Orbán: Ukraine’s EU accession can be blocked
Ukraine’s EU accession can be blocked if Hungary “bravely represents” its standpoint and prevents a Brussels and Ukrainian puppet government from assuming power in the country, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview to public radio on Friday.
Orbán said Hungarians would be able to “keep what they have” if they were active and stopped Ukraine from taking away “what they have today” by becoming an EU member. He listed low taxes, good pensions and the cheaper utility bills as benefits Hungarians stood to forfeit.
Referring to the government’s Vote 2025 initiative, the prime minister said Hungarians “have an opinion on Ukraine’s EU accession and they are expressing it right now”. Orbán said with the backing of Hungarians, he would be able to “stand his ground in a Brussels storm”. “This would be hard to do without the help of the people,” he added.
“Luckily, we’re no longer alone,” he said, noting that the Slovak parliament recently decided to withhold its support for sanctions against Russia. He added that “cooperation is taking shape” and there was a chance of blocking Brussels’ “irrational policy”.
Orbán said some surveys showed that European public opinion in 11 EU countries, including France and Germany, was set against fast-tracking Ukraine into the bloc, whereas 10 supported the endeavour.
Orbán said more than 30,000 bureaucrats were “buzzing and swirling around and organising” in the background, “and this is an enormous force”. He said the bureaucrats were putting member states under pressure to allow the launch of Ukraine accession talks.
“This pressure is hard to resist, and most European governments are fragile. Hungary is standing firm because the people created an extremely stable government in the 2022 elections, with a two-thirds majority and no pressure to form a coalition. Most European countries have coalitions which makes it hard to take a united stand,” he said.
He said a stable government was “currently Hungary’s greatest advantage in the international competition”.
Orbán said that the defence minister had ordered an investigation “into the case of former chief of staff Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi”, and that they were awaiting the results.
He said Hungary openly opposed Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, so it has become the focus of international attacks, as the forces behind the attacks wanted to fast-track Ukraine into bloc.
The prime minister referred to “a series of actions jointly organised by Brussels and Ukraine” and “pro-Ukrainian and pro-war forces”, who had deeply embedded themselves in “the highest levels of the army”.
Ruszin-Szendi, he said, had been “a small cog in the Hungarian state” who was supposed to represent the national interest but instead had represented pro-Ukrainian positions rather than the position of the Hungarian government, putting pressure on Hungarians to support Ukraine’s EU aspirations.
Orbán said it was heartening that the Hungarian army and the Hungarian body politic could defend themselves, and that such a “grave infiltration” had been uncovered promptly.
He said military affairs should be kept far away from politics and vice versa, but the former chief of staff of the army “has entered politics”, thereby dragging the military into politics. This, he added, should be put and end to swiftly.
Meanwhile, Orbán welcomed Karol Nawrocki’s win at the Polish presidential elections as a “fantastic result from Hungary’s viewpoint … that continues the march of patriots”. “In other words, the Washington express has just arrived in Warsaw,” he said.
On the subject of the Praid salt mine, the prime minister said the entire mine could collapse, and experts faced the huge challenge of removing billions of cubic metres of highly concentrated salt water from the mine, adding that the government has sent Hungarian geologists to study the situation and make suggestions.
Efforts are ongoing to divert the stream and work out a strategy to save the mine. “Then we’ll know how much it will cost and whether there is even a possibility of saving it. Hungary, together with the Romanian government, is ready to provide help.”
Referring to the public media’s fundraising campaign, Orbán said solidarity “shows that we exist and that we’re alive”, adding that the Praid mine was symbolic and represented “a powerful point of self-expression of the Hungarian world”. He said Hungarians had come together and “opened not only hearts but also their wallets”.
Commenting on today’s impending pause in public transport services in Budapest, Orbán he called the stoppage ordered by the mayor as a warning to the government “unprecedented”. The baseline of politics is that community leaders “have a legal and moral duty” to provide public services, he said.
Lawyers, he said, were now debating “whether this can be done at all”, but whatever their views, the mayor’s actions were “unreasonable”, adding: “Why should people be punished?”
The reason for the chaos, Orbán said, was rooted in the Budapest leadership’s errors. The prime minister added that the mayor had failed to appoint a deputy, a budget was adopted “that every lawyer says is illegal”, while managers of the metropolitan council companies “were expendable”. He also referred to sky-high corruption and a city assembly run “like a flea market”. The entire city is “crying out for leadership”, he added.
Orbán said Budapest was “the richest city in Hungary” but it was not being led. Two weeks ago the government “gave 40 billion forints to Budapest to buy trams” and “it has been investing hundreds of billions of forints in the development of the Budapest economy”. He noted that Chinese car manufacturer BYD is moving its development centre from the Netherlands to Budapest with the support of the government.
“The government will help if necessary,” he said, adding that further help was contingent on not allowing “this situation to arise again”.
Meanwhile, the prime minister noted that last week the government allocated billions of forints to continuing and expanding law enforcement action against drugs.
“Rural life in Hungary flowed quietly until a year ago, when a wildfire epidemic reared its head with the appearance of dodgy designer drugs which were even cheaper than alcohol, so their consumption soared,” Orbán said.
He said trafficking in such drugs was “poisoning people for profit”, adding that the phenomenon mainly hit poor families, “devouring the future of children from poor families”.
Orbán: Hungary can resist pressure from Brussels because its govt is ‘rock solid’
Hungary has been able to withstand the pressure Brussels bureaucrats are putting on member states thanks to its “rock solid” government commanding a large majority, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview to public radio on Friday.
Regarding Ukraine’s European Union membership, Orbán said more than 30,000 bureaucrats were “milling around and organising” in the background, “and this is an enormous force”. He said the bureaucrats were putting member states under pressure to allow the launch of Ukraine accession talks.
“This pressure is hard to resist, and most European governments are fragile. Hungary is standing firm because the people created an extremely stable government in the 2022 elections, with a two-thirds majority and no pressure to form a coalition. Most European countries have coalitions which makes it hard to take a united stand,” he said.
He said a stable government was “currently Hungary’s greatest advantage in the international competition”.
Orbán: Police action against drugs continues
Last week, the government allocated billions of forints to continuing and expanding law enforcement action against drugs, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview to public radio on Friday.
“Rural life in Hungary flowed quietly until a year ago, when a wildfire epidemic reared its head with the appearance of dodgy designer drugs which were even cheaper than alcohol, so their consumption soared,” Orbán said.
He said trafficking in such drugs was “poisoning people for profit”, adding that the phenomenon mainly hit poor families, “devouring the future of children from poor families”.
In the past few months, the government has appointed a commissioner and freed up billions of forints. “We launched a great number of operations, 3,500 criminal procedures, seized more than half a ton of drugs, 250 million forints [EUR 620,000] in cash, and goods worth hundreds of millions of forints.”
“This network was built up fast, and it must be crushed with the full force of the state and using all the means at its disposal,” he said.
Orbán: ‘They want to push Ukraine into EU’ so Hungary focus of attacks
Hungary openly opposes Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, so it has become the focus of international attacks, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview to public radio on Friday, adding that such forces behind the attacks wanted to fast-track Ukraine into bloc.
The prime minister referred to “a series of actions jointly organised by Brussels and Ukraine” and “pro-Ukrainian and pro-war forces”, who had deeply embedded themselves in “the highest levels of the army”.
Former chief of staff Romulus Ruszin-Szendi, he said, had been “a small cog in the Hungarian state” who was supposed to represent the national interest but instead had represented pro-Ukrainian positions rather than the position of the Hungarian government, putting pressure on Hungarians to support Ukraine’s EU aspirations.
Orbán said it was heartening that the Hungarian army and the Hungarian body politic could defend themselves, and that such a “grave infiltration” had been uncovered promptly.
Orbán: EU, Ukraine assembling puppet govt
Brussels and Ukraine are assembling a puppet government together with the aim of changing Hungary’s policy on Ukraine after the elections, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview to public radio on Friday.
Orbán said “they went looking for a prime minister candidate, a party leader and now a defence minister.”
“We should have no doubt that we are facing another political concept and strategy, another future for Hungary. A pro-Brussels puppet government would mean that the government is pro-Ukraine and the defence minister is pro-war. Even Hungarian parties do little to disguise that. The Tisza and the [Democratic Coalition] are essentially openly pro-Ukraine political organisations,” he said.
Commenting on an upcoming EU summit, Orbán said the “only topic in Brussels is Ukraine’s EU accession. This is the number one issue of international politics in Brussels now, not tomorrow or the day after, but here and now.”
“They think in Brussels that Europe is at war, that Ukraine is its vanguard fighting our war.”
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