In his opinion, in Hungary today a “dress rehearsal” for the election campaign is under way, which has disturbed still waters and “filled Holy Week with pandemonium”. With regard to amendment of legislation on higher education, he said it is understandable that George Soros’s international and domestic network is protesting, as “its pays his people”. However, he continued, it is still not clear why, rather than seeking to ensure that their universities should also have the rights enjoyed by the CEU, representatives of Hungarian academia, scholars and professors at Hungarian universities are instead arguing for George Soros to keep his privileges.
Mr. Orbán described the protests as the “secondary battlefield” in a larger, decisive conflict over the composition of Europe’s future population. Local branches of international networks call themselves civil society organisations, he said, but in fact these are “NGOs” which envisage a Europe in which there is a partial restructuring of the population, with foreign ethnic elements being introduced from other parts of the world.
The Prime Minister remarked that those who would remove all obstacles to taking in people who covet European living standards would also take on the risk of terrorism, a deterioration in public security, and the parallel existence of Muslim and Christian societies within Europe. “I think they believe that we will mix well together, and this will lead to the emergence of a new quality”, he said, adding that George Soros’s network is angry with Hungary for disproving the former’s thesis that the flow of migrants cannot be stopped.
He mentioned the fact that in the European Parliament in the mid-2000s “Kofi Annan, who belongs to the world of George Soros” had spoken about the need for immigration and its promotion. A dramatic development has taken place, the Prime Minister said, “which broke through the state borders on the Balkans route, pushing in and bringing to Europe – with the aid of George Soros – an unvetted mass of Muslims organised in paramilitary style”.
Mr. Orbán observed that “Likewise, we shouldn’t forget that we are talking about a financial speculator”, adding that as a businessman Mr. Soros has made his billions from attacking the banking systems of various countries, and has amassed a fortune through financial speculation. “In this instance we see a classic example of fishing in troubled waters”, he said.
Regarding the timing of the conflict’s culmination, he said that the EU wants to bring debate to an end by June, and wants to push through new immigration regulations which will be binding on everyone. “A few of us are resisting”, he said, mentioning the Visegrád Four and Romania as examples which want to preserve their Christian cultural identity.
He said that a decisive battle is in the making, referring to Hungary being the subject of debate in the European Parliament at the end of April, and the following two EU summits of heads of state and government being devoted to seeking resolution of the immigration issue.
“This struggle will be the main event in the next two to three months, and I think that this is why the situation in Hungary has now begun to heat up”, he said.
Mr. Orbán also pointed out that George Soros can be linked with some positive aspects related to the fall of communism: he supported many young anti-communists, civil society organisations and samizdat publications. There was nothing wrong with that, the Prime Minister said, adding that he would have been content if, after the nineties, George Soros had confined his activities to a few financial manipulations he was involved in, mentioning as examples that “he wanted to pocket OTP Bank, and later speculated against the Hungarian forint”.
Mr. Orbán said that he could also live with a Soros university educating liberal activists for the political life of the Balkans and Central European regions. “The milk has curdled because the Soros empire has set out on promoting the cause of migrants”, the Prime Minister explained, adding that the issue is now the security of the Hungarian people, protection of the borders, public security and terrorism – and on this there can be no compromise.
He said that the assertion that the Government is trying to close down a university is a lie, pure and simple; the Government has shown the understanding that befits a democratic culture, which seeks to come to an agreement and to provide security, and which in no way strikes a hostile tone.
He highlighted that today the country has a national government which protects honest people, but not provocateurs. He contrasted this with the previous socialist-liberal government when, he said, the police and authorities sided with criminals and found excuses for them.
He also spoke about non-governmental organisations, arguing that the Government supports their work, because they perform certain social, health care and environmental responsibilities better than the state could. These, however, have nothing to do with the lobbying organisations calling themselves civil society stakeholders which seek to influence the public, he pointed out; speaking of the latter he said that there is a legitimate need for everyone to know who funds them and why.
Mr. Orbán said he finds it amusing that some demonstrators “chant dreadful things” and level serious, defamatory accusations at the country and its leaders, while at the same time claiming that there is no democracy.
He stressed that Hungarian police officers show the utmost patience – unlike those in most Western European countries. All they want is for street demonstrations to pass without problems, and they do not resort to response measures. For this they deserve respect, he said.
He also pointed out that today the economy is strong, the country stands on its own two feet, and it is able to resist all international economic blackmail. Had Hungary been hit by the migration crisis six or seven years ago, however, it may well have been buried by its force.