We Will Not Take Part in Zelenskyy’s Victory Plan, Says Prime Minister

On Friday morning, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was a guest on Kossuth Radio’s Good Morning, Hungary! program. The politician gave an account of yesterday’s EU summit, as well as the latest government decisions.

The Prime Minister said that the EU consists of two groups in connection with the war in Ukraine: “there are the others and then there are us.” The EU is behaving like a belligerent party, he stressed, adding that “Hungary made it clear at the outset that this is the wrong strategy, that this war cannot be won, that negotiations are needed.”

He said that yesterday, the other 26 EU countries were now listening in shock to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying that he had a plan for victory. “But what has he got so far?” he asked.

There is no way to win with Zelenskyy’s victory plan, only to lose, therefore we will not participate in it,”

he underlined.

Referring to the European People’s Party’s (EPP) poster calling for Viktor Orbán’s departure, the Prime Minister said that the Hungarian position on the war could be one of the reasons. Orbán had suggested before that the German Chancellor and the French President should start negotiations with the Russians “either on their own behalf or on behalf of Europe before the Americans enter the scene.”

As he emphasized,

the EPP had reached a new level in the recent European Parliament debate, where they “announced their own demand” for the departure of his cabinet.

According to him, they did this so that a “new government, which belongs to their own party family, would make policies that please Brussels, such as letting in migrants, entering the war, accepting gender ideology and abolishing child protection in Hungary.”

“There are problems in the European Union, and the problems that pose the greatest challenge are precisely those where Hungary has different answers,” Mr. Orbán noted, citing migration, the cuts in electricity and gas prices, and the war as examples. He added that

the problem is that “what we are doing in Hungary is more or less what the people of Europe would like to see at home, and what their own government is doing is the opposite.”

“Hungary is an example in the eyes of the European people in contrast to their own governments on migration, energy policy, economic policy, as well as the approach to the Russian-Ukrainian war,” he stressed. The Prime Minister noted that Hungary was unknowingly challenging EU countries with bad policies, thereby increasing its prestige.

Mr. Orbán said he met the German Chancellor last week and will be received by the French President next week. “Hungary’s value in the world of foreign policy is clearly enhanced by the fact that we do things differently, and this is successful.

I think our influence is greater than would otherwise be justified by the size of the country and its real economic and military strength,”

he argued.

The Prime Minister also spoke about the government’s recent actions. He said that Hungary should pursue an economic policy that is on its own track and that “there will be great surprise” when the first quarterly economic figures are presented in 2025. He believed the 21-point economic action plan announced recently could give a big boost to the Hungarian economy.

He added that while the world is changing, Europe is stuck in a rut, when it should be adapting but cannot or does not feel like it.

In comparison, Hungary will outperform, because by adapting quickly, by announcing and strengthening its policy of economic neutrality, it can compete, provided that the people confirm this through the national consultation,”

Mr. Orbán highlighted.

The Prime Minister pointed out that a new economic policy has its difficulties, it is hard to gain momentum, and a lot of work is needed. There are some risks, and it should only be launched if the people support it and accept that Hungary should pursue an economic policy that is on its own path, he concluded.

Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán