"I hereby announce to the National Assembly that we have successfully organised the country's biggest sporting event, the World Athletics Championships in Budapest," Mr Orban said, in his opening of the autumn session of parliament. PM Orban thanked the organizers of the event and the volunteers and, presenting the figures, he said that the championships had produced twice the cost of the event for Hungary in terms of revenue.
Focus on energy security
"As you know, one of the outstanding commitments of the national government is to maintain Hungary's energy security and to build a system that guarantees our independence," PM Orban said. He stressed that Brussels had decided to cut Europe off from Russian energy supplies, which he said was contrary to Europe's interests. He added, however, that the negative effects of Brussels' decision should be mitigated and the country should adapt to the situation.
He indicated that half of Hungary's gas supply comes from the south, and that we are now also buying gas directly from Turkey. " You can see that the weight and role of the East and the Turkic world will increase, something that the Hungarian government has been aware of for a long time," he contended.
PM Orban also pointed out that the whole world is in a race for Qatari gas, and that the leaders of the EU made back-to-back visits to Doha, adding that a visit by the Emir of Qatar to Budapest has greatly improved Hungary's chances in the race.
The Hungarian government has been aware of these processes for a long time, he said, adding and that the fragility of the Minsk agreement - concluded in a bid to settle the Russia-Ukraine conflict - was also obvious for Hungary from the get-go.
" We have seen that if Ukraine does not give up its desire to join NATO, then it is only a matter of time before we have to face another conflict which will also jeopardize all energy supplies from Russia. Because of this, we have raised our relations with Central Asia to a friendly level, so that neither the Russia-Ukraine war, nor the terrorist attack on the Nord Stream pipeline have produced an insurmountable challenge in terms of Hungary's energy supplies," Mr Orban said.
"I hereby announce that the government has done its homework and replenished the country's gas reserves, with 60 percent of annual gas consumption available," he said.
"We are also making great strides in terms of renewable energy sources: we have reviewed our entire electricity system and delineated areas where we cannot accommodate solar connections and production without grid development," Mr Orban said. He stressed that
the results of the screening are encouraging: we can open up a considerable part of the national grid and accept solar energy from the population.
Since 1990, Hungary has reduced its carbon emissions and increased its economic production at the same time. "With the construction of Paks II, the creation of solar capacities and the construction of reserve power plants, we are making Hungary independent; we are 4-5 years ahead of other countries that are opening dozens of coal-fired power plants," PM Orban said, referring to Germany. He said it was ironic that all this was happening in a country with a green leadership, while Hungary belonged to the club of climate champions.
We were deceived when it comes to Ukrainian grain
PM Orban stressed that the NATO Innovation Week had just ended in Budapest.
He pointed out that four thousand people had already signed contracts with the armed forces this year.
"Hungary and the Brussels bureaucrats are in serious conflict over the dumping of Ukrainian grain. Our country opened a transport corridor to allow Ukrainian grain to reach Africa, but we were deceived," Mr Orban said.
We've managed to achieve a Europe-wide ban on supplies, he said, adding, however that the EU had since lifted this ban, which was detrimental to Hungarian farmers.
"We call on Brussels to stand up for the Central European member states, and not to betray Hungary either," he stressed.
PM Orban also made mention of the fact that Ukrainians have been making life miserable for Hungarian schools in Transcarpathia for years now. "Hungary will not support Ukraine's NATO membership until the previous laws are fully restored," he added.
The government was forced to take over the Central Bank's role
Hungary's prime minister also touched on the issue of inflation. He said that, in his interpretation, the Central Bank proved unfit to tackle inflation, so the government took over the task, and also assumed responsibility. The government also introduced the policy of online price monitoring and mandatory price reductions, he said, adding that
inflation will definitely be below 10 percent by the end of the year.
"As you know, the Central Bank has accumulated some serious debt over the past few years, which we should be paying off from the central the budget. The budget can handle this, but only if we funnel some serious funds away from key areas of economic and social life," Mr Orban said.
Mr Orban's proposal to parliament was not to do this, but to alleviate the Central Bank's dire predicament instead
by introducing an amendment to the current law.
The amendment will be tabled by the ruling parties in the upcoming period, Mr Orban said, but he provided no additional details.
Mr Orban also spoke about fuel prices, saying that if traders cannot or do not want to control the prices, the government will intervene again.
"The government introduced certain decisions to make Hungarians with savings interested in investing their savings in government bonds," he said. This is good for the budget and good for those with savings, because the interest paid on loans is not given to foreign creditors, but to Hungarians, Mr.Orban said, explaining the government's decision in mid-summer.
Currently, two-thirds of Hungary's public debt is owned by Hungarians. Specifically, Hungarian households hold 24 percent of Hungary's total public debt.
The war will continue
"Hungary is doing its utmost for peace, but unfortunately the Russia-Ukraine war is continuing, with tens of thousands of people falling victim," Viktor Orban said regarding the war. He noted that they are calling for an end to the war with inexhaustible patience. "Diplomats must take back control from the hands of soldiers. If this does not take place, women will be waiting in vain for their sons, fathers, and husbands to return home," PM Orban said.
"Those who fled the war have found security, and the Hungarian government will not comply with the Ukrainian government's request this autumn either, and we will not force anyone back into the war," Mr Orban stated.
The dispute between bureaucrats in Brussels and Hungarians will continue, deepen and widen.
No mention of migrant ghettos at the time of accession
When we joined the EU we were talking about the free movement of capital, but there is not a single word in the treaty about taking in migrants, Viktor Orban stressed. "We cannot accept anything like this. We do not need migrant camps and migrant ghettoes, but we do need border protection," he underlined. A European solution will only be reached if Brussels understands that only those whose applications have been assessed can enter the territory of the EU, he explained.
Further demands had been made from Brussels, he noted. "We are at a time when we can only win the conflict with Brussels with support from Hungarians. Brussels is not against the Hungarian government, but against the Hungarian people.”
Bureaucrats in Brussels deciding about the price of energy in Hungary is unacceptable, nor do we accept that the windfall tax on extra profits should be phased out,
PM Orban underscored, adding that an end to the interest rate freeze is only possible if inflation, and with it interest rates, fall significantly, but the time has not yet come for this.
"Austerity measures are out of the question. The utility price cut scheme must remain in place, pensions must be increased, and pensioners must be given the amount they are entitled to due to higher than expected inflation. Wages must be brought into balance with prices by the end of the year, so that both the economy and wages can start growing again in 2024," PM Orban stressed.
He pointed out that Brussels should disburse the funds Hungarians are entitled to rather than demand additional money from Hungarians to finance the interest on loans.
"In the autumn, Hungary’s opponents will take action simultaneously. Soros’s empire, bureaucrats in Brussels and Democrats in the US will all demand something from us that we cannot and will not fulfill," Viktor Orban highlighted.
They want us to get into the war, supply arms and give more money to Ukraine, or at least agree to giving them our money.
Brussels wants us to admit migrants and build migrant ghettos for them, to allow the promotion of sexual propaganda in schools and to give up our independent foreign policy and the right to unanimity on foreign policy issues.
If we fail to do so, they are threatening to withhold funds from Brussels and will pay the Hungarian left - the Hungarian government's domestic opponents - through the coffers of the Soros empire," Hungary’s prime minister said.
How can we respond to this?
PM Orban said, asking the rhetorical question in his speech. He emphasized that Hungary does not belong to the "Jawohl" club of countries, whose members simply just say "Jawohl!" whenever they get a phone call from Brussels.
As PM Orban put it, Hungary will not allow anyone to restrict its independence and sovereignty, not only because of common sense and historical experience, but also because Hungary's Fundamental Law does not allow this, moreover, it expressly forbids it, he added.
PM Orban indicated that the government's position remains unchanged, maintaining its previous offer that we do not demand that they adopt our views, but in return we ask them not to demand the same from us.
We can answer this question saying that we cannot accept their economic aspirations, because we cannot return to where Hungary's opponents are so keen on taking us: back to the Gyurcsany era.
An era when the fate of our country was decided not here in Budapest, but in Brussels and Washington, when the IMF was sitting on our necks, imposing various austerity measures. When banks, energy companies and telecoms were all in foreign hands and lending happened in Swiss francs, making millions of families and nearly almost the whole country sick.
"When pensioners were deprived of one month's pension, nurses, doctors and civil servants were deprived of one month's salary, the family allowances were abolished and Hungarian families paid the highest utility bills all across Europe. We don't want any more of this, we've had enough already," Mr Orban summarised.
Hungary is politically stable enough and its economy strong enough to bring down inflation, protect pensions, salaries and jobs and return to significant economic growth next year,
he clarified. "I wish you a productive session, high-quality, well-meaning debates that serve the interests of the country, and for each of you to stand your ground in your own post," PM Orban said, concluding his speech.
You can watch PM Orban's speech on Facebook as well as on his personal Youtube channel.
Cover photo: Hungarian PM Viktor Orban (Photo: MTI/Szilard Koszticsak)
