Most Friday mornings, Hungary’s Prime Minister gives an interview on one of the public radio stations. Since the independent media has not had a chance to interview him for several years, these weekly radio interviews provide a rare opportunity for finding out what the leader of the country thinks about current events, how he sees his opponents and any issues at hand.
Having armies is not what leads to war, but not having them does, Viktor Orbán said at the beginning of his usual Friday morning radio interview on Kossuth Rádió's Good Morning, Hungary! programme. The Prime Minister explained that he believes that strength and an army are essential for the defence of peace.
“An army, soldiers, and preparation are all necessary for self-defense.”
– Orbán said, adding that the Hungarian army is not yet strong enough for this, but "we are on track to getting there". He said that one of the most important questions is whether Russia would stop if it defeated Ukraine. He then opined that while the Russian army is fighting a serious, difficult war with the Ukrainians, it hasn't been able to overcome them. "If the Russians were strong enough to defeat the Ukrainians in one go, they would have defeated them already, but that's not what we are seeing," he said.
“NATO's strength is not comparable to Ukraine's. It's a hundred times, maybe a thousand times bigger, so I don't think it's logical to assume that Russia, which can't even handle Ukraine, would suddenly come in and, bam, gobble up the entire Western world.”
– Orbán explained, saying that he believes the chances of anyone attacking a NATO member state are extremely low.
He also pointed out that NATO is a defense alliance and reiterated what he had said earlier that the Russian-Ukrainian war was a conflict between two Slavic peoples.
“There are alarming similarities between the mood prior to World War I and World War II and the current atmosphere.
What is happening today in Brussels and Washington, perhaps now more so in Brussels than in Washington, is a kind of mood-setting for a possible direct military conflict, we can safely call it a preparation of Europe for going to war.”
– Orbán said, adding that he sees this in the media and in politicians' statements, and noted that for the past several months he has been reading a lot about the period preceding the two world wars and the communication at the time.
Referring to the EU's support of Ukraine, he wondered “How many more weapons are we going to send? How much more money are we going to send?” Orbán believes this could soon lead to a clash between NATO, the EU and Russia. "And this bodes the darkest of visions," he said.
He spoke at length about why NATO was created, and stressed that Hungary continues to abide by the alliance's charter. "In the charter there's no mention of NATO ever getting involved in a wars outside its territory, in countries not part of NATO," he said, adding that there already are committees and task forces drawing up what NATO's mission would look like.
“We are there but it's as if we weren't.”
– Orbán went on to say, explaining that Hungary is taking part in these meetings, but Hungarian diplomats have indicated that they do not support participation in a war outside NATO territory. He said he did not know how long this could be kept up. "They have now come up with a new term in NATO to describe Hungary's position, it's called non-participant. We are now non-participants. There is another expression in international politics: "opt out". Right now we are not participants, but we haven't opted out yet. If we were to opt out, our participation in NATO's military structure, and our position would also change," he explained, adding that there's a team of lawyers working on how Hungary can continue as a member of NATO without taking part in NATO operations outside NATO territory.
Doing what's good for the people
Turning to the EP elections, he reiterated that he believes the stakes are war or peace, and that the stakes in the US elections later this year will be the same. In response to the question on who benefits from war, Orbán cited examples from history and the history of culture and concluded that it benefits those who are good at speculating, such as venture capitalists. At this point, he mentioned George Soros, spoke of "rolling dollars", and said that he believed that "the Hungarian left is being bought by the kilo".
"What the heck would be the point of politics if not to do what's good for the people?"
– Orbán asked, saying that it's recently become fashionable to call this populism, but he still thinks that one should consider what is good for the Hungarian people. "I am building Hungary's strategy on the idea that the number of people in Europe who want peace will grow", he said, referring to the European Parliament elections, adding that the European voters have the power to prevent the potential for drifting into war.
Orbán said it was preposterous that the European Union has fined Hungary six million euros per day for not letting in migrants.
“Brussels is shooting Hungary in the back.”
– Orbán said, stressing that European leaders who make such decisions must be removed from their posts.
Viktor Orbán avoids critical questions at home. It’s been years since he gave an interview to independent media. However, for several years, most Friday mornings he has been a regular guest on state-owned Kossuth Rádió, where he is interviewed by a lead editor of the public broadcasting service (operating from an annual budget of 320 million euros). Katalin Nagy has been almost exclusively the one allowed to interview Orbán on the state-owned channel throughout his third and fourth term with a two-thirds majority in parliament. She has received the state decoration of the Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary and doesn’t shy away from asking questions.