“Brussels is readying for war,” PM Orbán declared

“Brussels is readying for war,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared in an interview to public radio on Friday, saying that it was doing so even though there was no threat of war. “Hungary remains on the side of peace,” he said, referring to the European Commission’s proposal to Europeans to stock emergency rations for 72 hours.

Transatlantic rift between Brussels and Washington

Orbán said that whereas it may appear comical that Brussels was sending a message to all European families to keep enough food stocked for 72 hours, in fact “this must be taken seriously”. “If you go deeper, it’s quite horrifying to see what’s on these people’s minds; are they preparing for something?” The prime minister said it did not appear that Europe was currently threatened by war, adding that it was unrealistic that “anyone would attack a NATO member state”.

Those readying for war usually did so to launch “some kind of act of war”, Orbán said, adding that political preparations for a deeper involvement in war were under way in light of the commission’s proposal. Hungarian families, he said, need not do anything out of the ordinary. “There’s no threat of war; Hungary won’t go to war with anyone,” he said. “We are staying on the side of peace, and if Europe launches a war, we definitely won’t go to war.”

Orbán spoke of a “transatlantic rift”, as the US worked to achieve a ceasefire and peace, while European countries were pursuing war. US peace efforts should be fully supported, he said, dismissing a “war strategy in opposition to America” on the part of European countries. Orbán said Hungary and Slovaks were opposed to such a strategy, and Italians seemed “reluctant” to follow one.

Referring to the Minsk agreement, he said the French-German peace guarantee had proved insufficient as Europe did not have the ability or strength to enforce it. The conclusion to be drawn, however, was not to wage more war but to find “someone who can enforce” peace. “Let’s face it, the Americans must be involved,” he said.

• HERE is how Orbán’s top minister, János Lázár slammed government-close entrepreneurs in Kisvárda. Is that the start of a vendetta?

Opposition parties only provoking

Meanwhile, referring to several demonstrations held this week to protest against the assembly law amendment for child protection as well as a demonstration held in front of the MTVA building where his interview took place, Orbán said the opposition parties “are competing with each other in provocation antics”.

Orbán said he believed there was a “competition of provocation” among the opposition parties, adding that “it is not easy for them, especially if the government is doing a lot of things”. In such a case, he said, the opposition had the options of being constructive or “dismissing it all and turning to provocation”.

The 25 March bridge closure:

“There’s this absurd situation where the protesters are even blocking bridges while claiming that democracy in Hungary is over, and that they’re not allowed to assemble anymore, even as they’re in the middle of assembling,” he said. HERE is our article about how some protesters occupied Budapest’s Liberty Bridge.

Orbán said the protesters’ claims were contradicted by what was actually happening, adding that the demonstrations were actually about “the political race”. Referring to next year’s general election, Orbán said the opposition playing field was changing, and the parties were all competing with each other as to “who can be more anti-government and provocative”.

Blocking bridges not normal

He said blocking bridges was “not normal”, adding that those who were not protesting had a right “to live their life in a normal way”. Orbán said he comprehended someone objecting to a certain “Pride type” of law, as this was a topic that “liberals always whine about”. At the same time, he said, consideration should be shown to others.

• 22 ambassadors accredited in Budapest protested against the anti-Pride law in a joint statement.

“Under the current legal regulations, blocking bridges is not possible,” he said. Freedom of expression, he added, also meant that the lives of others should not be impeded. Asked whether this would justify the government taking legislative action, Orbán said they were considering it.

Momentum Movement tried to baulk the interview in front of the entrance of the MTVA:

Referring to opposition MPs releasing flares during a parliamentary session, he said the level of “mischief” had reached unprecedented proportions, “and then bridge and road obstructions took place”. The government side and the majority must be “sensible”, however, and not “react too nervously”, he said, adding that law amendments must be “handled with care”. The bridge closures, however, showed that legal guarantees must take the interests of the non-protesting majority into account, he added.

Hungarian villages must get help

Meanwhile, Orbán said villages must be nurtured rather than being allowed to fall apart, declaring that the village “does not belong to the past but to the future.” Orbán hailed the government’s Hungarian Village Programme under which schools, kindergartens, and cemeteries are renovated, as one of its most successful initiatives, noting that since its launch five years ago, declines in population ceased in 1,200 settlements.

Now the scheme is being expanded to ensure the presence of small shops, pubs, churches and ATMs in villages, he said. Concerning family support measures, the prime minister said government was making the country’s economic system family-centred. Hungary is the first in Europe to implement such a family-centred economic system, putting the country in the vanguard globally, too, Orbán said.

As well as submitting draft legislation providing incentives for couples to have children, Orbán said a debate of historical dimension over whether the basic unit of society was the individual or the family was being settled in Hungary. He said liberals “see the individual as the starting point” and believed how one chooses to live was their own business. “There is some truth to this, but whether there are children being born matters to the community,” he said.

National conservatives, on the other hand, saw the family as the fundamental unit of society, he said, adding that if that was the case, “then we should build our economic systems on that, too”. “Let’s make family business structures possible and build our tax regime on this,” he added.

Families must get support

Orbán said it was possible that the Western world “may also realise that if families aren’t shown the proper respect and appreciation or given support and recognition … it will lose something without which it is very hard to live a happy life and build a successful economic system”.

Addressing a recently introduced cap on markups on basic foods at big supermarket chains, Orbán said the government measure, unprecedented in modern Hungarian history, had cut the prices of 874 products by 17-18 percent on average. He said that after two weeks it was clear that the measure was working and “there is a functional regulatory system in place.”

The prime minister said that because it was certain that supermarkets would somehow attempt to bypass the profit margin caps, checks for compliance were ongoing. “We still have two or three types of measures in our arsenal that we can respond with,” he said.

Orbán said he was holding weekly consultations with culture and innovation ministry state secretary Róbert Zsigó on price trends. Certain products, such as a range of dairy products, have become 50 percent cheaper thanks to the measure, he added.

The markup caps are in effect until the end of May, Orbán said, adding that the government trusted that “the situation will be back to normal by then”, and supermarkets would concede “that they have to make do with a 10 percent markup”. The measure will then be evaluated at the end of May, and a decision will be taken on whether it should be continued, he added.

Disease must be stopped

Concerning an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, Orbán said the government’s task was to work with Austria and Slovakia on preventing the disease from spreading. He warned that a nationwide outbreak would have severe consequences for the national economy, noting that the outbreaks remained local problems for the time being. He said it was the agriculture minister’s responsibility to ensure that the outbreak “doesn’t destroy existential security in these settlements”.