Orbán confident: “We will win the next election too”

“We will win the next election, too, that is the plan,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a video interview with Krónika Online posted on Saturday.

Orbán said he would enter the campaign with a confidence that was “healthy and historically grounded”, noting that he had 20 years of experience as prime minister and had won five elections, the last four consecutive ones. The government has implemented measure after measure to offer opportunities to Hungarians, a broader scope of Hungarians, he said. “Why should we be doubters?” he asked.

Orbán said he did not think it would do any good to modify the law on voters’ rights with so little time ahead of the elections, adding that he did not expect any such effort. “The opposition is the opposition because they breathe down your neck, that’s their job. But the important thing is that they breathe down your neck, from behind, not from in front, and it isn’t a problem as long as that remains the case,” he said.

“The opposition is the same as before; they only change their outfits,” he added.

“There is always a national party — and that party is now Fidesz — that fights for the country’s independence, for historical justice, and there is always a cosmopolitan, dubious international formation of mercenaries, paid for and maintained from abroad and headed by provincial leaders that attempt to take over the governing power with money and influence from abroad,” Orbán said.

Orbán arrived in Târgu Mureș (Marosvásárhely) for the funeral of Előd Kincses, a Transylvania Hungarian lawyer, writer, and civil and human rights activist. He said he wanted to meet with the new Romanian president, “the sooner the better”, to discuss, in depth, European Union issues in which Hungary and Romania have common interests.

He noted that Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the EU had produced a historical breakthrough for Romania: the country’s accession to the passport-free Schengen zone. “They can see that our intentions are good and we are ready to cooperate,” he added.