Speaking on Kossuth Radio’s programme “180 Minutes”, the Prime Minister said that in Hungarian public life there is a single important element which is not transparent, and this is none other than “Soros’s network which operates in a mafia style” and its “agent organisations”. The latter, he said, work towards achieving George Soros’s goals, and can hardly be described as civil society organisations.
For this reason also the Prime Minister said he insists that Parliament should decide to make these organisations transparent, as the Hungarian people have the right to know who represents what and for what purposes.
He said that George Soros’s supporters in Hungary are also seeking to implement the “financial speculator’s” programme: the admission of migrants. Mr. Orbán identified the entire left of the political spectrum as supporters of Mr. Soros, making specific mention of László Botka, Mayor of Szeged and the opposition MSZP’s candidate for prime minister. The latter has declared that he would dismantle Hungary’s border fence, which, the Prime Minister said, “is just what George Soros himself would like”.
At the same time, the Prime Minister added, Hungary today represents an obstacle to implementation of the plan of George Soros, who is unable to bring a million migrants into Europe because the Hungarian government’s defence of the borders does not allow this.
In Brussels recently the Hungarian-born American businessman described Hungary as a “mafia state”. Mr. Orbán described these words as insulting, and nothing less than a declaration of war. George Soros wants to see his plans through, “no matter what”, the Prime Minister said.
Hungary does not wish to transfer any further powers
With regard to the National Consultation, which was concluded on Monday, the Prime Minister said that the Cabinet has sent the bureaucrats in Brussels a document which seeks to elucidate the meaning of the questions posed by the consultation form. He said, however, that those working in Brussels will be unable to understand its message, “on account of different cultural background factors”. The essence of “stopping Brussels” is defence of the status quo, he explained; in other words this means that Hungary does not wish to transfer any further powers. In the EU this is seen as an anti-European stance, he said, but, according to the rules of the Hungarian language, defence of the current state of affairs cannot be seen in that light.
Mr. Orbán stated that, after the consultation, if pressure is exerted at the next EU summit to force the migrant relocation programme on Hungary, he shall veto that decision, referring to the fact that Hungarian voters do not want to transfer that power to Brussels. Hungary may take similar action in relation to the Energy Union, he pointed out, if the relevant document contains passages stating that energy prices will be determined by the market or by Brussels.
The Prime Minister thanked the some 1.7 million people who participated in the consultation, who he described as living proof of the fact Hungary is “not an apathetic country”. In his opinion the consultation has strengthened the Hungarian government’s positions, enhanced its impact and clearly shown its determination.
In relation to last week’s NATO summit, Mr. Orbán stressed that in NATO “our position is stronger than at an EU summit”, because on the issue of immigration, for instance, the United States and the countries of Central Europe are on the same side.
The Prime Minister confirmed that by 2023–24 Hungary will, as expected, be able to reach a level of spending on defence equal to two per cent of GDP.
Trump’s announcement is shocking
Commenting on US President Donald Trump’s announcement that his country is quitting the Paris climate agreement, the Prime Minister said: “I am in a state of shock”.
He said that there is consensus in Hungary that climate change exists and is a danger, and as it is global in its nature, the action we take to combat it must also be global.
“This runs counter to all that is embodied in the US President’s decision” added Mr. Orbán, who believes that we must “consider” the consequences of Donald Trump’s decision.
He described Donald Trump as “an American through and through”, who is not from the European school, which follows in the cultural traditions of royal courts, but “from the harsh, cold and turbulent world of business”.
In response to the suggestion that neither German Chancellor Angela Merkel, nor the German Social Democrat candidate for chancellor Martin Schulz, nor politicians in Brussels see the United States as a reliable ally, the Prime Minister said: “I suggest that the Germans act with more modesty before making statements like that”. European history, he said, has shown that generalisations are dangerous.
He said that over the past one hundred years Europe has only ever found the path that best serves the interests of its citizens when it cooperated with the United States, and he would not like either the Germans or the Americans to break with this practice.
At the same time, in an economic sense Europe’s fate is in the hands of the Europeans, he said, and today Europe can stand on its own two feet without the United States and the other players in the world economy, though “we would clearly be worse off” without a world trade system. He noted that the question is whether Europeans are also able to create security for themselves.
Goal is for Hungary to be a family-friendly country
Speaking about a German plan seeking to tie the rule of law to cohesion funds, Mr. Orbán said that he does not believe it to be a serious proposal, as the most important European value is observance of the treaties which have been agreed, and the migrant crisis emerged because the Germans failed to comply with those treaties. Therefore, he stated, “if we were to tie financial transfers to European values, that concept would result in Germany being the biggest loser”.
With regard to Hungarian policy on the family, the Prime Minister said that the number of children which will be born and what kind of families there are will be “something finally decided on by women”, although “we may have something to do with it as well”. On the whole the decision is theirs, he said, and it is for them to decide what they want, but in his view women agree that if there are children, there is a future.
He added that the Cabinet has proposed that the country become family-friendly and offer an environment in which women can say that Hungary is a good place to raise children. The country must first slow down progressively deteriorating demographic trends, halt them, and then reverse them entirely by 2025–30, he said.