Orbán: Brussels and Tisza with Ukraine they must be stopped, but we will win

Brussels and the opposition Tisza Party are candid about their goal to lower Hungarian living standards, and they are conniving to turn Hungary into a failed state, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Tuesday, speaking at the inauguration of a new section of the M44 motorway in central Hungary.

Orbán said it was clear that Brussels and the opposition Tisza Party backed Ukraine’s membership, while “national forces” were against. “Brussels wants a pro-Ukraine government in Hungary that will meet its demands,” he said. “This is what the Brussels-Tisza Pact is about.” The prime minister said Brussels would prevent Hungary’s economy from developing and thereby bring Tisza to power. In return, Tisza would support Ukraine’s membership as well as economic and military aid to Kyiv, he added.

The Tisza party has never supported Ukraine’s accession, which is probably deliberately misinterpreted by the ruling party, emphasising this. As we wrote today, Magyar said that when the conditions and planned date of Ukraine’s EU accession are known, Tisza will call a referendum, details HERE.

“They’re conniving to make Hungary a failed state,” the prime minister said. “They are working to thwart renovation of fifty hospitals, prevent improvements to public services and railway developments,” he added. “The worse for the country, the better for them; they are capable of doing anything for power and money,” he said, adding that the government would not let that happen, however. “We will make Hungary successful no matter how much they are trying to prevent us,” he said, adding that he envisaged “a big fight”. “Together with Ukraine they must be stopped, but we will win,” he said.

In Brussels, a package on speeding up Ukraine’s accession was unveiled on Monday, Orbán said, adding that all Hungary’s EU money would have to be spent on Ukraine and even Hungarian budget money “would end up in Kyiv”. He said the country’s accession would cost Hungary 20,000 billion forints (EUR 61bn). Yesterday, Balázs Orbán, the Prime Minister’s political director, put an even bigger figure, estimating the cost of Ukraine’s integration into the EU at €2,500 billion over several years, details HERE.

“Then no roads would be built on Hungarian soil for a long time,” he said, urging people to make their views known on Ukraine’s EU membership in a referendum.

Meanwhile, Orbán said completion of the new road had been an “old debt to pay” to Bács-Kiskun and Békés counties, which he referred to as long-neglected parts of the country. “There was neither the will nor money to link the area to the country’s traffic and economic bloodstream, despite the cities’ decisive role in toppling communism and regaining the country’s independence.”

Orbán said construction in the area started in 2016, and the section of M44 between Tiszakürt and Kondoros was completed in 2019. By 2020 the motorway was extended to Békéscsaba, linked to Lakitelek in 2021, and to Szentkirály last year. “Now Kecskemét will be next,” he said. But the motorway was not complete yet, he said. “It provides direct access from Bekescsaba to Budapest, but not the other way round, which could happen next year.”

The prime minister said over 125 kilometres of motorway had been completed in the area, which “considerably improved the life of locals: hard-working, patriotic people striving or prosperity and loving their homeland.” “They say the air in cities will make you free, but this community is proof that the air in the provinces will make you true Hungarians,” the prime minister said.

Meanwhile, Orbán said the area had become an industrial centre in Hungary and mentioned the Mercedes-Benz plant in Kecskemet, as well as automotive parts producers, and Univer, which he called “a pride of Hungary’s food industry”. He also mentioned an Airbus project in Gyula, and Duna Aszfalt, “without which there would be no road that we could inaugurate”.

Orbán said while Europe was closing factories “Hungary wants new ones and will upgrade its old ones”, adding that new roads would help those developments. The new M44 section will bring “more opportunities, more work and resources” to the area, helping “the last remaining labour reserves in the country” to gain jobs. “Through the years, we have become a government of road construction,” Orbán said, adding that the total length of motorways in the country increased by 150 percent since 2010.

Orbán noted the government’s original goal to provide a motorway connection to each city with county rights, and said that Eger, Szolnok, Salgotarjan, Sopron, and Kaposvar were linked to the network in recent years. The opening of M44 means “Bekescsaba joining the club”, he added.

The prime minister said the government was planning to upgrade the M1, M3, and M7 motorways to three lanes in each direction in the next few years and to complete the M8, which would facilitate access between eastern and western Hungary without having to drive through Budapest. Orbán noted that there were 120 small towns along the M44, whose inhabitants were now provided with easier access to their destinations.

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