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Mr Orbán said, so far more than 2 million people have stated their opinion in the Vote2025 opinion vote about Ukraine’s EU accession.
Mr Orbán pointed out that the Ukrainians were unable to support their own state, “we pay” the pensions of Ukrainian pensioners as well as the salaries of state employees, we pay for the functioning of public services in Ukraine, “we maintain” their army. “Meaning that without us, without the West, Ukraine wouldn’t be able to survive for a single day. Not only would Ukraine not be able to wage a war against Russia, but neither would it be able to survive, to exist […] admitting such a country to the European Union means that we admit nothing but trouble, we don’t need this,” he said.
He stressed that if the Ukrainians were admitted to the European Union, the war, too, would be admitted. He added that in this case, there would be an EU member, at whose eastern border a war was under way, and it would only be a question of time before all Member States of the European Union would become involved in this war.
We do not want the Russo-Ukrainian war to become our war, he stated. In his view, three years ago, the leaders of the western half of Europe “jumped” into the war; the concept of the West was that “this is our war,” that Ukraine is indeed fighting for European security, Russia is a threat, they must be defeated, and it is better to defeat them on Ukrainian soil than closer to the EU borders.
He indicated that he had always thought that this was a mistake because this way Ukraine – which had not been a security risk for Europe previously – had suddenly become one. He stressed that by contrast, the Hungarian government as the only pro-peace force had always stood for the position that this was the war of two Slavic brotherly nations, in which a ceasefire must be achieved and we must present it from spreading on and destroying the European economy over an extended period.
He observed: a country may well find itself in a situation where it is compelled to engage in military action, resulting in casualties, but it must be closely, evidently, robustly, undeniably, inseparably connected to its national interests. It is not our national interest to take a single Hungarian to Ukraine, or for a single Hungarian to die there, he laid down.
He criticised the fact that the European Union would finance Ukraine from debt, while the whole European economy is stagnating and many Member States are in debt in excess of their annual gross domestic product. He added that the Ukrainians were asking the EU to finance the Ukrainian army of a million. He observed that the Americans had stopped doing this because they now had a businessman as the leader of their country who said that America – rather than profiting from this – was losing on this deal.
He said Ukraine cannot oblige Hungary to support its EU membership. He stressed that with this they would destroy Hungary and would jeopardise the lives of our children. This is why we do not want to admit them, and they do not have the right to join the European Union. They have the right – the same as we did – to apply for EU membership. At the same time, we have the right to say yes or no to this, he laid down.
Mr Orbán said Hungary is not a country that falls on its knees before Ukraine. We recognise their difficult situation and heroic efforts, but we will not behave like people in Western Europe who “senselessly” hang on every word the Ukrainian president utters.
“The Ukrainian president is who he is, we know exactly who he is, we also know the Ukrainians perfectly well, we know who they are, so they shouldn’t pretend to be champions of morality because no one gave them the right to do so,” he said, adding that they cannot speak to us from a high horse.
“President Zelenskyy should understand that Hungary belongs to the Hungarian people, he can’t demand things here, he can’t speak from a high horse here, if he wants something, he can come here decently, with due modesty, and can tell us what he would like. And we’ll give him an answer,” he pointed out.
He took the view that the Ukrainian president had threatened Hungary, and additionally, with reference to facts and documents we knew nothing about. He added that if the Ukrainian president found something he might object to, he should tell us what it was, “instead of sending cryptic messages and throwing threats about.”
He also highlighted that Ukraine was in trouble and received help from Hungary, and for this Hungary never expected gratitude. However, he said in continuation, “it’s a bit rich” that they should talk about a lack of respect.
He observed that the fact that the Ukrainian president had friends in Hungary and there were openly pro-Ukraine parties in Hungary – mentioning Tisza and DK [Democratic Coalition] as such – did not give him the right to speak about Hungary in this tone.
The Prime Minister announced that more than 2 million people had already stated their opinion in the Vote2025 opinion vote about Ukraine’s EU accession. “I see the numbers every day, the number of answers sent back, we’re above two million. Meaning that more than two million people have stated their opinion on this issue, found it important that their voice, their opinion, too, should be there in the government’s decision,” the Prime Minister said.
Mr Orbán stressed that this was a fantastic achievement, “I can’t remember the last time we had a national consultation or vote” in which this many people took part. He added that there were another 8 days left, and encouraged everyone “to appreciate the seriousness of the situation, to read the Zelenskyy interview, to see the Hungarian internal political debate related to this. There are pro-Ukrainian and pro-Hungarian forces, the dividing line is perfectly clear. It’s very important that they, too, meaning every single Hungarian citizen should state their opinion on this issue.”
Regarding the European Commission’s country-specific recommendations, Mr Orbán said half of Hungarian families would be ruined if Hungary did what Brussels asks it to do. The Prime Minister mentioned that Brussels asked Hungary to do away with the interest cap; this currently protects 300,000 Hungarian families with mortgage loans. If we were to scrap the interest cap, then the majority of these families would surely find themselves bankrupt, he stated.
He added that they also asked Hungary to put an end to the profit margin cap. He understands that this is a problem for large supermarket chains because their profits are lower now; however, as a result, Hungarians pay less in the shops.
Regarding housing support, he indicated that Hungary operated a housing support system reaching many tens of thousands of people which was – according to Brussels – overly generous, not targeted enough, and – in their opinion – the fact that the people had access to housing more cheaply distorted the housing market.
He observed that Brussels also periodically attacked the workfare economy; in their opinion, there would be more arguments for a benefit-based economy. “The report that I’m compelled to receive every year is absolutely full of requests of this kind,” Mr Orbán said, adding that while “we are ready to cooperate, even to the point of guilelessness,” he must protect the Hungarian people’s interests.
Therefore, he can give a single answer to this document, namely that he closes it and says “thank you very much, these are all issues that are the Hungarian people’s business.” There is no power, based on which Brussels could interfere with these. Consequently, “I only regard this as an opinion,” he said, stressing that Hungary follows its own path and tries to protect jobs and the budgets of families.
The Prime Minister expects a major battle at the meeting of EU foreign ministers due to start next Monday. He said the foreign ministers will discuss a proposal originating from the European Commission which is about prohibiting everyone from buying oil, gas and nuclear fuel from Russia. In his view, “this will kill the Hungarian economy,” “this will floor us”. If they manage “to push this through,” then people in Hungary will have to pay twice, three times or even four times more for energy than they are paying now. We must prevent the adoption of this bad decision, this is our only chance to protect the reduction of household energy bills, to protect families, he stated.
The Prime Minister also spoke about the fact that in two to three years’ time, there would be patriotic-nationalist governments in all major states in Europe. This is not bad, this is good, this is not something that is just happening, we want this, we are doing this, and it will be good, the Prime Minister said, adding that it is a fundamental problem that the leading countries of the continent have weakened. Their leaders are so engrossed in their own problems at home that “there isn’t enough time, attention, energy left for pan-European affairs.”
He said “at times like this, the Brussels bureaucracy rises from its ashes,” “breaks loose,” “follows its own head.” And they have a single goal: to take as many powers away from the Member States as possible, he pointed out, adding that they would even take powers away which they have no business with, including LGBTQ rights, the issue of the education of children, family support, the reduction of household energy bills or the thirteenth monthly pension. Restore powers to the nation states, Mr Orbán said, summarising the underlying objective of the Patriots movement, highlighting that the party family formed last year immediately became Europe’s third largest.
Regarding the Brussels bureaucracy, he said it was created in order to coordinate the work of the Member States, not “to sit on our heads” and tell us to let migrants in. Among the Patriots’ goals, he mentioned the efforts seeking to prevent the “undermining of national powers” and to take back the powers that had been taken away unconstitutionally.
In the context of the law adopted by Parliament this week in connection with local self-identity, Mr Orbán said Hungarian villages must be preserved and protected, we must help the people who live there to stay there as “this is how we fill the country,” and then mentioned the government support programmes launched to this end.
There is a phenomenon that villages are becoming towns without the people who live there truly wanting that, he pointed out, adding that it is typical especially in the vicinity of larger towns that the people who move in utterly change the lives of the people living in the given settlement.
Mr Orbán stressed that “each local government itself must decide whether they want to defend themselves, what they want to be like, how big they want to be.” However, he believes that it is a legitimate demand that settlements should be given a means “to control their own lives.”
