion directly to this war. Meanwhile, the European economy is sick because the war and its consequences, including the sanctions, are blocking economic growth, he added. The Hungarian economy’s growth would automatically double or triple if there was no war.
Therefore, it is worth the cost and also the inconvenience that the residents of Budapest will have to endure during the summit; it is worth it for Hungary because we cannot make as much money on anything as on peace, he pointed out. If there is peace, then we can open a new chapter of economic growth, meaning that today, it is in the best interests of all Hungarian families that the Budapest meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin should bring about peace, he stated in summary.
The Prime Minister stressed that if an agreement was concluded about peace in Ukraine, “the European war plans will have to be thrown out of the window” and a European security and defence force building plan will have to be developed because “based on experiences, you must always back peace up with a kind of military capability” which Europe does not have today. Therefore, we are more at the mercy of the United States than we should be.
Should a conflict erupt on the eastern edge of Europe, “the question should never arise: will we be able to defend ourselves if the eastern front moves to the West?” he added. We must create a peace plan which also has a security leg, Mr Orbán said, mentioning that it is rare in politics that two dozen politicians advocating for a war strategy should suddenly decide on a change of direction, but after the Middle East peace deal and the Trump-Putin meeting “why couldn’t we believe that the Europeans, too, will embark on the path of common sense?”
The Prime Minister described the debate surrounding Hungary’s system of taxation as a classic Left-Right debate. Since the change of government in 2010, “we had completed these 15 years effectively without any intellectual challenge,” but now the Left has raised this issue again. In contrast to the left-wing concept, “we say that we should leave as much money with the people as possible, there are state services which must be financed, we should take away the money that is necessary for that, but it’s best if we leave the money with the people and businesses because they can always use it better and more effectively than the state. So, these two mentalities are separating from each other ever more markedly day after day.” “And Tisza and DK [Democratic Coalition] are pushing a classic left-wing economic policy, now they want to tax pensions because a left-wing economic policy always involves tax increases, while we implement tax cuts,” the Prime Minister stated, adding that “on the one side, the Hungarians are being dealt a cold blow: a pension tax, that’s the most recent, but there is also the raising of the corporation tax from 9 per cent to 25 per cent, the replacement of the flat income tax with a progressive tax, meaning an income tax increase, while on the other side, on the right, we’re implementing Europe’s largest tax reduction programme.” “I believe that a national consultation is the best means for conducting this debate,” he stated.
Mr Orbán also spoke about the fact that a 14th monthly pension could be introduced on the basis of the just logic of the 13th monthly pension. He said “we are keeping the 14th monthly pension on the agenda.”
The Prime Minister spoke against a possible pension reform, saying that interfering with a system based on service time and contributions is extremely risky because some groups will have the feeling that interference from outside is not fair on them. He stressed: “the pension system is workable as it is,” the economy, the government and he personally can guarantee that pensions will not lose their value. At the same time, rather than seeing theoretical mathematical models in the system, one should see the social achievement that the Hungarian people who deserve that have access to a stable income in the last decades of their lives.
Mr Orbán highlighted that the introduction of the 14th monthly pension required economic strength, while that in turn depended on peace, observing that they managed to re-introduce the 13th monthly pension by bringing back an extra weekly pension every year. Building on this logic, this measure could be adopted over a period of two, three or four years.
Regarding the Thursday meeting of the Hungarian Standing Conference (Máért) in Budapest, he stressed that today in an open social debate, the position which sought to detach Hungary from Hungarians beyond the borders could no longer prevail. He recalled the invalid referendum on dual citizenship in 2004, stressing that rather than the failure of this referendum, its success remained engraved in people’s memories, that the yes votes outnumbered the no votes.
He indicated that the amendment of the Constitution in 2010 which granted dual citizenship to Hungarians beyond the borders was based on this political and legal fact. He took the view that since then even those living “in deep Hungary” have understood, even those groups least receptive to national causes have realised that every family living in Hungary is better off if the government envisages its economic policy not as one for the economy of a country of 10 million, but for the economy of a national community of 13, 14, 15 million.
In the context of the refurbishment of the Gödöllő Royal Palace as part of the cooperation of the state and OTP Bank, Mr Orbán encouraged all large Hungarian businesses, wealthy families and rich individuals to share the community’s financial burdens also beyond the payment of taxes. The Prime Minister said the state of our most important historical buildings falls within the realm of national self-esteem. He indicated at the same time that it was effectively impossible to spend HUF 40 billion on the refurbishment of the Gödöllő Grassalkovich Palace, meaning on the preservation of our national heritage, in an economic situation blocked by a war.
At times like this, you need patrons, and in the past 15 years, as a result of civic governance, large and robust companies, wealthy families and rich individuals have come into being, he stressed, adding that he is happy if these companies and individuals feel it incumbent on them to contribute from their wealth to causes for which there is no money in the state budget.
Chairman of OTP Bank Sándor Csányi has now taken the first step. Therefore, the Prime Minister encouraged all other major Hungarian businesses, wealthy families and rich individuals to “not hesitate to take on financial burdens for the community if they see beautiful, meaningful causes” beyond the payment of taxes – which is “the bare minimum” in his view – and beyond providing jobs for the people “which is commendable and is expected of them,” Mr Orbán said on Kossuth Radio.
