"If we want to look behind the processes, then we see two processes that need to be separated from each other," Viktor Orban said speaking about today's political situation in the world. One is the change in the world order, and the other is the change within the Western world, Hungary's prime minister told the Patriota YouTube channel. Regarding the former, he pointed out that Asia's economies are all developing rapidly, and the contribution of the Asian continent to the overall world economy has radically increased at the expense of the Western continents, reversing the flow of wealth, money, and value created in the world.
It follows from this, he said, that the East is getting stronger, Asia is growing stronger, and the West is weakening relatively, not in absolute terms, but relative to them. If GDP, the ability to contribute to the world's total product, sooner or later translates into military and diplomatic power, the world will gradually reorient itself, he explained.
The other process reveals that we have been in the early nineties since the end of the Cold War,
he said.
The liberals are losing, and the patriots are winning
He recalled that he personally saw the struggle between two political, intellectual and program trends within the Western world. One is the progressive liberal trend, he said, and the other is the patriotic line.
What we see looking at the internal struggles of Europe in the Western world is that the liberals are losing and the patriots are winning. Trump's victory is the greatest triumph in this respect,
he explained.
He took the view that the patriots' greatest triumph over the liberals offers the West a chance to strengthen and redefine its place in the new global order. "But we need to know that in the end the two processes will come together, but in reality they are two things of different nature," he added.
Seeing what's happening in Western Europe we can say that Brussels is the last stronghold of liberalism. This is the land of Mordor, where the dark lord has retreated. It's the only place where there are liberals, and you can see that since we, the Patriots were formed,
he said.
But the tide is turning, elections across Europe have consistently favored patriots, he pointed out. If the West does not urgently address its competitiveness issues, Europe's and the Western countries' share of global economic output will continue to shrink, leading to these countries becoming irrelevant.
With the victory of the Republicans in the US, the migration policy is over. So the pro-migration policy is dead in the Western world. Gender policy is dead, and I hope the days of the pro-war policy are numbered,
Viktor Orban said, pointing out that the recent European elections resulted in a pro-change majority in the European Parliament, with political forces that wanted change, including the European People's Party, winning in 17 of the 27 member states, according to his assessment.
A large number of European voters have been betrayed
"However, in light of the results, a deal has been struck with the liberals, the greens and the socialists. So they have betrayed a large number of European voters. This is the driving force that is pushing us, Patriots, forward today, because those who didn't want this from the European People's Party, but wanted change, are the voters we are winning over to our side," he added.
PM Orban called it interesting that while Donald Trump will become US president and the Russians are pushing forward, the liberals, the greens, the socialists and the EPP want to continue what they have been doing.
There is a new reality, while they insist on following the logic of the old reality, and that's why they made this pact, which I think will have political historical significance later on, because it's the first time in Brussels that we have a situation where there is a governing party and there is an opposition,
Viktor Orban opined. In his view, Brussels is governed by certain parties that have concluded a pact, and the parties of the Hungarian opposition are all part of this deal, because they belong to these international parties, while on the other hand Brussels now has an opposition lead by the Patriots.
The pact states that they will stand up for gender, and thus pursue an anti-family policy, that they will continue to support migration, that they will continue the war with all their efforts, and that the member states will need to pay 0.25 percent of their national GDP for this purpose. This means that we Hungarians should also put in the money, in other words, they want to take substantial sums away from us,
Hungary's prime minister highlighted.
"We are on the patriotic side of the change in the Western world and we are going to prevail in the rest of Europe. It is only a matter of time, because it is impossible that, while Europe is crying out for change, while a new reality has emerged on the Russia-Ukraine front, while a new reality has emerged in the Western world, parties that insist on the old solutions should be in power. This will not work. We will get stronger, they will grow weaker, and we will be in majority in Brussels, it's just a matter of time," he said.
Easing pressure from Brussels
The pressure from Brussels is easing now, Viktor Orban noted, recalling that Hungary has had a difficult time in the past 3 or 4 years, but thanks to a good strategy, the country has withstood the pressure.
We have pulled through, grown stronger and are slated to become the majority,
he stated.
Speaking about Trump's re-election, the prime minister recalled, "when the now victorious American president first entered the race in 2015-16, Hungary was the only country that supported him, and I was personally the only European leader to support him. And that hasn't changed since then. I have always believed that the processes that I just described are unfolding and are happening. I was also sure that people embody all processes in politics, it is people who take action and who we see. Their defeats and victories are the process itself," he explained.
And I was sure that what was going to happen will come. In this sense, I should say that the formula worked,
he said.
Asked what was the point, the instinct, that made him so sure of Trump's victory, he pointed out that while European and Western civilization has abandoned much of its Christian heritage, it is still essentially a Christian culture.
People cannot be forced to accept certain things, unnatural things in the long run,
he emphasized.
He recalled that in the America of the 2010s, support for migration and gender ideology could be successful because with a big "media attack a lot of things could be forced down people's throats, but this is only a temporary success". In his view, sooner or later, according to the order of creation, the balance will be restored, tipped back, and someone will come along and say:
Enough of this crap. Thank you very much, we want to live a normal life.
"It won't be an ideology, it won't be a program, but a person who will say, "so much nonsense is being forced on us. Let's stop this, because it's not just that it's not good for us, we are uncomfortable about it, but it's also going to cost us economically," he explained. That's what happened in America, and that's why he wasn't surprised by Trump's victory in 2016, he added.
A more normal world
Asked what Hungary could gain from Donald Trump's victory, the Hungarian prime minister said that there are three things in the short term, and they are economic in nature. "The Democrats refused to conclude an agreement with Hungary on the avoidance of double taxation as an extension of the convention that was in force until then. Consequently, the United States, previously the second largest investor in Hungary, has slipped back to fourth place. Now the new administration and Hungary are going to conclude the agreement," he said.
Secondly, Hungary had to face a discriminatory visa policy, as Hungarians were punished for political and ideological reasons, which will also come to an end, he said. "Thirdly, American investors will come, and I am working to ensure that they invest in cutting-edge technologies in Hungary, thereby bringing technology, jobs and capital to Hungary," he added. The beneficial effect of the recent Republican victory on the transformation of the whole world will not be palpable in the first few months, but in a year or two, with everyone feeling it and the world becoming more normal, he said.
When we talk about war, we should know that the combined spending of Western countries is around 310 billion US dollars. So the West has spent one and a half times as much on this war as Hungary's annual economic output,
Viktor Orban explained, noting that the Americans will stop paying their share.
"How the funds needed for the war in Ukraine are internally distributed between the US and Europe will fundamentally change," the Hungarian prime minister pointed out, adding that Europe will not be able to bear this burden.
If there is no money, there is no war. If there is no war, then there must be negotiations. Peace talks, and the first step in peace negotiations is a ceasefire. That's what I'm waiting for. I believe that's what's going to happen,
he added.
Government prepared budget for peace in 2025
Regarding the new economic policy, the PM noted that the war in the neighboring country has been going on for more than a thousand days. The war has consumed gigantic sums of money, destroyed the European energy market, caused major energy price hikes, and the imposed sanctions have exacerbated the situation, forcing the price of everything to go up, and we've been living the last three years in a high inflation period which has tormented everyone, he said, adding this is how we've lived the last thousand days and this is what the country's economic policy had to adapt to.
In 2022, the price of energy procured by Hungary was around €7 billion, and in the following year, when sanctions pushed up prices, it jumped to €17 billion, which means we lost €10 billion in a single year,
he stressed.
He said that the government envisages 2025 as a year of peace, and has prepared a budget accordingly. "We will have strong economic growth and will do things that we haven't done before," he said, citing the Demjan Sandor and the new housing programs as examples.
Hungary to have solid economic growth
According to Mr.Orban, Hungarian economic growth will be good even if improvement is not seen in larger European countries. "We have two well thought-through, hidden resources - financial resources - which we can rely on. The first is that in the next year, 2025, the interest rate on previously borrowed money will be significantly reduced," he said. He explained that the state was paying around 4 percent of this year's GDP in interest on previously taken loans. This will drop to 3.5 percent next year, he said, giving us that much more financial leeway.
The other is that, when the war period started, our thinking revolved around not only surviving, but also around quietly starting investments that would be productive after the war, so we get a jump start from the get-go. That is why we launched massive industrial investments, which have been the target of a lot of attacks by the opposition - now seemingly out of erroneous judgement, as in 2025 these large factories will be in production.
He cited the BMW plant as an example and the launch of the largest European facility of the world's biggest Chinese battery manufacturer. "Operations of the world's largest electric car producer will start in Szeged and other smaller investments will enter in starting in 2025. So the reduction in the interest burden on loans taken out previously and the industrial capacity coming on stream will provide the necessary financial backing," he said
Brussels has always wanted a change of government in Hungary
"The aim hasn't changed, but the form has, causing an element of surprise in Hungarian politics. If we're talking about the substance, that hasn't changed - as of 2010, only the intensity and determination has grown, of course."
"Brussels has always wanted a change of government in Hungary," Mr Orban stated, noting his view, that this is true not only in Hungary, but anywhere there are patriotic-minded governments opposed to the liberal, Brussels bureaucratic centralizing tendencies.
They always tried to overthrow these governments, including ours. I can tell you for each of elections exactly where, when and by what means they tried to achieve this. We always managed to deflect them,
the PM said, noting what we are seeing today is the continuation of these efforts.
"The actors have always changed. First they wanted to smuggle Gordon Bajnai back in, and before him we had Ferenc Gyurcsany, and then they thought that Gyurcsany's wife would be suitable, with the Brussels bureaucracy giving her its full support. Now they are trying to put the Tisza Party and Peter Magyar in this position. I think this is clear to everyone."
The prime minister said that when he was in the European Parliament to present the Hungarian Presidency's program, Ursula von der Leyen and Manfred Weber in godparent fashion presented Peter Magyar as the head of the future, Brussels-endorsed Hungarian government. "Only there was an interlude, which everyone remembers, that distracted from the words uttered that were basically Brussels's announcement of their intention to overthrow the Hungarian government. So the aim has not changed," he added.
Aggressive, mindless bullying has become the style of opposition politics
According to Viktor Orban, the style in which politics is conducted is truly new. He said that even in the most vehement and worst of times, factuality had a place and there were also boundaries regulating norms of behavior that everyone thought better to not cross. "The type of aggressive, mindless bullying that we see today - albeit more outside Parliament than within - was not without precedent, it was just somehow relegated to the peripheries. Now this aggressive bullying has become the voice of opposition politics," he said, noting that in his view, all decent people have either been upset by this whole phenomenon or have been waiting for something to happen.
In most workplaces and even in families there is usually an aggressive hothead. There are these really nasty people. Anyone who has encountered them knows that you can't talk to them in a straightforward way using reasoning and arguments. They can only be talked to in matching style,
he said.
When people like this enter into politics, this is what happens, according to Mr Orban.
When you hear these harsh exchanges, you have a secondary sense of shame. We on the right are idealists and think of ourselves as different. But we are not different because that is also what we are. If these people take up positions in politics and bring in this fighting style - it is always the challenger who chooses the style of fighting - then the ruling party, which is responsible for the state of the country, must also have a solution for this,
Mr Orban said.
He referred to his sizable political community following which has a solution for every challenge. "Whether a Mother Teresa style, or an aggressive hothead style is needed we can do both. It has to be dealt with, and we have people suited for everything, so we've handled that too," he added.
In response to a question about what lies ahead for patriotic-minded people next year, Mr. Orban said giving up sovereignty is out of the question.
The essence of sovereignty is loyalty, loyalty to your country. You are either disloyal or loyal. If you renounce loyalty to your country, you have given your sovereignty to someone else. You have become disloyal, you have betrayed your country,
he stated, and then made reference to something Peter Magyar had said.
"That's why there is no such thing as 'giving up a little of it'. We don't give up anything. Hungary is an 1100-year-old, independent and sovereign community and state, capable of governing itself. We give up nothing of it."
The PM then spoke of the need to win the 2026 elections and said he was confident that the work of the government next year will be a deciding factor. If the new economic policy is successful, he said, then everyone will see that the government has the answers for the post-war period.
Using our capacity to govern and achieving results, will bring electoral success.
He then added that the success of the government alone will not bring electoral victory, as many hundreds of thousands of "patriotic, Christian, civic-minded people will have to work very hard, but I believe that our political community, as it has done in the past, will deliver in 1926, as well".
Cover photo: Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban
