Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has delivered his traditional speech during the closing event of the Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp in the resort town of Baile Tusnad (Tusnádfürdő) on Saturday.Continue reading
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s political director, Balázs Orbán, responded to criticism in the US media and argued for an alliance between Hungarian and American conservatives, after the Prime Minister’s meeting with Donald Trump and ahead of his speech at CPAC Texas.
In a letter published on Twitter, Balázs Orbán, the Prime Minister’s Political Director, reacted to a video by Fareed Zakaria on CNN about Viktor Orbán’s recent speech at the Tusványos Summer University. According to Balázs Orbán, the video was “yet another example of the Western liberal media’s deliberate efforts to spread misinformation about Hungary.”
“It is always a bold move to lecture people on their own country’s history,” he wrote. “It is clear-cut fake news to say that Prime Minister Orbán talked about a “pure Hungarian race,” Balázs Orbán noted, adding that the Prime Minister explained “how we Hungarians are a mixture of different peoples, merged together in a ‘Hungaro-Pannonian sauce,’ creating a multiethnic environment.” “The Hungarian nation survived the past thousand years by successfully integrating different people who have been living in and outside of the Carpathian Basin,” he noted. Balázs Orbán stressed that the Prime Minister’s remarks should be understood on a cultural and civilizational basis, not a biological-racial one.
Balázs Orbán “firmly rejected” Zakaria’s claims concerning the alleged anti-Semitism of the Prime Minister. “The Hungarian government has zero tolerance for racism and anti-Semitism—which has been our firm policy for all of the past twelve years,” he remarked. “Hungary is one of the safest places for Jews to practice their religion, without having to worry about harassment,” Balázs Orbán added.
“We are a small country, proud of our history and our national identity, and we care about liberty and national sovereignty,” the Prime Minister’s Political Director stressed in his letter. “I suggest that, in such turbulent times, instead of lecturing and criticizing each other based on unfounded claims, we join our forces to preserve and better our Western civilization—something I am sure we all cherish,” he added.
On Wednesday, Newsweek published an op-ed by Balázs Orbán. In it, he argued for a “conservative alliance across the pond.” The Political Director recalled that the four main challenges identified by the Prime Minister in his Tusványos speech are equally relevant on both sides of the pond: population decline, migration, the increasingly militant gender ideology, and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
According to Balázs Orbán, “the importance of leadership, wisdom, and responsible decisions cannot be overstated in such difficult times.” He stressed that it’s more important than ever for American and European conservatives to join forces, “raise our voices, ignore the liberal media’s name-calling, stand up for the values we share, and put the interest and the future of our nations first. If this is what a 21st-century rebellion looks like, then we should proudly accept the label,” he concluded.
Balázs Orbán is accompanying Viktor Orbán in the USA this week, alongside Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Zsolt Németh, the head of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee. They met former President Donald Trump on Tuesday and Viktor Orbán will speak at the CPAC Texas in Dallas Thursday evening.
Featured photo via Facebook/Balázs Orbán
