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Mr Orbán highlighted that in Europe there were democracies in which the people’s opinions could not be ignored. If governments find they are being toppled in consequence of their pro-war position, “they will receive extra motivation to start thinking about peace.”
The French and Belgian governments fell on the day of the elections, while the German Chancellor’s party came third in the elections in its own country, something that was unprecedented in Germany, he said.
The European people’s will is a clear sign for European leaders that unless they switch to the side of peace, they will fall, Mr Orbán explained.
He said the Hungarian government received the greatest possible confirmation in the elections, the Hungarian people voted for peace, and this was a decisive argument in his talks with the NATO Secretary General.
In his view, the government parties won the European and municipal elections streets ahead of their opponents; these elections were about whether Hungarian political parties should stand for war or peace. Those who stood for peace won, “there is no scope for manoeuvre here,” he stated, adding that the people in both Washington and Brussels understood in a moment that try as they might, from here on, the Hungarian government will not budge an inch from its own position because it has received confirmation as well as a duty from its own electors.
He observed that for two months, he had toured the country and had asked the people to understand that the choice was between war and peace.
He added that only three days after the elections, the people’s votes had a tangible consequence as – using the election results – he had managed to achieve at his talks with the NATO Secretary General in Budapest that Hungary be kept out of NATO’s Ukraine mission.
He described the agreement concluded with NATO as a very important agreement that was highly favourable for Hungary. At the same time, he said it is a fundamental difference within NATO that 31 Member States of the 32 “want to defeat the Russians,” this is why they support Ukraine, while the Hungarian position is that the parties must be induced to agree to an immediate ceasefire.
The Prime Minister highlighted that in NATO Hungary was an appreciated, recognised and loyal member with an outstanding cooperation record.
NATO is our home, he said, adding at the same time that while NATO “promotes war, we stand for peace.”
He said a NATO Ukraine mission will be set up, meaning that NATO will coordinate the transportation of the weapons to be supplied, for the purposes of which they will create three bases in the territories of Member States. He stated at the same time that Hungary was not prepared to engage in any such involvement because a place where weapons were handed over would immediately become a military target from the enemy’s point of view.
“I don’t want to risk the peace of either Hungary or the Hungarian people by turning even a square centimetre of Hungary into a Russian military target. I want to avoid that, I’m working on that. And we have succeeded in this endeavour so far,” he pointed out.
He added that in addition to the coordination of weapons supplies, the Member States would “put together money” to support Ukraine’s military efforts and would also undertake a direct role in the training of soldiers bound for the front.
In his view, there is enormous pressure on Hungary, thirty-one Member States are pushing us so that we, too, switch from the side of peace to the side or war, he observed, or if he wants to be fairer, we switch to the side of those who believe that “peace can be achieved with war and the winning of the war.”
He said they had very clear demands vis-à-vis NATO, including that they are not giving “a penny” for this mission, are not making available Hungarian territory for the preparation of military operations, are not supplying weapons, and will not take part in any mission outside NATO territory.
He took the view that it is difficult for NATO to accept this behaviour lest Hungary should set a precedent. At the same time, NATO’s considerations cannot override Hungary’s national interests, and the considerations of Hungarian peace.
Regarding the position of countries directly neighbouring Ukraine, he said the Poles and the Romanians believe that as they are closest to the frontline, they are able to provide the most help for the Ukrainians, and are heading into the war.
The Slovaks are cautious, while the Hungarians are clear, he added, indicating that the Hungarians must proceed with three times more caution than those who “dangle their feet by the shores of the Atlantic” in France, or “enjoy their beer in a forest in Bavaria.”
The Prime Minister described the Peace March as “the largest manifestation of community will” of recent times which was about “Hungary remaining an island of peace,” meaning nothing should jeopardise our peaceful lives either from outside, or from inside. He said one of the threats is the war, while the other one is posed by migrants as, in his view, based on European experiences, “there is no peaceful life where there are migrants.”
This judgement was passed by George Soros’s court, Mr Orbán said, responding to the news that the Court of Justice of the European Union has imposed a fine of eighty billion forints on Hungary due to the violation of the EU’s immigration policy. He said “the Brussels bubble” is full of George Soros’s people; this is equally true of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the judiciary.
The Prime Minister recalled that “Soros has a plan” which is about bringing in a million migrants a year and turning Europe into a continent with a mixed population. “It doesn’t matter if the white population, the European population is dwindling in numbers, it will be replaced by other kinds of people from elsewhere,” he said.
He also drew attention to the fact that the first person to welcome the court’s decision was George Soros’s Brussels leader.
In his view, “this is an old war” which started in 2015-2016 when Hungary built a fence against the flow of “migrants coming in the hundreds of thousands, resembling an invasion.” We have spent two billion euros on protecting Hungary, and in order for Hungary to remain Hungary, he observed.
Brussels has no right to tell us whom we should live together with, Mr Orbán stressed, adding that the Brussels migration demand means that we should let migrants in, we should give them money and we should allow them to live here together with us.
He pointed out that we insisted that only the Hungarian people had the right to decide whom they wanted to live together with.
“This is the subject-matter of the dispute, and now we have to pay an enormous fine. I’m racking my brain to find a solution that will hurt them more than us,” he said.
He said the sum in question is enormous; this money could be distributed among families, could be given to pensioners or could even spent on the protection of children.
“A decision, the likes of which the world had never seen before,” the Prime Minister said about the EU court’s decision, stating that in his view the decision is outrageous, insane, one that makes one’s blood boil.
Mr Orbán took the view that “there is a checkmate” because if Hungary does not pay, they will withhold the EU funds it is entitled to. He indicated that he had already secured 12 billion euros of the 22 billion euros Hungary was entitled to from the cohesion funds. This money is already there, on our account. However, if Hungary does not pay, the fine will be deducted from that. We will have an answer to that, too, though, he said.
In answer to a question about the fact that the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union was published four days after the elections, the Prime Minister said “these are Brussels people, they’re sly.” He pointed out that what was going on in Brussels was difficult for a Hungarian “to comprehend culturally,” “what’s going on there is not our world,” from the Hungarian point of view, the whole thing has “a slimy, gooey, slug-like texture.” He added that in Hungary politicians were expected “to speak honestly, to speak in Hungarian, and if possible, to tell the truth.”
In his view, on the whole, dishonesty, the opposite of straight talk, peddler’s French is punishable in politics in Hungary, and the electors punish it, too; however, that is the only language they speak in Brussels. Over there, those who say honestly and clearly what they want stick out like sore thumbs, he added, observing that therefore, they are looked upon in Brussels as radicals.
This is the situation, we are not shaping the course of events in the world, but we must protect our own interests even in an environment which is culturally alien and hostile, the Prime Minister said.
In Mr Orbán’s opinion, the reason why the decision was published after the Sunday elections is that otherwise “the Hungarian parties paid by Brussels would have been dealt a heavy blow, they would have been given a slap right across the cheek by the Hungarian electorate, a bigger blow than the one they now received,” and because “even more Hungarians’ eyes would have been opened in that the opposition, the Left is, in actual fact, in the pay of Brussels.”
The Prime Minister also spoke about the fact that the Right could form the European Parliament’s second biggest group if the French and Italian leaders of the Right – the victors of the elections – came to an agreement and Fidesz also joined.
He said the two ladies will have to come to an agreement: Marine Le Pen who won the EP elections in France, scoring a victory streets ahead of her opponents, and Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the Italian Right.
He took the view that if the two of them were able to come to an agreement and Fidesz joined them, they could forge the European Parliament’s second biggest group. In fact, he continued, they could even attract members over from the European People’s Party, and within six months, the Right could have the largest parliamentary group in Europe.
“This is what we dream about and then we wake up, only to find that the two ladies are unable to come to an agreement,” Mr Orbán observed, adding that we are making attempts to facilitate this process, but our options are limited following from the size of the country.
In his view, the fact that Fidesz-KDNP won 11 of the 21 seats Hungary has gives them prestige, but not enough strength – due to the number of mandates – as the Italian Right will have twenty-something seats, while the French will have around thirty deputies.
They will decide this, but if we add our own 11 to their cooperation, there could be a right-wing turnaround in Europe. This is what we have been waiting for, this is what we have been working for, he stressed.
