Orbán: EU wants a change of government in Hungary, we entered the age of dangers
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It is possible that 2022 will be remembered as the year Hungary entered “the age of dangers”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview to public radio on Friday, adding that the country had responded proactively.
After the pandemic came the war in Ukraine, followed by an energy crisis, the prime minister said. EU sanctions, he added, caused significant inflation, “and migration pressure is growing once more at our borders”. But Hungary has responded to all these dangers proactively, Orbán said. “We didn’t freeze up; we didn’t want to evade, but we’ve built up defensive positions,” he said. Meanwhile, the prime minister called for the abolition of “failed EU sanctions”.
Orbán noted that the cost of energy imports skyrocketed to 17 billion euros from 7 billion, and the government established a fund for protecting caps on household energy bills up to the threshold of average consumption. The government did not pass higher energy prices to households, but rather Hungarian families receive an energy subsidy averaging 181,000 forints each month, he noted. Had the advice of liberal economists and the Hungarian left wing been taken, a minimum of 1 million families would have gone bankrupt, the prime minister insisted. He said the government would handle any new threats that arise this year in the same proactive spirit.
Regarding sanctions, Orbán said that “someone in Brussels” should finally admit to having “messed up”. Without sanctions, energy prices would drop instantly and inflation would be halved, he said, adding that there was no sign of this happening. Only Germany or France could sway the EU on this matter, he said.
To pay for energy subsidies, companies that make excessive profits out of high inflation and higher energy prices must make a commensurate contribution, he said, adding that the companies had been made to understand that this was a temporary measure. “In Hungary, they understand this,” Orbán said, adding that western European governments did not enjoy the same position of strength to enact such a measure.
European citizens are the victims of the failed sanctions policy and the war in Ukraine, he said, adding that Europe was the biggest loser of the conflict economically speaking. Commenting on the EU decision to withdraw Hungary’s Erasmus funding in 2024, Orbán said the government would not allow students “to be the victims of any decision in Brussels”, and the Hungarian budget would make up the difference in any lost Erasmus funds.
“Those with children say: ‘What kind of people are these?’ Hungary and Brussels may very well have a dispute, but what kind of person takes revenge on another person’s child?” He added that there were people in Brussels prepared to settle a political dispute by taking revenge on Hungarian young people.
Sick and tired of the constant rhetoric and propaganda this government continues to spout. Always the same list of people to blame. Do people really believe what he says.
Inflation 24.5% and VAT 27%, highest in Europe, that’s what VO should be working on. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Yes, I can see just how proactively our dearly beloved PM has acted. As soon as he manages to squeeze some money out of the EU, we read that he gets a very hefty pay rise and Felcsút is getting another new football stadium complex (yet again)!