At the MÁERT plenary session, Viktor Orbán reported on the expansion of the country's room for maneuver.
Over the past year, Hungary's scope for maneuver has been enormously expanded, primarily in the international political space, which also means the strengthening of Hungarian communities across the border , Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared at Thursday's plenary session of the Hungarian Standing Conference (Maért) in Budapest.
He reminded that since 2010, the government has spent HUF 1,374 billion, or about HUF 100 billion a year, on national policy, thereby increasing the annual subsidy of HUF 9.1 billion for the period before 2010 tenfold. This amount does not include the economic development programs: 9,300 investments worth HUF 330 billion were implemented in the Carpathian Basin outside the Hungarian state borders, the prime minister added.
He emphasized: 2024 was the busiest year in the history of Hungarian diplomacy. The Chinese president visited here in May, and recently the summit of the European Political Community was held here, followed by the informal summit of the 27 member states of the European Union, where the Budapest Declaration was adopted.
This is "perhaps the last attempt to save European competitiveness," he indicated.
In the year 2024, with the American presidential election, the European election, and the successful year-long diplomatic work, the scope of Hungarian foreign policy has been widened - assessed Viktor Orbán.
We also hope that the results of the US presidential election will bring benefits that will be felt by Hungarian voters and businesses on a daily basis, pointed out Orbán, who, in connection with the political turn in the United States, said about the future of the relationship between the two countries: he sees a significant chance for such an American to the Hungarian agreement, in which not only "matters that were partially messed up in the past" are settled, but also strong economic cooperation can be established in "fields that can be considered serious in terms of technology".
He added: they also hope for advantages from the American election results that will not remain in the diplomatic heights of grand politics, but will also be felt by Hungarian voters in everyday life.
In this way, "the Hungarian public also understands" that - even though there are difficulties on the international battlefield - "we must stand up for our national interests even when the wind is blowing in our face or when we have to endure pain", he said.
"We Hungarians have to think about finding our own way, based on our own logic and interests, because at this moment Europe is not capable of developing a strategy to regain its competitiveness," declared the Prime Minister.
Viktor Orbán emphasized: we have the last chance before us with the Budapest competitiveness declaration, which says that perceptible changes must occur within six months.
Otherwise, European competitiveness may be irretrievably reduced and left behind, he added.
The prime minister highlighted: "Europe has lost its way", and it is clear from the report prepared by Mario Draghi, the former president of the European Central Bank, at the request of the European Commission, that if there are no brave and new political decisions in Europe, then the breakup of Europe will be the result of the growing economic power of the world beyond us. and will grow exponentially compared to its political centers.
Hungary is relatively safe in the uncertain situation due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, partly because of NATO and because we are not considered a military opponent by the warring parties, Viktor Orbán said.
The Prime Minister assessed that there is a good chance that Transcarpathia will come out of this war with the least possible losses.
At the same time, he pointed out: there is uncertainty in all of Europe at the moment, no one knows what the natural history of the two months ahead of us will be until US President Donald Trump takes office.
"No one can be sure what military steps will take place in the next 24 hours, nor can we be sure what the response will be and which European countries it may affect," he explained.
Viktor Orbán summarized the government's national policy as follows: our opponents decided after the First World War that Hungary should be small and poor, we decided in 2010 that Hungary should be big and rich. This is also what the national policy aims for, that is why they are working - emphasized the prime minister.
MTI
Cover image source: Facebook/Viktor Orbán
