Orbán: On Europe, Hungary's place within it, Russia, and more

At the start of the press conference, he summarized the three main factors he believes contributed to victory:

• Hungarians want peace, and they voted for those they believe can guarantee this.
• The fact that Hungary is a successful country also contributed to their success.
• The left was disrespectful. They forgot that voting is about respect, while the politics of Fidesz were about the politics of the heart and emotions – and this is why they won.

On how they see Europe, and Hungary within it

“I would like to confirm that the vision of the victorious party and the government for Europe remains unchanged. – Orbán said, adding that the winning party is one which believes in nation states. “We believe that there will be a renaissance of this thought throughout Europe”. According to Orbán,

the adversities are global in nature, (such as war, the pandemic, migration), but the responses must be national.

He also said that they intend to strengthen Hungary’s alliances: they continue to see the country’s future within the European Union and NATO, and he believes that the joint militaries should be strengthened.

On Putin and peace

To the question of the public service TV about what was said when former American president Donald Trump called him on Tuesday, he answered that he did speak with Trump on Tuesday, and he spoke for quite a long time with Putin as well, on Wednesday. He explained that Hungary is in quite a special geopolitical situation, and our history shows us that wars only become more brutal as they go on.

"I suggested to President Putin that he should immediately declare a ceasefire...I also suggested that he and the Ukrainian president meet in Budapest to sign a ceasefire agreement effective immediately."

According to Orbán, Putin responded to this idea positively, but he does have some conditions for the Ukrainians. These will be discussed during the negotiations – added the Hungarian Prime Minister.

In his opinion, Hungary is aware of its size, and thus it belongs on the side of peace, and he is constantly urging the Russian-Ukrainian peace negotiations, and the securing of economic and other negotiations for right after peace returns.

On Marine Le Pen's huge loan from a Hungarian bank

To the question relating to the recent news that the Hungarian MKB Bank (which is part of a banking chain which belongs to Lőrinc Mészáros, a close friend of Orbán’s) gave a 10,692 million euro loan to Marine Le Pen for financing her presidential campaign, he said that he doesn’t need to have an opinion about private loans given by privately owned banks.

On Hungary’s policy on Russia

“Our political community and Hungary used to have a Russian policy, which came to an important point in 2008. In 2008 NATO did not want to allow Ukraine and Georgia to join its ranks" – he said. Orbán explained that it became clear to him at that time that the Central-European countries would become a buffer zone between NATO and Russia, and this required a new strategy.

This is why – from this point on – he began building a new Russian policy. He contacted Putin about this around 2009, and the cooperation started. There might be a change required in this now – with the war in Ukraine going on – and he thinks it may be necessary to set up a new policy towards Russia.

This is a war – Russia attacked Ukraine, and this is aggression – he said about the Russian-Ukrainian war. He said that the Hungarian government agrees with the EU that all atrocities must be examined.

Civilians must always be protected, and any atrocities committed against them must be condemned

– Orbán said. He said that he spoke with the Turkish president about this on Tuesday, and he shares this opinion.

On expelling Russian diplomats

The Hungarian government has no plans to expel Russian diplomats, as there is no reason for it. In Orbán’s opinion, Hungary is defending its own interests against everyone well. He added that if they ever noticed that an embassy is involved in acquiring information in a way that goes beyond the permissible, they would act. “We don’t expel anyone as part of political campaigns, we only do that if their behaviour is unacceptable” – he said.

On Russian gas

In Orbán’s opinion, the point is not to get gas at a better price, but to make sure there is Russian gas in Hungary – this must not be threatened. He added that if the Russians should request it, Hungary will pay for the gas in rubles.

On potential electoral fraud

When asked about potential electoral fraud, he said that it will be up to legal experts to examine whether any electoral fraud was committed. He added that in the same way, it will also have to be examined by experts whether the photos available prove without any doubt that Russia committed genocide in Ukraine.

About the right-wing Mi Hazánk making it into parliament

Reflecting on the right-wing party, Orbán said at this point it is not possible to see what kind of danger Mi Hazánk will present. In his opinion, this will become clear after the first few times their MPs will speak in Parliament. He added that there will be zero tolerance for antisemitic remarks.

When asked about those intending to leave Hungary following Sunday’s result:

“Hungary is the best place in Europe, there’s no point in leaving. One can only go to a worse place” – Orbán said, adding that back in the day when he was in opposition, he stayed. So he doesn’t really understand why anyone would want to leave, especially because in his opinion Hungary is clearly the best place in the world. In his opinion, this is the place with the most freedom.

On demands for Péter Szijjártó's resignation

Orbán expressed that he is planning on keeping Péter Szijjártó as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and added that all ministries are under cyber attack.

This came up, because of the recent Direkt36 article (a partner of Telex) reporting that hackers from the Russian secret service had broken into the IT systems of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and have had access to data for years. Due to this, opposition parties had been calling for Szijjártó’s resignation.

On Hungarian-Polish relations

“Polish-Hungarian relations are a bit strained at this time due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, as the two countries’ opinion on some issues is different” – Orbán said. He added that one such topic is the establishment of a no-fly zone, which the Poles would support, but the Hungarian government wouldn’t, as this would mean Hungary joining the war.

Additionally, Poland would like to extend the sanctions to gas and oil imports from Russia. But they have a sea, which gives them the abililty to get gas from other sources, and Hungary has no such option, we can only bring in energy sources via pipes. And the pipes are where they are. If we extended the sanctions, there would be no gas and no oil – Orbán said, adding that the V4 cooperation is not a geopolitical association, it is simply the best way to represent our joint interests within the EU. “In this matter, our relationship with Poland has not changed” – he explained.

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