Visegrad Group leaders held talks with Macron
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The Visegrad Group (V4) leaders held “exhaustive talks” with French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after the summit in Budapest on Monday.
Orbán told a press conference he held jointly with his V4 counterparts and Macron that the French president had laid out plans and goals of France’s upcoming European Union presidency.
Apart from the “passionate” discussions on the issue and the rule of law and the “thorough and exhaustive” talks on migration, the five leaders also discussed the situation in the Western Balkans and the issue of energy — nuclear power, in particular — as well as the future of the EU’s emissions trading system, Orbán added.
The prime minister said it was a “rare opportunity” for the five of them to be able to “speak openly about such important issues”.
Orbán thanked Macron on behalf of the V4 for his openness and future-mindedness, and for having given the central European grouping the chance to think ahead about the most important goals of the French EU presidency.
In response to a question, the prime minister said he and Macron often had “sharp debates” which he said he enjoyed.
A debate is only bad if there is no “quality” to it, Orbán said, adding that in future, too, he looked forward to having “quality debates” with the French president.
Orbán said this meant that Hungary would always give the president of France the respect he deserved, partly because of who he is and partly because the French president “is highly valued in Hungary”. Orbán praised Charles de Gaulle as a “point of reference”, and he noted that Giscard d’Estaing had visited Hungary to campaign for Fidesz before it won the 1998 general election. He added that he had worked together with Jacques Chirac and noted that Nicolas Sarkozy’s ties to Hungary were well known.
This is why, he said, he showed Macron and France respect by not giving his opinion on French domestic politics.
Orbán said Hungary, along with its secret services, was governed by the rule of law. “When we started out in politics, this was not the case, since we come from the resistance to the communist regime,” the prime minister said. “We came into politics from the world of freedom fighters and street fighters.”
In response to another question, Orbán said Hungary’s economic performance and financial situation were assessed by the market. The euro zone, he said, was a “lukewarm and nice place” where the order of things was determined by the bloc’s Stability and Growth Pact. “But the market is cold and cruel,” he added. “That’s where we have to hold our own,” Orbán said, adding that the value and strength of the Hungarian economy was measured on the markets.
Orbán is becoming a great statesman. Great for Hungary.