Things are different in Budapest
Today, Hungary has a reputation in international politics, said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the opening ceremony of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). This is unusual, he went on, because Hungary is a country with a population of ten million, with a modest army and a moderate GDP. In these terms, Hungary is not significant, and not particularly interesting if you look at the country from Washington, Brussels, Berlin, Moscow or Beijing.
So modesty and humility, dear Hungarian friends, are justified. Yet there is something attractive about Hungary, something exotic,
Viktor Orban added. All this is probably because of the language, which no one understands, he noted, saying
Dear guests, do not try to learn it, failure causes depression.
It can also be exciting that we have lived here for more than a thousand years, and we have lost not an iota of our independence, PM Orban said. "But perhaps what is the most interesting is that while Europe as a whole has been engulfed by an ocean of progressive liberalism, by some miracle, we have a conservative island that not only holds out, but survives, and even thrives and succeeds, and wins, and triumphs again and again. Welcome," he said. CPAC Hungary 2024 is a conservative conference in Europe that no one wants to ban, and the organizers are not being threatened. The conference is not forced to move from one venue to another, and no one will call in the police, PM Oran said, recalling the events that took place in Brussels last week.
Things are different here. Despite all the rumors, the rule of law prevails here. Anybody can organize any conference they want. You rent the space you want. Say what you want. That's the way it is here, Hungarians don't like other people interfering in their affairs,
Viktor Orban noted. He pointed out that in Brussels, in the paradise of European liberals, European progressive life has become reality.
Welcoming former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Hungary's premier highlighted that
When the wave of migration started in 2015, he was the Western prime minister whom we looked up to from here in Budapest, because he said that migration must be stopped, and he was the one who did stop it. He was the one who sent the message that if you arrive at the borders illegally, you are not allowed to enter. And he showed that it can be done. Since then, setting an example has forged a friendship,
he said. Viktor Orban proceeded to welcome Janez Jansa – Slovenia's eternal prime minister, as he put it – saying
"his great trick is that whether he is in government or in opposition, when you talk to him, you feel you are talking to the prime minister. He is a great and successful fighter, even though the Left did everything possible against him: he was taken to court, he was convicted, and he went to prison. Meanwhile, Brussels remained silent, but he has always got back on his feet, he has always emerged stronger, and he will always be prime minister."
Hungary's premier greeted Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, saying "He is the prime minister who is considered a real political chess player back home. This is no wonder, since the Georgians' thousand-year history is in itself a huge geopolitical game of chess: how to preserve the country's unique language, culture and national identity against threatening and conquering great powers. The people of Georgia have been playing this game of chess successfully for hundreds of years," Viktor Orban said. He next welcomed former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, pointing out that
The two of us are old comrades in arms. We fought together in Brussels for sovereignty, to halt migration and to protect our families and our children. Poles and Hungarians fought together for everything that is important to us and against what the progressive Left wanted to abolish or force on us,
he said.
PM Orban: 2024 will be the year of putting all in practice
In Viktor Orban's view, this year, 2024, is not the year of theory, but of practice. Elections are coming up across the world, and these elections must be won. These elections will coincide with major global political and geopolitical trend reversals. "The world order is changing, and we must win our cause in the midst of change," he said, stressing that progressive liberals sense the danger.
So remember, they have no scruples, they will stop at nothing, and they are in power. They are dangerous opponents,
he said, adding that if needed, liberals will weaponize state institutions.
Our American friends are telling us, and it's all happening before our eyes. This is what is also happening to us Hungarians continuously in Brussels. This is what is happening to President Trump in America. We are rooting for him to win the battle for justice not only in the elections, but also in court.
Viktor Orban warned: the opponents are sitting in the seats of power at the helm of institutions and instead of serving the public good, they are masterminding how to reckon with those who disagree with them. This is the situation we have to win in, he said.
We saw how the communists established political oppression. But I don't think everyone in the West knows this, so let's take a few minutes to review this now. My dear friends, in the past the communists, and now the progressives, in five steps 'sing the cheese out of our mouths' as the fox does with the crow in Aesop's fable. In five steps they arrive at making state bodies instruments of oppression. First, they redefine what is normal. George Orwell had seen this before. For progressive liberals, the first step in oppressing is to rebrand what is normal as the exact opposite.
The prime minister recalled: according to the liberals, migration is a resource. While crime increases, the threat of terrorism increases and our societies lose all trust.
The second step is that this inverted normality is propagated by state means: anyone who thinks differently is problematic, there is something wrong with them. The liberals have to create the impression that following those of disparate thought will lead to some fatal disaster. According to Viktor Orban, the third step involves convincing people that a conservative is a security risk because he holds dangerous views.
Next, they sic some kind of fact checker or democracy watchdog on you, who then determines that you do not share the views of normality that they promote, therefore you are a radical whose freedom of speech can be brazenly restricted. Then, in the fourth step, they sic the liberal press on you. Activists are mobilized to silence you by legal means. The world of false profiles on line and in social media start reporting you, and hordes of civilians bombard courts and public authorities with reports. And if you survive that, and if you are still on your feet, then in the fifth step, the state institutions swing into action.
The PM noted that this how state bodies become the private institutions of the progressives. They state that the accusations of the press, "the concerns of the watchdogs are well-founded, they initiate proceedings against you and finally silence you through state organs". This is what they are doing with Hungary in Brussels, and this is what they are doing with conservatives in the progressive-liberal European capitals. The same is happening in the United States, when they want to remove President Donald Trump from the ballot with court rulings. According to Viktor Orban, this is precisely what was happening in the European Union when they tried to ban Tucker Carlson by administrative means. This is what is happening in Germany when political parties are monitored using secret service methods. And this is what was happening when in Finland they wanted to condemn a politician and a bishop for quoting from the Holy Scriptures. The progressive liberal spirit has failed globally.
This year, on April 25 and 26, the Center for Fundamental Rights is organizing CPAC Hungary, the largest international gathering of conservatives, where the world's best-known right-wing leaders, researchers and influencers will meet for the third time in Budapest. Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, Santiago Abascal, the president of the Spanish VOX party, will be here, as well as Senator Markwayne Mullin and Congressmen Andy Harris and Keith Self from the United States. The keynote speaker of the event this year as well is Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Cover photo: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban addresses CPAC Hungary 2024 (Photo: Arpad Kurucz)
