Speaking to Le Point, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban summed up the program of the upcoming Hungarian EU presidency in five points.
The first point is migration. "We disagree with the current pact, and would like to halt more migrants than the pact allows," Hungary's prime minister said. Secondly, he said, we would like to see a reasoned debate on our attitude to the war between Ukraine and Russia. "It is not enough to say 'Vladimir Putin cannot win','' he pointed out, adding that we need to see how much the war is costing Europe and to clarify the objectives.
"Thirdly, the European Union has long claimed that the green transition is not contrary to European competitiveness, and even increases it. The opposite is clearly true. We need to rethink this green transition before it kills our industry," Viktor Orban continued. As the fourth point, he talked about the need to improve Europe's defense capabilities.
If our security is essentially ensured by the US, we will never achieve real strategic autonomy,
he pointed out.
And finally, European countries should share best practices in tackling the demographic crisis, with immigration ruled out as an option.
We must remember that war is the main cause of our demographic problems, but it is by no means the only one. Had there been no two world wars, had the young European and Christian lives that the wars cost been spared, there would be no demographic crisis in Europe,
Hungary's premier highlighted.
Upcoming elections carry historic significance
Speaking about the European Parliament elections, Viktor Orban stated that the upcoming elections carry historic importance.
"Ten years from now, these elections will probably be seen as the vote that decided peace or war in Europe," PM Orban said.
Hungary's prime minister recalled that neither the First nor the Second World War was considered global at the outset. The 1914–1918 war was initially seen as the third Balkan war, and the 1939–1945 war as a Germany–Poland war.
Besides the number of seats secured by one party or another, I think the most important thing will be the number of MEPs who support putting an end to the war in Ukraine. While I hope that pro-peace MEPs will win, I also hope that there will be more sovereignist MEPs in favor of a Europe of nations,
PM Orban added. He continued by saying that
the future of Europe's sovereignist camp and the right wing in general is now in the hands of two women. Everything will depend on whether Marine Le Pen in France and Giorgia Meloni in Italy will be able to work together.
According to Viktor Orban, if they manage to work together, either in a group or in a coalition, they will be a force for Europe. "The appeal of their cooperation will be very strong. This may be enough to redraw the map of Europe's right wing, or even dislodge the European People's Party, whose leadership has been entirely taken over by the Germans; in fact, it is a German EP group," he said.
Asked if Fidesz was planning to join the ECR or the ID group in the EP, Viktor Orban said that the strength, energy and dynamism of Fidesz's elected MEPs will of course be drawn on to find the right means of cooperation. As he put it, Fidesz could join the ECR, but first the group needs to settle its relations with the French RN, on the one hand, and with the EPP, on the other.
What we need is for the Right to reflect and collect the views of right-wing voters. No need for the EPP to continue to gather right-wing voters, only to deceive them and then cooperate with the Left. These questions should be clarified after the EP elections.
Speaking about Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Viktor Orban said that she has a very difficult job, because as soon as she was elected, she was accused of being an extremist and disrespecting EU values. "It's a bit like us in Hungary, or the previous government in Poland," he noted. She was subjected to a series of political attacks aimed at bringing her down, but she survived them and made clear the Italian position.
Today, everyone respects her Christian values-based right-wing government, which stands for democracy and European values. The great challenge for the Left is the new Right that has been created in Italy and in the European Union. I have great respect for her,
Viktor Orban said.
Regarding the threats Europe is facing, the PM said that NATO is very strong, and Europe is not in military danger.
The ideological leadership of the European Union remains to be the greatest danger threatening Europe.
In Brussels, as in many member states, he said, there is a widespread perception that it is more important to serve certain core principles or certain political values than to serve the people.
This is strange. For me, our primary duty is to serve the interests of our nations. But other European leaders see this as populism. They prefer to defend the 'open society', a concept that says that national values or identities, traditional family values, not to mention Christian values, are unacceptable... This is the ideology of George Soros,
the politician said, adding: "I hope that the upcoming European elections will allow us to get out of this trap, especially thanks to the coalition between MEPs - the Italian-dominated ECR and the French-dominated ID coalition", he said.
The French Le Point also asked the Hungarian PM about Emmanuel Macron. As he put it, the French president is "an unclassifiable politician".
"I try to connect with him through very in-depth conversations, especially on philosophical issues. He believes in a progressive and liberal future for Europe, which is not my vision. On the contrary, I see it as a threat. I believe that the only stable basis for Europe's future is to return to Christian values. Emmanuel Macron and I stand in stark opposition to one another. But he understands the historical dimensions of things as very few European leaders do. This will allow us to discuss our differences and then identify some common points, for example, on nuclear energy, on Europe's competitiveness, on our strategic autonomy... It just takes twice as long as with other European leaders," he added.
Defense cooperation?
On the development of European defense capabilities, the premier stressed that he supports the idea of increasing them.
However, we must be realistic and proceed gradually. Setting over-ambitious targets risks jeopardizing this good idea,
he noted.
And explained that the first step is cooperation at the defense industry level. Then we have to decide whether we want a separate European pillar within NATO. The financing of these defense capabilities is also key, but national budgets are under pressure from the European Commission. But Mr Orban also stressed that he categorically rejects the idea of taking on joint debt.
We, in Hungary, are ready to cover this military effort with our own financial contribution. Debt, on the other hand, is a dangerous dependency. The problem with European politics is that many leaders are slaves to the common debt. Amassing debt means you are spending more money than you earn. This is a socialist idea. Many people view the common European debt as nothing, that it is a long way off, that future generations will bear it... But money doesn't grow on trees. And I'm not a socialist, nor a communist. When I speak about money, I really put it on the table.
As for who he would like to see at the head of the European Commission, Mr Orban thinks it is too early to name names. As he put it:
What we need to do is to get rid of the current leadership, which is the worst Commission I have ever seen!
"They have not kept a single promise on competitiveness, on sanctions, on immigration or on enlargement. In a democratic system, if you don't keep your promises, you have to leave." It is too early to name names, but it would certainly be proof of a solid track record if the next Commission president had previously been prime minister for several years, which equipped him to deal with important issues such as the war, competitiveness and immigration.
Cover photo: Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Source: Facebook/Viktor Orban)
