<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,times new roman,serif;font-size:large;color:#000000">Köszönöm! már többen kérték angolul.<br clear="all"></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><font size="4" face="garamond, serif" color="#ff0000"><i><b>Böbi Elizabeth</b></i></font></div></div></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Feb 21, 2023 at 11:47 AM Emoke Greschik <<a href="mailto:greschem@gmail.com">greschem@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">
<div dir="auto" style="text-align:left"><div style="margin-left:auto;width:510px"><span style="font-size:36px;letter-spacing:-0.01em">Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s “State of the Nation” address</span></div></div><div style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);margin:33px 0px"><p style="margin-top:15px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:20px;line-height:26px;font-weight:700;color:rgb(74,76,79)">18 February 2023, Budapest</p><ul style="margin:15px 0px 0px;padding:0px;list-style-type:none"><li style="text-transform:uppercase;font-size:13px;font-weight:700;margin:0px 10px 10px 0px;line-height:1.2"><a href="https://abouthungary.hu/tags/prime-minister-viktor-orban" style="background-color:transparent;text-decoration-line:none;padding:10px;width:232.86px;border:1px solid rgb(171,172,174)" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR ORBÁN</a></li><li style="text-transform:uppercase;font-size:13px;font-weight:700;margin:0px 0px 10px;line-height:1.2"><a href="https://abouthungary.hu/tags/state-of-the-nation-address" style="background-color:transparent;text-decoration-line:none;padding:10px;width:228.39px;border:1px solid rgb(171,172,174)" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS</a></li></ul><div style="color:rgb(74,76,79)"><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Good afternoon.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Former
Presidents Áder and Schmitt and your Dear Wives, Mister Speaker,
Leaders of Hungarian communities from beyond our borders, Ladies and
Gentlemen,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">As
you are certainly aware, around two weeks ago a devastating earthquake
shook Türkiye and Syria. The death toll is now over 44,000, and sadly
this is not yet the end. Sorrows come suddenly, without warning, without
knocking on the door, but simply smashing it open on us. In our sorrow,
we find out who we can count on. We Hungarians can be counted on: 167
of our compatriots took part in the rescue work, and thirty-five people
were rescued from the rubble by experts and volunteers who risked their
lives in the process. Some of them are here with us now; let us salute
our heroes, who have honoured us with their presence here. Ladies and
Gentlemen, thank you for your sacrifice, a country is proud of you!
Please stand up and let us see you!</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Ladies and Gentlemen,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">So
much has happened in the past year – an election, the war, an energy
crisis, inflation – that in fact I should spend several hours talking
about it. Please do not start making for the door: it is too late now,
if you are here, you are here. Tomorrow, on Sunday, you can rest
yourselves after a speech of Atatürk or Fidel Castro proportions. But I
will keep it shorter after all, because during a long political speech
people lose their zest for life – and we are not here to lose our zest
for life, but to renew our zest for life. And with that I have dived
headlong into what I have to say. Today the most important question for
the future is whether the enormous changes taking place in European life
– which are bringing us new intellectual, political, economic and
military challenges – will enhance or diminish Hungarians’ zest for
life. These changes are putting pressure on the whole of Hungarian life
and are confronting us with new questions. The success of the year 2023
will depend on whether we are energised by them or deflated by them. </p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Ladies and Gentlemen,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">As
I circulate in international politics, I often think of the old
Hungarian song: “Mother, I Didn’t Want That Kind of Horse”. And indeed,
we Hungarians did not want to live in such a chaotic world. But, as my
mother would say, “Son, life is not a request show.” And she is right.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Everything
had been so well thought out: we had cut our way through the piles of
rubble left behind by the socialist governments ousted in 2010, through
the ruins of Wild-East socialism, through unemployment, through an
economy gasping for breath, through foreign currency loans, through
disaffected envy, through prostration to the West, through sky-high
utility bills, through illicit gratuities in the healthcare system,
through cheating the system while living on welfare benefits, and
through resigned acceptance of the second-rate. We were just beginning
to believe that there would be a place in the sun for every Hungarian,
and that such a place would be here. It turned out that it is possible
to live better from one’s work than from benefits, that having children
is not a burden but a joy – or, to be more precise, a burden that is a
joy. We were beginning to believe that life here would be fruitful, that
there would be enough for everyone. We came to think that in order to
get ahead we do not need to take from one another or take that which
belongs to others, because the cake we can bake will be much bigger than
any we have seen so far. One million people have been given work, and
never before in Hungary have so many people been in work. The Hungarian
economy has tripled in size and the minimum wage is now higher than the
average wage was under our Socialist predecessors. We have brought forth
a national Christian constitution that is worthy of us. We have
reorganised the Hungarian state with courage that if not death-defying
is at least Brussels-defying. And, brushing off the naysayers, we have
built a new Hungarian economy in which everyone has received the chance
to find their own destiny. True, it has been an arduous ten years, we
have sweated a lot, our knees and elbows have been grazed and bruised,
and we have collected our fair share of blisters; but we feel that it
has been worthwhile. We have learned how to make headway in the renewed
Hungary, we have seen that the effort has not been in vain, and it has
dawned on us Magyars that “once more our name and story shall match our
ancestors’ in glory”. This is why, after our first historic two-thirds
majority in 2010, we won a two-thirds majority in each of the three
subsequent parliamentary elections. We still gained such a majority now,
even though the entire Left in Hungary combined their forces against
us, even though Brussels tried to starve our treasury, and even though
Uncle George [Soros] rolled 4 billion forints here from America to
provide his comrades with ammunition – to shoot at us. They came a
cropper, they shot wide: not a little, a lot. They fell flat on their
faces, and I think they will pay the price.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Do
you remember the film “Once Upon a Time in the West?” The dialogue at
the beginning of the film? The Charles Bronson character, “Harmonica”,
questions the three bandits waiting for him: </p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">“And Frank?” </p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">“Frank sent us”, they reply.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">“Did you bring a horse for me?” </p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">“No.” </p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Seeing their three horses, Harmonica says, “You brought two too many.”</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">This
is what happened in Hungary in 2022. And as far as I can see, right now
the Hungarian Frank, our “Feri” [Ferenc Gyurcsány], is trying to round
up the horses that are left without owners. The lesson is that when you
look at your opponent you should judge them not by their numbers but by
their ability. It seems that God loves us.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Ladies and Gentlemen,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Election
victories – especially two-thirds majorities – are not something that
people just hand you on a plate. There is work behind them, and the
result of that work is appreciated by the people. Otherwise there will
be no victory – and certainly no two-thirds majority. Of course, there
are always malcontents, who think that we were just lucky. Fine, call it
luck – once. But four times? If you are always lucky, it is also
possible that you have something to offer; for example, you love your
country and you are prepared to fight for it – at home, if need be, or
in the world at large, if need be. The Left should understand that for
victory millions of dollars and influential patrons are not enough. For
victory, Dear Friends, luck is not enough: you need heart.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Ladies and Gentlemen,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Just
when we thought we were finally standing up straight, COVID hit us, in
the spring of 2020 – three years ago now. It brought us pain and
irretrievable losses. But we were right to hope that we would pull
through it, get back on our feet and pick up where we had left off. I
thought that we would arrive at where we always wanted to be. We would
occupy the level in the world entitled to us by our talent, hard work
and history. We would be among the best, somewhere in the vanguard. Once
again, there would be many children, many millions of hearts who
awaited the good news of an orderly, attractive and safe country, a
green Carpathian Basin that can withstand climate change. And even
though the lion and the lamb would not lie down together, we hoped that
the Left would finally understand that this is a common homeland, and
that we have no other.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">And
then war struck – or broke out. It is now one year old, and by every
reckoning it could last for a long time – even several years, it seems.
Everything has changed – including in politics and in the economy. The
West has moved firmly in the direction of the Wild West. From the years
of COVID the world has not got back on track, but we have moved into the
years of war. In fact, since March 2020 – for almost three years – we
have been living our lives under constant pressure. And this could
easily turn into four or even five years. Of the thirty-two years since
the fall of communism, 2022 was the most difficult. It was the most
difficult year. </p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">When
the West entered the war with sanctions, we had to rethink everything.
That occupied the months following the April election. We had to rethink
economic policy, defence policy, military policy, and all of our
foreign policy. In the glare of war, we had to re-examine all the major
goals we had set ourselves in 2010, after our first two-thirds victory.
We are nearing the end of this work. As I see it, there is no need to
abandon or give up the goals, only to change the means by which they
will be achieved. Our foreign policy remains: we want to continue to
make friends, not enemies; we want everyone – East and West, North and
South – to have a stake in the success of the Hungarians. The creation
of connections instead of the formation of blocs. National unification
will continue, and Hungarians beyond our borders can continue to count
on us, because we are of the same blood. Our family policy will remain,
our work-based economy will remain, our agreement with pensioners and
the thirteenth month’s pension will remain, and so will the protection
of reductions in household utility bills. We will continue the linking
of universities to the economy. We can keep the strategic sectors – the
banking sector, the energy sector and the media industry – in Hungarian
hands, and we will even revive Hungarian ownership in the
telecommunications and infocommunications sector. And we will not stop
there, the windsock is already blowing in the wind. Sorry! And the
promise made to the provinces remains: we are launching unprecedented
developments and providing more resources than the Hungarian provinces
have ever seen – even under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Alongside
agricultural production, we are building up agricultural processing. We
will revive the Hungarian food industry, which has been devastated by
privatisation, and we will have national champions in the food industry
who will also be able to compete in the world market. We shall not
tolerate Hungarians having to buy food that is dumped on us from abroad.
And we are retaining our plan for the eastern part of our country to
catch up with the rest. It is time to finally unite Hunnia and Pannonia –
both economically and in terms of living standards. This is why we are
building bridges on the Danube, why the one at Paks will be completed,
and why the one at Mohács will soon be started. We are placing the
Debrecen-Nyíregyháza-Miskolc triangle alongside the
Győr-Szombathely-Veszprém industrial zone. This will require energy, a
lot of energy – more than ever before in Hungary. This is why we will
build power stations and pipeline systems, even if Brussels is unwilling
to play a role. Later there will be more. And we will not give up our
most daring plan: to ensure that families with children are better off
financially than those who do not have children. So, war or no war, we
will have new family support decisions every year. The same is true this
year, with women committing to having children paying no personal
income tax until the age of 30. This is how it will be. But I know that
for us Hungarians this is not enough. We know the joke we inherited from
socialism: “We know what will happen, but the question is this: what
will happen until then?”</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Dear Friends,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">If
2022 was the hardest year, 2023 will be the most dangerous year since
the fall of communism. Alongside migration, which is gradually becoming a
permanent feature, two new enemies and two new dangers are lurking: one
is war, and the other is inflation. If we want to return to the upward
trajectory from which the COVID pandemic pushed us, we must fend off
these two threats: we must overcome them, we must fight our way through
them. But how? Today this is what I will talk about.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">How
do we overcome the danger of war? We want to simply put an end to it,
but we do not have the power to do so – we are not in that league.
Therefore, if we want to protect Hungary, if we want a peaceful life for
ourselves, we have only one choice: we must stay out of the
Russo-Ukrainian war. So far this has not been easy, and it will not be
easy in the future, because we are part of the Western world, we are
members of NATO and the European Union, and everyone there is on the
side of war – or at least acts as if they are. Can Hungary afford to
remain on the side of peace in such circumstances, in a way that is
directly opposed to that of our allies? Of course we can, because
Hungary is an independent, free and sovereign state, and we recognise no
one but God above us. But is it right – morally right – for us to stay
out of the war? I am convinced that it is the right thing – and indeed
the only right thing. Russia has attacked Ukraine, so we must let
Ukrainian refugees into our country, and we have done well in supporting
them with the largest humanitarian aid operation in our country’s
history. This is the imperative of basic humanity, and we are complying
with it. But we also see that the war in Ukraine is not a war between
the armies of good and evil, but a war between the troops of two Slavic
countries: a war limited in time and – for the time being – in space. It
is their war, not ours. Hungary recognises Ukraine’s right to self
defence, to fight against external aggression; but it would not be right
from any point of view – including any moral point of view – to put the
interests of Ukraine before those of Hungary. The Left in Hungary is
also on the side of war: it would supply arms, take on the financial
burden of war and sever relations with Russia. We are not doing this. We
are not supplying arms. We are also being careful with money, because
in the end the money due to us will be given by Brussels to Ukraine. For
us, humanitarian support for Ukraine does not mean severing our ties
with Russia, because that would run counter to our national interests,
which we have the right to define for ourselves. Therefore we shall not
agree to gas, oil or nuclear sanctions that would ruin Hungary. From the
national consultation we know that there is national unity on this.
This is why we are maintaining our economic relations with Russia; and
indeed we are advising the whole Western world to do the same, because
without relations there will be neither a ceasefire nor peace
negotiations. This is why we do not agree with priests and church
leaders being placed on sanctions lists; it is bad enough that this
could happen to artists and athletes. And it is also important not to
narrow our vision, and not to be provincial. Let us look beyond
Brussels. Every country outside Europe is aware of the limited
significance of the war in Ukraine and the primacy of its own national
interest. Let us not isolate ourselves from the level-headed part of the
world. The Hungarian viewpoint is an exception only in Europe – across
the world it is the norm. The Hungarian government does not consider it
realistic to assume that Russia is a threat to the security of Hungary
or of Europe. Such an assumption is valid at most in relation to nuclear
weapons; but the war in Ukraine is increasing the risk of their use,
rather than reducing it. As far as conventional warfare is concerned,
the Ukraine war has shown that Russia would not stand a chance against
NATO. We understand that the Ukrainians are trying to convince Europe
that the Russians will not stop until they reach the Atlantic, but the
Hungarians are not buying that threat. The whole world has seen that
Russian forces are not in a position to attack NATO, and will not be in
such a position for a long time. I recall that a decade ago Hungary
proposed the creation of a joint European force, and today we can see
how unfortunate it was that this proposal fell on deaf ears.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Dear Friends,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">While
our pro-peace position and the pro-war position of others accentuate
differences between us, they also obscure the fact that we are in full
agreement on strategic objectives. We want Russia not to be a threat to
Europe, and we want there to be a sufficiently broad and deep area
between Russia and Hungary: a sovereign Ukraine. The difference between
us is in our view of the means to achieve this: those who support the
war think that this can be achieved by defeating Russia; and we think
that it can be achieved by an immediate ceasefire and negotiations.
There is another strong argument in favour of our proposal: the only
thing that can save lives is a ceasefire. Loss of life is already being
expressed in the hundreds of thousands. The pain, widowhood, growing
numbers of orphans and oceanic waves of suffering can only be calmed by a
ceasefire.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Ladies and Gentlemen,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">The
war has also revealed some instructive and weighty truths. Let us not
pass them by without speaking of them. First of all, there is the
question of our membership of NATO. Let us make it clear that for
Hungary NATO membership is vital. We are too far to the east – on the
eastern edge of the western world – to renounce it. It would of course
be easier if we were further in: following the example of Austria and
Switzerland, we too could play with the idea of neutrality. But history
has not given us that luxury. NATO is a defence alliance. It is a
military defence alliance which was formed so that we can defend one
another. This is why we joined, and this is why – thinking back to 45
years of Soviet occupation – I experienced the historic satisfaction of
signing the Treaty of Accession. It is at least as important to clearly
understand what NATO is not. NATO is not a war alliance. NATO is not a
war coalition. Membership of NATO does not imply any obligation beyond
joint defence, nor can member countries expect any other member to
jointly attack a third country for some joint military objective. If
some NATO members, or a group of them, want to carry out acts of war
outside the territory of the member countries, they must do so outside
the framework of NATO: those who want to will participate; those who do
not want to will not.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Dear Friends,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">No
matter how strong and powerful, anyone who thinks they can supervise,
manage and gradually calibrate the conduct of war is overestimating
their own power and underestimating the risky nature of war. Those who
make such mistakes are usually far removed from the devastating
realities of frontline warfare. But we live here, and the war is on the
soil of a neighbouring country. Brusselites have not yet sacrificed
their lives in this war, but Hungarians have. While Hungarian symbols
are being taken down in Munkács/Mukachevo, while Hungarian principals
are being dismissed from our schools, many are dying heroes’ deaths on
the front. The Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia does not deserve
this. More respect for Hungarians from Munkács/Mukachevo, Kyiv/Kiev,
Brussels and Washington!</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Ladies and Gentlemen,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Europe
is drifting towards war. It is balancing on a narrow plank. Indeed its
countries are already indirectly at war with Russia. If you supply
weapons, if you provide the satellite information for military action,
if you train the soldiers of one of the belligerents, if you finance the
entire state apparatus of one of the belligerents and impose sanctions
on the other, then, no matter what you say, you are at war – indirectly
for the time being. The risk of being drawn in is now chronic. It
started with helmets, it has continued with the delivery of non-lethal
equipment, we are now seeing tanks being sent, fighter planes are on the
agenda, and soon we will hear about so-called “peacekeeping troops”. It
reminds one of sleepwalkers on a roof. We also need to understand how
the pro-war people succumbed to somnambulism and how they ended up on
the rooftops. Despite all our differences of opinion, we understand our
Polish and Baltic friends: their history explains a great deal. But the
others?</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">It
did not have to happen this way – or rather it could have happened
differently. We could have given a guarantee that we would not admit
Ukraine to NATO; but we did the opposite, and confirmed our earlier
decision in 2008 that we would admit them. We could also have followed
the solution that we adopted in 2008 when the Russo-Georgian war broke
out, and Russia occupied 20 per cent of Georgia’s territory. Back then
we decided to prevent the fire spreading, and under the leadership of
President Sarkozy – who negotiated brilliantly – the conflict was
localised and a ceasefire was achieved. We could have done what we did
in 2014 under Angela Merkel, when Russia attacked Ukraine and annexed
Crimea. Then we could have opted for war, like the present one, but we –
the West – chose a different option: negotiation instead of combat,
peace instead of war. I remember that there were pro-war people then,
but there was also strong German and French leadership, which was brave
and took timely action. That is how war was avoided and the Minsk
agreement was reached. A year ago the West decided otherwise. When
Russia launched an attack, the West did not isolate the conflict, but
elevated it to a pan-European level. It could have classified it as a
local, regional war or as a military conflict between two Slavic states,
as Hungary proposed. What happened is yet another argument against the
Brussels superstate and in favour of strong nation states. When the
Member States decided, there was peace; when the imperial centre
decided, there was war.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Ladies and Gentlemen,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Looking
to the future, it is also instructive to note how we lost our pro-peace
allies. A year ago we were not alone in the peace camp. There were, for
example, the Germans, who supplied no weapons, only helmets. By
comparison, in a few weeks’ time Leopard tanks will be rolling eastwards
across Ukrainian soil, down towards the Russian border. Perhaps even
the old maps are still around. The Germans turned together with the
others, or the others turned together with the Germans. That is how the
peace camp faded away. It is hard to believe that the Germans took this
turn of their own accord. Today they act as if they were always on
board. The modern German school: they do not simply change sides, but
openly announce that they are jumping right to the front. They are
thorough people, and when they do something, they do it seriously. And
the other countries thought that if the Germans could not resist that
kind of external pressure then they, too, would be unlikely to. And so
they seeped from the peace camp into the war camp. That left two of us:
Hungary and the Vatican. We cannot complain about the company, but we
need to address some serious consequences.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">We
need to honestly face the fact that the war is getting wilder and more
brutal, and so we had better be prepared for the tone used against us to
get harsher and more abusive: provocations, insults, threats and
blackmail. I cannot promise that it will be easy, but I can promise that
we shall stand our ground. Long gone are the days when we were subject
to diplomatic pressure which still respected sovereignty. Where are the
good old days, when in 2014 Hillary Clinton sent just one “good friend”
to persuade the Hungarians of the error of their ways with
anti-government protests and a few travel bans? We manoeuvred well then,
our calculations worked, and in the form of Donald Trump friendly
relief troops arrived – fortunately not here, but in Washington. Since
then a lot of water has flowed down the Potomac. Fortunately the White
House has retained its sense of humour, and instead of a “good friend”,
President Biden has sent us a “press man”, an ambassador to ratchet up
the pressure on us and do whatever it takes to press the Hungarians into
the camp of war: to press a statement out of us in which we commit
ourselves to joining in. This is fine, humour can help friendship
survive hard times. But we should avoid the possibility that next time
they send someone called Puccini! </p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Ladies and Gentlemen,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">We
see that in 2024 America will have another election, and our Republican
friends are flexing their muscles in preparation for their return. I
also expect that democracy will show its strength in Europe, that public
opinion will become increasingly pro-peace, demanding a ceasefire,
peace talks, more sanity and – if necessary – new governments. It will
not be a walk in the park, but then the smoother and more leisurely
roads all lead to war.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Ladies and Gentlemen,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">We
have no illusions, we are not naive, and neither are we the flower
children of ‘68 or dreaming pacifists. We know that the negotiations
will not be between the Ukrainians and the Russians: peace will come
when the Americans and the Russians negotiate with each other. That will
inevitably happen, but the later it happens, the higher the price we
will all pay. War enthusiasts believe that time is on the side of the
Ukrainians and the West, so the fight must go on: it will change the
balance of power, there will be victory over Russia, and victory will
bring peace. The Hungarian government, however, believes that continued
fighting will not bring victory and will not bring peace, but the deaths
of hundreds of thousands more people, a widening conflict, countries
engaged in open warfare, years of war, destruction, suffering and the
threat of world war. So let us Hungarians stand by peace, but let the
Defence Minister keep his powder dry. That is all I have to say about
the war. </p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Ladies and Gentlemen,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">If
we want to fight inflation, we must start with understanding. Why is
there inflation all over Europe? Brussels has unleashed this affliction
on us, with its sanctions on energy. The disease is called sanction
inflation and the virus is the Brussels sanctions. Sanctions are the
weapons in Brussels’ war policy. They target Russia, but they hit
Europe. It was not so long ago that Brussels promised that these
sanctions would bring an end to the war. A year has passed, and the end
of the war is not getting closer, but ever more distant. They also
promised that they would not extend the sanctions to energy. But then
they did. The price of natural gas multiplied, reaching 350 euros at the
end of August. That is a record, something not seen in living memory.
The situation has improved, but the price of natural gas is still
several times higher than the 20-euro level of two years ago. Moreover,
and few people know this, in Brussels the price of gas was linked to the
price of electricity. Together with the Poles we protested, but to no
avail. The rise in gas prices has therefore been immediately accompanied
by a rise in electricity prices – even when that electricity is not
produced by gas turbines, but by solar, wind, hydro, coal or nuclear
power. It is economics 101 that energy price hikes drive up the price of
all products. This is especially true if you import most of your energy
from abroad, as Hungary does. Moreover, it has turned out that we have
not deprived Russia of revenue, but have given them more money. In 2022
the profits of the world oil and gas industry increased by 70 per cent,
without the mammoth corporations concerned renewing anything or
producing more: they just pocketed the extra profit from sanctions,
which they made Europeans pay for. In 2022 the sanctions took four
thousand billion forints out of the pockets of Hungarians. Four thousand
billion forints! This is how much more money Hungarian companies, the
state and families in Hungary have spent on energy alone, because of the
sanctions. This amount could have been spent by companies on wage
increases, by the state on tax cuts or family support, and by families
on buying a home or on their children.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">One
just stands amidst the glass palaces of Brussels, not wanting to
believe what is going on there. We have to face reality: instead of
help, Brussels is giving us more sanctions. The Brussels bureaucracy,
with well-considered bad intentions, has not given Hungary or Poland
their share of the European Recovery Programme. In 2022, in the most
difficult year, we did not receive money that the Member States took out
as a joint loan, according to which we Hungarians will have to pay back
our share. They are looking for nits to pick out of Hungary’s rule of
law, while a police van is on permanent standby at the European
Parliament building. In reality it is the Member States that should be
monitoring Brussels, not Brussels monitoring the Member States. I hope
this will be the case after the European elections in 2024. If Brussels
wants to go to war under any circumstances, then it should go to war
against inflation. It is not doing so. But we are continuously fighting
our own war on inflation. We have already enacted two dozen or so
measures to protect families and businesses.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">The
most important thing now, my friends, is not to see inflation as an
inescapable scourge. And even though inflation is peaking and placing a
heavy burden on families, it should not frighten us, it should not chill
us, and we should not be resigned to it. Action must be taken, and it
will yield results. I learned from Sándor Demján that in times of crisis
there is no such thing as normativity. You must intervene in the
economy with courage. This is what we are doing, which is why the
average family today is saving 181,000 forints a month in reduced
utility bills. This is unique in the whole of Europe. The Left is
calling for the food price freeze to be withdrawn, but it will remain
until we can bring inflation down. The Left – together with the banks,
unsurprisingly – is also calling for the lifting of the retail interest
rate freeze. But the interest rate freeze is protecting 350,000 families
from interest rate rises, and until interest rates start to fall, the
freeze should stay in place. Instead of withdrawing it, we have extended
it to student loans. So today we are protecting 200,000 students from
inflation. Student loans are interest-free, and the interest rate on a
free-use student loan is half the market rate. And now we are
introducing a reduced-rate county travel pass. From 1 May, we will offer
monthly nationwide and county passes valid for both bus and rail
travel. The monthly pass will cost 9,450 forints, and the monthly
nationwide pass will cost 18,900 forints. Those who travel to work by
public transport can save a considerable amount.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Ladies and Gentlemen,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Forging
a good shield – one that can absorb heavy blows – is expensive.
Therefore windfall profits must be taken from where they occur. We have
taxed banks, energy companies and multinational retail chains. And the
windfall profits taken are put into the fund to preserve cuts in
household utility bills.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">In
summary, 2022 was a year that could have broken the backbone of the
Hungarian economy. The official doomsayers, respected former central
bank governors and former right-wing economists were also expecting
this, and were already administering the last rites to us. Bankruptcies,
unemployment, currency collapse, insolvency, Armageddon: that was what
the Left predicted. Now, in February, employment is higher than ever,
foreign exchange reserves are at record levels, and the forint has
stabilised. The truth is that, alongside and in spite of painfully high
inflation, in 2022 the Hungarian economy broke three records. A
hat-trick. I hope coach [Marco] Rossi is listening. Never have so many
people been in work in Hungary. Our exports have broken records, and
never before has there been so much investment in Hungary as there was
in 2022. This is why we are still on our feet despite high prices, and
this is why the economy will not stall in 2023. Inflation is like a
tiger, and you only have one bullet. If you miss, it will eat you up.
Please trust us, we will hit it. You can bet on it: by the end of the
year we will have inflation in single digits.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Dear Friends,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">As
we can see, the situation is serious, but not hopeless – in fact it is
encouraging. Hungarians’ survival instincts are operating, they can see
things clearly, and – as the national consultation has shown – there is
broad agreement on the main objectives. Here today I thank all those who
took part in the national consultation. We will stay out of war,
Hungary will remain an island of peace and security, and we will conquer
inflation – this is always the Government’s job, and there will be no
mistakes. But there is something else that a government, however
confident it may be, will not be able to do on its own. You know,
everyone has heard, what a despicable thing happened in one of our
schools. One cannot understand why the sky does not fall, why the earth
does not open up to swallow up those whose place is under it.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Dear Friends,</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">Let
us say it how it is: paedophilia cannot be forgiven. Children are
sacred to us, and it falls to adults to protect children at all costs.
We do not care that the world has gone mad. We do not care what
repellent aberrations some people indulge in. We do not care how
Brussels excuses and explains the inexplicable. This is Hungary! And
this is where the strictest child protection system in Europe should be!
The legislation is there, and the missing pieces will be found, but
even the most determined government cannot succeed in this matter on its
own. It will require everyone: parents, grandparents, mothers and
fathers, teachers and educators. Because gender propaganda is not just
an entertaining caper, not just rainbow chatter, but the greatest threat
stalking our children. We want our children to be left alone, because
enough is enough! This kind of thing has no place in Hungary, and
especially not in our schools. I am counting on you, we are counting on
all Hungarian people of goodwill, so that we can do this job together,
once and for all, in 2023.</p><p style="margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:1rem;font-size:15px;line-height:26px">God above us all, Hungary before all else! Go, Hungary, go Hungarians!</p></div></div>
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