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The Prime Minister took the view that the NATO summit held the year before in Washington had gone astray because that meeting had been concerned with Ukraine, rather than with how NATO should make itself stronger.
“This reversed now. I could even say that we won; it’s true though that we only won a battle, not the war,” he said, adding that now those countries prevailed which did not wish to deal with Ukraine, saying that Ukraine is not a member of NATO, therefore, the Ukrainian president does not need to be invited, and there is no need to discuss this topic. He indicated that there was almost no mention of this in the closing document either.
He stressed that those countries had prevailed which said the NATO summit should concern itself with how to make Europe stronger. “We were on the winning team today,” he said, observing that while Hungarian derring-do is a valuable asset, it is easier to win if the President of the United States, too, “is in our camp.” In addition to the US President and Hungary, he mentioned the Turkish president, the Albanians and the Croatians as members of this team.
He further drew attention to the fact that at the NATO summit the Europeans had continued to stand for a pro-war and pro-Ukraine position, despite the fact that – in his view – Ukraine does not strengthen, but on the contrary, poses a risk to Europe’s security.
Mr Orbán warned that “a difficult round” awaited at the Brussels EU summit on Thursday because “there, we will have to fight without the US president on our side.” He took the view that the Europeans wanted to continue the war, and at the EU summit on Thursday, they would reaffirm this in the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meaning that the pro-peace forces would have to manoeuvre cleverly.
Regarding the fact that at the summit the members of NATO confirmed the agreement to spend 5 per cent of their GDP on defence and security in the next ten years, the Prime Minister said Hungary is able to meet this target on the condition that the European Union will have to change its fiscal regulatory regime. He recalled that today there was a fiscal regulation in the EU which laid down, among others, what could be accounted for and how and what was the maximum permitted deficit. These things are taken seriously on the money markets; it is on this basis that countries are rated for the purposes of borrowing.
In his view, the EU must give the Member States more scope for manoeuvre, and if that happens, it will be possible to achieve the 5 per cent to GDP defence development target.
He also drew attention to the fact that Hungary was at an advantage as we had launched a defence forces development programme in cooperation with the Germans already in 2016-2017. Hungary’s defence industry is in a better state, is better prepared, and is not only a source of expenditure, but will also be a source of revenue, meaning that even if it is not easy, this 5 per cent is achievable, the Prime Minister stated.
He indicated that Hungary had much to make up for. “We have achieved a great deal in the past 15 years, but there will be plenty more work in the next 10 years as well,” he said, adding that Hungary will have to focus on the development of transport, health care, education and the army, and so it is not easy to raise the funds necessary for a higher military budget.
He warned that if Hungary had a pro-Ukrainian government, then it would spend this money not on Hungary, but would take it to Ukraine. However, we have a national government, and so we will use this 5 per cent for the development of our defence industry in such a way that the emphasis will be not so much on defence as on industry, meaning that Hungarian industry will be given an extra boost from this money, the Prime Minister said.
Mr Orbán also spoke about the fact that together with US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan they separately reviewed “a few more difficult security issues” prior to the Tuesday dinner given by the King of the Netherlands.
He said, on behalf of Hungary, he welcomed the US President’s return, and indicated that they would continue cooperation. He confirmed his position that Europe must fully support the US President’s peace initiative on the issue of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
He stressed that other than himself, there was hardly any other European leader who had not lain into Donald Trump when he had been in opposition, and so “this causes some difficulty” at summits like this. By contrast, he and the US President could welcome each other as old friends; he has supported the US President ever since 2015-2016. As a result, there was no offensive statement that should have been conveniently forgotten, he pointed out.
Mr Orbán stressed that Hungary was a faithful country, a loyal nation where a friend remained a friend until they became unworthy. By contrast, the political culture in Western Europe is more business-like.
