Orbán: Progressive liberals are sensing the danger

"Hungary has made a name for itself in international politics today. This is unusual."

– Prime Minister Viktor Orbán began his speech at the CPAC Hungary conference of the (far) right in Budapest on Thursday. Orbán said that this was interesting because Hungary is small: but the Prime Minister then explained why he thought people were interested in Hungary nowadays:

• Perhaps it's because there's something attractive about it, something exotic. It could be the language, which no one understands";
• In contrast to the progressive-liberal ocean, "there remains a conservative island here".

Orbán also said that Hungary is governed by the rule of law, because it was possible to organize CPAC: everyone may "rent the space they want" and "say what they want" here. Orbán added that CPAC is a conservative conference which they have no intention of obstructing and which "will not be kicked out overnight" – "as it is done in Brussels".

"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't tell a Hungarian court what the right decision was. In fact, even if I were to do so, they would decide the opposite."

Orbán then greeted his allies in the audience, including former Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša (previously convicted for corruption) and the last head of the Polish PiS government, Mateusz Morawiecki. The audience also included representatives from Georgia, Israel and Chile.

Orbán recalled that at the first CPAC Hungary he spoke of the Hungarian recipe for success, and a year ago he described Hungary as a laboratory against liberalism. But 2024 is "not a year of theory, but of practice", he said, and this is because there will be elections in the world and "we have to win them".

“Progressive liberals are sensing the danger. The demise of this era means their demise too. It's the end of the progressive zeitgeist.”

– Orbán concluded, and then proceeded to outline why he believes that the progressive liberals who are now in power are very dangerous. "This is what is happening to us Hungarians in Brussels. This is what is happening to President Trump in America," Orbán said, referring to the fact that Donald Trump is currently facing legal proceedings in the US. This year's Republican presidential candidate is accused of committing an economic crime during his 2016 campaign by declaring hush money as legal fees.

Cheese and communists

Orbán then went on to say that the communists (and today the progressives) nowadays take five steps to "sing the cheese out of our mouths" (A reference to the famous story about "The Fox and the Crow").

According to Orbán, these five steps are

1. "Redefining what normal is";
2. "Spreading their ideas through state means";
3. "Spreading that because you hold dangerous views, you are also a security threat";
4. "Sending the press after you";
5. And then "the state authorities also take action".

As examples for the above, however, Orbán did not cite the well-established state propaganda media or certain press outlets being arbitrarily banned from events connected to the government, but rather, the "democracy watchdogs", whatever that means.

Orbán says that the liberal system has failed, having "brought chaos to the world". He said that "even at a beauty contest there's more knowledge about world peace" than what these leaders have. He added that "random academics" and the like shouldn't be the ones to tell us what is right, but it should be the politicians elected by the people.

The Hungarian Prime Minister concluded by saying that "the electoral battle is beginning", in which their task will be to "drive out" the communists so "the era of the sovereignists will come at last". Orbán concluded his speech with Donald Trump's famous motto: "Make America great again" and added: "Make Europe great again".

What is CPAC Hungary?

For the third time this year, the Hungarian edition (CPAC Hungary) of the annual CPAC super-conference, organized by the (far) right wing of the American Republican Party, is being held in Budapest between 25 and 26 April. Each time so far, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been the keynote speaker. As in previous years, the right-wing conference is organized by the Centre for Fundamental Rights, which is generously funded by public money.

Starting in the 1970s, CPAC was originally the annual rally of the American right, with the first European forum, CPAC Hungary, organized by the Centre for Fundamental Rights in 2022. According to the announcement of the programme, "some of the world's most prominent right-wing leaders, scholars and influencers will visit" CPAC Hungary this year. Last year, for example, former US President Donald Trump and broadcaster Tucker Carlson greeted participants via a video message.