BUDAPEST – In an interview, the Prime Minister stated that regardless of the fact that the European Union ultimately refrained from using frozen Russian assets, „the direction in Brussels has not changed.“We will now have a Christmas without war, but the danger of war has not passed, because the EU, with the exception of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, continues to „move towards war, heading in that direction,“ he said, referring to the fact that, with the exception of these three countries, the other member states have decided that Ukraine can receive 90 billion euros over two years.
However, because „the EU has no money,“ they decided to borrow from bankers, „knowing full well that the money we lend to Ukraine will never be repaid,“ he said. Mr Orbán pointed out that EU Member States would ultimately have to satisfy the bankers' claims, and since the guarantee had to be provided together with the debt, the question was who should provide it. At that point, the Slovaks, Czechs and Hungarians declared that they were not prepared to participate, he recalled.
„We do not want to put a single forint of our taxpayers“ money into this dubious debt manoeuvre, [...] we have stayed out of it, while others are left high and dry," said the Prime Minister. The Brussels manoeuvre would have cost Hungarian families 400 billion forints, which means that the government has managed to save Hungarian families that much, Mr Orbán said.
At this moment, Europe is closer to war than ever before, because Donald Trump won the election in the United States and „is doing exactly what he promised to do, [...] he will do everything he can in the interests of peace,“ he noted. And because „Europeans want war, while Americans want peace, [...] there has been a conflict,“ he said, adding that „Europeans [...], despite Trump's peace efforts, continue to arm, finance and support Ukraine and are now even talking about sending peacekeeping forces there.“
Mr Orbán said that the US-Russian negotiations, which are currently ongoing despite Europe's objections, could succeed, and then, with the involvement of the Ukrainians, a ceasefire could be achieved, but a long-term peace agreement is also not out of the question. In his opinion, if Russian assets were seized, the Member States of the European Union would become „open enemies of Russia“. He said that the 27 EU Member States together have more assets in Russia than Russian assets frozen in Europe.
If the Russians decide to seize Western European assets in Russia, including Hungarian ones, then Europeans will lose more than if they seized Russian assets in Europe, he said. He added that Hungary has significant assets in Russia in the form of healthcare, veterinary care, instrumentation and energy companies, and therefore has a fundamental interest in ensuring that these corporate assets are preserved.
He said that the great deception – that the war would not cost a penny – had been exposed in Europe and that in the coming period, citizens in Western European countries would be voicing their opinions ever more loudly due to the associated financial risks, which could quickly turn into anti-war sentiment. Mr Orbán pointed out that the people could stop Western European leaders from „marching to war“.
The Prime Minister said today that one of the sharpest dividing lines in European and Hungarian politics is that there are forces for peace and forces for war. „In Europe, for example, the Germans are for war. The European People's Party is led by Germans. The president of the European People's Party, who is also the most powerful leader in the European Parliament, is German. The president of the Commission is German. The German chancellor is the leader of the largest state. They all belong to the same club, namely the European People's Party. It is a pro-war party.“
He said that the Patriots are on the other side and that all Patriots want peace. The Prime Minister said that the pro-war party with a majority in Europe has announced that Europe must be ready to wage war against Russia by 2030. „If that is the case, and it is now, then in 2026 we will have the last parliamentary elections in Hungary before the expected war. They will be the last pre-war elections,“ he said, adding that the main theme of these elections will be „war or peace“.
Mr Orbán stated that peaceful forces have a majority in Hungary and that Hungary has a pro-peace government. The Prime Minister listed recently launched government programmes, including fixed 3% mortgages for housing, fixed 3% mortgages available to small and medium-sized enterprises, a two-stage doubling of tax benefits for families with children, the introduction of a fourteenth monthly pension, and lifelong personal income tax exemption for mothers with two or three children.
Mr Orbán said that these measures are particularly important because, „at a time when preparations for war are underway,“ the Hungarian government is the only government implementing such measures, with nothing of the sort happening in Western Europe. The economic policy announced by Brussels aims to transition to a war economy. Hungary is doing the opposite, and time will tell who made the right decision, he said.
He added that „Hungary must not go down this Brussels path“ because then there would be no fourteenth monthly pension, or even a thirteenth; there would be no family support system; there would be no first home programme for young people; and there would be no fixed 3% interest loans for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Americans have imposed sanctions on companies that purchase Russian oil and gas, Mr Orbán pointed out, adding that Hungary has been granted an exemption from these sanctions on the basis of an agreement concluded with the US president, which, in his words, remains in force „as long as he is president and I am prime minister“. At the same time, they had to agree with the Russians that even if Russian energy facilities are the target of military strikes, we will still receive the amount of gas and oil that we want and to which we have committed ourselves.
We have received a guarantee for this, the Prime Minister emphasised. He then had to travel to Istanbul to agree with the Turkish President that Turkey would transport gas from Russia to Hungary via a southbound pipeline system, bypassing Ukraine, via a system of gas pipelines, the Prime Minister added. „If this government remains in power, we will be able to guarantee Hungarians the lowest household energy bills in Europe in the coming years,“ he said.
He also said that they want Hungary to be great and to have a reason for self-respect and glory. We are a great nation that deserves respect, and this should be obvious to the whole world. The Prime Minister said that the goal is to achieve economic results in the meantime; these are beneficial not only at the economic level, but also enrich Hungarian families. Hungarians should be well off, the Prime Minister summarised, emphasising that this is what they are striving for.
He pointed out that to achieve this goal, they had to break a number of taboos, including introducing a completely new taxation system, focusing on families, dismissing the IMF, and involving large multinational corporations more in bearing the public burden. There is still much work to be done before they reach the point where they can say that Hungarians are a nation of wealthy families.
He recalled that earlier in the day, they had ceremoniously opened a new section of motorway and indicated that they would build hundreds of kilometres of motorways and expressways and that huge railway construction projects would also begin soon. They will introduce tax exemptions for families in several phases, and the number of new housing contracts has reached 15,000 and will increase to well over 100,000, he said.
He emphasised that despite Hungary finding itself in an extremely difficult international environment, it does not want to give up on its dream that after losing in the 20th century, Hungary should win in the 21st century. Twenty-five years have already passed, and there is no time to waste, he warned.
He wished Hungarian families peaceful holidays. He quoted from the Holy Scriptures: „Love your neighbour as yourself.“ We must love ourselves, but self-love is not self-worship, he emphasised, and suggested to Hungarians that they learn and strengthen within themselves the idea that we have achieved things and must value them.
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