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Orbán’s speech in parliament: debate on Ukraine, Russian energy sources instead of American ones, EU vetoes and domestic measures
Viktor Orbán’s speech before the agenda began the spring session of parliament. In keeping with tradition, the Prime Minister outlined the government decisions taken between the two sessions, with a particular focus on the welfare measures that came into effect in January. He also assessed current foreign and domestic political events, with particular regard to energy security and the war situation, as well as the challenges facing our country.
The Hungarian PM said the government will not deviate from its programme under any threat and will act “exclusively in the interests of the Hungarian people,” adding: “We insist on our independence and sovereignty.”
Orbán: Ukraine must guarantee energy transit under its EU agreement
Orbán argued that Ukraine signed an association agreement with the European Union in 2014 and undertook that energy transit passing through Ukraine to EU member states would be “inviolable”. He said Ukraine is therefore obliged to ensure Hungary’s oil supply under the EU association agreement and “must not use it as a political weapon”. He described what Ukraine is doing as a “clear breach” of the agreement.
Orbán accuses Brussels of siding with Ukraine
The prime minister said Brussels’ behaviour is “at least ambiguous”, claiming the EU treaty makes it the EU’s duty to assist a member state whose interests are harmed by a third party. He added that despite Hungary and Brussels disagreeing on the war, financing Ukraine and Ukraine’s EU membership, Brussels “must represent Hungary’s interests” in the current situation. Orbán said that failing to do so is a serious breach of treaty obligations “to Hungary’s detriment”.
He concluded that Brussels has sided with Ukraine “instead of the member state Hungary”, and claimed Brussels has formed an alliance with Kyiv.
Orbán: “open interference” in Hungarian elections
Orbán said Brussels and Kyiv agree that as long as a “national government” leads Hungary, they cannot implement their plans. He claimed this is happening 50 days before the election, calling it “open interference” in Hungary’s elections, and said he assumes the goal is to alter the balance of power in line with Brussels’ and Kyiv’s intentions. He added:
“I would like to remind everyone that in Hungary, the Hungarian people will decide in this matter.”
“Open intervention” in the Hungarian elections by the US as well? As we wrote earlier, President Trump also referred to Hungary’s upcoming parliamentary elections and reiterated that he stands firmly behind Orbán.
Government actions: strategic reserves opened, supply secured
Orbán said the government has handled what he called the emergency caused by the Ukrainians. He said strategic oil reserves were opened and the country’s energy supply was secured.
He argued that people can now “experience” what separating from Russian energy would mean in practice: it would create an emergency and financially ruin hundreds of thousands of Hungarian families. He said petrol at HUF 1,000 per litre (about €2.63) and household utility bills rising several-fold would be unaffordable. (FX used for conversions: EUR 1 = HUF 379.90, Magyar Nemzeti Bank, 23 February 2026.)
Orbán added that large Western energy companies (naming American Shell) would profit, while Hungarians would suffer. He said that on Monday morning the price difference between Western and Russian oil was $13 per barrel.
He stated that anyone claiming that Hungary’s “utility cost cuts” policy can be maintained without Russian energy “is either a fool or lying”.
In Hungarian:
Retaliatory steps and vetoes announced
Speaking about government responses, Orbán said:
- In coordination with Slovakia, Hungary halted diesel shipments to Ukraine.
- Hungary vetoed the disbursement of a previously approved €90 billion payment to Ukraine (which he said had been decided earlier without Hungary’s participation and without burdening Hungary).
- The government also decided to veto the EU’s pending “20th war sanctions package”, and said Hungary’s position in Brussels is that as long as Ukraine does not allow Russian crude to reach Hungary, Hungary will block every Brussels decision supporting Ukraine.
If you missed today:
Orbán on war losses and EU spending
Orbán said that in the Russia–Ukraine war, 9,000 people are killed or become war-disabled each week, calling this an irreplaceable loss and an unimaginable tragedy.
He said the war consumes immense financial resources and claimed the European Union has spent around €200 billion on Ukraine so far. He said electricity and natural gas prices in Europe are three to four times US and Chinese prices, arguing Europe is undermining its own competitiveness.
He added that one million jobs have disappeared from European industry in recent years, with chemicals and the automotive sector suffering in particular, and said Europe’s interest is to end the war as soon as possible.
Orbán claimed the opposite is happening, saying Brussels openly supports continuing the war. He said the European Commission has presented a strategy arguing Russia can still bear the burdens but “not for much longer”; that Russia will weaken economically and be forced to accept a peace favourable to Ukraine and the EU; therefore, he said, Brussels believes the war must continue.
Orbán said the Hungarian government believes this war strategy is wrong. He argued that Ukraine and Europe will run out of military stocks, money and deployable manpower sooner than Russia, and said there is no answer to how a nuclear power can be defeated.
He said Europe cannot finance the war and will “collapse under it”, becoming heavily indebted for decades, and Hungary must stay out of this.
Further claims on future EU costs
Orbán claimed that beyond the €200 billion already spent, Europe will allocate €90 billion to Ukraine in 2026–2027, and that the next EU budget would include €360 billion for Ukraine at the expense of development and agricultural subsidies, which he said would be cut by 20%. He also cited what he called a European Commission “Ukrainian welfare plan” worth $800 billion, and said Ukrainians had announced a demand for €700 billion in military spending.
He said: “You can’t scrape together that much money. That much money is not in the EU’s common budget. But it is not in member states’ budgets either.”
He warned that several member states’ debt already exceeds 100% of GDP, and claimed that written agreements have been reached between France and the UK to station troops in Ukraine, with Germany expressing readiness to join.
He called Brussels’ policy “enormous irresponsibility” economically as well as geopolitically.
Winter weather response and energy bill support at home
Orbán also spoke about severe weather between parliamentary sessions. He said:
- an оператив task force was set up,
- around 800 machines and 2,300 personnel were deployed,
- costs exceeded HUF 10 billion (about €26.3 million).
He said extraordinary conditions in western Hungary were brought under control; 12,000 homes were without power at one point and 40 km of lines were paralysed, but by Monday morning only 85 homes remained without electricity.
He said January’s extreme cold strained household budgets, so the government decided to cover 30% of January gas bills, describing this as a “utility stop” measure. He put the required funding at HUF 55 billion (about €144.8 million), financed by energy traders and producers and from budget reserves.
He said Hungary maintained utility protection despite pressure from Brussels, and claimed Hungarian families still pay the lowest gas and electricity bills in the EU. He said average Hungarian consumption equals HUF 250,000 per year (about €658), while the same would cost HUF 800,000 in Poland (about €2,106) and more than HUF 1 million in Czechia (more than €2,632).
Domestic economic measures listed
Orbán also listed recent economic measures, including:
- doubling the family tax allowance via two 50% rises (from last July and from 1 January), affecting around 1 million families;
- expanding lifetime income-tax exemptions for mothers in certain categories, and outlining a plan under which all mothers of two children would become income-tax exempt over the next three years;
- introducing a 14th-month pension, with the first instalment paid in early February, and stating pensions rose by 3.6% from 1 January;
- the fixed 3% interest home-creation loan programme, with 25,000 contracts signed by mid-February;
- minimum wage increases: HUF 322,800 (about €850) and a guaranteed minimum wage of HUF 373,200 (about €982) from 1 January.
He said public-sector pay rises continued, including teachers and kindergarten educators (he cited an average gross pay of HUF 950,000, about €2,501).
He also said judges’ and court staff wages are set to rise substantially by 2027 under a multi-year programme, and that “six months’ weapon money” (a bonus) was paid to nearly 80,000 police, soldiers and other uniformed personnel.
Orbán said that since October 2025, 23,000 businesses joined the fixed 3% Széchenyi programme, representing around HUF 1,200 billion in credit (about €3.16 billion).
He also noted raising the VAT exemption threshold for sole traders to HUF 20 million (about €52,600) from 1 January, with a planned rise to HUF 24 million (about €63,200).
He said an “5+1 point” hospitality action plan would support restaurants and confectioneries worth over HUF 100 billion (about €263 million).
He said applications for a HUF 4 million interest-free “work loan” for under-25 workers exceeded 40,000 in January (about €10,500 per loan), and that a rural home-renovation programme for settlements under 5,000 inhabitants had been used by 50,000 applicants.
Finally, he mentioned a solar tender offering HUF 2.5 million non-refundable support per household (about €6,580), with more than 100,000 applicants.
Four years after Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s economy has entered a “death zone,” writes Fortune. Fortune was published in 1930 by Time founder Henry Luce. Today, Fortune is considered the second-oldest business magazine in the USA, after Forbes. The magazine belongs to the media conglomerate Time Inc., a subsidiary of Time Warner. It is published every two weeks with a circulation of approximately 850,000 copies.
“The Russian economy is stuck in what can be called a negative equilibrium: it is supporting itself while gradually destroying its own future,” said Alexandra Prokopenko, a research fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center and former adviser to the Central Bank of Russia.
The economy is not on the verge of immediate collapse, but GDP growth has stalled, oil revenues have halved amid Western sanctions, and the budget deficit is rapidly depleting reserves.
At the same time, two economic systems have emerged: one is the military and related industries prioritized by the Kremlin; the other is all other sectors. The Russian economy now operates on what might be called “military rent” – budget transfers to defense enterprises that generate wages and economic activity.
These funds, however, are diverted to assets destined for destruction. Money that keeps factories running goes to produce tanks, armored vehicles and other weapons that are subsequently destroyed or damaged and provide no basis for future economic growth.
Analogously, money spent to hire new military personnel does not increase their productivity in the civilian sector. Instead, many die or return with injuries. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates total Russian troop losses at 1.2 million, of which 325,000 are dead.
“The body is burning its own muscles for energy,” Prokopenko concluded.
Although the central bank has cut interest rates to support growth and the Kremlin is trying to rein in the budget deficit, the Russian economy’s problems are not being solved by monetary or fiscal policy. Interest payments on the national debt this year will already exceed total spending on education and health care.
Putin can’t just stop, though, because the economy is increasingly dependent on the defense sector, and demobilization could cause a crisis. Instead of ending the war, he continues it, waiting to see who fails first – Ukraine or its Western partners.
In recent months, concerns have been voiced inside Russia as well. According to The Washington Post, Russian officials have warned Putin of the risk of a financial crisis by summer. They point to weak oil revenues, which fell 50 percent in January from a year earlier, and a growing budget deficit – even after tax hikes.
One Moscow businessman said the crisis could come in “three to four months” amid accelerating inflation. Restaurants are closing and thousands of workers are being laid off, he said. Because of expensive credit and weak demand, companies are cutting hours or sending workers on unpaid vacations. Citizens are finding it increasingly difficult to service their loans, increasing risks for the banking system.
No one knows how the war will end, but are Orban and Fidesz even aware of the developments described above? They are aware, yes, but they no longer know how to credibly backtrack. Like the Russians, they have to continue writing their own narrative.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has announced the termination of electricity supplies to Ukraine in response to the suspension of Russian oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline. He said this in a video message on his Facebook page.
Before taking the measures Fico said he wanted to speak by phone with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. The prime minister had planned to discuss with him the likelihood and timing of resuming oil supplies to Slovakia, but received a message that Zelensky was “ready to talk only after February 25.”
“Given the gravity of the situation and the declared state of oil emergency in Slovakia, under the circumstances we are forced to resort to the first response measure immediately,” Fico said.
He stressed that the measure would be lifted after the resumption of oil supplies to Slovakia. “Otherwise, we will resort to further retaliatory measures,” the prime minister warned.
In connection with the situation, Fico held a meeting with the republic’s Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenický.
“I asked to stop emergency supplies of electricity to Ukraine. As of today, the rule is that if the Ukrainian side asks Slovakia for assistance in stabilizing the Ukrainian power grid, it will not receive such assistance. As I have already said, this is the first retaliatory step that the Slovak government is entitled to take without violating any international rules and obligations,” the prime minister said.
Didn’t the Hungarian Foreign Minister, or was it Orbán, recently say that they don’t want to cut off electricity supplies because of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine? The behavior of both countries seems to be becoming increasingly hectic and chaotic, and hardly coordinated. Everyone is looking out for themselves now. But that’s certainly not how you get the problem under control!
Let’s assume everything Orban says is true, but then I wonder how he intends to prevent this, either alone or with Slovakia. He doesn’t say, but that’s his problem. By repeatedly vetoing everything? That’s hardly realistic. If he truly wants to prevent everything he fears will happen, the only option would be to leave the EU. But that would be a catastrophe for Hungary, and he knows it. So far, he’s always caved in in some way, most recently regarding the 90 billion euro loan. Before that, he repeatedly stated that he would veto any additional European loan, whatever form it might take.
It’s probably just electioneering!