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At the press conference, on behalf of Hungary and the Hungarian people, Mr Orbán thanked Mr Fico “for the many brave decisions, the friendship and the initiative” which he has recently made in the interest of friendship between the two countries.
“If someone had said fifteen years ago that we would be standing here, talking in this tone about relations between the two countries, most probably, few people would have believed that this was possible,” Mr Orbán said.
The Prime Minister confirmed that Slovakia and the Slovaks could always count on Hungary, and the Hungarians, too, counted on Slovakia as the two countries had many shared interests.
He added that Hungary regarded the Slovak national groups and communities living in Hungary as an extremely valuable and respected part of Hungary, and Hungary would do everything it could so that they could preserve their self-identity, and could also maintain their cultural and political identities.
At the press conference, the Prime Minister said trade between the countries is now above EUR 15 billion, and with this Slovakia is Hungary’s third most important partner. Both countries are modern industrial countries, and therefore, it is our joint interest that the tariff war should not weaken our economies, he stressed.
Mr Orbán highlighted that at the one-to-one meeting with his Slovak counterpart, they spoke about the issues of peace, sovereignty and energy supply. In the context of the Russo-Ukrainian war, the Hungarian Prime Minister said it would be our task in Europe to welcome the American peace initiatives as by virtue of the mere fact that there are Russian-US talks, the risk of escalation has effectively ceased. He stressed that he was convinced that there was no solution to the war on the battlefield, and therefore, in his opinion, “we Europeans should support the peace initiatives also in Brussels.”
Regarding migration, Mr Orbán said we are a migrant-free country, and we do not at all want to sacrifice out children’s future with a flawed migration policy.
“I’m convinced that no one can restrict sovereignty regarding the migration policies of Member States, no one can decide for the Slovaks and Hungarians whom we should live together with in consequence of migration,” the Prime Minister stated. Whom we live together with must be a decision of our own, stemming from national sovereignty, he added.
Mr Orbán also spoke about the fact that they were planning to start the construction of three new roads and three new bridges as well as new train services between Hungary and Slovakia, while they would also like to refurbish several old border crossing stations. He said they agreed that within the framework of bilateral cooperation, there would be a need for ongoing developments also in the future. As a result of an earlier agreement, they have increased the number of existing border crossing points from 22 to 40, but “now we will also need new roads, bridges and railways,” he laid down.
Regarding the issue of energy supply, the Prime Minister said it is a regrettable state of affairs that Ukraine is blocking the transport of natural gas supplies via its territory. “We believe this is not the way forward, and this way, Ukraine will find it very difficult to move closer to Europe. They should show much more understanding towards our countries and should also take into consideration our economic interests,” he said. Mr Orbán recalled that in the past they had already increased the natural gas capacity connecting the two countries together to 3.5 billion cubic metres. Now, he agreed with Mr Fico to increase this capacity by another 900 million cubic metres, he added.
The Prime Minister observed that he had also agreed with the Slovak Prime Minister that both countries had to insist on being granted continued exemption from the sanctions concerning the purchase of crude oil, given that both Hungary and Slovakia were landlocked countries.
At the press conference, the Prime Minister also stated that democracy resided not in Brussels, but in the Member States. He said in the European Union there are 27 Member States and 27 national interests, but at this point in time, powers are being continually taken away from the Member States with stealthy amendments related to those powers and the mis- and re-interpretation of the Treaties. “This is not right. This is disrespectful,” Mr Orbán said, adding that we want Brussels, too, to give Member States the respect they deserve, and not only symbolically, but they should likewise respect the interests of Member States.
In answer to a journalist’s question regarding how the enforcement of European values can be guaranteed if Member States want ever greater sovereignty, Mr Orbán said the Hungarian answer is that, in our view, it is not Brussels that guarantees European values for the Member States. “It’s not that Brussels is the custodian of democracy, and they tell us what democracy is. It’s precisely the other way around, in Brussels there are bureaucrats,” he observed.
Democracy resides not in Brussels, but in the Member States. Meaning that in actual fact, it is not Brussels that guarantees democracy in Slovakia or Hungary, but we guarantee the democratic nature of Brussels from Hungary and Slovakia against the bureaucracy there, Mr Orbán pointed out, observing that “in Brussels, there are bureaucrats; bureaucrats are not at all friends of democracy, bureaucrats are friends of bureaucracy.”
The Prime Minister stressed that in the European Union it was not possible to surrender unanimity on foreign policy issues because that would practically eliminate the sovereignty of our states.
“Just imagine that if unanimity was not a requirement on foreign policy issues, meaning that if the individual Member States were unable to represent their own interests, then we could be driven into a war, despite the fact that neither our people, nor our government want this,” he added.
In answer to another question from a member of the press, the Prime Minister stressed that both he and the Prime Minister of Slovakia loved their countries, and when necessary, they stood up for them, and they did so in a straightforward manner.
“Meaning not on corridors; we don’t beat about the bush, we state clearly what the national interests of our respective countries are, we believe that this is the morally correct thing to do, we identify our interests clearly, and so we take part in debates from a self-confident position,” he said.
Mr Orbán highlighted that Slovakia and Hungary were constructive members of the European Union. There are a number of issues where either each country on its own or the two countries together make proposals in order to find solutions. He mentioned as an example the amendment of the Green Deal with a view to the reasonable generation of energy at acceptable prices, and the integration of nuclear energy into the energy system.
Regarding the tariff war, he said Hungary’s recommendation to avoid the US-European tariff war is to reduce industrial tariffs to 2.5 per cent.
“Meaning that we have proposals on an ongoing basis, and so I would like you to see not only national resistance and national sovereignty on our part, but also our constructive commitment to Europe because we are members of the European Union because both our states – both Slovakia and Hungary – have a vested interest in being members of a successful European Union,” he stated.
He added that in this regard the question was not only how much capacity we had for resistance, but also how much capacity we had for constructive cooperation, and – in his view – in this department both countries were doing well.
At the press conference, Mr Orbán invited Mr Fico on an official visit to Budapest. Mr Fico accepted the invitation.
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