The Prime Minister of Hungary gave an annual evaluation interview to M1 . They talked with Viktor Orbán about the country's current situation and future prospects, the results of his peace mission and the Hungarian EU presidency, the effects of the new American president's coming to power, and the lessons learned from the pardon case.
We had a depressing three years - this is how Viktor Orbán summarized the past period in his interview with M1. According to the Prime Minister, it is emotionally and financially burdensome for Hungarians that there is a war going on in Ukraine, because we see that every day hundreds and thousands die, widows or orphans become widows and orphans, and meanwhile, as a result, the energy market is destroyed and prices skyrocket.
According to the Prime Minister, this will leave a mark on the mood of the neighboring countries, including Hungary, but with the fact that peace has come within sight, it can be compared to a feeling like when someone can come up from under water after a long time and can finally breathe.
When asked why he felt obliged to go on two peace missions this year as the prime minister of a country of ten million people, he answered:
"We are a Christian country, so we have a duty to help those in trouble."
He added: this year, he also received tools for this mission, because our country held the consecutive presidency of the union, so it had more influence than the power of the country's size, which it tried to use to move things in the direction of peace.
According to Orbán, it is difficult to judge what can be considered a success in the case of such a peace mission, but he definitely believes that when Hungary took over the EU presidency in July, it was still unacceptable to talk about peace in Europe, and today we have reached the point where everyone is talking about it. At the same time, he also noted that this is not the end of the war, however, according to him, a "new world will begin" with the inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20.
In the meantime, according to him, it is worth setting realistic goals for ourselves, which is why he recommended only a temporary ceasefire for the Russians and Ukrainians for the Christmas period. According to him, he managed to persuade Vladimir Putin to do so, but the Ukrainian side "for some mysterious reason" , but he is confident that an agreement can be reached between the warring parties before the start of Orthodox Christmas.
The prime minister emphasized that there is a new reality on the front line, because while the casualties on both sides are terrible, the Russians are constantly advancing. According to him, the balance of power is clear, and perhaps he is not revealing a big military secret
the European Union has now lost this war.
Viktor Orbán sees that the people of Brussels are "left behind with a brochure" , but he is already living in this new reality in his mind, and the government has also adjusted to this situation.
The Prime Minister recalled that the matter could have turned out differently, since in April 2022, two months after the outbreak of the war, the parties held a secret negotiation in Istanbul, but the Ukrainians ultimately backed out of the agreement with Turkey due to Western pressure. According to him, this shows that it was not an insurmountable task, only then it was messed up. He doesn't know the answer to why it happened like that either, he is only sure that it would have been good for everyone.
In the interview, the prime minister also spoke about the future development of American-European relations. He emphasized that, in his opinion, he does not have a mediating role here between Trump and the leadership of the Union, instead there will be sharp discussions with the United States in which Hungary must argue for positions that are acceptable to both parties. However, he stated that the EU is not starting the negotiations from a good position because while he described "big cowboy" we are riding the mule" . He thinks it's like that
in international negotiations, Brussels is a non-existent actor, Europe is mostly represented by two states, France and Germany, but at the moment there is a political crisis in both countries, which "shows our strength".
Viktor Orbán also spoke about the relationship between Brussels and Hungary. In connection with this, he stated that things are "not black or white" because
in certain matters, our cooperation with the European Union is very good, but there are also things, such as migration or the gender issue, in which we have irreconcilable differences.
According to him, the founding of the Patriots for Europe party family serves the purpose of first being the opposition of Brussels, and then the sovereignist forces being its occupiers. When asked if he thinks there is a need in the European People's Party for some actors to break away from it and join them in the future, he stated that the chance of this is increasing every day, because as long as the Patriots are successful, the People's Party is stuck in the past.
They also discussed the effects of the pardon case with Viktor Orbán. According to the Prime Minister, the departure of Katalin Novák and Judit Varga was a great loss not only for the right wing, but also for the entire country.
According to him, both the former president of the republic and the former minister of justice were politicians who were considered world stars on the international stage and who had serious achievements behind them.
According to him, the case is a good example of the fact that politics is a merciless world, where if you do something stupid that you can't even explain, it has serious consequences.
According to him, it was also incomprehensible to their own community why a person who was involved in a pedophile case was pardoned, since here is a government sworn to protect the family, which always stands up for the financial, physical and mental safety of children.
According to him, the right wing received a huge blow to the heart of the case because of the case, from which they may have recovered and made them stronger, but "the wound from that will still remain with us".
With Christmas approaching, M1 also spoke with the Prime Minister about the state of the domestic public discourse. According to Viktor Orbán, we are in a bad state, but he does not consider this a Hungarian peculiarity, but a world phenomenon. The Prime Minister sees that everything leads in the direction of virtualization of our lives, and typing insults into the machine is much easier than saying them to a person's face. Regardless, he also hopes that the standard of public debates can be improved in the future.
They also asked what he wished for Hungary and the Hungarian people for the New Year. Viktor Orbán answered exactly the same as to his own family: peace, tranquility, health, and to be surrounded by people who love us and to whom we can return the love.
According to the Prime Minister, there is no problem that cannot be solved together, but this requires more understanding, fairness, openness and honesty.
Front page photo: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (j) gives an annual evaluation interview to Zoltán Martí, MTVA's online director, in the Karmelita monastery on December 22, 2024 (image source: MTVA)
