Invited guests walked in to hear the Prime Minister's 25th Annual State of the Nation Address between cordons on Saturday afternoon, in Budapest's Várkert Bazár. Among them were several Hungarian celebrities, but the independent press was not allowed in. Viktor Orbán spoke briefly about the resignations of Katalin Novák and Judit Varga, but did not mention Zoltán Balog. As usual, he criticised Brussels, but said he was keen to see Donald Trump return to the presidency in the United States.
At the very beginning of his speech, Viktor Orbán extended a special welcome to former presidents Pál Schmitt and János Áder, which made it clear that the recently resigned Katalin Novák was not among the participants.
The Prime Minister began his speech by saying that "the 2024 could not have gotten off to a worse start, because President Katalin Novák submitted her resignation. It's like a nightmare, it's a nightmare for all of us", because Novák embodied the better side of the Hungarian people. She is a mother, and Orbán was always impressed by her work and the fact that as a woman she did not wish to compete with men. "Her departure is the right thing to do, but it is a great loss for Hungary," the Prime Minister opined.
The reason for the President's resignation, according to Orbán, was that she had granted a presidential pardon to Endre K., who had helped cover up the pedophile acts of the director of a children's home. According to the Prime Minister, the majority of Hungarians did not accept Novák's decision to pardon him but rejected it. The president's most important task is to maintain national unity. If this is in any way disrupted, he said, he or she must resign. We know from the reasons she gave for her resignation that it was because her decision had broken national unity. So the only way to restore it was for her to resign. "What happened is what had to happen in this situation," the Prime Minister said.
Orbán also spoke about Judit Varga, saying that her countersigning the pardon as justice minister has been standard procedure for 25 years. The Prime Minister added that Varga's departure was a necessary but unjust consequence of the case. Orbán, however, said that "good people make bad decisions too", but children must not be harmed, and that abusing a child is worthy of the most severe punishment, and there is no room for pardon in such cases. Therefore, choosing to resign was the right thing to do. Orbán concluded by saying that it is with a "distraught heart" that he thanks both Novák and Varga for their work.
Commenting on the controversy surrounding the resignations, Orbán said that
"there's more dignity in the pinkies of the two women who are leaving than in all the leaders of the left put together".
The Prime Minister went on to say that since trouble has already struck, we should at least learn from it. He then reminded his audience of the risks we are facing today. The independence and the sovereignty of nation states is in the crosshairs of the financial power centres, and the risks are high, he said.
He said that the rules of boxing are more useful in politics than those of ballet. "In politics you are always one punch away from the floor. So only careful consideration and caution can help," he said.
According to Orbán, the great rule of modern politics is humility. “Serving one's nation also requires personal humility. You have to know that no matter how high you are, you can never be smart enough on your own, there is no protected place. It is possible to make mistakes even in the highest office.”
A political mistake is annoying even if there is an explanation for it, and even more so if there is none, Orbán said, adding that the "decision to pardon was whipped into a rage because it was an unforced error. For the right, it's as simple as 1-2-3: there's no pardon for paedophile crimes." The Prime Minister said the resignations provided recompense and an example for the country, a chance to emerge stronger from the crisis, and "we will".
"The ordeal the victims went through obliges" them to strengthen the child protection laws and institutions. The legislation will be submitted to Parliament, and the Left can then play their heroic games there, according to the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister said that electing a new President is a matter of urgency, so he is asking Parliament to initiate the process. "I ask that the transition period be kept to a minimum, as befits a large and strong governing party," Orbán said, concluding his thoughts on the topic of the clemency scandal.
What is ahead in 2024?
The tasks ahead in 2024 will not be easy and simple either," Orbán continued his annual State of the Nation address. He reminded everyone that 2019 was the last peaceful year: 2020 saw the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic and 2022 saw the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war. This is hard for everyone: both for the families and the Hungarian nation as a whole, he added.
"For five years we have been fighting to defend what we had achieved up until then," the Prime Minister said. We have succeeded in defending some of our results, and some we have not. The employment rate is currently at 75 percent, but the target should be 80 percent. Orbán said that 300,000 more people could be integrated into the world of employment in Hungary.
The Prime Minister said that pensions have been successfully protected. At the same time, we did not succeed in preserving the pre-Covid rate of economic growth and the low level of the budget deficit, but Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó deserves a lot of credit for the good foreign trade balance.
According to Orbán, now that they have found their way back to the path they "abandoned out of necessity in 2019", they must also take into account that in the meantime, the world has also changed a lot.
"The stability of Hungarian politics is known and respected worldwide: we have a two-thirds majority in parliament, and the government is united, because the relationship between Fidesz-KDNP is not just a coalition, but a comradeship,"
the Prime Minister said.
On the path to energy independence
Orbán said green energy has kicked the door in and Hungary will be able to adapt quickly. The government's plan for this is to build Paks II, (a second nuclear power plant) and to develop Paks I, as well as to "build small and large solar power plants at lightning speed".
"Our solar power development programme is at a pace that at times reminds me of a stampeding horse. And we have to slowly rein it in and bridle it," the Prime Minister continued. Today, 15 percent of the energy produced in Hungary is already generated by solar power plants. “Minister Csaba Lantos will truly work miracles in the end.”
Orbán said that the reserve power plants will be built soon and "we are a few years away from energy independence".
The diplomatic wrangling over investment is most akin to swimming in open water, Orbán said. Underwater, one has to fight, but at the very least one needs to push and shove. “And as a matter of fact, we are not bad at it, not bad at all.”
The Prime Minister says that for the first time in aeons, we are not followers of technological change, but global leaders. He spoke at length about the achievements of the car industry. "We have great workers, engineers and developers." He said we cannot afford ourselves the delusion, "like the German Greens, that the good car is the one that is never made". The car industry generated more than 13 billion forints.
They have never lacked plans for the mid-term future, Orbán said, adding that Hungarians are living better now than in the Gyurcsány era, (Prime Minister between 2004-2009) but still "not as well as we would like".
Orbán then proceeded to list the plan point by point:
- Step 1: Be among the first to foresee the changes in the world.
- Step 2: We will be the quickest to adapt to the changed situation, and will be shrewd and resilient.
- Step 3: We will stay out of the sanctions war.
- Step 4: We will open up and will trade, and create an education system that will produce more Nobel Prize winners.
- Step 5: Existing Hungarian companies will be propped up, while investing in entirely new industries.
Our dispute with Sweden is coming to a close
"Our neighbours can be sure that if they get into trouble, they can count on Hungarians," Orbán said. Hungarian schools are taking in Ukrainian refugee children, we were there during the floods in Slovenia, the hospital fire in Romania, and we gave vaccines to our Czech friends.
Orbán said that all the plans are in place to make 2024 the year of Hungary's success again.
“The only question is in what kind of environment we will have to fight for success. Where can we expect to find support and where can we expect to be attacked?”
According to the Prime Minister, our dispute with Sweden is nearing a conclusion. We are on track to ratify Sweden's accession to NATO at the beginning of the spring session of parliament, he added.
On the EU: Know the tree before you lean against it
The European Union is our natural environment, but 2023 was the year of the EU's failures, "and this pulls us down, it pulls us back, puts a lead weight on our feet", according to the Prime Minister.
He then quoted what he claimed was an African saying: "Know the tree before you lean against it." Orbán said that after 20 years in the EU, the question now is whether it is a tree we can lean against.
We are like an espresso machine
"We are being bombarded with nothing but trouble from Brussels", Viktor Orbán said. According to him, Brussels' Ukraine strategy has failed. The Hungarian government has said from the very beginning that is a war between two Slavic countries, but Brussels practically threw itself into the war.
We will not be dragged into the war, we will not deliver arms, even if there are great powers that do not like it, the Hungarian Prime Minister continued.
"You could say that Brussels' crisis management is rather classic. ("klasszikus" in Hungarian – TN) For America it is klassz (cool in Hungarian – TN), and for the rest of us, it is "kuss" ("shut up" in Hungarian – TN).
Orbán said
the pressuring has now reached the point where ambassadors are going to Parliament to check whether the dollar-funded left is behaving properly.
This is not a good tactic, he added. “We have had enough time to learn how to handle the pressure. We are like an espresso machine. We need a lot of pressure to squeeze the best out of ourselves.”
We are reluctant to share a loan, it's just not a good idea to share one's purse with others
Although they (the Hungarian government – TN) are staying out of the war, they are still not out of the water – Orbán said, turning back to the subject of war and the support for Ukraine from Brussels and the US. "It's a game with much at stake, we'll break our backs and the whole continent might collapse because of it. That's why we are reluctant to take out loans with the other member states again and again. Nothing good can come out sharing one's purse with another," the Prime Minister, said, adding that a joint loan is not a viable option for Hungary in the future either.
Europe must reclaim Brussels
Orbán said that Brussels has abandoned the Europeans, and that there has never been a greater gap between Brussels and the will of the European people. According to the Hungarian leader, change doesn't happen on its own: Europe must reclaim Brussels, so that there will finally be a few Europeans there.
"I also have nothing but bad news about migration," Orbán continued. Orbán said that even the blind can see that migration is stirring up chaos in Europe and is a hotbed of anti-Semitism. “In Berlin and Brussels, they sat in the sun with cotton candy and then wondered why the wasps started attacking them.”
According to Orbán,
we are getting to the point where, in twenty years' time, if we visit the West, it is doubtful whether what we find there will be Europe or something else entirely.
Western countries are prosperous, they have money, but it is time to face reality: Europe's competitiveness has been eroding, and the fatal consequence of this is the decline of the middle class. And the decline of the middle class, "spells the doom of democracy".
According to the Prime Minister, Brussels has abandoned the Balkans because it needs money for Ukraine.
We would love to see Trump return and establish peace in the east of Europe
2024 will be a superb election year. For example, there will be EP elections, "and if God helps us", then Hungary's strength will increase to a degree that's not been seen for a long time.
He doesn't want to interfere in other countries' internal affairs, but "we would really like Trump to return to the presidency and establish peace here in the east of Europe".
According to Orbán, it's time for the victory of "Make America Great Again!" (Donald Trump's campaign slogan), and even as Hungary prepares for the EU presidency: "Make Europe Great Again!" Trump's victory, connectivity, increased regional cooperation and a sovereignist turnaround in Brussels – that's what Viktor Orbán hopes to see under the Christmas tree by the end of the year.
He also said that he believes that the Brussels bureaucrats will not be the ones to bail Europe out. "You don't put a horseshoe on a dead horse." In his opinion, only a right-wing turnaround could bring real change. But it is important, he continued, that the new right "must not be an alternative to Europe, but a European alternative".
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