The future of the European sovereignist camp and of the right in general is now in the hands of two women: everything depends on whether Marine Le Pen in France and Giorgia Meloni in Italy will be able to cooperate, the Hungarian Prime Minister declared.

Viktor Orbán gave an interview to the French newspaper Le Point, in which he talked about the upcoming Hungarian EU presidency, the elections and the war.

At the beginning of the conversation, the Prime Minister summarized the program of the upcoming Hungarian Presidency of the EU in five points.

The first is migration. "We do not agree with the current pact, and we want to stop more migrants than it allows," the Hungarian Prime Minister stated, secondly mentioning that "we would like to see a reasonable discussion about our relationship to the war between Ukraine and Russia."

"It is not enough to say, 'Vladimir Putin cannot win,'" he emphasized, adding that it is necessary to clarify how much the war will cost Europe and clarify the goals.

"Thirdly, the European Union claimed for a long time that the green transition is not against European competitiveness, and even increases it. The opposite is clearly true. We have to rethink this green transition before it kills our industry," Viktor Orbán continued. As a fourth point, he talked about the need to improve Europe's defense capabilities.

If our security is basically ensured by the Americans, then we will never have real strategic autonomy, he declared.

And finally, European countries should share best practices in dealing with the demographic crisis - with the exception of immigration.

"We must not forget that war is the main cause of our demographic problems, but it is by no means the only one. "Without the two world wars and the young European and Christian lives that the wars cost, there would be no demographic crisis in Europe," said the Prime Minister.

Speaking about the European Parliament elections, Viktor Orbán stated that an election of historic importance is coming.

"Ten years from now, they will probably be seen as the elections that decided peace or war in Europe," declared Viktor Orbán.

The Hungarian Prime Minister reminded that neither the First nor the Second World War was immediately considered global. The war of 1914–1918 was initially seen as the Third Balkan War, and the war of 1939–1945 as the German–Polish War.

"Besides the number of seats won by one or the other party, in my opinion, the most important thing will be how many representatives will support the end of the war in Ukraine. While I hope that the pro-peace MEPs will win, I also hope that there will be more sovereignist MEPs in favor of the Europe of nations," Viktor Orbán added.

As he said, the future of the European sovereignist camp and of the right in general is now in the hands of two women. Everything will depend on whether Marine Le Pen in France and Giorgia Meloni in Italy will be able to cooperate.

According to Viktor Orbán, if they succeed in working together, either in a group or in a coalition, they will represent the strength of Europe.

"The attraction of their cooperation will be very strong. This may be enough to redraw the configuration of the European right, or even dislodge the European People's Party, whose leadership has been entirely taken over by Germans; in fact, it is a German faction," he said.

Regarding whether Fidesz will join the ECR or the ID faction in the EP, Viktor Orbán said that the strength, energy and dynamism of Fidesz's elected representatives will of course be used to find suitable means of cooperation. As he said

Fidesz would join the ECR, but it must first settle its relations with the French National Compact (RN) and, on the other hand, with the EPP.

"We need the opinion of right-wing voters to be reflected and collected by the right. Not for the EPP to continue to gather right-wing voters to then deceive them and cooperate with the left. These issues should be clarified after the European elections".

Speaking about Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Viktor Orbán said that she has a very difficult job, because as soon as she was elected, she was immediately accused of being an extremist and not respecting the values ​​of the EU. "It's a bit like us in Hungary, or the previous government in Poland," he noted. He was subjected to a series of political attacks intended to overthrow him, but he weathered them and clarified the Italian position.

"Today, everyone respects his right-wing government based on Christian values, which fights for democracy and European values. A big challenge for the left is the new right that has been created in Italy and the European Union. I have a lot of respect," said Viktor Orbán.

Regarding the dangers lurking in Europe, the Prime Minister stated that NATO is very strong and Europe is not in any danger militarily.

The most dangerous is still the ideological leadership of the European Union.

As he said, in Brussels, as in many member states, the idea is widespread that it is more important to serve certain main principles or certain political values ​​than people.

"This is weird. For me, our primary task is to serve the interests of nations. But other European leaders see this as populism. Rather, they defend the "open society", a concept according to which national values ​​or identities, traditional family values, not to mention Christian values, are unacceptable... This is the ideology of György Soros," he said, and added:

"I hope that the upcoming European elections will allow us to get out of this trap, especially thanks to the coalition between the MEPs - the Italian-dominated ECR and the French-dominated ID coalition".

The French Le Point also asked the Hungarian Prime Minister about Emmanuel Macron. As he said, he thinks the French president is "an unclassifiable politician".

“I try to connect with him through very deep conversations, especially about philosophical issues. He believes in the progressive and liberal future of Europe, which is not my case. On the contrary, I see it as a threat. I believe that the only stable foundation for the future of Europe is to find a way back to Christian values. Emmanuel Macron and I are therefore diametrically opposed. However, he understands the historical dimensions of things to a degree that very few European leaders do. This allows us to discuss our differences and then identify some points of common ground. For example, about nuclear energy, Europe's competitiveness, our strategic autonomy... Only this takes twice as much time as with other European leaders," Viktor Orbán added.

In relation to the development of European defense capabilities, the Hungarian Prime Minister emphasized that he supports the idea of ​​increasing them.

“However, we have to be realistic and move gradually. If we set too ambitious goals, we risk putting this good idea in jeopardy," he said.

He explained that the first step is cooperation at the level of the defense industry. Then we have to decide whether we want a separate European pillar within NATO. Funding for these defense capabilities is also key, but national budgets are under pressure from the European Commission. At the same time, Viktor Orbán also emphasized that he rejects the idea of ​​a joint debt.

"We in Hungary are ready to pay for this military effort with our own financial contribution. Debt is a dangerous addiction. The problem with European politics is that many leaders are addicted to the common debt. Being in debt means you spend more money than you earn. This is a socialist idea. Many people think that the European debt is nothing, that it is still far away, that it will be borne by future generations... But money does not grow on trees. I'm not a socialist, I'm not a communist: when I talk about money, I really put money on the table," he said.

Regarding who he would like to see at the head of the European Commission, Viktor Orbán said that it is too early to name names. As he said, what we need to do is get rid of the current leadership, which is the worst committee I have ever seen!

"They have not kept any of their promises regarding competitiveness, sanctions, immigration, enlargement. In a democratic system, if you don't keep your promises, you leave. It is still too early to name names, but it would give the next president solid experience if he had previously been prime minister for several years, which would enable him to deal with important issues such as war, competitiveness and immigration," stated Viktor Orbán.

Hungarian Nation

Cover photo: Viktor Orbán
Source: Facebook/Viktor Orbán