VIDEO: Counter-protester interrupts start of Viktor Orbán’s press conference in Strasbourg – UPDATE

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?

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?”

related article: Official of Orbán cabinet says they would NOT have defended Hungary in case of a Russian invasion

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

— Pete (@splendid_pete) October 8, 2024

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

Related article: Is Hungary’s NATO membership at risk? German-French démarche after PM Orbán’s political director’s cowardly words

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”.

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.