“Europe is playing with fire; we are on the frontier between peace and war,” Warns Viktor Orbán

On Friday morning, Viktor Orbán gave an interview on Radio Kossuth’s Good Morning, Hungary! program, discussing the war in Ukraine, economic challenges and the anniversary of Hungary’s EU accession.

“The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs says that a large-scale European war is not a fantasy, and the Poles are already saying that there is no diplomatic solution to the war,” the Prime Minister noted on the program, adding that “Europe is playing with fire; we are on the frontier between peace and war.”

As Hirado.hu reports, the Prime Minister recalled that once in 1999, Hungary managed to stay out of war when an attempt was made to involve the country in the southern Slavic conflict against the Serbs, which would have ruined Serbian-Hungarian relations and the fate of the Hungarian community in Vojvodina. He then recalled that twice in the twentieth century the country was forced into wars that sealed the fate of the country.

We will not allow ourselves to be forced into such a situation a third time,”

he underlined.

Viktor Orbán said that, unfortunately, we are currently moving further and further away from peace. “I am worried about the future of Europe,” he noted. In his opinion, the war means a huge deal for the U.S. defense industry. “And there are very serious forces behind the war drive, but the people, the majority, are against the war. They do not want war, yet the European leaders are marching towards a war,” he added.

In this context, the Prime Minister noted that the experience of war in Western and Central Europe is different. So far, the West has always emerged victorious from wars, while Central Europe has always been the loser. Our historical experience of war is that you can only lose.

In the end – even if the front does not reach here – we will pay the economic price,”

he warned.

“The closer you are to a war zone, the higher the price you pay. In other words, we are the ones who are suffering the most, because people are already having to pay a war surcharge in the stores.”

The Prime Minister emphasized that what is at stake in today’s elections is not only the number of MEPs in the European Parliament: “The stakes are war.” He said that we must look at the elected representatives’ attitude to the war, and strive to ensure that pro-peace representatives are in the majority. He also pointed out that the majority of EU countries are now pro-war, but if the pro-peace forces play their cards right, the EU could change direction.

Speaking about the 20th anniversary of Hungary’s accession to the EU, Orbán pointed out that Hungary did not join the same EU as it is seen today. He recalled that at the time,

there was no question of supporting illegal migration or of Brussels decision-makers imposing their gender ideology on us.”

He also recalled that in 2004, the EU accounted for more than 20% of world economic output, but that this figure had now fallen significantly.

On the issue of fuel prices, he stressed that Hungarians should have access to fuel at the same price as citizens of neighboring countries. He said that it would be better for the fuel business to see this and set their own margins and profits than to have to impose this through government measures. He noted that the government had asked traders for a regional price. The government is working from regional KSH data that includes Polish, Czech, and Bulgarian prices in addition to those of neighboring countries. However, traders say this is not fair, because the latter countries cannot be used as a basis for comparison with Hungary, and asked that the average price be calculated without these countries, he explained. He believes that this is in fact a legitimate expectation on their part, “so we will recalculate the prices.”

If there were peace, the Hungarian economy could double in size, precisely because the economies of Western Europe – especially Germany – would not suffer as much as they do now,”

Orbán stressed.

“The Germans have been hit by the war because they have disconnected from the Russian energy system and are now paying twice the price for energy. And for Hungary, the German market is very important. The whole point of our membership in the EU is that we have unrestricted access to the markets of richer countries. But if these countries get into a crisis, it will affect us,” he explained.

He added that it was no coincidence that the Chinese President is coming to Hungary, that we have increased our activities in Central Asia, and that we have increased our economic ties with Africa. “The Hungarian economy’s capacity for action must be expanded in the present situation to a greater extent than we have been accustomed to in the past,” the Prime Minister concluded.

Via hirado.hu, Featured image: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán