Mr Orbán described migration as one of the future’s greatest civilisational issues, and said on this matter Fidesz and the government’s supporters are in the majority in the country. He said he is convinced that the country’s majority do not want migrants and do not want an immigrant country. He stated that the migration pact would enter into effect in June, however, the government would refuse to implement it.
“In July, we will need a government that will say no, no matter how hard they may try in Brussels, Hungary will not tolerate a situation where others direct strangers here whom we’ll have to deal with,” he pointed out.
Mr Orbán said the second great civilisational issue is how we see our own families, the education of our own children, whether we want to hand over this right to someone else, or insist that we alone can teach and educate our children. He rejected the idea that “all kinds of gender activists” should explain to children in schools how to be tolerant, and described the opponent’s prospective candidate for minister of education and culture as “a suspicious character” “who gained notoriety by having compiled a storybook for children under the title ‘Sleeping Barry.’”
The Prime Minister is convinced that “in this country, pro-family people who want to protect children are in a very large majority,” and he regards this as a serious matter because “our children determine the future we will have.” He added that the education of children was the most important issue and on this issue there was no room for any compromise.
Mr Orbán mentioned the issue of war and peace as the third important civilisational issue. He argued that not everyone had lost wars like Hungary had. There were some who won wars, and this is why the notion has supporters in Europe today that war is the kind of thing we must live together with from time to time. In his view, the war in Ukraine is only continuing because Western European countries are pro-war, in the hope of potential profits, money above all.
“And there are countries, we belong to that circle as well, which only ever stand to lose on wars. Therefore, our reflex, our instincts dictate that war is bad and we must strive for peace. This is a civilisational issue, and therefore, we ourselves must stand against war and for peace,” Mr Orbán said, stating in summary that these are the overarching issues that will determine our future.
He also mentioned among these attitude to work, regarding which he said the country changed after 2010 because “we are, I am rigorously pursuing the idea that everyone in Hungary must work.” He said today 4,700,000 people have jobs in Hungary, and if they win the elections, they will mobilise another 300,000. As a result, 5 million people will have jobs in Hungary.
According to Mr Orbán, they have a large majority also as regards the number of people the work completed by the government in the past four years has benefited. He said they have accomplished all the pledges they made in 2022, mentioning as examples the thirteenth monthly pension, the creation of the foundations for the fourteenth monthly pension and the doubling of the tax benefit available in relation to children. All this fundamentally required determination and courage, as well as the decision, based on which between 2010 and 2025, the government took away HUF 15,000 billion from banks, energy companies and large retail chains and gave the money to Hungarian families, the Prime Minister explained, adding that “this is our system.”
Based on his analysis, one of the key economic experts in the aspiring shadow government of their opponents came from one of the world’s largest energy companies, another one came from Erste Bank, and “I’m sure that they won’t put the constituent parts of the Hungarian economy together in such a way that will ensure that all the extra profits will go to Hungarian families.”
Mr Orbán therefore described the financial situation of Hungarian families as one of the great stakes in the elections, expressing concern that their opponents would take back all the money that the government has given families in the past 15 years. Consequently, we must not allow a change to happen in Hungary on account of the budgets of families either, he stressed.
He said “change is not hope, it’s not good, change has risks, change is trouble; we need predictability, plannability, a political force that is able to govern in the long term, something that is called Fidesz-KDNP [Christian Democratic People’s Party].”
At the event, the Prime Minister thanked László Vincze, saying that without him they would not have been able to keep the smallholders within the civic, patriotic, Christian community when there were troubles within the Smallholders’ Party.
He said Minister for Construction and Transport János Lázár, who also attended the forum, “has a job which is directly connected to your world because he’s responsible for Fidesz’s Great Plain Programme,” and highlighted that Fidesz was the only political actor which had such a programme.
The most important question of the future ahead is whether we can keep Hungary out of the war, the Prime Minister stated at the Thursday station of Fidesz’s tour of the country, in Csongrád.
Mr Orbán said “I suggest that we should take no risks whatsoever under any circumstances, we should not hope for any loot or victory, […] but persevere with peace because the 20th century taught us that if there is war, we’ll lose on it.”
According to the Prime Minister, our only chance, including our children’s lives and our economic future, is if we stay out of the war.
Mr Orbán stressed that the government to be formed after this year’s elections would have to decide on this issue, and we would need a government which was able to say no. The Prime Minister added that we needed national unity behind the government, and that he wanted to keep the country out of the war.
He recalled that in the 20th century Hungary’s leaders had striven to stay out of two world wars, but had failed both times. He stressed that the present situation itself was not a simple political issue, but a matter of life and death, and so we needed a government which was able to say no calmly and consistently, even under the greatest international pressure.
In connection with the war, the Prime Minister also spoke about EU financial decisions. He said staying out is important not only in a military, but also in an economic sense, and so Hungary must stay away from any collective borrowing, the purpose of which is to finance Ukraine. He drew attention to the fact that the European Union has already put a significant amount, more than EUR 200 billion into the war, and now they are providing a further loan of EUR 90 billion.
“Ukraine as an independent country doesn’t exist, it’s an empty egg shell, a rattling poppy pod,” Mr Orbán stated.
He said they are maintaining the pension system, transport, public administration, health care and the operation of hospitals from EU money. Ukraine is unable, and neither was it before the war, to maintain itself, the Prime Minister laid down. According to Mr Orbán, these measures expose the European economy itself to serious risks, and therefore Hungary must insist, also in the future, on staying out of senseless financial transactions. He mentioned as an example that earlier Hungary managed to opt out of a collective EU credit programme intended for Ukraine.
The Prime Minister stressed that also during the period ahead, he expected the government of the day, whatever its composition, to protect the country’s economic interests and to consistently stand for the policy of peace and staying out.
In the context of the Druzhba crude oil pipeline, the Prime Minister pointed out that the Ukrainian president must understand that he cannot blackmail Hungary with shutting down or not resuming shipments. He said had they not prepared for this situation, petrol would cost a thousand forints in Hungary today. The Ukrainians want to create chaos in Hungary with blackmail which they can use against the government in the election campaign and “can help Tisza into power,” he said. He added that the Ukrainians were unable to come to an agreement with the incumbent patriotic government because the cabinet was not prepared to surrender the Hungarian national interest.
Hungary is helping Ukraine, but only up to an extent that is reconcilable with the best interests of the Hungarian people, he pointed out. Had we not built, in cooperation with other countries, a gas pipeline system from the southerly direction a few years previously, then today households would be required to pay the amounts that are stated on their energy bill as the actual cost, he said.
The Prime Minister highlighted that in Hungary an average Hungarian family paid HUF 250,000 to 260,000 a year for household energy, while the Poles paid the equivalent of HUF 800,000, and the Czechs a million.
In connection with the campaign, Mr Orbán stressed that in the coming days they would have to reach out primarily to those who had voted for the government parties also previously, and convince them to take part in the elections again. He said they also respect those who disagree with them; at the same time, in his opinion, the other side is not open to a meaningful dialogue, and often responds to differing views with attacks and intimidation.
The Prime Minister also spoke about the public opinion polls published during the campaign, regarding which he said most of them do not reflect the actual situation, but serve more as means to exert political pressure. He stressed that the outcome of the elections would be decided not by guessing, but by hard work and mobilisation.
Mr Orbán asked the attendees of the forum to play an active role in the work and to help the local candidate during the remaining part of the campaign. He highlighted: elections are decided in the last few weeks, and that political community wins which invests more time and energy in mobilisation.
The Prime Minister said the Csongrád constituency plays a key role from the viewpoint of the national result, and he therefore believes it is important that the campaign should be robust here. He added: he will count on those who are now taking part in the work also after the elections because – as he said – “whoever works more will win.”
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