PM Orbán: China, India, Arab world pro-peace

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told public current affairs channel M1 in the Vatican on Monday that he expects that over time, “the anti-war camp’s numbers will grow by the day”.

PM Orbán: China, India, Arab world pro-peace

Put to him that few world leaders were standing up for peace, Orbán said this was merely “an illusion”, arguing that the world was not synonymous with the West, where, he said, few were pro-peace. But taking “all of humanity”, the overwhelming majority were pro-peace, he said, referring to the Arab world, the Far East, led by China and India, as examples, adding that “the stronger half of the Western world, the United States” was also in favour of peace.

The prime minister said that in central Europe, a pro-peace government was coming back into power in Czechia, while the governments in Slovakia and Hungary were already anti-war. He said the “winds are changing in Poland, too, but we need more time to see clearly.” “I believe economic problems are mounting in western Europe, and more and more countries are admitting that we simply don’t have the money to fund this war,” he said, referring to the war in Ukraine.

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Concerning his meeting with Pope Leo XIV, Orbán said: “There’s a concealed anti-war network in the world made up of anti-war leaders.” This network, he said, had “two points of concentration”, namely a political one led by the US president, and a spiritual one led by the Vatican and the pope, “from where the anti-war politicians regularly draw energy, motivation, commitment, blessings and encouragement”. He said that when the Holy Father consulted with either of the warring parties, it was done not against peace, but rather against war.

Budapest peace summit: noone knows when

As regards the planned peace summit in Budapest, Orbán said the meeting was an intention that the two negotiating parties had mutually declared. “In other words, what is delayed will eventually come, but no one knows when, since the delegations are constantly negotiating with each other; but it is a fact that it will take place in Budapest,” he said. Orbán noted the peace summit for the Middle East had been preceded by long negotiations before the parties indicated two days before the event that an agreement would be signed.