The most important statements during the interview:
· In 1956, Hungarians also hoped to achieve freedom through peace talks
· Fairer prices will only come with peace
· We are paying sanctions surcharges
· Hungary is not the only country anymore questioning what is going on here
· The USA is winning, Russia is not losing, and Europe is doing worse and worse
· Europe is divided into two camps
· No one was asked about the sanctions
· If the gas pipeline were damaged, Hungary would consider it an act of terrorism
· Frontex cannot solve border protection
While there are some who speak about winning the war in Ukraine, others, including Hungary, are calling for a ceasefire,
said Viktor Orbán in his regular Friday Kossuth Rádió interview titled “Good morning, Hungary!” The Prime Minister added that you do not need to tell Hungary what it is like to fight against the Russians, we know what it was like under Soviet brutality. “We started a revolution [in 1956] and a fight for freedom to force a ceasefire and a peace negotiation,” said the Prime Minister. According to him, there is a peace camp in Europe following this logic.
The Peace Camp
“We need a ceasefire and peace talks to reach economic relief,” he said. There is a peace camp: Pope Francis, American Republicans, businessmen, Kissinger. Peace would bring economic relief according to Viktor Orbán.
“Peace will bring us fairer prices. We haven’t seen many good sanctions in this world,” he said.
“Brussels messed up the sanctions,”
– pointed out the Prime Minister. He continued,
countries were cautious with the sanctions because only two or three out of ten succeed; in many cases, the ones who imposed them are hurt the most.
“Sanctions are usually imposed by those who have a dominant position. Now, in the energy sector, it is doubtful whether we have a dominant position because we are the buyers and the Russians are the suppliers. So it is indeed rather unusual for the energy dwarves to impose sanctions on the energy giants,” stated the Prime Minister.
Hungary is not the only one asking “why?”
Viktor Orbán also reported that over the past six months they have been urging the European Commission to submit a price reduction proposal alongside the sanctions. However, this was not done and thus we have inflation and are paying sanctions surcharges. According to him, the final solution would be for the EU to let go of these policies, but we are still very far from that.
Viktor Orbán also discussed how Hungary is examining every sanction that makes it to the table.
“We examine everything, and if we see sanctions that could threaten our country, we fight against it. As dissatisfaction grows, more and more European leaders are questioning what it is all for… Now Hungary is not the only one asking what is going on here anymore,” said the Prime Minister about the Brussels sanctions.
Considered an act of terror
He emphasized that with this, the USA wins, Russia does not lose, and Europe is doing worse and worse.
From our perspective, this is an act of terror,
said Viktor Orbán in connection with the Nord Stream explosions. He indicated that the last major pipeline is the Turkish pipeline; if this is blown up, it will be considered an act of terrorism.
Europe divided in two camps
Regarding the national consultation, the Prime Minister said that we are in the middle of an international battle. Europe is increasingly divided between two camps.
Our country is arguing that the sanctions policy must be altered, because if not, we will kill ourselves with them, as he put it. He regularly raises the questions at the European leaders' forums: how long will this go on? Have they consulted the Americans on when this will end? What should families and businesses expect? Viktor Orbán stated that he needs to provide these answers to those who are impacted by the sanctions – but if they cannot provide answers, then they cannot expect everyone to quietly accept this.
Thus far, Hungary has successfully fought for exceptions; if they had not succeeded, inflation and energy prices would be even higher today and there would not be enough energy.
The Prime Minister detailed that currently, Hungary has 48.5 percent of its yearly energy supply stored, so if the gas delivery were to stop, Hungary would still be able to function for six months. “This is an incredible achievement which puts us in the top three in Europe in terms of energy security,” he underlined.
No one was asked
Viktor Orbán also highlighted that no one was asked about the introduction of sanctions – only the Brussels bureaucrats and the European elite decided. For now however, we still have democracy and what the people want matters. For this very reason, the Hungarian government regularly asks the people what they think and involves them in decision-making.
National consultations are a good tool to clarify a majority or sense of national agreement that supports the government in the Brussels battles.
“With this, we can also make it clear on the international stage that there is a line that the Hungarian people do not want to cross,” he emphasized. The Prime Minister called attention to the fact that while American gas is five-ten times cheaper, we must pose the question who is winning off of this. “It is put together in a way that Europeans can only lose,” he added.
Frontex will not solve border protection
In connection with migration, Viktor Orbán stated that Frontex is not able to solve border protection, because Frontex is merely a travel agency.
Crossing the border illegally is a crime and it should not be supported. That is why we have a fence at the border along with border guards,
– he said. He reported that this year, there were almost 200 thousand attempts at illegally crossing the border. He believes that there is enormous pressure on the Balkan route, similar to the situation in 2015. “The solidarity mechanism, which sounds rather soft, actually means that we will distribute the migrants amongst each other. This must be prevented as we have managed to do since 2015,” underlined Viktor Orbán.
He affirmed that it is exclusively the Hungarian people’s decision as to who they want to live with.
Photo: Viktor Orbán (Photo CRedit: Benko Vivien Cher)
