Orbán structured the new government and chose its ministers with a view to resolving the challenges facing the country, the PM's press chief, Bertalan Havasi, said.Continue reading
Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, with its Christian Democrat coalition ally KDNP, won a two-thirds majority for the fourth time in the recent parliamentary elections on April 3, allowing Orbán to form a government once again, for the fifth time overall. In our review, we examine the messages and goals expressed by Viktor Orbán in his speeches to Parliament in 2010, 2014, and 2018, at the opening session of the National Assembly, and after he was sworn in as prime minister. As can be read on the website of the National Assembly, the Parliament will vote on the Prime Minister today at 2:30 p.m., after which Viktor Orbán will be sworn in for the fifth time.
This article was originally published on our sister-site, Ungarn Heute.
After eight years in the opposition, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán returned for a second term in 2010, with his party coalition winning a two-thirds majority in parliament for the first time. At the first parliamentary session on May 14, 2010, the newly elected Orbán emphasized in his speech:
This is not the first time I have stood before you, nor the first time I have had the task of forming the government of Hungary. I know what I have to do. I know what the country expects of me, and I will do it, I will do what is expected of me. I am ready to fight. I am taking up a fight in which I will have to deal with great forces, but those who know me a little know that I will not be deterred by obstacles.”
At the time, he promised that his government would fight crime, unemployment, the hopelessness of young people, the obstacles to having children, and the vulnerability of the elderly. The “divide and rule” policies, the real estate scandals, the methods of abuse of power, the attempts to evade responsibility, the unearned public payments, and the corruption and waste that have ruined the nation’s capital, will all be fought.
The parliamentary elections on April 6, 2014, resulted in another two-thirds victory for Viktor Orbán and the Fidesz-KDNP. After being sworn in as prime minister on May 10, Orbán emphasized that for the first time in decades, the entire Hungarian nation, the motherland, Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin, and Hungarians living outside the Carpathian Basin, could participate in the nation’s joint decision.
Therefore, this Parliament has the right to feel itself as the Parliament of the Hungarian nation, and the Government will rightly consider itself as the Government of the nation. In my opinion, this is neither an exaggeration nor an overstretch. Rather, it is an obligation, a burden on our shoulders and, above all, a responsibility. I would like to thank Hungarians living outside the motherland for their overwhelming support for our policy of unifying the Hungarian nation across borders,”
said Orbán. In his speech, the Prime Minister emphasized that after his second victory, Hungary’s Constitution (officially called Fundamental Law), the organization of society based on respect for human dignity, the policy of combining freedom and responsibility, the labor-based economy, and the policy of national unification are not up for debate. There will and should be debates about the how and the details, but the fundamental issues have been settled and the voters have closed the debate.
Orbán’s goal at the time was for the government to be a people’s party government and to govern as such. “In other words: We want to govern on the basis of the mandate given to us by the people, together with the people, and in the interest of the people.”
Regarding the government’s European policy, he said: “Hungary is part of the Western alliance system, NATO, and the European Union. “But we are members of these alliances, not hostages. The alliance duty does not apply to see; no one can expect us to pretend that we are blind, that we do not see what is going on around us and with us in the world.”
In the parliamentary elections on April 8, 2018, the Fidesz-KDNP coalition again won with a two-thirds majority, and just as in 2014, Viktor Orbán took his oath as prime minister in parliament on May 10.
In his speech, he promised that he would “fight on the spot according to the rules of chivalry if a party fight cannot be avoided. And to the members of the ruling party, I promise that we will not owe anything to anyone in the debates.”
Victory is never final, defeat is never fatal, it only depends on whether you are willing to fight on.”
Referring to the next four years, he expressed the belief that now is the time for great things to happen. He optimistically said that the stars have not been as bright as they were then for a long time. “The Hungarian cause is a successful one today. Everything is together that the great plans require,” Orbán added.
He further emphasized that “wherever we go in the countryside we see signs of work, effort, construction. Tower cranes, construction workers, cultivated fields. Everyone has a plan, is building, expanding, adapting, and creating something new.”
In his speech, he set the goal that by 2030, Hungary would be among the five countries in the European Union where it is best to live, work, and reside. “We know that there are countries that are bigger, more populous, and richer than us, but hardly any that are more beautiful, safer, older, and more protected than our Carpathian Basin and in it, Hungary.”
We are committed to stopping the demographic decline and even putting Hungary back on the road to recovery. Expressways will connect Budapest to our county-right cities, our highways will go all the way to the borders, and it will be possible to get on the expressways from anywhere in the country in 30 minutes. The new solar parks and Paks II will put Hungary at the forefront of clean and sustainable energy production,”
Orbán promised.
He also stressed that a new Hungarian Territorial Army was being built, because although neighboring countries are also constantly rearming, according to the Prime Minister, the following is generally true: “A nation that cannot ensure its own defense is irresponsible and commits a historical mistake.”
Today, the deputies of the Hungarian Parliament may elect Viktor Orbán as prime minister for the fifth time. The vote and the oath are expected to take place at 2:30 pm. After that, the elected prime minister will give a speech. We will report on this in a separate article.
Sources: Index, Prime Minister’s website, the Hungarian Government’s website
Featured image via Szilárd Koszticsák/MTI
