In his annual evaluation, Viktor Orbán praised Katalin Novák at length, who he thought was a very good president of the republic, her departure was correct, but a great loss for Hungary.

The reason for this is that the majority of the country did not accept his pardon decision. The prime minister said that his pardon decision had broken national unity, and he could no longer restore it.

Restoring the unbalanced balance and reuniting the nation in the matter of family and child protection can only be done when a new president takes office.

After that, he also spoke about the departure of Judit Varga, who, according to tradition, countersigned the decision of the President of the Republic, her resignation was necessary, but unfair. The Prime Minister said that it would be nice if there was a time machine, it would be possible to go back in time, but there is no such structure.

"Good people also make bad decisions," he said.

"the task awaits the government to restore the moral order and remedy the situation legally".

The Prime Minister thanks Novák and Varga for their work, albeit with a "troubled heart". And he declared that there is more dignity in the two departing female politicians than in all the leaders of the left combined.

If trouble has already struck, there should at least be enough benefit for us to learn from it, continued the Prime Minister, who reminded us of the risks we have to face today: the independence and sovereignty of nation states is in the crosshairs of financial power centers.

He called it a valuable experience that the rules of boxing are more useful in politics than those of ballet. "In politics, you are always one stroke away from the floor. Therefore, only careful consideration and prudence can help," he said.

According to Orbán, the iron law of modern politics is humility. "National service also requires personal humility. You have to know, no matter how high you are, you can never be smart enough on your own, there is no safe place. Even in the highest office, mistakes can be made.”

The child protection system must be strengthened, continued Orbán, who talked about supplementing legislation "from the constitution to the ministerial decree".

He added: the ordeal of the victims obliges them to submit a package of laws. The management and operation of child protection institutions, as well as the opportunities of those working there, would be better regulated. The Prime Minister also took a stab at the opposition: as he said, "the hypocritical left will be able to compete there".

The tasks will not be easy or simple in 2024 either, Viktor Orbán continued, recalling that 2019 was the last year of peace, then came covid and the Russian-Ukrainian war. For the fifth year, every Hungarian family has to work under extraordinary conditions and under trying pressure, it was said. "This affects everyone, individually, as a family and as a nation. For the fifth year, every family has been working hard to protect what they worked hard for: the most important thing, the jobs, has been protected, never before have so many people worked. We are beyond the creation of 1 million new jobs," Orbán assessed.

The prime minister continued that although the employment rate is 75 percent, they want to reach 85 percent as well. According to him, at least 300,000 more people can be included in the world of work, and every year more people come home than go as guest workers.

The Prime Minister thanked and applauded with the audience Mihály Varga, Péter Szijjártó and Márton Nagy, who have made indelible merits in the development of the economy in recent years.

However, the prime minister took a stab at the central bank regarding inflation. He stated: with the help of the central bank, inflation was reduced from a record high of 25 percent to less than 4 percent, the budget deficit was set on a downward path and the minimum wage was increased.

Following this, he declared: We managed to emerge from the extra difficult year of 2023 with our skin intact. Although this is a beautiful thing, one expects more from life. "In football, the one who has more saves doesn't win, but the one who scores more goals," Orbán used a sports analogy.

According to Orbán, after the government found its way back to "the road that was abandoned out of necessity in 2019", it must also be taken into account that the world has changed a lot in the meantime.

"The stability of Hungarian politics is known and recognized worldwide: we have two-thirds in the parliament, the government is also united, because Fidesz-KDNP is a friendly relationship, not just a coalition"

said the prime minister.

According to Orbán, green energy has kicked in the door, and Hungary will be able to adapt to it quickly. The government's plan for this is to build Paks II, develop Paks I, and "rapidly build smaller and larger solar power plants."

According to the Prime Minister, with the green transition, we can kill two birds with one stone: our country will be livable and we can also free ourselves from energy dependence.

Orbán also poked fun at the left: as he said, he hardly believes that the dollar left would get the money because of their two beautiful eyes.

"So that they also understand: vigilance, comrades," said the Prime Minister to the cheers of the audience.

Sweden's NATO accession was also discussed: Orbán said that the debate is nearing completion, and that the parliament can vote on the Scandinavians joining the alliance in the spring session.

On the night of the Polish election, Kelly's heroes came to Orbán's mind. The prime minister declared: we must avoid the same trap as the actors attacked from all sides. Orbán said that Sweden's NATO accession could be ratified at the beginning of the spring session. 2023 was the year of the EU's failures, and this drags us down, pulls us back, puts a heavy weight on our feet as well - said Orbán, according to whom the million dollar question is whether we can be successful if the West is not.

But despite this, the Prime Minister stated: Hungary's natural habitat is the EU, which we joined almost 20 years ago. The prime minister used an African saying as an analogy for Hungarian-EU relations: "Know the tree before you lean on it." According to him, after twenty years of being in the EU, the question is whether this tree can be relied on.

"Trouble is pouring in from Brussels"

Orbán continued. Turning to the war, he declared: Brussels' Ukrainian strategy has failed, even though the Hungarian government said from the beginning that this war was a war between two Slavic countries, Brussels almost threw itself into the war.

We, on the other hand, will not allow ourselves to be drawn into the war, we will not deliver weapons, even if there are great powers that do not like it, the Prime Minister continued.

"We could even say that crisis management in Brussels is classic. Cool for America, shut up for the rest"

Orbán also said to the great cheer of the audience.

According to him, the pressure has reached such a level that the ambassadors go to the parliament to check whether the dollar left is behaving well. It's not a good tactic, he added. "We had enough time to learn how to handle pressure. We are like the pressing machine. We need a lot of pressure to squeeze the best out of ourselves," said Orbán, who also spoke about the EU loan granted to Ukrainians.

"The game is not going to be wasted, we are going to bet on it and the whole continent could be against us. That is why we are afraid to borrow again and again together with the other member states. If a person shares his wallet with another, nothing good can come of it"

said the prime minister.

Featured image: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gives his annual review speech at the Várkert Bazaar on February 17, 2024.
MTI/Koszticsák Solid