They are only interested in ensuring that they are not attacked from Ukraine’s direction as Europe is currently doing while also prolonging the war. There will be no Russian-Ukrainian peace talks
– summarized the PM, continuing to say that the war can only be ended with Russian-American peace talks and until this happens, there will be no peace. “We Europeans have squandered our chance to influence events…after 2014, when we left the Americans out of the first Minsk agreement...” Thus, we again will have to leave our security up to the USA and Russia.
From this perspective the threat that non-consensus foreign policy decisions in the EU poses is evident, that a simple majority can decide the fate of a Member State.
Forcing Member States into something they do not want through imperialism.
According to Viktor Orbán the belief that this is the only way for Europe to become a world political player, by these forced decisions, is a sleight of hand. The reason Europe cannot manage this is because they “cannot keep order in [their] own backyard.” It would be enough for Europe to be able to defend its own borders, he stated, also pointing out that Europe should not aim for a role as a world political player, but rather clearing up continental issues.
Those with energy sources benefit
“The fifth set of challenges we face relates to energy and the economy,” underlined Viktor Orbán. He believes those with energy sources benefit from the war.
The Russians will benefit: though they sell less energy, their revenue is much higher. The Chinese benefit as well as big American energy companies
– said the Hungarian Prime Minister adding that the EU is worse off. He confirmed that they will be able to preserve utility price reductions introduced by the state as average consumption will stay at the former lower price. In 2021 the Hungarian government paid out 296 billion forints, and if current prices remain then this would grow to seven times as much or 2,051 billion forints. He affirmed that the Hungarian economy would not survive this and it must be resolved.
That is why we have decided to protect the price up to the average consumption level, but above that a market price will apply. This is also why we have rescheduled every type of non-energy investment. Those which have not yet been started will not start, while those which have been started as public investments will be completed, because nothing can be left in an unfinished state…. If we can shift consumption from gas to other sources, such as electricity or biomass – the modern term for wood – then the burden that is weighing us down will be reduced.
He mentioned the recession that we also face. The economy will not perform as well compared to previous years and this will impact all of Europe. He also said that the Hungarian forint automatically weakens whenever the dollar strengthens; he posed the question whether next year’s economic performance will be worse than the previous years.
According to the budget’s predictions no, but in certain parts of Europe yes – potentially causing political destabilization.
We are in need of different plans for the first two and second two years of these global changes. The PM stated: “here the key term is “staying out”... Hungary will only succeed in maintaining its success if we stay out of the war, if we stay out of migration, if we stay out of gender lunacy… [and] want to impose it on us…”
New agreements
Viktor Orbán established that new agreements must be made with the European Union, the Russians, the Chinese, and the USA so that by 2024 we can return to a growing economy. He highlighted that the most important deadline is 2030; according to analyses, that is when the West’s issues will accumulate.
“There will be a very serious crisis in the United States… the emergence of all the problems of the eurozone: South in debt and the North having to finance it”
– asserted the Hungarian PM. “...there will be a new power dynamic within the EU, because by that time the Central Europeans… will be net contributors… [So,] around the year 2030 we will have to be in top form.”
What are our opportunities?
At the end of his speech, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán discussed the Hungarian advantages and opportunities. He explained that we have proper border defense, a family-based society, and we are developing our military. If we take advantage of the technology transformation and foreign capital inflows, we can win.
Hungary is a transit economy; if the world separates into blocs, then we will be on the edge, on the periphery, a kind of gateway. Thus, Hungary must bloc any attempts at blocs.
According to the Hungarian PM, our advantages are political stability, the two-thirds majority. However, we must take care to ensure that the future generations coming ahead of this will have the same values. Other Hungarian advantages include that Hungary “still has its national conception, its sphere of national sentiment, its culture, and a language capable of describing a complete Hungarian world.”
The tenth advantage listed by the PM was Hungarian ambition in terms of society, the nation, and Europe.
“...in order to preserve our national ambitions, we must show solidarity… The motherland must stand together, and Transylvania and the other areas in the Carpathian Basin inhabited by Hungarians must stand together.
“... we have always given more to the world than we have received from it, that more has been taken from us than given to us… we are more industrious and more talented than the position we now find ourselves in and the way in which we live, and the fact that the world owes us something – and that we want to, and will, call in that debt. This is our strongest ambition,” said the Prime Minister, concluding his speech.