Mr Orbán said they want to keep protected prices under any circumstances, adding that they were compelled to draw on the reserves not only because of the price, but because there was not enough oil. Now, we are bringing in as much as we can from Croatia, he said, observing that there is a constant debate regarding the capacity of the supplementary pipeline.
“We are continuously replenishing our stocks, meaning that on the one hand, we are using our strategic reserves, but on the other we’re replenishing them,” the Prime Minister stated. He added: it further complicates the situation that due to a recent fire in Mol’s refinery, the refinery is unable to operate at full capacity. Therefore, they are first replenishing the Slovak stocks, they are about to finish this process, and they will be followed by Hungarian stocks.
Regarding the fact that Mol is purchasing crude oil worth USD 500 million from the United States, the Prime Minister said this is an older agreement negotiated in Washington being committed to paper.
In the context of his role in the campaign, the Prime Minister said digitisation has entered politics, and their opponents have built up their support base via these platforms. At the same time, they were also able to make their supporters believe that they are in the majority, which was never true. The Prime Minister indicated: this is what he had to counter-balance. He said he entered the campaign in the most direct possible way in order to make it clear that they have the majority, and in order to turn this silent majority that is being constantly intimidated in digital space into a loud majority. He observed: he believes that he will be able to complete this work by Sunday evening.
In answer to the question of what he regards as the greatest achievement of his governance of 16 years, Mr Orbán mentioned the workfare economy and full employment. Regarding what he would have liked to or should have achieved in the past 16 years, the Prime Minister mentioned the more robust presence of national capital in retail.
In his view, they have managed to achieve a turnaround in the banking system, in the energy sector and in the media; in these areas, earlier, foreign ownership was around 70 to 80 per cent, while he can also see promising signs in telecommunication. Retail is the only area in which they have failed to achieve a breakthrough, despite the fact that food retail is the most closely connected to the financial situation and competitiveness of farmers.
Hungary is a country with good agricultural features, the land is in Hungarian hands, our farmers, too, are Hungarian, while the profitability of their work depends on the policies of retail chains. He said he tried several times, but failed to solve the problem of how to help Hungarian producers to keep more profits and how to reduce the profits of retailers.
In answer to the question of whether he will continue to treat the resolution of this situation as a priority if he receives another mandate to govern, Mr Orbán said: “I’m a stubborn man.”
Mr Orbán said the war is blocking economic growth in the whole of Europe, and also in Hungary. Therefore, the people legitimately have a feeling of having been treated unfairly, he added, observing that he himself shares that feeling. With the amount of work the Hungarians have completed, including the government and himself, we should be further forward, he stated. That this is not possible is due to the war, the flawed Brussels policy of sanctions associated with the war and its impact on the energy system, he pointed out.
He highlighted: as Hungary is a country requiring imported energy, every development in the world economy that increases the price of energy immediately affects Hungary most drastically from among all the Central European countries. This is unfair because we did not start the war, we did not turn the world’s energy trade upside-down, he added. On the other hand, according to Mr Orbán, this only seems so severe when we look at it from the viewpoint of growth. However, if we manage to envisage that economic growth is not a goal, but a means, and a society can have objectives also beyond economic growth, then we have every reason to be proud of what has happened in the past four years, he pointed out.
The Prime Minister said to implement an 11 per cent minimum wage increase against the background of a blocked economy and a one per cent growth is “a world record,” all the trade unions in the western world “would lick all their fingers.”
He described the availability of the fixed three per cent subsidised credit facility serving to help young people with buying their first homes as likewise an enormous feat, while the economy is being blocked. He further highlighted the various family support schemes and the full, lifelong tax exemption of mothers with two or more children.
Mr Orbán recalled: when it became clear that the wars around us cannot be brought to a conclusion anytime soon, he found himself in the situation that either they will abandon their goals or will try to realise the most important ones nonetheless even if circumstances are against this. The government opted for the latter, and while Hungary has moved forward regarding its overarching goals, the economy has failed to provide sufficient thrust for this, he said, indicating that they are spending more than five per cent of the gross domestic product on the family support system.
In response to the suggestion that according to Eurostat’s 2025 data, Hungary stands at 76 per cent of the EU’s state of development and is ranked only 23rd in the region, he said in the countries ranked higher than us there is no fixed three per cent housing credit for young people, there is no lifelong tax exemption for mothers, they are unable to spend 5 per cent of GDP on family support, and regarding the rise in the minimum wage, “they’re nowhere near us.”
The Prime Minister observed: those who are growing faster than us today are all doing so at the expense of a rise in the sovereign debt. Hungary is on an opposite course: during the coronavirus pandemic, they allowed the sovereign debt to increase to around 80 per cent, and from there, they have reduced it to 73 to 74 per cent. Mr Orbán does not want the sovereign debt to spiral out of control because that would have grave consequences for the coming generations.
The Prime Minister described any election result guessing as unfair towards the electorate and said “what we have seen so far is that we were mightily surprised by some election results,” and he was surprised positively more times than negatively. This is an open race, it will remain open until the people have cast their votes, he added.
The Prime Minister also spoke about the fact that since the outbreak of the war, Hungary has been in crisis management mode, will remain so during the rest of the year, and unless the Almighty helps us, also next year. “I’m working on the scripts with which to ward off the ever graver-looking crises approaching us ever faster,” Mr Orbán stated. He is working hard to protect the reduction of household energy bills, to maintain protected prices, and to prevent food prices from starting on an upward course again, he indicated.
He said he is consulting with their economic experts in order to have the physical, mental and intellectual stamina within the government which can help Hungary survive this crisis – which will be an energy and financial crisis all at once, and which Europe and Hungary itself will not be able to avoid – without major losses and “a shipwreck.”
He also spoke about the fact that Hungary has spent a large amount of money on both education and health care, “and mostly well.” They have built or refurbished ninety-something hospitals, and have refurbished more than six hundred surgeries, he mentioned, adding that he has a nice long list to conduct the relevant professional debate.
In education, they have problems with building schools especially in Pest County, while villages schools are running out of children. As a result, there are 10 to 15 large schools which will have to be built, mentioning as an example the school construction project in Dunakeszi.
He further highlighted: they have managed to increase the salaries of teachers to nearly a million forints, while they increased the salaries of physicians by phasing out gratitude money at the same time.
The Prime Minister was asked what it was that he had that leaders of the opposition parties did not have. In reply, he said experience and a record of achievements. These politicians may well have good intentions, but “they have never smelt gunpowder in their lives,” have never borne governmental responsibility, he stated, adding that it is a fact that the governing party has experience and the others do not.
Regarding the leaders of their own European party family, he said most of them have gathered governmental experience either regionally or at a pan-national level, and so “we’re not offering people wet behind the ears” for service in Brussels and for changing Europe, but fighters who “have already smelt gunpower.”
Mr Orbán was asked regarding the fact that according to news reports, Brussels is preparing with emergency scripts for the eventuality that they would have to continue to work together with him also after the elections. He said there are rumours all the time, but there is no point in dealing with them, “I always have a dossier on me, and I’m ready to reach an agreement at any moment in time.” He stressed that no one in Brussels had a bad personal relationship with him. Therefore, everyone knows that they can negotiate with him at any time, and he always has proposals about how to solve one situation or another.
With reference to Brussels, he pointed out that the moment would come when they themselves would realise that what they now wanted to do made no sense, given that at this time, they wanted to dictate to Hungary from a position of strength, but this would not work.
In response to the suggestion that they could try to take away Hungary’s right of veto, he said he can well imagine that they would like to do so, but he believes it is out of the question that they will be able to.
In answer to a question relating to the state of NATO, he said the United States accounts for seventy per cent of the alliance’s military strength. Therefore, when considering Hungary’s security, it is important that we have the best and deepest possible strategic relationship with the United States, and if possible, through NATO, he added. Meaning that Hungary has a vested interest in maintaining the situation where the United States is a member of NATO and cooperates with us within its boundaries, Mr Orbán stated, stressing at the same time that he himself is pro-NATO.
A western security architecture without NATO would be nothing more than a conglomerate of agreements between national governments, he pointed out. He highlighted that Hungary would manage also within such an architecture, but the situation would be more complex than at present. At present, we have “a golden era” relationship with the United States, and so we are protected and in security both within and outside NATO, but if there is a choice, we should stay within NATO, he argued.
The Prime Minister was asked regarding the fact that both present and former members of the intelligence services and other armed agencies emerged in the campaign. In answer, Mr Orbán shared his view to the effect that this is surely so for a reason, someone planned and coordinated this.
People coming from different backgrounds and situations suddenly begin to come forward one after the other, within a rather limited timeframe, saying what the largest opposition party says, namely that the Hungarian state is not functioning well, he said. He did not rule out the possibility that there may be foreign intelligence links behind these cases, but he stressed that he did not wish to make such a claim because it had to be proved first.
He was also asked about the fact that a conversation between him and the Russian president has recently been leaked to the public, and the telephone conversations of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, too, were tapped. The Prime Minister stressed that those involved in these incidents had all committed crimes. Therefore, a team of lawyers is working in order to uncover the details and analyse the incidents and to make proposals with a view to punishing the perpetrators.
Sharing his own practice, he said when it comes to extremely important matters, matters of life and death, rather than talking to his partners on the telephone, “I go there.” If it is something important and caution is justified, he speaks to them on secured lines, while if there is no secret whatsoever in what he wants to talk about – and his conversation in question with the Russian president was one of those – he does not care who wants to listen to it. He observed at the same time: these incidents did not surprise him because foreign intelligence services are working in Hungary at full throttle. He added: for us the Hungarian elections are about the country’s future, while for foreigners the whole thing is about Ukraine’s EU membership. They need a government which will vote for the neighbouring state’s EU membership, and will take part in the non-repayable financial grants which are keeping Ukraine alive and from which the war is being financed, Mr Orbán laid down.
He observed: he has seen many instances in international politics where the need to gather intelligence and to enhance the ability to influence takes precedence over many criteria, most certainly the criterion of friendship, even among allies. International politics is a viper’s nest, he pointed out.
He also said while breaches have occurred, these do not jeopardise the functioning of the Hungarian state, no information has been divulged that would harm Hungary. The Prime Minister commented on the statements of Captain Szilveszter Pálinkás regarding Gáspár Orbán and a possible mission in Chad planned by him as follows: “The same rules apply to my son as to every other soldier. When this may have happened, he may have been a first lieutenant, now he’s a captain. Not a single mission abroad is planned by first lieutenants and captains,” he said, adding that this is evidently not true.
He also said, as far as he can remember, no mission of any kind with a 50 per cent casualty rate has ever been planned in the history of Hungary, and under the present circumstances, this is utter nonsense from a professional point of view.
Mr Orbán mentioned staying out as the greatest challenge of the next four years. He said the greatest challenge is for Hungary “to stay out of the war which the Europeans want to drag every European country into,” “to stay out of the financial suicide that the Europeans are self-destructively and insensibly pouring money” into Ukraine, and to not only stay out of, but to veto the decision with which they would bring Ukraine into the European Union and would thereby forever destroy the European Union and Hungary.
The greatest headache for the next government will not be how to build something, but how to ward off the approaching troubles, how to protect what we already have and what Hungary has worked hard for in the past 16 years, he said, observing that the job of prime minister will not be Hungary’s most envied job in the next four years.
In answer to the question of what will happen on the night of 12 April in Hungary, Mr Orbán said “we’re going to drink a lot of champagne.”
