In the in-depth interview covering a wide range of topics which was published on one of the few Slovak conservative news portals, the Hungarian Prime Minister spoke about both topical and longer-term issues, including events of the past few decades, the future of the European Union and Central Europe, migration and vaccine policy.
Answering questions about “building a non-liberal country” the Prime Minister said today, there is no such thing as liberal democracy, only “liberal non-democracy” as there is liberalism in it, but no democracy. The Prime Minister stressed that the liberals aspire for opinion hegemony, and this is what political correctness is in service of, with the aid of which they stigmatise conservatives and Christian democrats and seek to defeat them.
“I’m fighting against the liberals for freedom. While I stand on the side of freedom, they’re on the side of opinion hegemony,” Mr Orbán pointed out.
The Prime Minister spoke about Fidesz’s departure from the European People’s Party (EPP), and in that context about what they want to achieve in European politics in the future. “We want to change Brussels,” Mr Orbán stated. He said in its present form Brussels is not capable of giving appropriate answers to the people’s problems, a point which was also proved by migration, while Brussels’ response to the 2008 financial crisis was likewise unconvincing. “We would have liked to change Brussels together with the EPP, but they chose not to embark on that project. We must now create a new political community which is able to exert pressure on Brussels,” the Prime Minister added.
Speaking about the differences between the Hungarian and German positions on the topic of migration, Mr Orbán said the Germans believe that if indigenous German society begins to abandon Christian values when living together with Muslim migrants in the millions, they will all mix together and create a new society. He pointed out that he does not believe in that because as a result, parallel societies will come into being which will live side by side, and this could lead to serious problems. “I don’t wish that on my own country,” Mr Orbán pointed out.
In answer to a question related to the institutions of the European Union (EU), the Prime Minister said there are elements in the EU that should be strengthened. However, the opposite of that is true of the European Parliament which plays a positively harmful role in that it places European politics on party foundations, and the European Left use it for attacks on the sovereignty of states. In the context of this issue, he underlined that “so the question is not whether we should say yes or no to the EU, but what kind of an EU we should have”.
Mr Orbán said in response to a question about the possible future of the EU that we can rest assured that by 2030 “there won’t be a European people as such,” Hungarians, Slovaks, Germans and French will continue to live here, there will be nations and states, and there will also be cooperation for which they will figure out a form. It is questionable, however, whether the “post-Christian and post-national societies” will be able to build a stable Western Europe. In this regard, the Hungarian Prime Minister highlighted that he is much more positive about the future of Central Europe. “I do believe that our children will have a better life than we do. We will experience a major Central European renaissance in the economy, in demography, in security policy and in culture,” Mr Orbán pointed out.
He also spoke about the EU’s Russia policy which he described as unsophisticated as in this regard the EU “can only say yes or no”. He pointed out that “we need a more nuanced policy, one which understands that Russia is a state with mighty strength which respects strength in return”.
In answer to a question about his vaccine policy against the coronavirus, the Prime Minister said already last spring one could foresee that there will be greater demand for vaccines than there will be supply, and as Hungary has good relations with Russia and China, they made preliminary enquiries about whether they will be able to sell vaccines to Hungary. He pointed out that they had not automatically authorised the distribution and use of the Russian and Chinese vaccines; they had been authorised by the Hungarian controlling authority. In this regard he added that as Slovakia asked for assistance with the testing of the Sputnik V Russian vaccine, the Hungarian party will issue the requested expert opinion.