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He stressed that important things could come into being which would not be possible should the war continue because that carried the potential threat of involvement.
“For a 100 years Hungarian diplomacy hasn’t been as strong as it is now, and we have never before had as much influence in the world, especially pro rata – because we are the size that we are – as we have now,” Mr Orbán said, evaluating the Thursday Budapest summit of the European Political Community and the Friday EU summit which was also held in the capital.
He observed that “they kick our pants so much, in the West people say all sorts of things left and right, it’s hard to know how much of it should be taken seriously.” “But the trouble can’t be that big” if at the invitation of the Hungarian prime minister “forty-something European heads of state,” including the representatives of 26 European Member States come along, “everyone is here, stays here, holds discussions, says thank you, and treats us with respect,” he said in continuation.
He stressed that János Bóka, the minister responsible for European affairs and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó had invested many years’ hard work in that today they could say “modestly, without arrogance” that “Hungarian diplomacy has never been as good and strong as it is today.”
Mr Orbán said there is always a risk that such a European meeting descends into a lack of interest, but this time this was not the case for two reasons. On the one hand because this was the first European meeting after the US elections, and on the other because the Member States adopted the agreement on European competitiveness that was presented by the Hungarian EU presidency.
He also said it is now certain that the government will be able to submit to Parliament “a peacetime budget,” meaning that “we will have to spend less on wartime expenditures,” and we will be able to afford more items that serve the people’s day-to-day advancement.
An unprecedented small business development programme will be launched in this budget, the government will introduce a worker loan facility, access will be provided to cheaper, more affordable housing, and it will also be possible to keep the 13th monthly pension on a permanent basis, he listed. He said. “2025 will be a sensational year,” things will happen in Hungary the likes of which have never happened before.
In his opinion, with Donald Trump’s election as president, “we are closer to peace not just by a single step, we’re now wearing the seven-league boots.” He drew attention to the fact that today the whole world was speculating about how the new US president would achieve peace.
At the same time, evaluating the US elections, he said the most important question is what will happen to the Hungarians. He added that we would be able to enforce our interests and achieve our goals more easily than before, but only we ourselves could achieve them. He warned everyone against looking upon the US president as some redeemer or saviour; we should instead look upon him as a fellow fighter.
He recalled that it was for a reason that one often had the feeling in connection with affairs that were important for Hungary that we were on our own. “Now, we’re not alone anymore. We have the whole of America with us, the US administration,” he said, adding that everyone was surprised at Donald Trump’s victory, but he was certain of his victory, “as certain as the sky is blue.”
Mr Orbán saw the reasons for the Republican candidate’s victory in that the people in both Europe and the United States have had enough of the war, of migration, and also of “this gender thing,” and the Democratic administration that lost the elections was pro-war, pro-migration and pro-gender.
Mr Orbán also spoke about the fact that he would like to conclude an overarching Hungarian-US agreement with the new US president. He added that there were a few things which the incumbent US administration had spoilt in relations between the two countries, for instance, that they had not renewed the agreement on the avoidance of double taxation with Hungary after its expiry; this will have to be renewed.
He indicated that he would also like to agree with Donald Trump “on a few more important economic issues,” and believes that this will be possible.
The Prime Minister mentioned as the most important element of the Budapest EU summit that the attendees were collectively faced with the fact that “Europe cannot continue the way it has done things to date,” it must change its ways, and the leaders who have so far given Ukraine everything they wanted “must change over to the opposite of this attitude.”
I would not like Europe to split into opposing camps, he said, setting the goal of “moving collectively from a pro-war position to a pro-peace position.”
He also said the Europeans will always lose if they are compelled to pay four times more for gas and three times more for electricity than their US competitors. He stressed that within half a year they would have to adopt decisions resulting in a reduction of energy prices in Europe. He said in Hungary members of the public have access to gas and electricity at the lowest prices in the whole of Europe, and so the competitiveness agreement adopted at the Budapest EU summit will favour primarily businesses as businesses in Hungary – the same as their European counterparts – pay very high prices.
An energy price reduction must be carried out in Europe, and this largely depends on politicians because they set up the formulae based on which energy prices are fixed erroneously, he pointed out.
In the list of expected measures, he mentioned an anti-bureaucratic revolution as the second item; within six months, Europe must radically reduce the number of rules which evidently only hinder free competition and the operation of businesses. They even introduced a new method under which no new legislation can be adopted without a competitiveness test, he said.
