Orbán in Brussels: "The advance of patriotic forces continues, Brussels needs to be reformed"

“Despite the election defeat in Hungary, the advance of patriotic forces continues in Europe,” Viktor Orbán, president of Fidesz said at the Brussels office of the Alliance for a Civic Hungary Foundation. Since his party's defeat at the 12 April parliamentary elections, this is Orbán’s first trip abroad. He will be attending a meeting of the Patriots for Europe group in Belgium. At the press conference, he said that last weekend, when he spoke at the Fidesz congress and said that he “does not want to change” it was “in response to an internal debate going on within the party,” and he also said that he had previously counted on Hungary receiving EU funds in December. It was also revealed that Orbán will attend the World Cup and will be there for six days.

Orbán said that since he had been invited to Brussels, he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and decided to make himself available to the press ahead of tomorrow’s summit. On the subject of the Hungarian elections, he said that they had created a new situation in Hungary, but this defeat does not change the “historic” fact that patriotic organizations, parties, and communities are on the rise across Europe. “No single election defeat will halt this process,” he concluded. In his view, this process could only be halted if the EU were able to demonstrate success, but it currently cannot do so—neither in terms of competitiveness nor on migration.

“Although the party affiliated with the Patriots suffered a defeat in Hungary, this does not change Fidesz’s foreign policy,” Orbán said. In his view, Brussels needs to be reformed. He considered it good news that the Patriots were not left without a prime minister, as Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš remains in office. According to Viktor Orbán, at the Patriots’ meeting they will discuss what they did wrong during the campaign, as there are lessons to be learned from it.

Responding to questions, Orbán spoke about Hungary having extensive experience in preventing leaders from coming to power.

“Some had lead poured into their ears; in comparison to that, I got off pretty easily,

he said, referring to the fact that the Tisza party had amended the Fundamental Law so that a prime minister can serve a maximum of eight years in office, which will also apply to Viktor Orbán. In response to another question about whether he could ever become prime minister again, he said that “he doesn’t see it happening when he looks up at the stars.”

Orbán was asked what he thought Hungary was "paying" in exchange for EU funds. According to the former prime minister, the European Commission had previously (while they were in government) blackmailed them for political reasons, and they had to find solutions to this. “Our response to this blackmail was the veto. With regard to EU funds, this meant that if you didn’t give us our money, the EU wouldn’t have a budget. I calculated that we would have received the funds in December,” he said. In his view, the new government "changed tactics" and is "complying" with the EU’s demands. He added:

Fidesz expects the new Hungarian government not to leave a single penny with the EU.

He spoke about two billion euros that the EU claims are no longer available, but which Hungary is entitled to. When asked why he said at the Fidesz congress that he does not want to change anymore, he replied that this was a “reflection on an internal debate going on within the party,” but that, in any case, he doesn’t really want to change much anymore, partly because of his age. He was also asked whether a pro-Russian policy might have contributed to Fidesz’s defeat. “There was no pro-Russian party running in the Hungarian elections,” Orbán replied.

In response to a question from Telex, Viktor Orbán said that the best solution concerning refugees is not to let anyone in. He does not consider the transit zone or refugee camps good solutions, because they are an additional source of danger. In his view, their approach is the right one: applications must be submitted outside the country, and in the meantime, “migrants wait”. The transit zone is not a good idea—which is why his government did away with it—because it is a step backward in terms of security.

The former prime minister declined to comment on “speculations and insinuations” concerning Lőrinc Mészáros and István Tiborcz until specific details emerged. When asked if he intends to change his stance on the issue of corruption, he said that they are now in an easier position and can give simpler answers because they are in opposition. “The authorities will take action,” he said. When Telex asked if he personally was willing to change his stance on the subject, he did not answer but moved on to the next question instead.

The position of right-wing media outlets in Hungary was also discussed. According to the former prime minister, this is the business of the owners; there is no reason for him to concern himself with it. He simply hopes that “national” and “patriotic” forces will be able to represent their own views in as many places and on as many platforms as possible. It was also revealed that Viktor Orbán will be attending the World Cup; he’ll be abroad for six days and has tickets for the two semifinals and the final. But he’ll be returning home from the U.S. relatively quickly—he says he won’t be staying to relax because he has “his hands full with work.”

“We have to decide whether we have a janitor or a prime minister,” he said in response to a question from 444 about whether, following Fidesz’s historic defeat, he should have focused on day-to-day matters rather than grand visions. “It’s not worth contrasting the handling of small matters with grand visions,” he stated. In his view, one cannot function without the other.

János Bóka, a Fidesz-delegated member of Parliament and the former EU affairs minister was seated next to Orbán at the event, and according to him, Bóka would be “answering the more difficult questions.” Mária Schmidt and Balázs Orbán, who previously served as Viktor Orbán’s political director were also in attendance at the event.

A pre-summit meeting of the Patriots, but not at the House of Hungary in Brussels

It was announced last week that the former Hungarian prime minister would be attending the meeting of the Patriots for Europe (PfE) party family, which is being held in Brussels ahead of the European Council summit on June 18–19. Bertalan Havasi, Fidesz’s communications director, also confirmed the news. Incidentally, this will be the first EU summit in Brussels where, for the first time in 16 years, Péter Magyar—rather than Viktor Orbán—will represent Hungary as prime minister.

The bigger political groupings hold such meetings regularly, just as the PfE has also done since its formation in 2024. Breaking with past practice, however, this time they will not be using the House of Hungary in Brussels, which is owned by the Hungarian state. The luxurious building was purchased and renovated with Hungarian taxpayer money, ostensibly for the 2024 rotating presidency and was subsequently supposed to be used for cultural events.

These pre-summit meetings provide a good opportunity for leaders from a single political family to coordinate their positions, although this will not be particularly necessary for the PfE: of the 27 heads of state, the group includes only one—Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.

The far-right PfE group in the European Parliament, founded by Viktor Orbán, issued a statement the day after the Hungarian election. In it, they expressed their support for Viktor Orbán and Fidesz, who had lost the election. According to the statement, Fidesz and Viktor Orbán are key players in upholding traditional values and democratic self-determination in Europe, and their defeat represents a setback for the forces that champion these values.

The PfE group is more united than ever before and is committed to representing its goals even more vigorously and standing up even more resolutely for the sovereignty, freedom, and prosperity of every European nation, the PfE faction wrote at the time. The former Hungarian prime minister has since been re-elected as the leader of Fidesz, so he will certainly lead the party for the next year; he also arrived in Brussels in his capacity as party chairman.

Viktor Orbán and Herbert Kickl, chairman of the Austrian Freedom Party, and former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš announced in the summer of 2024 that they would form a new group at the European Parliament; shortly thereafter, the “Patriots for Europe” EP group was established as the third-largest group in the European Parliament.