This year was a year of great struggles, the Prime Minister declared at the beginning of Thursday's international press conference in Budapest, at the Karmelita Monastery.
The goal in 2024 is for families to be at the center of politics again, instead of big struggles, the Prime Minister declared at an international press conference in Budapest on Thursday.
Viktor Orbán said that if in 2023 the people in Hungary fought and worked so that they would not lose what they had already gained, and from 2024 the government hopes that the country can work for progress.
According to his assessment, 2023 was a year of great struggles: there was war, the growing threat of terrorism, migration, inflation and Brussels.
"Our goals were clear: to stay out of the war, keep the threat of terrorism at bay, curb migration, break inflation, and come to an agreement with Brussels," he said.
He added: in the case of inflation, war, migration, and the threat of terrorism, we succeeded in what we set as a goal, we achieved it, he emphasized.
He added that the Hungarian families also put up a great fight this year.
The value of the pensions was completely protected, but it seems that wages were also protected to a greater extent than it appeared in the middle of the year, although we have to wait for the economic data at the end of the year, the Prime Minister noted.
In 2024, families will take center stage instead of struggles. According to him, the government has already presented most of the measures it can take:
– new housing program
– minimum wage increase
– guaranteeing and increasing the value of pensions
– three-year wage development plan for teachers and kindergarten teachers.
Brussels does not see the real European problems, so the purpose of the European Parliament (EP) elections is to open the eyes of Brussels, to see the reality and to be able to correct the leadership mistakes it made in 2023. - stated the Prime Minister, emphasizing that the European Parliament elections are at the center of next year's political goals.
"In Brussels, the bureaucrats live in a bubble and are pushed away from the real problems", and the goal is to "open his eyes and be able to correct the management mistakes he made in 23".
There is only one way to stop migration: if we make the decision that anyone who wants to enter the territory of the Union must stay outside the Union until the relevant decision is made, said Viktor Orbán in relation to the EU's migration pact adopted on Wednesday.
The new Brussels migration pact will surely end in failure, the Prime Minister pointed out.
adding: until the Union decides to say what Hungary says, that anyone who wants to come to its territory under any legal title must first apply and wait for the decision outside its borders, until then, whatever packages it creates, it will always end in failure .
Mountains are laboring and a mouse will be born, and it will not run outside the union, but inside, he said.
The prime minister is convinced that the Hungarian regulation is the "model regulation", the only proven regulation in Europe today that should not be sued - we are currently before the EU court because of this, the prime minister reminded.
"All Poles are our friends, even those who don't see us as such," Viktor Orbán said regarding the recent attempts by the new ruling parties in Poland to seize public television with the help of the police.
In this regard, he mentioned as an example that there are Western model democracies where one of the potential presidential candidates can be prevented from running in a court of law, while in another country it may happen that a party with significant parliamentary representation is under national security surveillance. Among them, he mentioned the Polish example.
"Some disease is gnawing at the organization of Western democracies," he said.
As he said, if something like what happened in Poland had happened in Hungary, perhaps NATO would have been involved.
We will have reason to worry about the future of our entire world, built on Western democracy, in the year 24, he concluded.
In response to a journalist's question, the head of government said that although 26 member states have proposed that 50 billion euros should be given to Ukraine for four years, this money still "needs to be produced". He stated that the Hungarian position is that if we want to give money to Ukraine, we should not give it for five years, a more meaningful time frame should be designated, and the amount should be determined according to "how much of the burden America takes on by supporting Ukraine".
Viktor Orbán said that no matter how big the amount is, it is important that it does not come from the budget.
"We do not want to take out a loan together with anyone," emphasized the Prime Minister. He recalled that in the case of the post-covid recovery fund, when the member states also jointly took out a loan, some of the money has still not arrived.
In response to a journalist's question, Viktor Orbán stated that there is no agreement between Turkey and Hungary on blocking Sweden's NATO accession.
As he said, the Hungarian parliament has the right to decide the date of the vote on Swedish accession.
The Prime Minister stated that the Hungarian representatives are not very happy with the decision, the reason being that when the Hungarian parliament approved the Finns' NATO accession, the next day the Finnish government sued Hungary in another case.
Cover photo: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán holds an international press conference in the Karmányfó in the Karmelita monastery on December 21, 2023.
Next to the Prime Minister, Gulyás Gulyás, Minister in charge of the Prime Minister's Office (b) and Zoltán Kovács, Secretary of State responsible for international communication and relations of the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office (j). Source: MTI/Prime Minister's Press Office/Benko Vivien Cher
