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In answer to the question of why the performance of the Hungarian economy fell short of expectations in the first quarter, Mr Orbán said the entire European economy is stagnating, and due to our EU membership, we are part of this economy.
He also recalled that Austria had performed even more poorly, but the Germans, too, were at the same level as us. In general, countries more closely linked to the German economy are in trouble. He added that while the European economy was doing badly due to the war and the money sent to Ukraine which was missing from the European economy, we must not start saying that the poor economic data was a result of circumstances falling beyond our control.
“Because if we start explaining this away – which is in actual fact true – then we lose our capacity for action. So, I don’t really care what the reasons are; what I’m interested in is how we will become successful again, how we will achieve the goals we set for 2025,” he said.
He stressed that he did not want to surrender a single goal they had set for 2025. “Hence the fact that while we were aware of the expected growth data, we nonetheless pushed through, adopted in Parliament Europe’s largest tax reduction programme,” he recalled.
“These piteous European leaders have sent 140 billion euros to Ukraine so far,” he said, pointing out that if this money was not in Ukraine, but here in the European economy, there would be growth; not stagnation, but growth.
He observed, however, that in spite of this, Hungary had adopted Europe’s largest tax reduction programme, including tax benefits granted to mothers.
Mothers with three children will not be required to pay personal income tax from October, while those with two children under the age of 40 will receive lifetime tax exemption from 1 January. They will be followed in 2027 by mothers under the age of 50, and later by mothers under the age of 60, meaning that within 2 to 3 years we will reach a point where mothers with minimum two children will not have to pay personal income tax ever again in their lives, he explained.
He also spoke about the Demján Sándor Programme, as part of which HUF 1,400 billion will be channelled to small and medium-sized enterprises. “We will see this programme through, too, despite the poor European – and consequently unfavourable Hungarian – data,” he stated.
Mr Orbán also spoke about the fact that Ukraine’s EU membership would bankrupt the Hungarian economy, and so this must be prevented. “Let’s forget the fairy tales. They want to admit Ukraine to the EU now. Brussels together with the Tisza Party. This would bankrupt Hungary. We can, and we must prevent this,” he posted on Facebook after the interview.
The Prime Minister said this is why the opinion vote initiated by the government on Ukraine’s EU accession is under way now. “A vote should be cast not sometime in the future, but here and now,” he said, encouraging everyone to vote.
He pointed out that there was a date. They know when they want to admit Ukraine to the EU, “there is no point in burying our heads in the sand.” The European People’s party, and the leader of the European Commission, the EU’s number one bureaucrat announced that Ukraine must be admitted by 2030, he observed. The European People’s Party, too, said the accession process must be accelerated, “we should forget these fairy tales,” that they will be admitted at some point in the future, and that when they are ready; it is not about that. It is about the fact that they want to admit them as swiftly as possible, he stated.
He highlighted that if the numbers were to show that the Hungarians would benefit from this enlargement, he would support Ukraine’s admission, “but today, there are countries for which this is good business because their large corporations are already there in Ukraine, and there are others who will find themselves on the receiving end.”
“We’re on the wrong side of the deal, we’re on the receiving end, this deal will destroy us, and so I don’t support [Ukraine’s] membership,” the Prime Minister said, also highlighting that these processes have made the opinion vote on the issue that is currently ongoing in Hungary all the more important.
Mr Orbán pointed out that the swift awarding of EU membership to Ukraine was “a flawed and harmful policy” which could still be stopped, but if “it spirals out of control,” and we arrive at the gate of the final decision in two or three years’ time, it will be very difficult then.
“It’s much more difficult to stop a machine moving at full speed than to prevent it from gathering speed. It is now we must open up the eyes of not only the Hungarians, but also the eyes of the citizens of all countries in Europe that are in similar shoes to us,” Mr Orbán said, pointing out that “there are a dozen other countries that will also be on the receiving end.” He said they must be encouraged to have their voice heard, their leaders must be encouraged to stand with the Hungarian position, and to prevent this step together.
Mr Orbán further spoke about the fact that in three years Hungary had lost EUR 20 billion because of the war. If this money were all in the European economy, he is not saying that “money would be growing on trees,” but it would be possible to talk about a higher than expected growth rate.
He highlighted that until Europe turned its back on the war and switched to the side of peace, the entire European economy would “keep coughing.” However, he said in continuation, European leaders want war, and try to derail the US president’s successful peace efforts.
We must realise that this is a mistake, and we will, except we will lose a very large amount of money in the process, he warned. He said we must realise that without the United States we will not be able to finance and maintain the Ukrainian army and economy.
He said “they’re carting money out of Europe in wheelbarrows, in sacks, our money, too, to Ukraine.” Meanwhile, without the Americans, this money spending makes no sense at all, we can only continue for a few months, but this will lead to bankruptcy in the end.
Regarding EU funds, the Prime Minister stressed that for the development of the country we needed to secure these funds that we were entitled to. We ourselves receive money from the European Union because we allow western companies to make serious profits here, naturally, in a way that also benefits us, the Prime Minister mentioned, stating that these funds “are not optional, we’re entitled to them, they’re the Hungarian people’s money.”
He added that a part of the blocked sums, ten-something billion euros had already been received. A considerable part of the pay rise for teachers is implemented from this, and this year, too, around a thousand billion forints more will be forthcoming.
We keep fighting in Brussels in order for us to receive the money that we are entitled to, he said, adding that the Tisza Party itself admitted that “they’re working hard to prevent this, to prevent us from brining these funds home.”
He said it is an evil thing that the Tisza Party MEP Kinga Kollár earning HUF 7 to 10 million a month who made this statement “is working hard every day in Brussels to prevent the national government from bringing home the funds from which we would refurbish hospitals, build roads, develop railways, improve the standards of public services.”
By doing so, she harms the Hungarian people. And we also know why, Mr Orbán observed, adding that “she wants Hungary not to succeed because it will help the Tisza Party into government; this is the Brussels-Tisza Pact, it’s a fact.”
“This is the result of their work, that I and the national side who keep fighting in Brussels have not yet managed to achieve a full result, that we have only managed to bring home half the money,” Mr Orbán observed, adding that deputies of the Tisza Party are making every effort “to prevent us from bringing home these funds, they want to prevent us from bringing home the second half of the money.”
He said it is time for the Hungarian people to finally wake up and realise that there is a large international force with its headquarters in Brussels, a large war network which is making every effort in order for Hungary to have a government which implements Brussels’ instructions.
Mr Orbán mentioned that the leader of the European People’s Party had said earlier in Brussels that he wanted to replace the incumbent government with a puppet government led by the Tisza Party.
“We should not hand over our country to Brussels, we should not become a Brussels colony,” he stressed, warning that this will have serious economic consequences.
In his view, if a puppet government is installed whose strings are pulled from Brussels, its first order of business will be the abolition of the reduction of household energy bills, they will scrap the extra taxes on multinational companies, and will also allow gender activists into our schools.
He stressed that today a Hungarian family living in a so-called ‘Kádár cube’ – a house with a garden – paid HUF 260,000 per heating season. A family in Slovakia pays HUF 660,000 for the same, while a family in Poland as much as HUF 860,000. Every day, Brussels demands that Hungary give up the system of the reduction of household energy bills, but the national government is on the people’s side, and is not prepared to do that because this would destroy Hungarian families, he stated.
He stressed that the Hungarians would be able to decide in next year’s elections whether they wanted a puppet government or a national government.
The Prime Minister described Ukraine’s EU accession as the most fundamental issue of Hungarian politics. In his view, this is what the 10 to 20 years of the next generation “falls or stands on,” and so we must not allow this to happen. He said Tisza and DK [Democratic Coalition] as well as all other Hungarian opposition parties with the exception of Mi Hazánk stand for financial and military support for Ukraine and Ukraine’s swift admission to the EU, while the national side is against it.
In his view, it is therefore crucial that on the issue of Ukraine “we remain firm,” and meanwhile, whatever data may come to light, “we should not surrender our own goals.”
Among these he mentioned the protection of jobs, the implementation of the tax reduction programme, the extension of the government’s industry development policy, the provision of support for the construction of not 100, but 150 new factories, the reinforcement of small and medium-sized businesses, and the continuation of the policy of knocking prices down. In the context of the latter, he added that they wanted to decide on the reduction of the prices of industrial goods as well as on the introduction of VAT tax refunds for pensioners on foodstuffs from October at next Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.
“If we manage to accomplish all that, 2025 will be a fine year,” he concluded. He said they are currently debating the 2026 budget, as part of which they are awaiting the opinion of the Fiscal Council regarding what impact this year’s lower growth data could have on the 2026 budget. He added that he believed that the 2026 “anti-war and pro-peace budget” would stand its ground also amidst such circumstances, and we would not have to surrender any of our goals not only in 2025, but in 2026 either.
