Orbán’s annual evaluation speech: “Era of building a civic Hungary has begun” – UPDATE

Budapest, February 28 (MTI) The era of building a civic Hungary based on national-Christian values has begun, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a state of the nation speech on Sunday.

Now is the time to act, to create; now it makes sense to be brave, “to step steadily” and move forward purposefully, with self-confidence, Orbán said.

Hungary closed the era of stabilisation in 2014 and has taken a “flying start” into a new period, he added.

The public and private sectors can only support wage rises that come from improved economic performance, Orbán said. This is why the government has made improving economic competitiveness one of the most important tasks of the coming years.

Orbán acknowledged and thanked teachers and healthcare workers for the efforts, while noting that wage increases had been continuous and of a significant scale, but were inadequate.

Today, the country is able to ensure that everybody takes a step forward every year, but the length of these steps, that is, the size and pace of wage rises are bound by the limits of economic performance, he said.

He eased concerns over the debt of the Klebelsberg Institute (Klik), which oversees public schools in Hungary, saying if we could deal with the IMF and if we could tackle more than 1,200 billion forints (EUR 3.9bn) of local council debt, then the “several billion forints” of Klik debt should not pose an unsurpassable obstacle.

Orbán said modern-age migration threatens not only past achievements but also future possibilities. Financial stability, economic convergence, foreign policy, public peace and order and national culture have come under threat, he added.

“Our children’s possibilities for a life in Europe” have also come under threat.

The year 2015 has put an end to an era when Europe’s protection and security have been taken for granted, he said.

Orbán also discussed the principles of his government’s foreign policy, which he said includes peace, cooperation, trade, mutual investment, regional balance and national interests. He said Berlin, Moscow and Ankara represent the three points of reference for Hungary’s foreign policy and Hungary must not allow being dragged into international schemes against either Germany, Russia or Turkey.

Orbán urged the reinforcement of Hungary’s lines of border defence. New units of troops have been sent to the border, police have been put on standby in Bacs-Kiskun and Csongrad counties, and the defence and interior ministers have been ordered to make preparations for the construction of a line of defence along Hungary’s border with Romania, he added.

If we must, we will defend our border along its entire length, from Slovenia to Ukraine, he said.

Hungary is a sovereign state, one can only enter if laws are observed and the officers of the law are obeyed, Orbán said.

Europe’s future is not endangered mainly by migrants, but by the political, economic and intellectual leaders that are trying to reshape Europe and the people of Europe, he said. The world citizens of the political and intellectual elite in Brussels and a few European capitals are standing against the majority of people with national sentiments, he added.

Orbán said migration could be stopped but the problem is that Brussels lacks the will to protect itself.

He compared the European Union’s actions to the captain of a boat threatened by a crash who focusses not on ways to avoid the crash but starts selecting rescue boats for smokers and non-smokers.

It is not too late for Brussels to understand that it is crucial to face reality instead of pursuing dreams, Orbán said. The reality is that a world of “parallel societies” has been under construction in many European countries for quite some time and these societies have suppressed “our world” because new arrivals “have no wish at all to take over our way of life, since they believe theirs to be more suitable”, Orbán said.

The referendum initiated by the government is not about the already decided matter of quotas, which Hungary has taken to court, but about the mandatory migration quotas that are part of the new European immigration system that will be on the agenda in March, Orbán said. Brussels must stop, as its “lunatic immigration policy” goes against national sovereignty and the will of the people, he added.

The mandatory migration quota is a symbol of the current era as it condenses everything that is tearing apart the alliance of European peoples, Orbán said. The quotas are supported by those who want the EU to be a “United States of Europe” and don’t want to hear anything about a Europe of free nations, he added.

Hungary will not refuse Europe in spite of its weaknesses, but at the same time, it doesn’t want Europe “to give up its thousand-year-old values and be brought to its knees by a flood of people”, he said.

“Go Europe! Go Hungarians!”, Orbán said, closing the speech.

UPDATE

“They seal my rights!” and “Back the referendum for the people!” demonstration were organized by Együtt.

Együtt holds protest against migrant quota referendum

Budapest, February 28 (MTI) – The opposition Egyutt party will boycott the government’s referendum initiative on migrant quotas, party leader Viktor Szigetvari said at a demonstration held near the venue where Prime Minister Viktor Orban held a state of the nation speech on Sunday.

Egyutt will present its arguments about the issue during the campaign, Szigetvári told the demonstration. Orban and everybody that assisted his “constitutional coup” will have to leave public life, he said. Egyutt will start a signature drive against preventing referendums by force and against incitement to hatred against the European Union, he added.

Co-leader of the opposition PM party Gergely Karácsony, the mayor of Budapest’s Zugló district, referred to an incident on Tuesday at the national election office and condemned the government for “sending thugs” to the election office.

The ruling Fidesz said earlier on Sunday that the protest organised by Egüutt to coincide with Orban’s speech was by “forces that support migration” and put the security of Hungarian people and families at risk. Fidesz deputy leader Szilárd Németh and Fidesz group spokesman János Halász held a joint conference where Halász said that “the threat of migrants increased the threat of terrorism and decreases public safety.”

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters