“If we want peace, then we should choose the national side; those who want a war should support the opposition,” he told electors.
Regarding the campaign, Mr Orbán said it comes as a great surprise to him that despite the “rough circumstances” Hungary is “in a sober state,” and the people “have a crystal clear view” of even the most complex international issues. They understand perfectly that this vote is also a choice between war and peace, between being dragged in and staying out, and in the meantime they are helping the people fleeing from Ukraine wherever they can, he said.
He described opposition candidate for prime minister Péter Márki-Zay’s statement that Ukraine is fighting our war as absurd “to the Hungarian ear” as, he said, “two large Slavic peoples” are at war.
He pointed out that this is not Hungary’s war, but a war that is affecting us as it is being waged right next door to us, and we could see not only stray bullets, but even planned military acts only a stone’s throw away from the Hungarian border. If, for instance, we supplied arms to Ukraine, any moment we could expect military strikes targeting those consignments.
He also indicated that we are close to the fighting parties, we know them, “we can’t be taken for a ride”. Regarding Ukraine, he drew attention to the fact that Hungary remembers how the Ukrainians treated the Hungarians in Transcarpathia, and he knows that “the western fiction” that presents Ukraine as a model democracy stems “from a lack of knowledge regarding the situation on the ground”.
As regards Russia, he said “there is no doubt that responsibility for the war lies with the Russians, whatever led them to that decision”.
At the same time, he stressed, Hungary is helping Ukraine, but not because they are fighting our war. We are helping them because Russia started a war against them and Ukraine became a state threatened in its very existence. He took the view that there are western countries that want to settle the post-war world with a complete break between East and West, but this would be bad for the whole of Central Europe, including Hungary.
Condemning left-wing statements related to the war, he reiterated his claim that the Hungarian Left and the Ukrainian leadership had already struck a deal, that in the event of the Left’s victory Hungary would supply arms and would turn off the Russian oil and gas pipelines. In his view, this would happen “with the support of not a few western countries”.
In answer to the question as to whether he is concerned that he could find himself in a minority or even alone with the approach of keeping his distance equally from both parties, he said the Hungarian government’s position is the majority position as NATO, too, shares the view that we must be left out of the war, we cannot engage in any armed conflict beyond the borders of NATO. He added that in the EU the situation is more complex, but the big countries, including Germany and France share a view similar to that of Hungary.
In response to the suggestion that the alliance of the Visegrád countries has “crumbled,” the Prime Minister said it has always been a challenge for the V4 that the four countries have different views on eastern politics. But, in his view, the V4 is not a geopolitical organisation, that is not why it was formed; it was formed in order to jointly represent the Central European interests in debates within the EU. The V4 will continue to serve its original mission well also in the future, in this regard there is no difference, he underlined.
In the context of the economic situation and inflation, the Prime Minister said “the sky is overcast,” this is why he encourages everyone to vote for Fidesz-KDNP because we will need an experienced and calm government that will always stand up for the national interests.
Mr Orbán said it is alarming that inflation in Germany is now above 7 per cent, and could even rise to above 10 per cent. The other big problem is, in his view, that the several different crises – inflation, the war, the high debt rate of the EU’s southern states and Brussels’ energy policy – are now combining. He said Brussels must be induced to suspend the pre-planned raising of the prices of traditional energy sources for climate policy purposes.
Hungary is protecting families, but we also need an intensive European anti-inflationary policy focusing on the reduction of energy prices, he stressed, adding that we must pay attention to how Germany is coping with its own inflation because “if they fail, we will find it difficult as well”.
Regarding EU funds, he pointed out that in contrast to the Left’s claims, EU funds are forthcoming also at present, while the debate related to the recovery fund that was set up due to the pandemic will be settled swiftly if Fidesz-KDNP wins the elections.
Concerning the child protection referendum, he said with this they can foil any “political and ideological pressure exerted in the guise of the word ‘gender’”.
Mr Orbán said he is not concerned about the “setup,” that the Left combined forces and is taking on Fidesz “in a single formation”.
“They risked everything, and on Sunday they will lose everything. Incompatible programmes, incompatible values, incompatible intellectual contents, parties that earlier sought to defeat, or even destroy one another, parties that earlier looked upon one another as enemies gathered into a single camp, choosing moral surrender,” he stated. He added that there is no greater threat for any political community than losing their identity. Only one thing could make this political gamble acceptable: victory. “But that will be ours if we’re all there on Sunday,” Mr Orbán pointed out.
