The Fidesz-KDNP coalition’s candidate for Prime Minister, who was elected for the fourth time at Sunday’s parliamentary elections, pointed out that they had asked voters to grasp the significance of the fact that these elections could perhaps determine the future of Hungary for decades to come.
“I was convinced that we acquit ourselves well: if we speak clearly and to the point, if we don’t back down or allow ourselves to be side-tracked, then when the moment of truth comes and when there is trouble or danger ahead, this nation would pull itself together, vote in large numbers and show the world its unified will”, he explained, adding: “The final result was so resounding that it also places a heavy weight on my shoulders”.
He highlighted that he wants Hungary to continue to keep its feet on the ground, and be fully aware of reality, and that Europe is living through an era in which it is suffering from a lack of honesty.
“When a continent is unable to express what torments it, what it fears and what it sees as important with regard to the future, then what matters is not so much the size of a country’s army, its gross national product or the size of its territory, but the clarity and directness of thought and speech”, Mr. Orbán underlined. “And in this respect there are no large nations and small nations; there are brave nations and brave people, and Hungary is a country of brave people”, he declared.
“This is our continent and this is our homeland, our wider homeland, and we love it. We would like its future to be just as bright as the past few successful decades”, he said, highlighting: “We are not against Europe or the European Union: we want Europe, we want the European Union and we want a strong and successful European Union, but in order to achieve that, we must first frankly state everything that is afflicting us”.
“In this respect the Hungarians have great strength. Obviously our language also helps, and our political traditions are built on the premise, that a good politician is one who dares to say what everyone is already thinking”, he said, adding: “I think that over the past few years this role has suited Hungary well”. “We stated politely, but clearly what is right and what is not, while giving everyone the respect they are due”, he declared.
“Hungary does not want to make the mistakes that richer and more powerful countries have made, and neither do we want Europe to become a victim of these mistakes. We want to correct them”, Mr. Orbán said. “After today’s election Hungary is ready to take part in joint European efforts with its full weight”, he added.
The Prime Minister also spoke about the fact that the electorate had decided on several important issues on Sunday. “First of all, we want Hungary to remain a Hungarian country”, he said.
“We have a culture: regardless of one’s attitude to God, we have a culture which we describe as a Christian culture, which has grown out of a very strong, thousand-year-old Christian state tradition”, Mr. Orbán stated.
“This is what we live our lives in, this is our world, this is our culture, our way of life, and these are the guiding principles of our lives. We want to defend these, and we don’t want anyone from outside to change them, or to be told from outside that we must change them”, he emphasised.
Mr. Orbán said it was also important that the Government must defend the country’s achievements, because “although Hungary is not yet where it should be, or where we would like it to be, or where it is capable of being, it has set out on the path of the Hungarian model, which in many respects is different from the economic, social and cultural policies of other countries, but it is a European policy approach that can be shouldered, and which serves human freedom”. As an example, he cited the fact that it was thanks to this policy that unemployment has been reduced, that the Government was able to help pensioners, and that it is due to this model that Hungary has the largest family support system in the whole of Europe.
“Let’s sleep on this now”, the Prime Minister said in reply to a question on whether the moral and political amends he had previously mentioned had been achieved via the election result.
He also spoke about the fact that this was the party’s most difficult campaign to date, adding that a great deal of goodwill and good intentions had accumulated on the Government’s side, but they were also subjected to a great deal of ill will. “This not only came from Hungary: many of the world’s less than glorious powers joined forces to stop us”, he said.
Mr. Orbán went on to say that he is still unable to precisely judge the significance of Sunday’s decision on the part of the electorate, but we all feel that it was an important and momentous decision. He said it was important, for example, that the Government had performed beyond expectations in Budapest, and that as someone who was brought up in a village, it is also very important that in terms of voter turnout provincial Hungary has caught up with the cities and with Budapest. “The Hungarian people are wise: when they sense that there is trouble, even people in the country’s remotest corners realise that they must act here and now”, he said.
