PM Orbán: Ukraine ‘wouldn’t last a day’ without West

Not only would Ukraine be unable to fight a war with Russia without the West, but it “would not even last a day”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told public radio on Friday.

Ukrainians “incapable of keeping their own state functioning”, says Orbán

In his weekly interview, Orbán said the Ukrainians were “incapable of keeping their own state functioning” adding that “we’re the ones paying for Ukrainians’ pensions, the salaries of state employees and the operation of Ukrainian public services.” “We’re the ones funding their military,” he said.

“So without us, without the West, Ukraine wouldn’t last a day; not only would it be unable to fight a war against Russia . it simply couldn’t even exist,” the prime minister said. “Admitting a country like this to the European Union means taking on a lot of trouble; there’s no need for that.”

Orbán said that if Ukraine was admitted to the EU, “war would also be admitted”. This would mean that there would be an EU member with a war going on along its eastern borders, “and it would only be a matter of time before every European Union member got involved in that war”, he said. “We don’t want the Russia-Ukraine war to become our war,” he said.

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Western European leaders jumped into the war

Orbán said that three years ago, western European leaders had “jumped into the war” with the idea that “this is our war”, that Ukraine was actually fighting for Europe’s security, that Russia posed a threat and had to be defeated on Ukraine’s territory rather than closer to the EU’s borders. He said he had always considered this approach a mistake because it had “suddenly made Ukraine a security threat” to Europe.

The Hungarian government, on the other hand, “as the sole pro-peace force”, had always called the war a conflict between “two Slavic brothers”, Orbán said, noting that the government has been calling for a ceasefire to prevent the conflict from expanding and hurting the European economy in the long run.

Orbán said there were times when a country may need to carry out military operations that resulted in casualties, “but that must be closely, evidently, strongly, undeniably … in line with our national interests.” “Sending even a single Hungarian to Ukraine and even a single Hungarian dying there is not in our national interest,” he added.

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Orbán criticised the EU’s plan to finance Ukraine from a loan at a time when the European economy is stagnant and the public debt of a significant number of member states exceeds their annual economic output. “In fact, the Ukrainians are asking the EU to finance a one million-strong Ukrainian army,” he said. The United States, Orban added, “has stopped doing this because it is now led by a businessman who says that this is not a gain but a loss for America”.

Ukraine’s EU membership would destroy Hungary

The prime minister said Ukraine could not oblige Hungary to support its European Union membership. “This would destroy Hungary and jeopardise the life of our children,” Orbán said. “That is why we don’t want to admit them and they don’t have the right to join the EU. They have the right … to request to join. And we have the right to accept or deny,” he said.

Hungary will not “fall on its knees” before Ukraine, Orbán said. “We are aware of their difficult situation and heroic efforts, but we won’t join western Europeans when they listen in delirium when the Ukrainian president has something to say,” the prime minister said. “We know full well who the Ukrainian president is, and we know the Ukrainians … they should not pretend to be champions of morality because they don’t have the basis to do so … they cannot speak to us in a condescending manner,” Orbán said.

Zelensky cannot present demands

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “needs to understand that Hungary belongs to the Hungarians; he cannot present demands and cannot ride his high horse here; should he want something, he could come, with due modesty, and tell us what he wants. And we will respond,” Orbánsaid.

He said the Ukrainian president had “threatened Hungary” citing “some sort of facts and documents we’re not aware of”. Orbán said that if the Ukrainian president had found something “that could offend him”, he should release it “instead of sending messages and making threats”. Hungary has been helping Ukraine “for which it has not asked for gratitude”, but “for them to talk about disrespect is a step too far”, he said. “The fact that the Ukrainian president has friends in Hungary and that there are openly pro-Ukrainian parties … doesn’t give him the right to talk to Hungary like this,” he added.

2 million said no

Meanwhile, the prime minister said that more than 2 million people have already returned the questionnaires on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. “I see the numbers every day, the number of responses being returned, and we’re over 2 million,” Orbán said.

He said this was a “fantastic success”, adding that he “can’t recall when we last had a National Consultation or a vote in which this many people participated”.

The prime minister encouraged the public to use the eight days left of the government’s Vote 2025 initiative to read a recent interview with Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky and “acknowledge the domestic political debate in connection with it”.

“There are pro-Ukrainian and pro-Hungarian forces, the line of division is completely clear, and it’s very important for every Hungarian citizen to express their opinion on this issue,” Orbán added.

Orbán continues with slamming Brussels

Meanwhile, Orbán said that complying with Brussels’ so-called country-specific recommendations would “ruin half of families” in Hungary. He said Brussels had recommended Hungary roll back a rate freeze protecting 300,000 households with mortgages and warned that compliance would put most of those families “on the brink of ruin”.

Brussels has also asked Hungary to abolish a mandatory cap on markups that lowers prices for Hungarian consumers but cuts the profits of big retail chains, he added.

Brussels has criticised Hungary’s home subsidies schemes, which affect tens of thousands of Hungarians, because they are “too broad and not targeted”, and they call the chance to buy a home for cheaper “market distortion”, Orbán said.

He pointed to a willingness to cooperate “to the point of piety”, but said the interests of the Hungarian people had to be protected, leaving just one response to the annual country-specific recommendations: “I close the report and say ‘thank you very much’, this is all the concern of Hungarians”.

Major battle expected

Orbán said Brussels had no authority to interfere with those affairs, adding that “therefore I consider that merely an opinion”. “Hungary keeps going on its own path, trying to protect jobs and family budgets,” he said.

Meanwhile, Orbán said he expected “a major battle” at a meeting of EU foreign ministers starting on Monday. The ministers will have a European Commission proposal on their agenda, aimed at introducing a ban on Russian energy imports. “This would kill the Hungarian economy,” he warned, adding that passage of the proposal would result in household energy becoming “twice, three times or even four times as expensive” in Hungary. “This bad decision must be prevented; this is our only chance to protect the utility price cap scheme, to protect families,” the prime minister said.

Patriotic-nationalist governments will emerge in Europe

Meanwhile, Orbán said that in two or three years “each significant country in Europe will have a patriotic-nationalist government”. “This is not bad, this is good, this is not just happening; we are making it happen and it will be good,” Orbán said, adding that he saw it as a “fundamental problem that the greatest states of the continent have weakened and their leaders are busy with their domestic problems, which does not leave enough time and energy for all-European affairs”.

“In such situations the bureaucracy in Brussels is revived, it is released and acts on its own instinct,” Orbán said. “Their sole objective is to take as many powers from member states as possible … they would strip members of rights they have nothing to do with, such as LGBTQ rights, issues around the education of children, family support, cutting utility prices or 13th month pensions,” the prime minister said.

“Give rights back to nation states!” Orbán said, referring to the goal of the Patriots for Europe party group.

Concerning the EU’s bureaucracy, Orbán said it had been set up to coordinate the operations of member states “rather than to sit on our head and instruct us to allow migrants in.” Among the objectives of the Patriots group Orbán mentioned preventing efforts to undermine national competencies and restoring the rights that had been “unconstitutionally” taken away from national governments.