“Hungary is dangerous not because of its size, but because of its courage and the example it sets. This is why they want to hunt us down, and this is why they want to replace the incumbent patriotic government with a pro-Ukraine government, and I believe that they have already agreed on this with Tisza and the Ukrainians,” Mr Orbán said.
He stated: Brussels, Kiev and Tisza are colluding so that after the elections a pro-Ukraine and pro-Brussels government should be formed in Hungary.
According to Mr Orbán, there is collusion also behind the present oil blockade, that explains its timing. Chaos, a petrol price above HUF 1,000, confusion, dissatisfaction, and it is possible to intensify the aversions to the government. “No one likes to embark on an election, and neither would I, whilst economic chaos unfolds on the country’s horizon. So, I think this is what this is about, meaning that during the period ahead, we will have to cope with the war, the Ukrainians and oil shipments all at once,” the Prime Minister explained at the Sopron forum.
Regarding the election campaign, Mr Orbán stressed that they had always had to work hard for success in the Sopron-centred constituency. In the rankings set up on the basis of the results of the past 35 years, the Sopron constituency in which Attila Barcza is the candidate of Fidesz-KDNP [Christian Democratic People’s Party] – whom he described as a fair and honest person that one can vote for with a good conscience – is the 45th strongest. At the same time, the party president sees a chance for victory because on the most important civilisational issues there is agreement between Fidesz-KDNP and the people of Sopron.
He said civic, patriotic and Christian values, vision of the future, culture and traditions are at home in the city of Sopron. In his words, in a referendum in Sopron, the position against migration could go even above 100 per cent.
The government and the communities living here regard families as equally important, the Prime Minister laid down, adding that it is for a reason that they have always supported the difficult political battles that were connected to the amendment of the Constitution. Mr Orbán observed that in the old days, there had been no need to write it into the constitution, everyone had known as a matter of course, that “the family is a man and a woman, and that the father is a man and the mother is a woman.”
Migration, an immigrant-free Hungary, respect for families, family as the basic unit of life are all matters on which the people of Sopron and government surely sing from the same hymn sheet, the Prime Minister said, adding that this is so on the issue of the war as well. The city suffered much, knows precisely the value of peace, and if the issue of war and peace were put to a vote here, surely, in this city the vast majority of the people would vote for peace, he underlined.
Mr Orbán pointed out that there was agreement between the government and the people of Sopron also on the issue of work. After 2010, the government built up a workfare society. Those people are now in the majority in Hungary who say that they do not want to support from their money people who would be able to work, but do not want to. At the same time, they expect the government to create opportunities for the people so that they can work.
In 2010 in Hungary, just 3.6 million people had jobs, now as many as 4.7 million, and it is the plan of the government that by the end of the next term, 5 million people should work.
The Prime Minister said it is also important in an election “whether we can render a decent account of the four years behind us.”
Mr Orbán pointed out that the government did not have a single pledge that they had not realised. In fact, there are a few things which they did not pledge, but have nonetheless accomplished, given that the opportunity had arisen in the meantime, he said, mentioning the introduction of the fourteenth monthly pension as an example.
They likewise did not pledge, but managed to launch the fixed 3 per cent housing credit programme, the Prime Minister stated. He highlighted that this was also important for the people of Sopron – perhaps this was the first truly important thing – who worked in Austria.
The Prime Minister pointed out that today no one in Europe was able to buy a first home more easily than the Hungarians.
The government has doubled the tax benefit available in relation to children, has scrapped the tax on the child and infant care benefits, mothers of two under the age of 40 years do not have to pay personal income tax for life, and neither do mothers under the age of 30. Next year, mothers of two under the age of 50, too, will be exempted from income tax payment. At the same time, in three years’ time, mothers who have had minimum two children will not be required to pay income tax for life, Mr Orbán stressed.
With this – “beyond being happy if the people have more money” – the government is trying to deliver on a pledge it made more than ten years ago: those who decide to have children should not find themselves in a worse position financially than those who did not, the Prime Minister laid down. He said there is as yet plenty to do, they have perhaps already managed to achieve this in the case of families with three children, but this is far from true in the case of families with two children. However, by the end of the next four years, Hungary – as the only country in the whole of Europe – will finally get to a point where having children is not a financial disadvantage.
The Prime Minister pointed out that from the viewpoint of the future the war would be the key issue. There is a war under way, on the one hand, at the borders of Russia and Ukraine, and now there is also a war in the Middle East, and the outcome of the latter is impossible to predict, he stated.
Regarding the war in the Middle East, Mr Orbán said the economic situation is difficult, but that is irrelevant now, many Hungarians have found themselves stuck abroad, and now they must be brought back home safe and sound.
Mr Orbán took the view: no one knows what kinds of immigration problems a protracted military conflict could cause. Iran is a country of 90 million, “if people set out from there, the next stop is Turkey, and then they’re already here in the Balkans, and then here at our border fence,” we must prepare for the eventuality that Hungary may again find itself under the pressure of migration, he laid down.
He added that we also had to prepare for an oil crisis, “this is shaking the economy, it can cause grave problems, and there, you have to be smart to be able to curb its effects.” Additionally, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy decided to impose an oil blockade on Hungary.
He stressed that he had made every effort to gather all the relevant actual information; therefore, he is able to state with full responsibility that there is no technical obstacle whatsoever to the resumption of the operation of the Druzhba oil pipeline, the only reason why they are not restarting it is that they do not want to for political reasons. Hungary has therefore found itself in a difficult situation. However, oil reserves “have been shaped” in such a way that in the next 2 to 3 months they will be able to guarantee the country’s supply, but after the elections they will have to find new solutions.
Mr Orbán also spoke about the fact that European leaders speak about the Russo-Ukrainian war as their own war, the German chancellor and others, too, say that they will defeat the Russians at the Ukrainian border. Meaning that European leaders want to turn this opportunity into a war victory.
“This is why they’re pouring in enormous amounts of money. And in my opinion, in actual fact, they’re running after their money, they have spent 200 billion euros, now, they’re giving another 90 billion, and then – because the Ukrainians asked for it – they’ll have to give 800 billion for the functioning of Ukraine,” he explained.
In his view, as the Europeans “have already burnt 200 billion, and now another 90, the only way they can get their money back, and they talk about this openly, is by defeating the Russians and obliging them to pay reparations.”
“This is the big plan, and this is what they want to drag us into; I believe that this is a mistake,” the Prime Minister stressed, pointing out that the war cannot be concluded on the frontline, and no one has yet explained how to defeat a country with nuclear armaments in a war fought with traditional weaponry.
Mr Orbán said “we must expect the next government to keep Hungary out of the war. To not provide soldiers, to not provide weapons and to not provide money, and to stay out of the war.” “Staying out, that will be the key phrase in the next four years,” but it is difficult to stay out, “and we know that because so far we haven’t succeeded,” he said with reference to the fact that Hungary was “pushed” into both World War I and World War II.
We need a government which will be able, with some military luck, to keep Hungary out of this war, and “I’m saying with due modesty,” “partly on account of our experience, and partly on account of our hearts, that we feel able to achieve this,” “I believe that I myself am capable of this feat,” “I don’t see anyone else who would have a better chance than me,” he laid down.
He said the fact that there is agreement on the most important civilisational issues, the accomplishment of the pledges made and the character, form and requirements of the tasks for the future are all arguments in favour of their election victory.
He said the April elections will be difficult. They know one thing about Tisza Party which has just 27 members – there is no information on its structure or where its money comes from – namely that they are being financed by the Ukrainians, and the report presented to the committee on national security proves that they are receiving high-value IT services as well as IT services for the organisation of mobilisation from the Ukrainians.
“We have an opponent who in themselves pose no challenge, but they are a challenge nonetheless because of the people behind them,” not only some much because of Ukraine as because of Brussels, he observed, adding that “you, we Hungarians will decide this election and will win it even against Brussels.”
He highlighted that the truly keen campaign would start after 15 March, inviting members of his audience to attend the Peace March. “We need the biggest peace march in the history of Hungary in order to demonstrate our strength,” he laid down.
He pointed out that “we are truly numerous, and we are truly organised. This election can be won through organisation and hard work. This in turn means that we will need all of you, we will need all of you in this room.”
Mr Orbán also said it is not enough that they are right, it is not enough that – seemingly or as they feel – they are in the majority in their own world. “We must guarantee that everyone who is with us should go to the polls, and only those voters are decided, safe voters whom we took to the polls, whom we spoke to, whose door we knocked on and whom we called,” this job must be done in the coming days, he laid down.
