PM Viktor Orban began his annual address with a joke about meteorologists. He quipped that politics is a related profession—"However, if a meteorologist is wrong, we just get wet; if a prime minister is wrong, you need a lifeboat not an umbrella."
"It’s hard to predict what tomorrow brings, but in today’s world, it’s hard to say what even happened yesterday," he summarized.
He shared a lesson learned from Imre Pozsgay: "Nothing is as changeable as the past."

The prime minister admitted that before each annual address, he reads his previous year’s speech - a practice he considers "old school".
"When our opponents today are confronted with their lies, they just respond with, 'That was yesterday, today is today.' So, to make a long story short, I have an easy job—last year I said Hungary’s room for maneuver would expand rather than shrink, and that’s exactly what happened."
He noted that by June of last year, they had achieved a victory in the European Parliament (EP) elections, the second largest in the EU. "The word 'patriot' is sounding more loudly in Brussels today than ever," the PM said.
Viktor Orban recalled the challenges of the previous year: the loss of Hungary’s president and Fidesz's lead EP candidate, worsening war conditions, a struggling economy, and the U.S. ambassador siding with the opposition.
"There was betrayal too."
It turns out the journey from the front row of last year's address to Mr. Weber’s cash register in Brussels isn’t that long.
"A good lesson for all: whoever betrays friends will betray their party—would such a person not betray their country too?" Orban posed the rhetorical question referring to ex-Fidesz supporter turned opposition leader Peter Magyar. In the end everyone gets what they deserve, the PM added.
He stressed loyalty within the party, saying:
if someone doesn't feel the magic of loyalty in Fidesz, they have no place being there.
Mr Orban indicated that time has provided experience. The only thing that is constant in politics is change. According to the PM, while everyone is giving and receiving punches, the trick is that you have to remain standing even when you receive more than you give.