The Hungarian prime minister touched on a number of topics including demographics, saying that today more children are born on the southern side of the Mediterranean than on its northern side, and that Germany and Austria, for example, are not defending themselves against this, but see immigration policy as the solution to these demographic problems, while Hungary is focusing on supporting families.
Viktor Orban noted that the last thirty to forty years have led to the current situation of more people dying than are being born, that the population is shrinking and getting older.
Merely giving out money will not result in more children, but a family-friendly culture must be built, because the more we respect life, the more children there will be, in his view.
To achieve this, he continued, "young people need to feel secure and want to have a family rather than not have one. This requires a stable, predictable economic policy, persistence and a change in mindset, which means at least 10 to 20 years," he stressed.
The European economy is suffering from a serious case of pneumonia, there are grave problems.
Mr Orban also noted the French president's earlier statement that if we do not change, the EU will die out in two or three years because it will lose its markets, and added that according to Mario Draghi the European economy will go bankrupt.
Signs of this danger and of the deteriorating situation are clearly visible in for example the Austrian and German economies, and in many places,
the PM said.
"The European economy must be made competitive again," he said, adding that energy prices are at the heart of this problem, as Brussels's policies have resulted in European companies being forced to pay two to three times the price of electricity and three to four times the price of gas compared to American companies, which means that they cannot compete and also cannot be compensated, so Europe needs to adopt a new energy policy, otherwise companies will go bankrupt," he stressed.
Regarding migration, the PM said that there are two types of European countries: those that have allowed people from foreign cultures - predominantly Islamic - and those that have not, and Hungary in the latter camp.
He pointed out that the members of the rather small number of Muslim communities living in Hungary do not live separately from Hungarians, but together with them, and Hungary always issues them only as many work permits as number of workers needed. Such workers here must leave Hungary when their work permits expire.
We Hungarians believe that illegal migration will not improve but only worsen the situation,
Viktor Orban stressed, linking increased crime, anti-Semitism, and homophobic incidents to rising migrant populations in other European nations.
In Hungary, no one wants illegal migrants to come in. We have taken a different path: we are a conservative island in this liberal European ocean
he said.
Viktor Orban believes it is important that a growing number of EU countries should have patriotic prime ministers, and voiced optimism that Austria's Freedom Party could soon take power. He sees a good chance that the Czech Republic will also have a patriotic head of government, and that Marine Le Pen's party will be able to form a government in France.
Mr Orban took the view that patriotic prime ministers heading four or five countries would have a positive impact on the policies pursued by Brussels.
"I am confident that this new majority, which is people-centered, family-friendly, rejects migration, supports peace and works in the interests of European people, that this new center will soon be strongly reflected in the number of prime ministers," Viktor Orban said.
Criticizing EU politics, Hungary's prime minister pointed out that the Brussels leadership constructed a culture, a hegemonic mindset, where those who are not liberal are not seen as democratic. This was built up with the help of George Soros pouring money into this policy, Viktor Orban said. He added that naturally, European liberals have their place under the sun, and encouraged them to state their arguments and then the people will decide. He advocated for
defeating liberals in as many elections as possible.
Speaking about the war in Ukraine, Viktor Orban stressed that he holds a pro-peace position and not a pro-Russia one, but at the same time he accentuated that this is a fraternal war, with which we have nothing to do.
He pointed out that today the risk of the war escalating is high, which could lead to a world war, and called for a swift ceasefire and the start of peace negotiations. In this context, Mr Orban underscored the significance of the US presidential election coming up on Tuesday, noting that Donald Trump as president never started a war, and if there was a conflict somewhere, he brought it to a swift end.
Viktor Orban also agrees with Donald Trump on the need to put an end to illegal migration.
We will sit down with President Trump, and with this the Europeans and the Americans can reach good agreements, and with him we can get a pro-peace president instead of a pro-war president, and then we can bring about a change in Brussels' policy,
he said.
"If there is anyone in the world who could achieve a ceasefire, it is Donald Trump," Viktor Orban stated.
Cover photo: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in an interview in Vienna for Austrian ServusTV on October 31, 2024 (Photo: MTI/Prime Minister's Press Office/Zoltan Fischer)
