The Hungarian government will comply with the requests of the European Commission, but it is to be assumed that there will always be new requests, said Prime Minister Viktor Orban in an interview published on Monday 24 October on the news portal of the German-Hungarian daily Budapester Zeitung. .
Regarding Hungarian-German relations, Viktor Orbán said that the German federal government’s program is “a world away” from that of the Hungarian government and that the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) is “the most anti-Hungarian party in the country. ‘Europe. “
Therefore, “serious efforts are needed to overcome the differences that exist between the two countries in an increasing number of areas,” Orban said.
Referring to the German opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD), to the right of the largest opposition force, the center-right party alliance CDU / CSU, Orbán explained that “state-to-state relations are more important than between party and party. state relations “and therefore” we must sacrifice our relationship with the AfD for the sake of the best possible intergovernmental relations “because” the peculiarity of German democracy is that if we intervened on the AfD, this would affect intergovernmental relations “.
Orbán explained that the CDU “is now a party of the left from the Hungarian point of view” and the same goes for the Bavarian CSU.
In relation to Hungarian-German relations, the Hungarian Prime Minister also stated that “Germany has become a multicultural society” and that “Hungarian society is much more pluralistic, free and peaceful than German society”.
According to him, in Germany “liberal hegemony reigns”, that is, “only one narrative has a place in society”, and “those who deviate from it no longer exist for this audience”, while in Hungary “public discourse has a pluralistic structure.
Orban stressed that “double standards are applied not only in Germany, but also in Western Europe as a whole, which we Hungarians do not tolerate in any way”. But there is no point in increasing “political tensions” with Germany, because “cooperation is much more important”.
He also stated that “in the next 10-20 years, more and more Western Europeans will move to us, because Hungary is a safe, Christian country and proud of its traditions”. She added that “in European history it has always been a great advantage for host countries when immigrants come from the West” and therefore Hungary is also happy to welcome refugees, but only if they come from the West.
Speaking of the war in Ukraine, Orban said: “Europe is currently supporting Ukraine in such a way that the continent is dragged into a spiral of escalation” and “if we don’t stop this process, then we ourselves will go to war, too. if we still didn’t want to ”.
“What the EU is doing now completely destroys its rational and geopolitical interests”, the Hungarian prime minister said, adding that the decisions on sanctions against Russia were “taken solely on moral and emotional grounds”. Orban noted that during his visit to Germany, he also searched in vain for “a rational core of German energy and sanctions policy”.
When asked what Europe should do, Orban replied that “wars can be caused by weak statesmen, but strong men are needed to start the peace process and end wars”. Therefore, the German government “hopefully” will “sooner or later acquire the role that Germany should really play due to its European weight”. There is also hope for the return of the former US president Donald Trump and former Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu.
Orban added that the war “will not end with the Ukrainian-Russian negotiations, but will also require negotiations between the US and Russia. But until both sides have a clear interest in peace, the war will continue.
Orban also said that his government “is not deliberately fueling” the existing “attacks” on the Hungarian minority in Ukraine and their rights, but that “does not mean that we suffer from amnesia”. After the war, a comprehensive agreement on Hungarian-Ukrainian cooperation should be concluded, which also guarantees the rights of the Hungarian minority.
As for the future international role of the EU, Orban explained, “more EU is needed” in security and defense policy and that the community “must do much more in the military field in the interest of its sovereignty”. Member States should also devote more money to armaments and defense so that the EU can “fill the geopolitical space left open by the US withdrawal”.
On the issue of EU subsidies, he stressed that the EU institutions are “used as weapons” by political opponents of the Hungarian government. “We are punished and apparently blackmailed with EU money”, which “have no legal basis, it’s just blackmail”.
According to him, the government does not want to argue, but to collaborate, so “we have no problems” with the implementation of the 17 points requested by the European Commission. “We will make them all. But I bet it will be 6pm, 7pm and so on right after, “Orban said, adding that” I assume there will be more and more requests. “
Even the Poles “have done everything”, but “new demands have been put on the table”, said the Hungarian prime minister, adding that “it is clear that it is about forcing a change of government in Poland” and “in the end it could be objective also in the case of Hungary “.
Orban stressed that “I assume that the money owed to us will be paid at the end of the year”, since “we will fully meet all the technical requirements”, so “soon they will have no reason to deny us the funds for a long time.”
“I expect to be able to sign contracts with the EU by the end of the year. However, I cannot say if the money will really come “, but” Hungary should not be brought into a financial corner “, Orban concluded his interview, addressed in any way to the Hungarian Germans.
