At the square called ‘Tisza Sailors,’ in reference to the Tisza Party’s supporters, the Prime Minister said one’s country can only be built on unity, love and respect, not on anger, negativity and hatred. He said the “whistling” Tisza supporters had not been invited, but “even uninvited guests must be treated as human beings” and spoken to with respect.
It is also a stake in these elections whether we allow ourselves to be pocketed, Mr Orbán stated, stressing that the war is “an excuse” for this. By his account, by involving the country in the financing of Ukraine, Brussels would impose a burden lasting for generations on the Hungarian budget.
He added that Kiev, Brussels and the Tisza Party’s plan to detach the country from cheap Russian energy would mean the end of the reduction of household energy bills. Every family would lose an entire monthly income because it would be consumed by extra household energy bills, the Prime Minister predicted, stating that “without cheap energy, Hungarian families in the hundreds of thousands would be ruined.”
He also spoke about the fact that in the event of a change of governments, they would cancel the extra sector-specific taxes, from the proceeds of which the government has spent HUF 15,000 billion on the population’s welfare since 2010. This is why Shell and Erste’s people have landed in Tisza’s leadership, he stressed. We cannot allow Hungarian families to be plundered with tricks, Mr Orbán said, stating that “that money is in a better place in Szolnok than in Donetsk.”
He further spoke about the fact that without national unity, we cannot stay out of the war. Therefore, they will need the votes of minimum three million people in the elections.
The Prime Minister said he does not see anyone, other than Fidesz-Christian Democratic People’s Party and himself, in Hungarian politics who would be able to keep Hungary out of the war. “We are able to protect Hungary’s freedom and independence,” he laid down.
Analysing the government’s work, he stressed that in the past four years they had honoured their most important pledge, namely that come what may, “even if Brussels goes berserk, it doesn’t matter how many pianos Zelenskyy smashes to piece, we will not allow Hungary to be pushed into the war.”
The Prime Minister promised: they will not allow Hungary to be pushed into the war between 2026 and 2030 either.
He stressed: the recent period “has been an unfair four years” because we have been compelled to deal with troubles and crises that Hungary is not responsible for. He mentioned as an example that the war is blocking the European economy, and while “we have worked through the past four years tirelessly,” the country could have made two to three times more progress in peacetime.
Mr Orbán encouraged everyone not to underestimate the distance that we have travelled as even in the shadow of the war, they managed to restore the thirteenth monthly pension and to start introducing the fourteenth monthly pension, to launch the fixed three per cent housing credit programme which is Europe’s most favourable housing system, and to grant personal income tax exemption to mothers with minimum two children.
He stressed: they have also kept the promise of maintaining a workfare society, in 16 years, they have increased the number of people with jobs from 3.6 million to 4.7 million, and by the end of the next term, this number could reach five million, while the average salary could rise to a million forints.
Mr Orbán also said it is a precious commodity now that they have governed for 16 years, “this is an argument for us, not against us.” He is ready to admit, he said in continuation, that he is not getting any younger, but he has a few bullets left in the magazine which he can use, should the need arise.
He asked members of the audience to talk to every neighbour, every family member and every work colleague during the period of time left before the elections and to tell them that the government parties are able to keep Hungary out of the war, are able to protect the Hungarians’ money which they have worked for in the past 16 years and are able to say no to everyone who has bad intentions vis-à-vis Hungary.
The Prime Minister asked members of his audience to support Fidesz-Christian Democratic People’s Party candidate Attila Berkó in constituency No. 1 of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County. Referring to the Tisza Party’s Szolnok candidate for Member of Parliament Andrea Rost, he said when electors decide, they should bear in mind that everything has its own place: those who can sing well should be in the Opera, while those who are able to serve their country well should be in Parliament.
The Prime Minister said this is an important mandate because those who win this constituency will win the national elections. He added that if they won in this constituency, then they would score not simply a victory, but would be very close to “what is called a two-thirds.”
