PM Orban: "I Have Only One Friend – The Hungarian People"

In a wide-ranging interview with the conservative American media giant PragerU, Prime Minister Viktor Orban spoke about sovereignty, the economy, family policy, and the importance of Christianity. In Brussels, they think they can decide who Hungarians have to live with, Viktor Orban said, noting that "Ursula von der Leyen is a bureaucrat who is paid by me."

In the interview with PragerU's Marissa Streit, the Prime Minister discussed the state of the Hungarian economy, the family support system, migration, and issues relating to the European Union.

Speaking about the economy first, Orban said:

It would be good to have only good news on the Hungarian economy. Unfortunately, not everything is as bright as the sunshine you see on the street, because the last four years were rather difficult. After the COVID, a good trend of strong economic growth was interrupted. Then came the war and the sanctions. So now the situation is that  inflation is far higher than it should be. So I can't say that everybody's one hundred percent satisfied with me or with the economic policy we are running here. But there are some results

PM Orban added: 

We have full employment. Hungary has probably the strongest family subsidizing system in the world.

On accusations of favoritism, the Prime Minister responded, saying:

I can't show  favoritism simply because the regulations are very tough. We are part of the European Union. The same rules apply to us as to Berlin, Paris, or Amsterdam. The public procurement system is almost the same everywhere. And we are performing quite well on the ranking of public procurement execution in the European context. So I think this accusation is simply not fair.

"Why do you think you are accused of this?" asked Marissa Streit. The Hungarian Prime Minister replied by saying: 

Do you know the famous saying of Margaret Thatcher? Margaret Thatcher said that I'm always happy when I'm personally criticized with nasty things because it means that they cannot attack my policy.

Viktor Orban  in conversation with Marissa Streit (Source: Screenshot/PragerU)

Twenty Years in Power, Sixteen Years in Opposition

On his years as Hungary's Prime Minister, the accusation of dictatorship, and running again, PM Orban said:

All together, I have spent 20 years in office as prime minister, which is indeed a record. But at the same time I spent 16 years in opposition as an opposition leader. So I’m not just a 'record-holder' among European politicians in power, but also as an opposition leader. So I know both sides of the coin. This is democracy, not dictatorship.

Regarding the upcoming elections next year, he said:

If we would like to win the election, we have to run in our best shape and form. And the public opinion inside the political community I belong to is that at this moment the interest of this community is to be led by me. That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. If they said there is a young talent much better than me, and they want to support a new prime ministerial candidate, I would say: good luck, go for it, I will give my support. But at this moment, if you would like to continue, the best chance to continue is on my side.

He added:

I cannot hand over power to another political camp that represents entirely different convictions, ideas, principles, and political goals.

Age of Dangers

On the threats facing Hungary and the pressure from a pro-war, pro-Ukraine European Union, the Prime Minister said:

If you have a country of 10 million people, with Berlin – the Germans – to the west, Moscow – the Russians – to the east, and Constantinople, meaning Istanbul and the Turks – to the south, and you live right in the middle of that, you are always in danger, and you know it.

He went on to add: 

As a politician, you must always be aware that leading this country requires strong focus and awareness of the dangers that may come from the international situation we live in. That’s normal life.

At the same time PM Orban pointed out:

But now we are living in an extra dangerous time for two reasons. First is Ukraine. There's a war between Ukraine and Russia and Ukraine is a neighboring country. So when there's a war in a country neighboring you, it's always an extra danger. Plus, this war is not just a war between Ukraine and Russia. This is a proxy war of the West with the Russians. And they belong to the West. So the situation is becoming more dangerous. That’s one thing.

PM Orban continued by pointing out:  

The other danger is coming from Brussels. That was not the case, let's say, 15 years ago, but now this is clearly the case. In Brussels, they would like to build up a United States of Europe, a kind of empire. Some countries love it, some countries don't.

Viktor Orban highlighted:

We are sovereigntists. We do not like it. We do not like the centralized Brussels bureaucracy, the center of the empire, that defines how we have to live here in Hungary. So we are sovereigntists and freedom fighters. So there's one challenge from Brussels, a kind of superpower in the European Union, and on the other, there is the direct danger of war from Ukraine, which is the proxy war of the West with Russia, This is the situation we live in,

Hungary's Prime Minister said.

Viktor Orban Represents Hungary’s Interests

"People who are critical of you say that you're almost wishy-washy in some ways because you're kind of friends with China, but you're kind of friends with the West, but you're kind of friends with the United States, but you're kind of friends with the EU. " remarked Marissa Streit. In his response, PM Orban said:

I have only one friend — the Hungarians. We have good relations with President Donald  Trump and with President Xi. We have good relations with the President of the United States, and we have good relations with Vladimir Putin. If you are Hungarian, it's easy to understand what is the interest of the Hungarians. Our interest is to collect friends and to have good relations with all the main powers. That's normal. That's what I'm doing. I serve the interest of the country. I would not like to join one block of the countries. I would like to maintain the sovereign room for maneuvering of our foreign policy and the national sovereignty of this country. So what I'm doing is clearly serving the interest of the Hungarian people because they are my friend.

Do you think that that's one of the reasons that the EU is upset with you, because they want you to ally with them and you don't always ally with them? asked Marissa Streit

First, we must define what the European Union is, and what Brussels is. The European Union is about the member states, the sovereign member states. So the European center, that is Brussels, should serve as a service center for the members who belong to the alliance of the nations called European Union,

Viktor Orban said, adding that:

So Ursula von der Leyen, who is the head of the Commission, is a bureaucrat who is paid by me.

He continued:

Sorry to be so blunt, but this is the case. So we cannot accept that she's behaving like the boss of Hungary. This is not the case because we are a sovereign country and they don't like it, you're right.

Regarding how Donald Trump negotiated with Ursula von der Leyen and the results in the area of tariffs, PM Orban said:

It's a long story how we can evaluate that outcome. The tariff is one thing. If you have a lightweight negotiator on one side and a heavyweight deal maker on the other side, you can see the outcome obviously. And of course, we lost. We will pay 15 percent tariffs to the United States and the United States will pay zero.

On the fact that the European Commission President concluded an agreement that included three other points besides tariffs, the first of which committed to purchasing 700 billion euros worth of energy, Viktor Orban said:

The Commission has no mandate, no money, no no reason to buy anything. So if the President of the United States wants to make an energy deal, it should not be with the President of the Commission. It should be with me and the other leaders of the EU member states, because we are the ones who can buy. She never can. So she made a promise that does not reflect the position of the member states.

PM Orban added: 

Brussels has no money to invest. So who made the deal with President Trump? Somebody who has no legitimacy to do so. So it will be never fulfilled or I don't know who will fulfill that agreement. Then there is a secret chapter in this agreement, if I understand correctly, concerning Ukraine. And I think this is the most important and most dangerous point. According to our information, there is a deal that the United States will sell weapons to the Ukrainians in a way that it will be paid by the European Union. But who will pay for that? 

Viktor Orban emphasized: "So again, tariff is one thing, but then there are three other points regarding which the President of the United States made a deal with somebody who has no chance to fulfill that obligation."

I think it will create a lot of difficulties and discourses in the future because President Trump will say why this agreement is not fulfilled. We say it's not our deal,

he said.

The European Union Has Become a Political Body

"It's interesting the way you perceive the role of the EU versus the way the EU perceives perceives its own role," Marissa Streit noted, pointing to the migration quota and the penalties imposed on Hungary.

In response, Orban said that in the past, the self-understanding and self-definition the EU institutions were more like as he described earlier and wished to see, that is, a kind of center to help the member states.

The Commission never perceived itself as a boss of the member States,

he said, adding that that Jean-Claude Juncker, 12 or 13 years ago, decided as the new Commission President to convert the Commission from a neutral body into a political body.

The change has happened. We protested, unsuccessfully, and the Commission was converted into political body.

Hungary's Prime Minister pointed out that If the EU is not a servant, or a background institution, or a coordination center, but a political body, then the logic changes "because power comes into the game. And that's going on now."

That's why we minor countries of European Union are suffering so much, because they behave not as somebody who should help us, but somebody who would like to rule us.

 Turning to the issue of migration, Viktor Orban said:

Brussels thinks it can decide who we Hungarians should live with. But how is it possible that someone in Brussels decides that Hungary must let into this country people we do not want to live with? The question is: who decides the composition of the country’s population? No one else can decide that but us. Otherwise, we are not a free country.

The European Union "would like to make a decision how we should live and with whom," PM Orban said.

We have to pay 1 million euros every day just because we don't let the migrants into this country. The number of migrants in this country is zero. We are proud of it. I'm very proud of it. Nobody can can cross the border of this country without a permission from the Hungarian authorities. We defend our borders, we defend our sovereignty, we defend the security and safety of this country.

He added:

We have no migration policy like the Western countries, and so we must pay that one million euros. This is absolute tyranny.

He went on to say that

For a normal mindset, it's difficult to understand that countries  to the west of Hungary once had wonderful lives, wonderful countries — safe, prosperous, with a high level of culture. And the leaders of that part of the world decided to let it fall apart. Now life is different: the streets are full of dangers, there is the threat of terrorism, unbearable economic burdens from migrants because someone must finance them, and a society with a totally different ethnic and cultural composition.

He continued:

I decided to stop migrants at the border. It was not easy, because there was no physical barrier. So we had to build a fence. But then, when the dispute with the European Union began, the question was how I could defend the Hungarian position in Brussels when Berlin and Paris were equally attacking us for not following their policy. And the only answer came from the people. Hungary is the only European country where the people themselves decided what migration policy the country should follow.

Viktor Orban added:

When I'm attacking Brussels, I say, I understand all your arguments, we can discuss it, it could be even inspiring intellectually. But you know, this is democracy. People made a decision and this is the case. No migration.

Marissa Streit noted the thing that Hungary's Prime Minister is attacked the most for the very thing he is most proud of — his immigration policy.

When the migration began and the huge scandal and debate started in Europe, I published a document. It was a public paper, widely discussed, with five points, no migration basically. Then just a few weeks later, George Soros himself published another paper, an anti-paper. It was totally the opposite what I had written.

The Prime Minister added: “The public debate began because in his six-point proposal, Soros represented a pro-migration position. That is how the dispute between George Soros and Hungary, and between Brussels and Hungary, came about.”

Child Protection Above All Else

On child protection and pride events, the Prime Minister said:

If I wanted to define exactly what the situation is here, the Constitution says that the right to protect children is the number one freedom right, more important than anything else. So if there is a clash between basic rights such as freedom of gathering and child protection, then child protection takes precedence.

He added:

This means that if someone organizes a pride march that features public sexuality in the streets — whether homosexual or not, whatever — public sexuality is not allowed in Hungary. But if you would like to have a protest, normally dressed, to hold a demonstration somewhere and say they are marching for pride, they can do that, because in Hungary the right to assemble and the right to free speech are very strong. So you can do that. You can even express your support for pride without any limitation. But you cannot organize open sexual propaganda in the streets like at pride.

"So there's a physical element to the pride parade that is very visual. So when children are watching, they see visual nudity. And that was what concerned you?" Marissa Streit asked.

Exactly. That is the law. That is the Constitution. Practically any parade that exhibits nudity or sexuality is against the law here in Hungary,

Speaking about free speech, Marissa Streit said: “In Hungary, I feel there is more freedom of speech here than in London. I have friends who are being arrested in London for lack of freedom of speech.”

Viktor Orban responded:

You have mentioned one story in the UK, but there are even worse stories from other Western countries. If you publicly hold an opinion on certain issues that goes against the mainstream, you can lose your job. That is tyranny. That should never happen. In Hungary, it is impossible. We come from a communist regime — a real tyranny. Hungarians are a freedom-loving people.  So it is impossible to say: ‘We disagree with you, therefore you cannot express your opinion.’ That is unacceptable.

H added:

We are strongly committed to defend certain values, Christian values, national values, but not by the force of the law, but by force of argument. I think we have very good arguments how to defend our values. There is no need to say 'stop, shut up. You can't represent your point because because it conflicts with mine.' Let us have a fair discussion, and then everyone can see whose values are stronger.

He noted: 

So we still have that kind of old fashioned traditional freedom of speech.We believe the strengths of our arguments.

Freedom of Religion, Christianity, and Living Faith

Viktor Orban recalled: 
"Under the communist regime, the religious community was heavily persecuted. Religious faith as such was considered as a misunderstanding from the point of view of Marxism, human development or something like that. Therefore, in Hungary everybody's very sensitive to the religious issue.

No one can restrict the expression of religious beliefs. In Hungary, this can never happen. The law is very strict and guarantees all freedoms of all kinds of religious conviction.

Turning to the current state of Christianity in the Western world, Orban cautioned:

We must remain very cool-headed when we speak about this, because this is the most important point of our life. Living faith means that you have been lucky enough to  find your way to God and decide to follow the example of Jesus Christ. That is living faith.

He explained: 

In Central Europe we have another category we call the Christian culture. Christian culture is a set of values and teachings that even those without living faith share and follow, treating it as tradition and teaching. Tradition comes from the past. Teaching has relevance for the future.

He added:

Because our culture is based on Christian roots, there is a whole cultural context. When you look at our buildings, visit our museums, theaters, or public spaces, you simply feel it is Christian

He highlighted:

The Hungarian nation cannot survive without Christianity. Because this is our historical experience. That's why we separate living faith and Christian culture. For us it's obvious that if there is no Christianity, the nation has no future. I think the majority of the people share that point even if they don't have living faith.

He continued by pointing out that 

The West is in trouble because they have lost even their cultural Christianity.

He added:

From a Central European perspective, we see that Western nations have chosen to build so-called mixed societies. But there is a Christian tradition and living Christian community and there is a growing Muslim community.

Speaking with Western European leaders, Viktor Orban said he came away with the impression that they genuinely believe mixing Christian and Muslim-based communities in one country will produce a liberal, multicultural society.  But when I asked whether life in such a multicultural society would be better than before, the Western leaders replied: "There is no evidence, but we believe it."

As for Hungary, he stated:

We would not like to change the composition of our country. This is a decision made by the Hungarian nation. Based on our sovereign right, nobody, not even Brussels, can force us to change it.

He added:

I am sure my grandchildren will never see the Germany and France I so admired 15 years ago.

PM Orban highlighted:

Hungary has never been a multicultural society. It has always been a Christian society. Ethnically, there have been diverse groups—Romanians, Serbs, Slovaks, even Germans—but all were based on Christian civilization. We have never accepted anyone in large groups.

He added:

I would like to keep my country out of the dilemma of how to live with people from a completely different civilizational background.

He underscored:

We have no such dilemma, because we have zero migrants. This is a Christian country. This country belongs to Christian Hungarians.

So are you able to teach young Hungarians what it means to be a Hungarian, or are they impacted by the EU, who is obviously trying to go after young Hungarian minds? asked Marissa Streit. In his response, Viktor Orban said:

This is a very difficult question. First of all, let us not forget that the kids are our kids. So probably teachers and especially Brussels can have some false influence on them. But at the end of the day, we are the fathers. We are the parents. It is both our duty and our opportunity to shape how our children grow up and how they think.

He added:

Being Hungarian is easier than in many countries because of the language. We have a unique, ancient language that comes from old times. If you speak Hungarian, then you are Hungarian. (…) The roots of community, of belonging to the same nation, are easily found because of our language.

The Prime Minister stressed:

When we read in textbooks that the nation-state or nationalism belongs to a certain chapter of modern human history, we just laugh. We arrived here from Asia 1,100 years ago with our own culture and language. And because this language was so alien to all the others, for us, it's obvious what the nation is because it's culturally defined. This is not a modern thing here. For Hungarians, it is an existential question.

Hungary’s Successful Family Policy

On family policy, Viktor Orban said he considers divorce to be the greatest danger to families.

If parents decide to divorce, no one can stop them, but it has consequences. Mothers are left alone, and especially in Hungary, I know they find themselves in a completely unstable financial situation.

He said decisions about having children can only be made from a stable background, which is why Hungary's government strengthened families.

That is why we introduced tax allowances for families with children,

Viktor Orban said, adding that:

I have to be very cautious because Hungarians do not like government interference in their private lives. If a woman decides she does not want to have children at all, that is her choice.

He highlighted:

Mothers, women, who decide to have children are doing something, making an extra effort, that is important for the community. It's a private matter of course, but important for the community. If there are no kids, no future, no nation. Therefore we have to praise those women who decide to make the extra effort—not only to live, not only to keep their husbands in good shape, not only to work, but also to raise children.

"Make Hungary Great Again"

Viktor Orban said Hungary’s family policy will soon show results in demographic statistics. When asked what the country will look like in 15 or 20 years, he replied:

Great and rich, that's my program. Make Hungary great again.

He added:

I'm very optimistic about the future of Hungarians. This is a great nation, with good people. And this is a country of talented people.

He continued by stating:

If Hungarians can understand that the only way to be successful is to make an effort, and if they can reject the left-wing illusion that ‘we can just sit at home and wait for the money to come,’ and instead want to move forward on their own path and according to their own plans, then this will be a very successful country.

When asked whether Hungary will remain a member of the EU, Orban answered:

The question is whether the EU will exist.

Answering the journalist’s final question, Viktor Orban also sent a message to Americans:

Trust the President, because he would like to do something of extraordinary importance for the word, probably for America as well. (...) The globalist approach and nihilism only stopped because of him.

Hungary's Prime Minister added:

If I can ask something from Budapest of the American people, it is to support the President and then help him create peace, because we are in trouble here because of the conflicts, not only in Ukraine, Russia, but also in Middle East. We need a country and we need a president who is devoted  one hundred percent to achieving peace.

He said his advice has always been that America should not take part in the war, but instead make a deal with the Russians.

Peace can come if the two big bosses, the Russians and the Americans can directly negotiate and put together a plan for what the world should look like in the future. This is not only about Ukraine, not only about the Russian war, but also about armament, disarmament, energy, and many other issues. If these two leaders can agree, peace will come,

stated Viktor Orban.

Cover photo: PragerU – screenshot