Albanian PM to Orbán: All of Europe has gathered in the fold of the black sheep

"The situation in which we have deliberated today can be described as difficult, complicated and dangerous," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at the press conference at the end of the European Political Community (EPC) summit held in Budapest on Thursday.

"The war that Russia launched against Ukraine has been raging for the third year,

the Middle East is in flames and there is a threat of escalation, destabilizing conflicts are going on in North Africa, and illegal migration remains a challenge that doesn't seem to be going away. At the same time, a division into blocks not seen since the Cold War is evident in the global economy," the Prime Minister said, listing the challenges ahead. We met today because we believe that we can provide better answers together.There is no time to waste, there are big questions on the table: war or peace, migration or protection, division into blocks or connectivity.

Summing up the results of the meeting, he said that "No formal decisions have been taken". They agreed that they must respond to the result of the US presidential elections, that there must be peace in Europe as soon as possible, and that the continent cannot expect the Americans to defend us. Europe must be sufficiently present in order to influence decisions.

Migration is "pushing the boundaries of Europe", everyone is dissatisfied and wants change. Orbán said there was a serious obstacle to this: "judicial activism". He said that joint decisions taken by governments first clash with European and then international rulings, leading to "the decisions fizzling out". Hungary is the only exception to this according to him. He believes there must be a revolt against the laws and judgments currently in force. He argued that when Hungary built the fence (along its border with Serbia – ed) it was considered an "original sin", but others have since done the same. Orbán said that he later introduced the only solution which prevents people from entering without permission, and that he had not heard of any other solution which he thinks would work.

"I am the only prime minister" in the EU who "survived the migration crisis".

On the US, he said that "a lot has gone wrong in the last four years", complaining of discrimination. When asked whether he had kept his promise to open a bottle of champagne when Trump was elected, he said he was in Kyrgyzstan at the time, so "we had to tap into the vodka supply" given the local customs. He said Hungary has a great opportunity to be in "closer alliance than ever before" with the US. Speaking about Trump, he said that they wanted to put him in jail and kill him, but "I am always proud when I can fight alongside those who want to assert the will of the people against the ruling elite, that's what's called democracy". To a question about the potential impact of Trump's economic tariffs on Hungary, he said that "the mouse must always be very quick".

The peace camp is growing

There is disagreement about whether they can bring the war to a quick conclusion, but the "peace camp" is growing, and with Trump's victory, it has greatly expanded, they are now in the majority in the Western world. Europe needs to respond to this. Although it is not easy, Orbán said he believes they took a big step in this direction at the EPC summit and will continue this process at the EU summit on Friday.

Orbán said that Europe had not clarified what it meant by victory, but without that "How do you know how long to fight"? Crimea? A NATO flag in Sevastopol? Moscow? Since this has not been defined, it is hard to stop. Right now it's as if we had gotten lost in the woods while hundreds of thousands are dying. "I hope that by tomorrow evening we will be closer to catching up on the work that's yet to be done." When asked if he would leave the occupied Ukrainian territories in Russian hands, he replied that a ceasefire was needed first, and then peace could be negotiated.

After Trump was elected, Orbán wondered what would happen to the loans intended for Ukraine, especially the $50 billion loan to be repaid by using Russian assets, even though the EU's share had been agreed weeks before and they had also agreed with the US. When asked about this, he said he had no authority to speak for anyone else, but that he was "fully aware of the questions" being raised in the European Union. If the US is not involved in "financing the war", how would the EU manage, especially after the presidential election? – he wondered.

According to Orbán, at the end of today's meeting, it was agreed that there was a need to continue and strengthen the EPC.

“Orbán has a special energy”

All of Europe has gathered in the fold of the black sheep, Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama, who will host the next EPC meeting, said. According to him, Viktor Orbán has a special energy, and they were able to exchange their opinions more freely on dangerous issues here. "I am tragically optimistic" about the future of Europe, but it is impossible for Europe to have a separate internal and external border, Rama concluded.

Leading politicians from more than forty European countries attended the EPC summit in Budapest, with the European Commission also represented at the highest level. The forum was launched in 2022 at the initiative of France to provide a common platform for European countries inside and outside the EU for discussing current issues. The event is high-profile but rather symbolic, although there is much to discuss given Donald Trump's recent victory at the US presidential election and the participation of Volodymyr Zelensky, who is visiting Budapest for the first time since his election in 2019. Days before the event, it was rumored that the Republican president-elect, who will be returning to the White House soon, would also check in online, but this did not happen. Instead, Trump, who calls Orbán a friend, spoke to the Hungarian prime minister by phone following his election victory.

Ukrainian president Zelensky also spoke at the plenary session, but there was no broadcast from the chamber at the time – the transcript of his speech is available here – and the Ukrainian leader had not made any substantive comments prior to the session.

The EPC summit is usually held earlier in the autumn, but this time it was reportedly held in November at the request of the Hungarian host, deliberately timed to take place shortly after the US presidential election. As a result, several statements at the event made reference to Trump, whose victory the Orbán government was eagerly awaiting. Thursday's EPC summit will be followed by an informal EU summit on Friday, for which only heads of state and government of EU member states will remain.