The French weekly Le Point interviewed Balazs Orban, the Hungarian prime minister's political director, on the occasion of the release of the French edition of his book, The Hungarian Way of Strategy. Among other things, he was asked "which side he is on", because due to the current conflicts, a situation is unfolding where the West has been pitted against the rest of the world.
Balazs Orban responded by saying that
However, I don't think the western part of the world is lost, it's just a victim of its very bad strategy. The turmoil we are going through is largely the result of American decisions. We Europeans were weak enough to follow them blindly, even though they lead nowhere but to war. This can only accelerate a process where the rest of the world is turning against us.
In his view, Europe needs to recognize that the United States only pursues its own interests, and that this does not always coincide with the continent's interests.
The Hungarian PM's political director was also asked what role he sees for Hungary in this international conflict. In his reply, the director emphasized that the Hungarian government does not believe in the logic of forming blocs, but in a multipolar world where stabilization could become Europe's role. "The European strategy must aim to maintain peace and tolerance towards all countries by building economic bridges, and not by destroying them one after the other." In his view, however, the problem is that Europe fails to adopt this way of thinking and does not have strategic autonomy.
The first illustration of this was the Russia-Ukraine war. We can see what Russia can gain, what Ukraine can gain, what the United States or China can gain from this conflict. But we Europeans can only lose,
he said, summarizing his thoughts.
The chairman of the board of Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) also pointed out that Brussels's exercise of pressure points far beyond Hungary's case. The equilibrium between federalists and sovereigntists in Brussels has been upset since Brexit.
Alexander Hamilton was the first US secretary of the treasury and a member of first US President George Washington's administration. Following the American War of Independence, he seized a chaotic moment in 1790 to take firm steps towards federalization.
Balazs Orban, the Hungarian PM' s political director, delivers a speech opening the academic year of the University of Public Service (NKE) at the Ludovika Arena on September 5, 2023 (Photo: MTI/Lajos Soos)
