The government is on the side of families and wants to strengthen them, rather than migration, Balázs Hankó, the minister of culture and innovation, said on commercial channel TV2 on Friday.
Hankó said it was important to reaffirm this with the National Consultation public survey and the support of Hungarians.
He noted that the government has passed thirty family policy measures since 2010, leaving HUF 3,600 billion (EUR 8.8 billion) with families through the family tax relief alone. The government plans to double this tax relief in two steps, in the summer of 2025 and at the beginning of 2026, he added. This would increase the tax relief to 200,000 forints for a family with three children, Hankó said.
The family policy measures passed by the government in recent years have made Hungary a family-friendly nation, and “this is recognised in Europe and across the world”, he said.
Hankó said the government respected the elderly and guaranteed their financial security by maintaining the 13th-month pension. He also mentioned the blue-collar credit scheme due to be introduced from next year.
“If [the National Consultation] receives sufficient support, we’ll be able to say that it is not the government that Brussels has a disagreement with, but the Hungarian nation,” Hankó said.
Unlike many other European Union member states, Hungary has not taken in people belonging to foreign cultures, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview with Austria’s ServusTV on Thursday, adding that Hungary pursued a family-friendly policy and was a “conservative island in the European liberal ocean”.
The prime minister said there were more children being born today on the southern side of the Mediterranean than on the northern side, adding that Germany and Austria, for example, were not defending against this trend, but instead saw the solution to this problem in migration policy. Hungary, on the other hand, favoured supporting families, he said.
He said the trend of deaths outstripping births was the result of the policies of the last 30-40 years, noting Europe’s shrinking and ageing population.
Orbán said “money alone” would not increase the birth rate, arguing that a family-friendly culture was needed.
This, he added, required that young people feel secure and choose to have families. He said this called for a predictable economic policy, persistence and a change in mindset, which, he said, meant at least 10-20 years.
Orbán said the European economy was “suffering from pneumonia” and had serious problems.
He cited French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent warning that the EU could be “out of the market” within two or three years, and former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi’s warning that the European economy could fail.
The prime minister said the signs of this decline were visible in the Austrian and German economies and many other places, underlining the need to make the European economy competitive again.
He said the crux of this problem was energy prices, arguing that Brussels’ policies had led to European companies having to pay 2-3 times what American businesses are paying for electricity, while gas was 3-4 times more expensive. Europe, he added, could not compete like this, and needed a new energy policy, otherwise its businesses would go bankrupt.
As regards migration, Orbán said there were two different kinds of European countries: those that had taken in people belonging to foreign — mainly Islamic — cultures, and those that had not, noting that Hungary belonged to the latter group.
Hungary, he said, only issued as many work permits to those belonging to foreign cultures as were needed in the labour market, and they had to leave the country once their work permit expired.
Orbán said Hungarians believed illegal migration never made matters better anywhere, only worse, arguing that it led to a rise in crime, anti-Semitism and homophobia.
Nobody in Hungary wanted illegal migrants in the country, he said, adding that Hungary was a “conservative island in the European liberal ocean”.
Meanwhile, Orbán said he considered it important for there to be more and more patriotic heads of government in Europe, adding that he trusted that Austria would soon have a head of government from the Freedom Party (FPO). He said there was also a good chance that Czechia would elect a patriotic leader and that Marine Le Pen’s party could form a government in France.
Orbán said four or five EU countries being led by patriotic heads of government would also have a positive impact on Brussels’ policies.
He criticised EU policy, saying that the leadership in Brussels had created a culture and a hegemonic mindset in which one who was not a liberal could not be considered a democrat. He said this culture had been created with the help of US financier George Soros, who was “pumping money” into this kind of politics.
Orbán said there was also room on the political scene for liberals, and encouraged them to express their views, after which voters would make their choice.
Concerning the war in Ukraine, the prime minister said he was not “pro-Russian”, but rather pro-peace, adding, at the same time, that the conflict was a “fraternal war which we have nothing to do with”.
He said there was a major risk of the war expanding, which would lead to a world war, and called for an urgent ceasefire and peace talks.
Orbán underscored the importance of next week’s US presidential election, saying that Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, had not started any wars during his presidency, and had ended any ongoing wars as quickly as he could.
As regards stopping illegal migration, the prime minister said he would “sit down with President Trump”, and Europeans and Americans could conclude “good agreements”. He said Trump would be replacing a “pro-war president” as a “pro-peace president”, which could also bring about change in the policies coming out of Brussels.
The European Union’s “ill-advised” migration policy causes “social destabilisation” in Western Europe, which, together with negative economic trends could “put the existence of the EU as an organisation in jeopardy,” László Kövér, speaker of the Hungarian parliament, told the 72nd plenary meeting of representatives of the EU affairs committees of member states (COSAC) in Budapest on Monday.
Orbán cabinet shares thoughts on the European Union
All European politicians “who love their homelands and Europe” should work to eliminate that danger and “preserve the EU as the community of values and interests that its founders created it to be”, the speaker said.
With regards to the challenges of illegal migration, the recent Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Kövér warned that the EU, which he said had been “a scheme for peace, democracy, and welfare” could now become “the reality of war, dictatorship, and impoverishment”.
Kövér slammed the European Union’s sanctions policy for contributing to the European GDP growth slowing to 0.2 percent, while Russia’s economy had grown by 3.6 percent last year, adding that the EU’s share in the global economy was shrinking each year. Electricity in Europe is 2-3 times as expensive as in the US, while gas is 4-5 times more expensive, he added.
He criticised the European Commission for failing to initiate legal changes in connection with the Minority Safe Pack signature drive aimed at resolving “a need for equal rights for some 40 million ethnic citizens and taxpayers in Europe”. He said he hoped the new commission would “adopt a different approach and exercise its authority in line with the EU treaties rather than arbitrarily”, but added that there was “no sign” of that new approach as yet.
Concerning the enlargement of the European Union, Kövér called for “meaningful progress” with possible candidates, saying that the EU must treat them “with integrity and without double standards”. He said the European Union “must not wait any longer with the Western Balkans”, adding that “countries in the forefront of negotiations, especially Serbia and Montenegro should be accepted as members as soon as possible”.
Hungary continues to see the future of the European Union in a community “based on the cooperation of strong nation states”, Kövér said. “It is not in contradiction with finding common solutions to common European challenges, but it requires open, democratic dialogue rather than stigmatising and isolating those with a different view,” he added.
EU Affairs Minister János Bóka said the Hungarian EU presidency was “striving to be a catalyst of change” in the bloc, making proposals “in the interest of peace, security, and welfare”.
He raised concern, however, over the “unprecedented challenges” facing the European Union, such as “Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine” and the conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, threatening an escalation. He added that illegal migration and security risks could compromise the Schengen regime, while Europe was losing its economic competitiveness.
“What we can offer Europe is change … the Hungarian presidency, as an honest mediator, is in the position to make proposal,” he said, adding, at the same time, that the relevant decision must be made by the members and European Union institutions.
Concerning Europe’s competitiveness Bóka said the Hungarian presidency was aimed to have a new competitiveness agreement adopted at the European Council meeting set for November 8 in Budapest.
Bóka called the migration crisis an “urgent challenge”. He said that as well as raising security concerns, it had led to the restoration of “a broad range of internal border controls”.
Meanwhile, he said the Hungarian EU presidency was working to build a consensus on supporting Romania and Bulgaria’s full Schengen accession before the end of the year.
The minister said the EU integration of the Western Balkans should be speeded up and he called for further efforts to reduce regional disparities within the bloc. “Cohesion policy is not just donations from net payers of the EU but the greatest investment policy,” he said.
“We have a vested interest in a successful European Union, and the success of our presidency will be a success story for the whole EU,” he said.
Bóka said Hungary had opened its border to Ukrainian refugees after the outbreak of the war and launched “the largest humanitarian aid programme in its history” to help them. “Without too much publicity, we are doing everything to help Ukraine,” he said, adding that electricity exports through Hungary was helping save Ukraine’s electric grid from collapse, while Ukraine also met 20 percent of its diesel demand from Hungarian sources.
The latest package of financial aid to Ukraine was adopted under the Hungarian presidency, and negotiations to help Ukraine cope with the hardships of winter are under way, he added.
The Hungarian presidency is ready to promote the process of Ukraine’s EU entry, Bóka said, adding however that “doing more is not enough for victory; we must do something different”, and called for “open political dialogue rather than political PR”.
The number of Hungarians living in Austria has increased significantly since 2019, according to the statistics of the Austrian immigration office.
According to 444.hu, in 2019, 79 thousand Hungarians lived in our Western neighbour. In 2024, that number grew to 94.7 thousand. In Burgenland, a former territory of the Kingdom of Hungary and Austria’s Easternmost territory, 40,900 locals were born outside the country. That is 13,6% of the region’s population and is a 22.8% rise compared to 2019.
The biggest foreign group in Burgenland are the Hungarians. Their number is slightly above 8,300. The following group is those born in Germany (4,600), and Romania (4,500). In Vienna, 25 thousand Hungarians live, while their number was only 23 thousand in 2019.
On a national level, the most numerous foreign group in Austria are the Germans (265 thousand). They are followed by those born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Türkiye, Romania, and Serbia.
Read also:
Fantastic news for travellers: Vienna-Budapest train services boosted with more frequent connections – read more HERE
The government’s new economic action plan could produce “fantastic results” in 2025, if Hungary follows through with its policy of economic neutrality, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a weekly interview with public radio on Friday.
French President’s key role
Orbántold Kossuth Radio that the package of 20-25 measures could lift Hungary’s economic growth rate over the rates of all of the rest of the countries in Europe.
Orbán said French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as Mario Draghi, the former European Central Bank governor, had drawn “harsher conclusions” about the state of Europe. Macron, he added, had warned that Europe’s economy “could die” if urgent measures were not taken to improve the bloc’s competitiveness. The topic of Europe’s economic difficulties is not unique to the Hungarian perspective but an opinion shared by European leaders, he added.
“Now the Hungarians aren’t the only ones in the crowd that see the emperor has no clothes,” Orbán said.
He acknowledged the French president’s “key role” in establishing a new, more competitive European economy.
He noted that Hungary would host a summit of the European Political Community on November 7 to discuss Europe’s economic competitiveness. He added that EU leaders would hold a summit one day later, dedicated to the subject of the community’s competitiveness. He noted that the summit would take place just two days after the US presidential election “which could easily create a completely new situation in world politics”.
Photo: FB/Orbán
Hungary should remain neutral
On another subject, Orbán argued for economic neutrality and said that Hungary had to go its own path.
Around the fall of communism, when it became clear that the Soviet economic model was not competitive, Hungary switched to capitalism and took over elements and institutions of the market economy that had made Western countries successful, Orbán said.
Orbán said now it was the western world that was in trouble, and Hungary could not take over Eastern economic methods “because they are impossible to imitate for cultural reasons”. He warned, however, that “if Hungary continues along with the West … in the end we will fall into the abyss and die together with the Western economy.” So Hungary’s only solution, he said, was to shape an economic model to fit its own culture, from the examples seen worldwide. “We must take over everything that’s good for us from the West as well as from the East, but nothing that’s not good for us. To keep it simple, we call that approach and policy economic neutrality,” Orbán said.
Orbán radio interview in the Kossuth Rádió. Photo: MTI
Orbán insisted that “a cold-war philosophy which has taken over the West” since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine had “presented itself in the economy, too.” “Reviving the Cold War is a bad idea,” he said.
Staying away from Ukraine-Russia war
Hungary has the right to pursue an economic policy of its own, Orbán said, adding that “it is just a matter of ability, courage and skill to enforce that right.” If Hungary managed to stay out of the Russia-Ukraine war, it would “stay away from an ill-advised economic policy built on war logic,” he said. He added that the Hungarian government “needs to do well at talks in the closed back rooms of politics … but Hungarians have never performed poorly there, and there is no need for us to feel inferior.” “We usually do well in difficult power talks, and we have stayed away from the war and received written guarantees that we won’t have to participate in the war during the term of the new NATO secretary-generay,” Orbán said. The Hungarian government has negotiated the continued possibility of purchasing gas and oil from Russia, while “the whole of the European Union distances itself from Russian energy”, he added. “We have always found room for manoeuvre … there is no point in holding the low-spirited belief that the great countries would suppress us anyway,” the prime minister said.
“One would have thought that there is no room to manoeuvre in the Russia-Ukraine war, because if the whole European Union sings the same tune, one country could not stay out; still we did,” Orbán said, adding that “they are up to their eyes in a losing war, and Hungary isn’t, because we’ve never joined”.
“If God helps us, those standing for peace replace those rooting for war in America, and President [Donald] Trump returns, we will be relieved because we are no longer alone,” Orbán said.
“Mr Prime Minister, go away”
According to Orbán, a decision orchestrated by the European People’s Party had been made in Brussels. “They said it is over Mr Prime Minister, go away, you and your government, here we have a new prime minister to be and a would-be ruling party; we in Brussels support them,” he said.
Orbán insisted that this had been expected “as the same thing happened in Poland, and then came Prime Minister Donald Tusk.”
“Brussels wants a jawohl-government,” Orbán said.
Hungarians, however, are expected to resist that pressure, “we don’t want a puppet government”.
“This is not just a question of power; Brussels has economy policy disputes with Hungary, and it would seriously impact the people if we gave in … the question is not who the prime minister is but what ramifications the people will suffer,” he added.
The EU wanted higher PIT, and that Hungary scrap taxes on multinational companies and the utility price caps which are largely born by the same companies, he said. The EU had also called for a pension reform “that would amount to scrapping the 13th month pension”, they would reform farm subsidies and strip or reduce funding for 160-170,000 Hungarian farmers, Orbán said.
Those “in cahoots with Brussels” will be implementing those programmes, he said.
At the same time, economic policy will be determined largely by whether the war in Ukraine expands further, he said. “If Donald Trump returns and wins, the chances of that happening will be zero.”
Spending more on military
Otherwise, the war and the constant danger of escalation will warrant an economic policy allocating a larger part of GDP to military expenditures, he said.
He said it was in Hungary’s “fundamental interest” for a government to be in power in the United States that would say the war in Ukraine must spread no further. “If that happens…we’ve put together a package that can bring the Hungarian economy out of the difficult period it has been in since 2020,” he added.
He noted that the economy had been on the upward path until 2019, when it was hit by the pandemic, then the war, the impact of sanctions policies and inflation. “We need to find a way out of that difficult 4-5 year period, and I think we have found it,” he added.
The government’s new economic action plan could produce “fantastic results” in 2025, if Hungary follows through with its policy of economic neutrality, Orbán said.
Orbán said the package of 20-25 measures could lift Hungary’s economic growth rate over the rates of all of the rest of the countries in Europe.
Orbán said talks between employers and unions on wage increases were “progressing well”. He said the average wage could reach HUF 1 million/month “in the foreseeable future”, while the minimum wage could be raised to HUF 400,000/month in the coming years in the framework of a multi-year wage agreement.
New National Consultation
Regarding the National Consultation survey, Orbán said it was aiming “to strengthen foundations”, as “the only point of reference in the fight with Brussels is the will of the Hungarian people.”
“If Hungarians call for economic neutrality and an independent Hungarian economic policy … used to raise wages and tackle housing issues, then that can be protected,” he said.
Orbán proud on the new national consultation:
The National Consultation strengthens Hungary and the government, “that is how we created 1 million new jobs, and migration wasn’t stopped by the government alone — Hungarians have communicated their expectations first,” Orbán said.
Meanwhile, “Brussels bureaucrats and a few larger states” said the migration pact was a good thing, and voted to speed up implementation. Hungary’s opposition, with the exception of the Our Homeland (Mi Hazank) party, has also voted in favour, and supported penalising Hungary and withholding border protection funding, Orbán said. “Fidesz-KDNP politicians fought well but we weren’t enough in the European Parliament, maybe we will be more successful in the European Council.”
Read also:
Recent poll: Tisza Party gains momentum, outshining Hungary’s leading Fidesz Party – read more HERE
Hungary’s PM Orbán wantsthis Balkans country to join the EU ASAP
Cooperation in international development is enhancing Hungary-Türkiye ties, with an MoU signed between the Hungary Helps Agency and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, Tristan Azbej, the state secretary for aiding persecuted Christians, said on Thursday, noting agreements made during his visit to Türkiye.
“I’m certain we can translate this agreement into joint actions right away,” he wrote on his Facebook. “People suffering in crisis zones must be helped … and providing appropriate aid can prevent migration from the Sahel region and elsewhere.”
He noted the areas of food safety, educational development, advancing women’s rights and protecting the cultural heritage of Christians, Muslims and other religions as potential points of joint action.
Meanwhile, he said Türkiye was grateful for help Hungary provided after the earthquake in the south of the country, adding that both countries had shown solidarity last year with suffering communities around the world. “The cultural heart of earthquake-stricken Osmaniye province is beating again,” he added.
Hungary handed over a cultural centre and restored the Béla Bartók memorial exhibition within, he said, noting that Bartok had “preserved the treasures of Turkish folk music in this province in 1936”.
Tuzson: Hungary supports Türkiye EU integration
Hungary supports Türkiye’s European Union integration, Bence Tuzson, the justice minister, said after signing a cooperation agreement with Turkish counterpart Yilmaz Tunc in Budapest on Thursday.
The two ministers agreed that leaving Türkiye out of the EU would be the bloc’s loss rather Türkiye’s.
At a joint press conference, Tuzson expressed sympathy over a recent terrorist attack in Ankara claiming five lives, and said that Hungary condemns all kinds of terrorism.
The cooperation accord focusing on the exchange of information in the areas of law and IT, strengthens the two countries’ strategic partnership, Tuzson said, highlighting Türkiye’s advanced IT systems in legislation and its “huge progress in legislation in the past 20 years”.
Tuzson said the EU should in the future “pursue an enlargement policy based on merit rather than on ideologies”, and he insisted that the bloc should “recognise the efforts of countries that have made progress in the area of enlargement” such as Türkiye.
The minister called for an EU that was “as open as possible”, adding that Hungary sought to be a hub for European businesses and ventures outside the community. “This applies to the area of law,” he added.
Enlargement is in the primary interest of the EU rather than of countries outside the EU because “enlargement could boost Europe’s competitiveness,” he said, adding that an invitation has been extended to Turkey to attend the EU’s competitiveness conference in November.
Referring to the recent terrorist attack in Ankara, the Turkish minister blamed the Kurdish PKK party, and he pledged to continue Türkiye’s fight against terrorism and to protect the Turkish people.
Tunc said bilateral relations were problem-free, adding that the accord signed on Thursday was an addition to an earlier agreement on judicial cooperation.
He said his country had met all EU requirements concerning its accession but the EU was discriminating against Türkiye. He insisted that in many areas the EU’s treatment of Türkiye was illegitimate, but he also expressed Türkiye’s determination to join the bloc.
Kinga Gál, the chair of the Fidesz-Christian Democrat European Parliament delegation, has called for “the bad EU migration pact” to be “chucked out” and for fines against Hungary for stopping migration to be lifted.
The outgoing European Commission’s “big mistake” was to force through the EU migration pact, Gál, who is also the first deputy leader of the Patriots for Europe group, told an international press conference on Wednesday, adding that the pact imposed “old and bad solutions” to problems of which the pact itself was a focal point.
She said mass illegal migration endangered Europeans, ruined the continent and compromised Schengen free movement. “Radical change is needed,” she declared.
Gál said protecting the external borders should be a priority, and she argued that asylum applications must be assessed beyond Europe’s borders. Also, she called for cooperation with countries from where migrants originate and travel through, while people who have no legal right to stay in the EU should be “sent back”.
The Fidesz politician said Hungary in 2015 had been the first EU member state to highlight the perils and unsustainability of mass illegal migration, and ever since the country had advanced proposals on how to strengthen and control the external borders and prevent irregular migration while putting its advice into practice.
Gál said that while more and more EU member states demanded stricter controls at the EU borders and a clamp-down on migration, the European Commission was “harshly punishing” Hungary for protecting the EU borders, which she called “outrageous” and “hypocritical”.
Tamas Deutsch, the Fidesz-Christian Democrat European Parliament group leader, noted that the EP decided on its position on the 2025 EU budget at its plenary session on Wednesday.
He said Fidesz argued for a EU budget that advanced peace and stopped illegal migration while strengthening national sovereignty.
The Patriots’ bill would have provided the union with effective means for stopping illegal migration and protecting external borders, such as procuring border protection equipment and building and maintaining border fences.
Western leaders are “in panic” over illegal migration, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told a press conference after a Hungarian-Slovak-Serbian summit on the protection of the European Union’s external borders in Komarno (Revkomarom), in southern Slovakia, on Tuesday.
“Panic only breeds bad decisions,” Orbán said, pointing to measures such as suspending free movement within the Schengen area and re-introducing border controls, “so illegal migration dismantled the greatest achievement of the European Union, free movement across the borders.” It was predictable that the crime rate would grow and the migration pact would exacerbate rather than solve the problem, “so the pact is the problem itself,” he said.
Migration ‘greatest problem’
Photo: FB/Orbán
The greatest problem threatening to pull the European Union apart is migration, Orbán said, calling for change, adding that the EU’s migration pact “must be thrown out” and all new solutions have to be sought.
Speaking after a Hungarian-Slovak-Serbian summit on the protection of the EU’s external borders in Komarno (Revkomarom) in Slovakia on Tuesday, Orbán said that while migration was itself a serious problem, “it will destroy cooperation within the bloc” when coupled with bad leadership. “The prime minister of Slovakia and I are ready to participate in creating new rules because the current ones must certainly be forgotten and new ones must be drafted,” Orbán said.
Orbán: Cooperation with Slovakia, Serbia in Hungary’s vital interest
Cooperation with Slovakia and Serbia is in Hungary’s vital interest, and Hungary is ready to continue it “in its current form”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told a press conference after a Hungarian-Slovak-Serbian summit in Komarno (Révkomárom) in Slovakia on Tuesday.
Slovakia is among Hungary’s ten most important economic partners, and bilateral trade with Serbia has grown six-fold during the presidency of Aleksandar Vucic, Orbán said. He said Serbian-Hungarian ties also played a role in Hungary’s economic neutrality through Serbia’s free trade agreement with China. Serbia and Slovakia are also crucial for Hungary’s energy independence, Orbán said.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told the Salzburg Europe Summit that Europe should work together to achieve peace, stem waves of illegal migration, and restore the community’s economic competitiveness.
A statement from the foreign ministry quoted Szijjártó as referring to the war in Ukraine, the mass migration facing the continent for the past ten years, and economic questions “seen in a strongly ideological light” in the European Union.
“What do we suggest as in line with the EU’s interest? This will not be the mainstream position. We believe that Europe is interested in driving Ukraine’s development toward peace. Europe has an interest in reining in the waves of migration at last. Europe also has an interest in making economic decisions based on common sense,” he said. The Hungarian government, he added, “supports all initiatives aimed at peace in Ukraine. We will do everything to preserve national sovereignty and economic neutrality.”
Concerning the war in Ukraine, Szijjártó said that as opposed to sending more weapons to Ukraine, adopting further sanctions, and enabling Ukraine to use their weapons against targets in Russia, “talks should be launched, and in the end, we should find a peaceful solution to save human life.” While “the first approach has simply not worked … the second should be given a chance … (we should) try and concentrate on ways to make peace and (ways) to avoid prolonging the war,” the minister said.
Szijjártó said Hungary was currently under EU sanctions “for protecting the EU’s external borders”. He said Hungarian authorities have recently prevented over 500,000 illegal entry attempts. He noted that under international law, refugees could be granted temporary asylum in the first safe country after fleeing their homeland. “There is no word about second, third … tenth safe country,” he added. “Unless we return to the foundations of international law, we will never be able to protect the continent’s security,” he warned.
Szijjártó said “a possible new economic Cold War” and the world falling into new blocs were “a great threat” and sharply contrasted with Hungary’s interests. He added that Hungary continues to be interested in connectivity, a “civilised cooperation” between East and West.
Hungary is one of three countries in the world in which all three of Germany’s leading carmakers have plants. At the same time, five of the largest battery makers in the East have committed to have production in Hungary, Szijjártó said. “If we put artificial obstacles in the way of companies dominating the continent’s economic performance, we could cause huge problems, while the competitiveness of the EU has become even weaker than before,” he warned at the Salzburg Europe Summit.
The war in Ukraine cannot be won using the victory plan of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, “we can only lose with this”, and Hungary will not be a part of it, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told public broadcaster Kossuth Rádió on Friday.
Danger of war in Europe is near, says Orbán
Orbánsaid the EU was split into two groups on the war: “there is us and the others”. Hungary had said at the start of the war that it would not participate in the war effort, “while the rest of the EU countries are in it”, he said. While the EU is not in direct conflict with Russia, it is behaving like a warring party, Orbán said, adding that Hungary had made it clear at the beginning that this was a flawed strategy, “this war cannot be won, we need negotiations”.
The aim should be as swift an end to the war as possible “so as few as possible die, so Ukraine loses as little territory as possible, and Hungary and Europe can return to peaceful life … so we don’t have to burn billions of dollars and euros in this war, so we don’t have to impose sanctions and ruin European trade and the energy system, creating soaring energy prices and inflation…” Orbán said.
Photo: MTI
“And now, the other 26 countries of the EU are hearing in amazement that President Zelenskyhas a victory plan. Why, what did he have so far?” “What they had for a plan so far turned out to be a plan for defeat, and they are now trying to replace it with a victory plan,” Orbán said, adding that Hungary would not participate in that. Commenting on press reports on Ukraine planning to develop a nuclear bomb, Orbán said what he had heard from Zelensky “did not sound like Ukraine seriously thought they could develop into a nuclear power”. At the same time, “the possibility alone is frightening,” he said.
“Everyone feels” that the danger of the war erupting in Europe is near, and that is a fertile soil for “such half-information”, Orbán said. Secret services are working on ascertaining whether Ukraine has such plans, he added.
Brussels want to appoint their own Hungarian government
On EU politics, Orbán said the Europe envisioned by the European People’s Party would be bad for Hungarians, adding that Brussels wanted to appoint a government of its own to replace the current Hungarian administration.
Commenting on an image released by the EPP featuring the prime minister with text that reads “Time to go”, Orbán said that one of the reasons behind this could be Hungary’s position on the war. Orbán noted that he had proposed that the German chancellor and the French president begin talks with the Russians “either on their own or Europe’s behalf before the Americans arrive on the scene”.
PM Orbán and President Macron. Photo: MTI
He said the EPP “took things up a notch” in the last European Parliament debate where it had announced that it wanted to replace Hungary’s government with one belonging to their own grouping so that it could “pursue policies that are to Brussels’ liking, like taking in migrants, entering the war, accepting gender ideology and scrapping the child protection regime in Hungary”.
Orbán said the EPP also had “a lot of economic demands”, such as that Hungary should not “tax their multinationals or torment their banks”. Hungarians will decide on their leaders at the next elections, “until then, we need to work rather than campaign and ensure the success of our non-Brusselite policies in economics and foreign affairs,” Orbán said.
Russian position improved, Ukraine’s worsened
Since the start of the war, Russia’s position had improved and Ukraine’s worsened, “so it’s a good idea that we should negotiate from a position of strength, but we are weak; the victory plan is about us becoming strong at some point, but we’re losing the war right now.”
While all European countries have a war strategy, Hungary has a peace strategy, Orbán said, calling for a “peace or at least a ceasefire, and concluding the conflict with the smallest possible losses and the best possible perspectives.”
Orbán said the EU was currently facing the biggest challenges in areas that Hungary had found answers to, pointing to migration, the utility price caps and the war in Ukraine as examples. “What we are doing in Hungary is more or less what the European people would like to see at home, but their governments are doing the opposite.”
With the leaders of the Patriots for Europe. Photo: MTI
Everyone in Europe today oppose migration
Orbán said everyone in Europe today opposed migration, and apart from European governments no “normal person” supported it. “They’d give an arm for conditions related to migration to be the way they are in Hungary,” he added.
“But there’s no migration crisis here because we don’t let [migrants] in while they’re banging their head against a wall thinking how could they have been so careless to let in millions of migrants whom they can’t do anything about now, and they just keep coming,” the prime minister said.
He said the situation was similar when it came to utility prices, with Europeans asking how it was possible that Hungarian families had the lowest electricity and gas bills.
Meanwhile, when it came to the Russia-Ukraine war, Europeans, he said, were asking why it was that their own governments were “up to their neck in the war” while Hungary was pro-peace like most of the European people.
Orbán said Hungary served as an example for Europeans in opposition to their own governments, which left those governments in an uncomfortable situation.
He said he tried “not to provoke” the other European governments on this issue “so that they leave us alone”, but European leaders felt “that this is not merely about Hungary, but also that they could make changes to their Europe policy, economic policy, military policy, energy policy and migration policy”.
Hungary needs to pursue its own economic policy
“The biggest problem with us is that we’re successful,” he said, citing the examples of economic growth and the issue of migration.
Orbán said this meant that Hungary “unwittingly poses a challenge to EU countries with bad policies”, and this also increased Hungary’s weight in the bloc. Noting that he met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week and is scheduled to meet French President Emmanuel Macron the next, Orbán said “Hungary’s way of doing things and its success clearly increases its weight in foreign affairs.”
“I think our influence is greater than what the country’s size and actual economic and military strength would warrant,” he said.
Meanwhile, the prime minister said the next National Consultation surveying Hungarians on issues related to the economy would allow the foundations of a new economic policy to be laid.
Orbán said Hungary needed to pursue its own economic policy and augured “amazing” macroeconomic data in the first quarter of 2025. He added that the government’s 21-point action plan would give new impetus to the economy.
New National Consultation
He said Europe could not or did not want to adapt to the changing world, but Hungary, which could adapt quickly, had adopted a policy of economic neutrality that would put it ahead in the race, if that policy was affirmed in the National Consultation.
He acknowledged that a new economic policy came with difficulties, some risk and much work, and said digging in would require Hungarians’ support for pursing a policy that was particular to the country’s own needs.
Orbán said that in the event of a war, the government’s economic policy plans would “stay in the desk drawer”. He said they were “praying and rooting” for former US president Donald Trump’s victory in next month’s presidential election, and they trusted that Hungary could avert getting dragged into the war.
Orbán said another foundation of the government’s economic policy was keeping Hungary “a migrant-free area”. He said migration did not just come with a threat of terrorism, crime and tensions, but also cost a lot. He added that Hungary had been fined by Brussels for not letting in migrants, but letting them in would be a far greater financial burden.
Orbán also noted the government’s plans to introduce wage hikes, make housing cheaper, doubling family tax breaks for children, and support for small and medium-sized businesses.
Europe’s competitiveness deteriorated
He said the new economic policy would have a noticeable impact on everyday life next year if Hungarians gave it their backing in the public survey.
Orbán said that while Europe’s competitiveness had deteriorated recently, China’s and the US’ had improved, but Europe was responding with isolation and tariffs. The prime minister said this was the wrong approach, and Hungary’s economic policy was based on connectivity and trade neutrality.
“We must trade and compete with everyone and find a way to participate in every competitive international company; and we must cooperate so that Hungary can also get a share of the large amount of economic profits generated in the world,” Orbán said.
Read also:
Hungarian forint at 4-month low against USD, further weakening ahead? – read more HERE
The foreign ministry said on Monday that a Hungarian delegation will be in N’Djamena, Chad, in the upcoming days to discuss the details of and the Hungarian government’s comprehensive role in the strategic partnership both sides signed in September.
The statement said the delegation is led by ministerial commissioner Laszlo Mathe and includes representatives of the Hungary Helps programme, the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE), and the Hungarian armed forces.
The Hungarian government recognised in good time that the development, peace, and stability of Africa are key interests of Hungary and Europe as a whole. Illegal migration from the south supported by terrorists was one of the biggest security threats facing Europe, it added.
“From Hungary, we’re concerned to see the global spread of terrorist organisations, and this danger especially affects Africa, including the Sahel,” the ministry said.
The statement said it is important to handle problems at their origin. Migration cannot be stopped without cooperation with the Sahel, it added.
The ministry said Hungary is carrying out humanitarian development while offering support for peace and launching programmes that strengthen the stability of this region of Africa, with the aim of helping people stay in their place of birth.
It added that Hungary and Chad want to take concerted action against terrorism, and the strategic partnership agreement signed on September 9 serves this aim.
The common interests of Europe and the Sahel are also promoted under the arrangements of Hungary’s EU presidency, which is prioritizing the issue, encouraging all member states to get involved in humanitarian activities in the region. The Hungarian government has prompted the EU to transfer 14 million euros to develop Chad’s defence capacities from the European Peace Facility.
The Hungarian government is working on developing the diplomatic representation office in N’Djamena to the rank of an embassy to strengthen the efforts, the statement said.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán answered journalists’ questions for two hours in the European Parliament on Tuesday afternoon. The Hungarian prime minister held a press conference the day before he was due to present the programme of the Hungarian presidency in the EP.
Hungary’s EU presidency to table five-year competitiveness deal
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the deterioration of Europe’s competitiveness was a “serious challenge” and Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the European Union would propose a new competitiveness deal, speaking at a press conference in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
Orbán said that challenge had to be addressed in the context of the war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East and in Africa that were at risk of escalating. He also pointed to security threats not seen since the 2015 migration crisis that were putting pressure on the EU’s passport-free Schengen zone.
Hungary’s EU presidency will propose a new European competitiveness deal, extending for five years, at an informal summit in Budapest on November 8, Orbán said. He added that a reduction in administrative burdens and overregulation, affordable energy prices, green industrial policy and a strengthening of the internal market were part of the new competitiveness deal. He also said that barriers to the movement of goods and services needed to be removed, while EU capital markets had to be bolstered to prevent savings from flowing to investments in the United States, and a policy of connectivity advanced.
He said the EU needed change and Hungary’s EU presidency wanted to be a catalyst for that change.
Orbán noted that he was in Strasbourg to present the programme for Hungary’s EU presidency to MEPs on Wednesday. He said that it was the second time he had personally headed Hungary’s EU presidency and recalled that the first time, in 2011, involved dealing with the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the Arab Spring and Fukushima. Hungary’s next EU presidency is “written in my calendar, as optimism is important”, he added.
He said Hungary’s EU presidency, given the country’s size, could point out problems and make recommendations, but European institutions and big member states would have to take the decisions. Improving competitiveness is the focus of Hungary’s EU presidency, he added.
The United States and China have outpaced Europe’s economic growth for two decades, while Europe’s share of global trade has declined, he said. He added that companies in the EU had to pay double or triple what their counterparts in the US paid for electricity and four or five times as much for gas.
He said that European companies spend half as much on R+D as in the US.
Addressing demographic trends, Orbán said the scale of Europe’s labour force didn’t support the continent’s output growth. He added that improving productivity was doubly important as earlier and had to exceed the pace of development in the US.
Orbán called an EU decision to levy punitive tariffs on Chinese EVs “an absurdity” as local automotive industry companies had protested the measure. He added that just ten of the EU’s 27 member states, accounting for 45 percent of the EU’s residents, had backed the move.
Orbán: Migration cannot be stopped without ‘external hotspots’
Illegal migration cannot be stopped without setting up hotspots outside the European Union, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told a press conference in Strasbourg on Tuesday, adding that those who had made it to the EU “will never leave”.
The only way to stop migration is by forging a consensus between member states on obliging those wanting to enter the bloc to “stop at the border, request admission, and they’re not allowed to enter the EU until their request is assessed”. “If we can’t achieve that, we will never stop migration,” he said.
No government is ready to “round up” migrants already within the borders and expel them from the EU, he said. “The only migrants who won’t stay are the ones we don’t allow in,” Orbán said.
Security guards had to detain opposition protester
Orbán had just started the central part of his speech when Márton Gyekiczki, a member of the DK youth organisation, rushed to his table and shouted several times:
How much did you betray the country for, Prime Minister?
Photo: MTI
He repeated this several times and then shouted on the way out that the Hungarian Prime Minister had sold Hungary to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
How much did [PM’s political director] Balázs Orbán get to betray the country, Mr Prime Minister?”
After the DK activist was detained and led out by guards, Orbán responded that in Hungarian politics, calling someone a villain only means that you disagree with them. Orbán said Hungarian was a “direct language and communication is rather curt. If a politician calls the other a swindler, that is the equivalent of ‘I disagree'”. He said heckling was an everyday occurrence in Hungary.
Here’s the video showing how a DK local council member interrupted Orbán’s press conference in Strasbourg.
The event was disrupted by Márton Gyekiczki, a DK councilor from Érd, who threw paper notes and yelled, “How much did you betray the country for, Mr. Prime Minister?”… pic.twitter.com/dZiVhtfFnd
The clear statement of Balázs Orbán, criticised by many:
“Based precisely on ’56, we probably would not have done what President Zelensky did 2.5 years ago, because it is irresponsible, because one can see that he took his country into a war of defense”
A video of Balázs Orbán’s interview, with English subtitles
Orbán proposes Schengen summit to handle migration
The Hungarian presidency of the European Union proposes introducing a system of Schengen summits to tackle the issue of migration, PM Orbán said.
Orbán told a presser presenting the EU presidency’s programmme that the EU did not have a successful common migration policy and member states were trying to protect themselves individually.
At the same time those individual attempts were threatening to “dismantle” the Schengen system, so “one large common decision is needed” instead, he said.
Orbán said the Hungarian presidency’s proposal was that similarly to the eurozone countries’ summits, the leaders of Schengen countries should regularly meet, and they should manage the Schengen borders at the highest political level together “similarly to how the euro is being managed”.
Europe will never be complete without integration of Balkans
Illegal migration cannot be stopped without setting up hotspots outside the European Union, Orban said.
The only way to stop migration is by forging a consensus between member states on obliging those wanting to enter the bloc to “stop at the border, request admission, and they’re not allowed to enter the EU until their request is assessed”. “If we can’t achieve that, we will never stop migration,” he said.
No government is ready to “round up” migrants already within the borders and expel them from the EU, he said. “The only migrants who won’t stay are the ones we don’t allow in,” Orban said.
Orban noted that he had represented that stance consistently since 2015, “and I was called an idiot and evil, but ultimately, everyone will come around to that standpoint.”
The EU’s migration policy “is clearly not working”, and illegal migration was spawning growing anti-Semitism, violence against women and homophobia, he said.
Orban said the EU did not have a successful common migration policy and member states were trying to protect themselves individually.
At the same time those individual attempts were threatening to “dismantle” the Schengen system, so “one large common decision is needed” instead, he said.
Orban said the Hungarian presidency’s proposal was that similarly to the eurozone countries’ summits, the leaders of Schengen countries should regularly meet, and they should manage the Schengen borders at the highest political level together, “similarly to how the euro is being managed”.
Photo: MTI
Moving on to the EU’s enlargement, Orbán said Europe will never be complete without the integration of the Balkans, which is why the Hungarian presidency has called a European Union and Western Balkans summit.
EU defence policy and strengthening the bloc’s technological foundations were on the presidency’s agenda and they will be addressed at an informal meeting in Budapest on November 7, he said.
“We promised to the Western Balkans countries twenty years ago that they will be given entry, and it is time to fulfil the promise,”
he said, adding that the Hungarian presidency has also called a summit of the Western Balkans and the European Union.
Enlargement must be merit-based, he said, adding that without Serbia no enlargement will be successful, because the Western Balkans countries cannot be integrated without Serbia, a country “with such a weight and strength that the Balkans cannot be stabilised without it”.
Hungary is working to make progress in that regard, too, he said.
Orbán said the Hungarian presidency also addressed agriculture. The planning of the next financial cycle’s directions has started, and so the mapping of its agricultural policy. The goal is to create a competitive, crisis-resistant and farmer-friendly European agriculture, he said.
If the programme points of the Hungarian presidency are fulfilled, then its slogan, “Make Europe Great Again”, will come to life, he added.
US elections
Commenting on the US elections, Orbán said: “If Trump comes back, we will open several bottles of champagne.” He welcomed that the informal meeting of EU leaders in Budapest was scheduled two days after the election, offering an opportunity to plan the next steps.
Should Trump be elected, “we must take seriously his statements that he will not wait until his inauguration to start handling the war and possible peace in Ukraine. We European leaders will not have 2-3 months between the election and the start of term of the next US president,” Orbán said.
EUR 35 billion loan to Ukraine
In response to a question about why Hungary was not supporting a EUR 35 billion loan to Ukraine, and whether Hungary would fight against Russian President Putin, he said Hungary was carrying out the greatest humanitarian scheme of its history. A large number of Ukrainians have arrived and they have been immediately given asylum, with several tens of thousands of Ukrainians now living in Hungary. Ukrainian schools have been opened in Hungary despite the fact that Hungarian schools have been closed in Ukraine. “We are doing everything that a Christian country can do to help a neighbouring country,” he added.
Orbán said there was a debate about what should be the expected behaviour in the European Union, and Hungary’s opinion differed from most other EU countries’. Hungary wants to see a ceasefire as soon as possible because this war cannot be won on the battlefield, he added. If the war cannot be won in the battlefield, then talks are needed, a ceasefire is needed and lives must be saved, he said. “This is what Hungary wants to help with,” he added. Orbán said communication was viewed as a sin in the EU, yet the war situation cannot be successfully handled without it. Communication is needed, with the involvement of as many countries that can achieve a ceasefire as possible, he added. “Currently we are in a strong minority, but that is no reason for us to give up our clear position,” he said.
European politics
Orbán said there was a great change under way in European politics. A European elite consisting of the Left, liberals and central right call themselves the mainstream. But the people are increasingly dissatisfied with their performance, and the mainstream is surrounded by a circle of protests, he added. People do not agree with the war, they want peace, they do not agree with migration, they do not want to allow the illegal migrants to enter, they do not agree with the economic policy, the agriculture is being damaged, and the companies are over-regulated, with purchasing power decreasing, he said.
“Considering that we live in democracy, these voices find their representatives and new parties, new players appear, with increasing weight,” he said.
Orbán called for calm and common sense, saying that patriots should not be excluded but invited to join.
He said the Brussels mainstream, the bureaucrats, must decide whether they wanted to defend the status quo or listen to the people. The PfE was one of the symptoms, and if the Brussels elite refuses change, they must be pushed to the side.
In response to a question, Orbán said the member states should help each other instead of blocking each other.
He said migration represented a “slap in the face” for EU unity because it highlighted that “we differ from each other in many ways”.
Orbán said that instead of allowing each member state to follow its own migration policy, “the big boys decided that a common migration policy is needed.”
He added that this policy must be followed even by those who do not want it, and Hungary must pay 200 million euros just because it does not want to allow migrants into the country.
Orbán said that with Brexit, the balance was lost between those supporting a centralised, federalist EU and those supporting sovereignty. “This situation has resulted in a growing number of conflicts,” he said, adding that while the Brits were still in the EU, there was no rule of law procedure. The supporters of sovereignty do not want confrontation, but to maintain the former balance, refusing centralisation, he said.
He said he was representing Hungary’s national interests and wanted to agree with all other country leaders on this basis. He said he was not representing a globalist elite or European bureocrats, he was standing with both feet on the ground, as the representative of national interests.
Orbán said Hungary did not agree with the EU’s approach to migration, but said that a compromise must be found sooner or later.
He added that there would always be member states that did not agree with the common migration policy and would not be eble to comply with the decisions of the European Commission or court.
An acceptable solution would be an opt-out from common decisions for member countries that “cannot follow the mainstream”, Orban said, “otherwise the EU will be damaged”. He added that this was why he was glad to see the Netherlands, one of the founding members of the EU, to be the first to bring up the possibility of an opt-out.
Commenting on the “gigantic” fine imposed on Hungary, he said talks with the European Commission have stalled.
In response to a question about when Hungary would start buses transporting migrants to Brussels, he said “the time will come, it is not far away.” He said Hungary would respect European regulations and if asylum seekers in Hungary wanted to go to Brussels, Hungary would help them.
Commenting on criticism he received for his “peace mission” and asked if he felt isolated in the EU, he said it was impossible to be isolated in the EU. He said they had “dreams like that in the Left” but added that when there was an attempt to isolate Austria, it became ridiculous.
He said the start of the Hungarian presidency posed a great challenge. There were two possibilities: one was a bureaucratic Hungarian presidency, but Orban said he decided to view it as a political presidency, with respect to the limitations.
“We have a very friendly attitude to the EU,” he said in response to another question. The EU is made up of nation states, there is no such thing as an EU citizen, but an Italian, French, Hungarian, Dutch citizen. They must be represented, which is not a hostile behavious but a normal approach, he added.
In response to a question on the conditionality procedure, he said Hungary wanted to reach an agreement. “There are good examples, currently Hungary has 12 billion euros on its account, which can be continually incorporated in Hungarian economy, he said, adding that he trusted that a further agreement could be reached.
Erasmus and Horizon programs
Commenting on the Erasmus and Horizon programs, he said Hungary wanted to agree with the Commission to restore these possibilities. At the same time, he said Hungary had set up its own systems. The Pannonia scheme has been set up in place of Erasmus, and a separate research scheme has been set up in place of Horizon.
He branded it “ugly blackmail” that Hungarian students are refused EU support.
Other questions
In response to a question about his relationship with Putin, Orbán said “he is the Russian president and I am the prime minister of Hungary, that is the relationship”.
In response to another question, he said the Schengen membership of Romania and Bulgaria was kept on the agenda. He said he would make every effort to convince everyone that it would greatly benefit the EU. The two countries are ready to protect the external borders, he added.
Orban also said in response to a question that the Hungarian economy was very transparent towards the Russian economy and in areas not affected by sanctions, Hungary tries to cooperate with Russia. He also said that western countries had bought 8.5 billion dollars worth of energy from Russia since the start of the war.
“What we do is completely transparent, what the others do is hypocrisy. Stop criticising Hungary”, Orban said.
He reiterated that no migrant camp will be set up in Hungary.
Asked about an MBH loan to Spain’s VOX party, he said he was involved in politics and not with who lends money to whom, which is private business.
He also said that certain countries had special campaign financing rules, and parties must take out loans. In Hungary, it is the other way round, and if a party wants to run at the election, it receives support from the state budget.
If someone wants to take out a loan in Hungary from a Hungarian bank, the government will have no business with it, because Hungary is a free country, he said.
Commenting on the issue of a ceasefire in Ukraine, he said in response to a question, that during his talks in July he found that both the Russian and the Ukrainian leaders believe time works for them and they do not want a ceasefire and peace. This is bad for Europe, Orban said. Because the sides are unwilling to take steps, international efforts are needed to continually push the sides towards talks, he added.
He said he believed the majority of the world was pro-peace and Europe was pro-war, or “to put it more respecfully, Europe has taken a longer road to peace”.
EP Serbia delegation
In response to a question, Orbán said it was regrettable that a Greek person had been elected instead of a Hungarian one into the EP Serbia delegation, but added that the Greek MEP also deserved the position. He criticised the fact that the Hungarian opposition parties did not support the Hungarian nominee.
Interior ministry political state secretary Bence Retvari said on Facebook on Monday that Hungary will not allow migrant camps on its territory as long as Fidesz is in power.
This is the reason why Hungary has received a “gigantic, unfair and disproportionate” EU fine of 200 million euros and a daily penalty of 1 million euros, “because we are unwilling to submit to” the migration pact “and host illegal migrants en masse in migrant camps at our borders”.
Neither is Hungary willing to participate in a quota system for distributing migrants within the EU, he added.
Hungary, he said, was determined to protect its borders “and it will do so”.
Rétvári insisted that European People’s Party (EPP) leader Manfred Weber, who he called the “Brussels boss” of opposition Tisza Party leader Péter Magyar, “wants immigrants, and he wants to build migrant camps.” While Péter Magyar has repeatedly stated that he does not support pro-immigration ideas, yet the Hungarian government seems to communicate that Magyar and the Tisza party are pro-immigration.
Migrants, Rétvári added, “will be transported to Brussels” rather than hosted in Hungary.
As we wrote last week, the Hungarian state violated Iranian Christian A.P.’s human rights when it unlawfully detained him for more than a year and even starved him in the Röszke transit zone, ruled the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), read details HERE.
Hungary and Equatorial Guinea are launching cooperation in the economy, energy, water management, and education, with relations based on mutual respect, the foreign minister said after meeting counterpart Simeon Oyono Esono Angue in Malabo on Monday.
Hungarian Foreign Minister visits Equatorial Guinea for the first time
Péter Szijjártó told a joint press conference that Christianity was an important meeting point and a stable foundation for cooperation. “It is an honor to be here, the country with the largest ratio of Catholic residents in Africa,” he said.
He said new cooperation was especially important in an “era of dangers” when the war in Ukraine and illegal migration posed security challenges.
“Hungary and Equatorial Guinea both belong to a global pro-peace majority… Although the liberal mainstream press in Europe is trying to suggest otherwise when we look outside Europe or the transatlantic world … it is clear that we pro-peace people are in the majority,” Szijjártó said.
Africa “is on the cusp of a population boom, which warrants a comprehensive development plan,” he said. Failing that, “either Africa will see the largest humanitarian crisis of all time, or the largest migration pressure ever will weigh on Europe,” he said, adding that Hungary wanted to avoid both.
Hungary and Equatorial Guinea are launching cooperation in the economy, energy, water management, and education.
Agreements, cooperation
Szijjártó said the ministers had signed agreements on policy consultations and talks are ongoing on an economic cooperation agreement under which Hungarian companies would help Equatorial Guinea in tackling areas such as water management, modernising water supply systems and developing water security.
Cooperation between the two countries also focuses on Equatorial Guinea’s role as an important producer of natural gas and oil, he said.
“We know that the oil and gas fields are drying out. We in Hungary have developed a technology that would allow production to continue in depleted oil and gas fields sustainably and effectively. Those technologies could contribute to the development of Equatorial Guinea’s economy,” Szijjártó said.
He added that Equatorial Guinea has also shown interest in Hungarian tech in agriculture and the food industry.
Szijjártó and Oyono also agreed that Hungary will offer government grants to students wishing to study in Hungary, especially in health care.
“It is an honour to be here as the first Hungarian foreign minister visiting the country, and we are respectfully inviting you to Budapest to sign the agreements on economic cooperation and grants,” he said.
The Italians and the Hungarians are two freedom fighter people that never surrender, never give up their freedom and never give up their countries to foreigners, Viktor Orbán said in Pontida, in northern Italy, where he addressed as guest speaker the annual rally held by Matteo Salvini’s League party on Sunday.
Viktor Orbán said that Hungary on October 6 observed a national day of mourning to pay tribute to the heroes of the 1848/49 revolution and war of independence; adding that at that time the Italian and Hungarian people rose up and fought with arms against foreign rule.
“Italians and Hungarians are two freedom fighter people, and we are their heirs. We will never surrender, we will never give up our freedom, and we will never hand over our country to foreigners. We will not hand it over either to Brussels bureaucrats, or to global financial powers or migrants,” Orbán said, and added that Italy belonged to Italians and Hungary to Hungarians.
The prime minister called Matteo Salvini a European patriot, who Orbán said was celebrated as a hero in Hungary because he had closed the borders and defended the homes of Italians and also defended Europe. He said Salvini deserved an honour, not a judicial proceeding for that. Orbán called the proceedings launched against Salvini in connection with illegal migration “a disgrace” for the left and the whole of Europe.
The Hungarian state violated Iranian Christian A.P.’s human rights when it unlawfully detained him for more than a year and even starved him in the Röszke transit zone, ruled the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) today. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s client will receive a fair compensation of 5,000 euros.
“Although the transit zones were dismantled in May 2020, the ECtHR is still investigating numerous complaints of people unlawfully detained in Hungary’s Röszke and Tompa transit zones. Today’s judgment is just about one case of the countless,” the Hungarian Helsinki Committee wrote in a statement.
A.P. entered Hungary legally in September 2018 at the transit zone in Röszke. He applied for asylum, which the Hungarian authorities routinely rejected without any substantive examination, claiming that Serbia was a safe country for asylum purposes, so he was not entitled to protection in Hungary.
This assertion was so far from reality that neither the UNHCR nor most EU member states consider Serbia a safe country for refugees (either then or now). After all, in 2020, the domestic authorities finally started to examine the Iranian man’s asylum application in a fair procedure, and they granted him refugee status. But he had a lot to go through before then.
Illustration. Photo: FB/Máté Kocsis
Persecuted for his Christian religion at home
After being persecuted for his Christian religion at home, the man was detained in the transit zone for 379 days – during which he had to spend half a year under incredibly harsh conditions in the alien policing sector. He was not allowed to meet anyone, not even the UN staff, and he had no idea how long he would be detained. He committed no offence; he just asked the Hungarian state for protection as a persecuted person. The authorities even starved him, then gave him food after three days only because the ECtHR ordered them upon the Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s interim measure request.
A.P. filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights. After five and a half years, the court delivered its judgment today and found the detention unlawful. Moreover, it also emphasised that the domestic legal system did not provide any effective remedy for people deprived of their freedom indefinitely and that they could not appeal against their detention in court. As it has done so several times before, the ECtHR found that “the domestic law did not provide the applicant with the possibility to contest the lawfulness and length of his detention” either.
Iranian Christian unlawfully detained gets compensation
“This is the 105th case that the Hungarian Helsinki Committee has won in Strasbourg and the eighteenth in which the European Court of Human Rights has condemned the blatantly unlawful practice of detention in transit zones. Though we are happy that our clients are getting compensation, these terrible cases should never have happened in the first place.
Although the transit zones have been closed, the Hungarian state continues the mass human rights violations at the Southern border. The authorities still push people back to Serbia, even though both the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union condemned this practice in 2020,” – said Gábor Győző, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s attorney-at-law, who represented the Iranian Christian asylum-seeker in the Strasbourg proceedings.
Read also:
Brussels ‘has declared war’ on protecting EU’s external borders, says Orbán’s minister – read more HERE
Exposed: Orbán Cabinet builds massive refugee camp near the Hungarian-Austrian border – details, reactions HERE
The first day of parliament’s autumn session traditionally starts with a speech by the Hungarian Prime Minister. This was the case again this time, with Viktor Orbán setting out the most important issues for him:
Orbán: ‘We will protect Hungary’s sovereignty, independence’
Hungary’s government will not hesitate to use all the tools at the state’s disposal to protect the country’s sovereignty and independence, PM Orbán said on Monday, the first day of parliament’s autumn session.
“We will protect Hungary from any sanctions that threaten the interests, security, well-being, and health of the Hungarian people,” Orbán told lawmakers.
He said Hungary’s government was nationally minded, making it a sovereigntist government. “International cooperation is an important and nice thing, but we know that we can only rely on ourselves,” the prime minister said, adding that national unity and governance had been the answer in “troubling times” throughout Hungary’s history.
“In certain European countries, including Germany, this happened the other way round, and that’s why they’re distrustful and at times even hostile to sovereign governments and sometimes openly and sometimes covertly seek to limit the sovereignty of national governments,” the prime minister said.
Orbán: New economic policy requires new tools
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán addressed lawmakers in parliament on Monday, at the start of the autumn session, and pointed to the need for a new economic policy and new economic solutions to achieve economic success.
Orbán said that without a new economic policy, Hungary can’t preserve the results it has achieved so far. He added that the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and sanctions policies had accelerated the transformation of the global economy.
He also noted efforts to decouple the economies of the East and the West and said the success of those initiatives would be the “worst-case scenario” for Hungary. He added that Hungary’s economy depends on being able to manufacture products competitively for the global market.
He said the government respected “100 percent” the central bank’s independence and the interest rate environment shaped by its monetary policy.
Orbán said the first “action plan” containing government economic policy measures would be submitted to lawmakers with the 2025 budget bill. That plan includes measures to roll out workers’ credit, similar to student loans, to make more capital available to SMEs, to double tax preferences for families with children, and to make the annual pensioners’ bonus permanent.
He said those measures could give impetus to Hungary’s economic growth, adding that the country’s GDP growth needed to reach 3pc-6pc.
‘We’ll transport migrants banging on Hungary’s doors to Brussels’ main square’
“if Brussels continues to insist on the decision punishing Hungary for its stance on migration … we will transport migrants who are banging on Hungary’s doors to its main square”.
Viktor Orbán told the assembly that the issue of migration fuelled heavy debates throughout Europe during the summer.
He noted that Germany closed its borders, France’s new prime minister announced restoring order at its borders, the Netherlands announced drafting its strictest-ever anti-migration laws, and the governments of Sweden and Finland are also discussing their own anti-migration laws.
“The era of free travel will soon be over,” the prime minister said.
He said, “All that would have been needed was to accept Hungary’s advice and follow Hungary’s model of disallowing migrants to enter [the EUn] right at the beginning.”
“And as regards the war [in Ukraine], Hungary will be right, too, just like it was on the issue of migration. There is no solution to the war in the battlefield, where there are only casualties, human suffering and destruction. We need a ceasefire, negotiations and peace,” said Orbán.
read also – Official of Orbán cabinet says they would NOT have defended Hungary in case of a Russian invasion – UPDATED with PM Orbán’s reaction
Hungary’s growth 50pc over EU avg
Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Hungary’s economy is expanding at a rate 50pc over the European Union average, but it needs to grow even faster.
Orbán said Hungary’s financial position was “untroubled”.
He noted that Hungary’s 24.5pc investment rate put it in fourth place in the EU, but said the top spot should be the goal. He added that 4,740,000 people were working in Hungary, while the average wage had climbed by 14pc, or 9.4pc adjusted for inflation, in the past year.
He acknowledged that state debt stood around 75pc of GDP, but reaffirmed the 50pc target. He said the budget was “doing well in pro rata terms” to achieve the 4.5pc-of-GDP deficit target.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that Hungary and the Hungarian state have become stronger over a decade.
The prime minister told lawmakers that compared with the flood of 2013, the Hungarian state was now “more effective, more organised and better prepared”, adding that the decision to extend the flood defence lines after 2013 had been the right one.
This past month’s sudden flood wave was the second biggest one this century, Orbán said, noting that flood protection efforts were under way along the full stretch of the Danube, from Gyor in the northwest to Mohacs in the south. “The flood defence went well and we managed to avert trouble,” he added.
Orbán thanked those who contributed to the flood defence work for their efforts. “We saw once again that if there’s trouble, Hungarians show exemplary unity,” he said. “Something from this should be carried over to peacetime.”
Orbán: Tourism sector finishes ‘record summer’
PM Orbán said that Hungary’s tourism sector reached record highs this summer.
Orbán said the number of Hungarians who took domestic trips and the number of foreigners who visited Hungary had never been higher than in summer. The number of Hungarians who travelled abroad also reached a new record, he added.
He noted that the government had repurchased the operator of Budapest Liszt Ferenc International in the summer and said passenger numbers at the airport were set to climb to 17.5 million this year.
Hungary’s government aims to make the country a “winner” in the coming decade, just as it was in the past decade, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a weekly interview with public radio on Friday.
Hungary will not join blocks
Speaking to Kossuth Rádió from Ohrid, in North Macedonia, Orbán pointed to the many recent changes such as the pandemic, war, energy crisis, inflation and emerging Asian markets that had affected the global economy and said countries that didn’t adapt would lose to those changes. He added that a new policy of economic neutrality would provide the necessary means and methods for Hungary to deal with those changes.
He warned that two blocs were in the process of being established, one in the West and the other in the East. Hungary will join neither, as it is in the country’s interest to have “strong, deep” economic ties with both.
Orbán, who is on an official visit to North Macedonia, underlined the importance of good economic relations with the Western Balkan country. He said North Macedonia was a “fantastic country but a complicated place”, noting its dispute with Bulgaria, which is blocking the country’s EU accession process over disputes related to ethnic minorities. Hungary, he said, had a duty as the holder of the EU’s rotating presidency to visit countries whose accession process is in a difficult situation, and to help settle the conflicts.
Photo: MTI
The prime minister added, at the same time, that his visit to North Macedonia was also important because the country is located on the most frequented migration route. He noted the immense help Macedonians had provided to Hungary at the peak of the 2015-2016 migration crisis. “Without them, we might not have been able to stop this migration invasion,” he said, noting that Hungary had sent border patrol officers to Macedonia’s southern border.
Orbán pointed to the significance of North Macedonia’s geographical location, saying if Hungary wanted to forward its goods to the seaport, one of the most important routes to the Greek ports ran through North Macedonia.
Economic neutrality first
Meanwhile, Orbán said that in order to establish economic neutrality, Hungary first had to be aware of its own interests. He said Europe was on a “suicide path” with its initiative to form blocs in response to Asia’s rise and its own economic difficulties. He said he was trying to convince his European counterparts that the bloc “shouldn’t start down this path”. “But they’re under a lot of pressure and economic neutrality isn’t that dear to everyone’s heart yet,” he added.
At the heart of economic neutrality, Orbán said, was not allowing others to “force” their intentions onto Hungary “to view the economy through a political lens”, because Hungary must see the trends exclusively in the context of the country’s own interests.
“That means that we will take from the West and take from the East only that which is useful and sensible. Whatever isn’t good, whatever isn’t useful for Hungarians, we won’t take,” he added.
Emergence of blocks unfavourable for economy
Orbán said the emergence of blocs always slowed down economic growth, and nation states and communities benefitted most from “the freest possible trade and economic cooperation”. Economic growth, he said, was lost with the introduction of sanctions and restrictions.
He said that regardless of any blocs that were forming in the global economy, Hungary had to remain a frontrunner in technological development, whether that be in car manufacturing, green energy or the most advanced products related to digitalisation.
The prime minister noted the planned introduction of preferential credit for Hungarians who enter vocational training, home purchase subsidies and schemes aimed at improving the situation of small and medium-sized businesses. He also said the tax-credit available to those raising children must be doubled in 2025.
Orbán said Hungary’s economic growth rate was between 1 percent and 2 percent at present, still putting the country in the forefront in Europe. He added that the goal was to boost Hungary’s growth to between 3-6 percent, in spite of the unfavourable circumstances, with the help of a policy of economic neutrality.
The prime minister said there was a good chance that a new Europe Union Competitiveness Deal could be signed around the end of Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the EU, in November.
Migration: you should speak the truth
Concerning the debate on migration, Orbán said the old Hungarian adage that “you speak the truth and your head gets chopped off” was especially valid in this regard.
In connection with the Italian deputy prime minister’s recent visit to Budapest, Orbán said that Matteo Salvini found himself in an even worse situation. “Because while I am getting hit, smashed, dragged and criticised, a six-year prison sentence is being sought for him for not letting vessels carrying illegal migrants dock in Italy’s ports when he was interior minister”.
Salvini and Orbán. Source: FB/Orbán
“We stand behind Salvini with our full support, he is our hero,” Orbán said, underscoring the need for politicians like Salvini in Europe “who want to stop illegal migration even at the cost of personal risk”.
He added, however, that despite criticisms directed at Hungary and the legal proceedings launched against Salvini, “an increasing number of countries say that ‘those guys were right'”.
“While they criticise us with one hand, with the other they make their own policy similar to ours,” the prime minister said, making reference to Germany “adopting” the policy measure of strict border control.
Keeping fingers crossed for Trump’s victory
As regards the upcoming US presidential election, Orbán said it could decide whether the world took steps towards a war or “stops, turns back and declares a ceasefire and peace as regards not only the Ukraine-Russia war but other conflicts as well”. He called Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump “a president of peace” who, he said, had not launched any wars but took steps for a peaceful settlement of old conflicts.
Photo: FB/Orbán
“It is therefore not by coincidence that the peace-loving, peace-seeking part of the world is keeping its fingers crossed for Trump’s victory,” Orbán said.
“And there are those on the opposite side, who support war and want to see the Democrats win, because they want to continue the war,” Orbán said. He added that in Hungary the pro-war stance was “typically represented by politicians on the left,” while those on the right were pro-peace politicians.
