PM Orbán: Ukraine is not a sovereign state, victory there needs US troops

“The West supports them, and Ukraine should not behave as if it were a sovereign state,” PM Viktor Orbán said about Ukraine’s ongoing freedom fight against the Russian invasion in a today morning interview.

Orbán: Szőlő street case aimed to spark an uprising

Deputy PM Zsolt Semjén “was right when he faced the Szőlő Street case”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Monday, adding that the case was an attack aimed to paralyse the government, a “well-constructed attempt to topple the government, with an aspect involving foreign secret services.”

Speaking on the Fight Hour podcast, Orbán insisted that “it was not an attack against just Semjén or any other government member … it was a blood libel … against which half the country could rise.” But, he said, the government had “launched a counter-offensive.” He said he usually ignored accusations based on false information, but now he saw eye to eye with Semjen to face the challenge.

The prime minister said he approved of Semjén’s position because “if government members are accused of the gravest possible crime” and proven guilty, “the government has to go”. “Semjén is correct to call it a blood libel, which must not be ignored, he said. He added that in this case “not only the reputation of the government and the state had to be protected but their operability, too”. Two government members have been accused “of the gravest crime under common law, he said, adding that the accusations were false and “serious legal ramifications” could be expected with “no mercy”.

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According to Orbán, it is obvious “who started the accusations and how the next and the third and the fourth medium took the reports over, and then finally how they named people and how the opposition leaders – from Péter Magyar to Klára Dobrev – got involved”. “They still uphold those accusations, these people commit criminal offences each day … it does not appear as if this were not orchestrated,” Orbán said.

Opposition committed a crime

“Those that have participated in spreading the rumours were aware that they were committing a crime which would have legal consequences,” Orbán said. Answering a remark by a viewer, Orban said “the moment child abuse is reported, the authorities will act”, adding that Hungary’s child protection system was efficient and employed thousands of “serious and committed” people. “Now and then there is a rotten apple in the basket, but it will be thrown out without delay,” Orbán said.

Meanwhile, the prime minister called independent MP Ákos Hadházy a “pathetic half-wit”, whom he did not consider a politician. “Entertainment and politics are intertwined; from one direction there come actors playing politicians and lunatic politicians from the other direction. They meet in the middle, that is now Hungary’s opposition camp,” Orbán said.

The police need help by making legislation clearer in certain sensitive cases that are difficult to assess from a legal perspective, Orbán said. He said that in certain areas, police officers must sometimes “spend more time pondering about the law than taking action”. He added that he believed this was not good. The interior minister’s response to this situation had been that the laws were not clear enough, Orbán said, adding that “he may be right in that”. “So let’s make them clear,” Orbán said.

Brussels prefers Péter Magyar

Concerning opposition Tisza leader Péter Magyar, Orbán said that he was “preferred in Brussels” and said “people acting here on foreign instructions are mostly crazy … Mihály Karolyi, who was also a dimwit, had been delegated by the French; later on Szálasi was helped to power by the Germans, and Rákosi, who was also mad, the Soviets.” “They can all appear serious, but will then create huge trouble for the country,” he added.

“We are about 70 percent done with making Hungary great,” Orbán said. He said a lot had happened in the past fifteen years, but it was not enough, and there was still much to be done. “It will take a few more years to make the country great from where we inherited it, that is, after eight years of [former Prime Minister Ferenc] Gyurcsány,” Orbán added.

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Speaking about strengthening the civil society’s online presence and the digital civil society movement, Orbán said: “we look better now because many people have realised that it won’t work without it.” He added that the right wing was averse to anything faceless. “Yet, the digital space is dominated by hiding, anonymity, snide remarks, slyness, and insincerity,” he added. “If we go there, we take our own character with us, and then we can change the space itself,” he said.

Politics = entertainment

Orbán said the problem with modern politics was that it got intertwined with the entertainment industry. He added that the reason was the short, fast, immediate reaction-provoking and sensationalist nature of the internet which “particularly favors lunatics.” Orbán said it required a great deal of effort on the part of the civic side to maintain their seriousness on the internet, even if this made them appear more boring.

The opposition Tisza Party’s asset tax plans would create “new bureaucracy”, which could “interfere with people’s lives”, he said. Orbán advocated caution when introducing new taxes, and said it was worth considering what ramifications tax hikes could have. “Taxes are a sensitive thing through which the state could penetrate the private life of people – that is what the communists did, therefore I propose caution,” he said.