“Even a fragile peace is better than war,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in his Friday interview with public broadcaster Kossuth Rádió, referring to Thursday’s Minsk agreement aimed at resolving the Ukrainian conflict.
He said that now we can hope for a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, but the situation is still fragile: “we are faced with a real war.” Mr Orbán stressed that he stands for peace and that peace is in the interest of all Hungarians. “The participants at the EU summit on Thursday were pleased that an agreement was reached, but due to different historical experiences we all have different points of view,” Mr Orbán said, adding that he had personally thanked Chancellor Merkel and President Hollande for their efforts to achieve a ceasefire agreement and peace. The Prime Minister said that the meeting yesterday was about the ceasefire agreement; sanctions against Russia were not on the agenda.
Talking about his Friday visit to Kiev, he said that Hungary has logical reasons to have good relations with Ukraine. “There is a war going on in Ukraine, the country is fighting for its existence and its territories,” and this must be taken into account when talking about the situation of the Hungarians of Transcarpathia, for whom the Hungarian government will always stand up.
Concerning Russian-Hungarian relations, the Prime Minister said that Hungary also needs rational and clear relations with Russia. He went on to say that this is not easy, as cooperation with Russia is an emotional matter for many Hungarians, but this psychological issue must be overcome and the obvious interests of Hungary must be kept in mind: security, the economy and energy supply. Talking about President Putin’s visit next week, Mr. Orbán said that he had invited the President, he is happy that he is coming to Budapest, and he underlined that Mr. Putin – whom he described as a “controversial, but acknowledged player in European politics” – will be welcome in the future as well.
On the issue of Hungary’s expiring long-term gas supply agreements, the Prime Minister said that reaching a new agreement is made more difficult by the fact that the price of gas cannot be calculated in a reliable manner, due to the changes in oil prices. “Therefore, we should not enter into long-term agreements; the old agreement has expired and we will have to heat households tomorrow morning as well,” he said. He noted that this difficult situation must be resolved; this is not impossible, but he will only talk about the details after meeting President Putin.
Those who cross borders illegally must be detained
Discussing the matter of immigration, Mr Orbán explained that he needs a clear and unified response from the Hungarian public on the matter – one that cannot be questioned. The Prime Minister is asking for authorization from the citizens of Hungary for regulations – different from current EU asylum policy – which allow the authorities to detain illegal immigrants and return them to their home countries as soon as possible. Once he receives this authorization in the framework of the national consultation, he will be able to promote its legitimacy in Brussels.
He recalled that there has been a similar regulation in Hungary before, but the EU prohibited these practices. Now, however, we have to make it clear to Brussels that this was a bad decision, he said. The Prime Minister said that the questions for the national consultation – which should be launched as soon as possible – must be well-formulated, in a clear and simple style. This way, he continued, people will be able to form their opinions on the topic, as they have common sense. He underlined that the Germans and the Austrians will change their immigration regulations as well, consequently immigrants will not be able to move on, and they will “get stuck” here.
“If we do not have laws to immediately detain these people and return them back home, Hungary will become a refugee camp,” Mr. Orbán said, stressing that this must be avoided. In his view, through strong police action in Hungary it will also become clear in the Balkan region that it does not pay to come here, because illegal immigrants will be detained, be required to work in order to earn benefits, and will finally be returned. As a result they will stop coming.
The advertising tax is needed
The Prime Minister was also asked about the advertising tax and about “losing an old comrade”, to which he said that Hungary needs the advertising tax and the income generated from it: “we cannot retreat from this.” However “as the advertising tax is about money – like all taxes – and it concerns the pockets and interests of private companies, they have an opinion on it. They will try to enforce this with different means, and they will express it with different forcefulness,” he said, stressing that neither the Government, nor he himself must engage in such debates. The Prime Minister pointed out that “governing a country is never a personal matter” and continued by saying that “the world of coffee-house gossip is not the world of governance,” adding that questions such as who says what and in what form “is completely secondary”.
Referring to the changes in the Government’s banking policy, Mr. Orbán said that “we have achieved our goals.” As he put it, there was a time before the foreign currency loan era, and now a time after it; now we have “ended the era of foreign currency debtors.” He also added that the Government has reached its other objectives as well: over fifty per cent of the banking system is in Hungarian hands and Hungary has returned to the group of countries that have sound economies.
(Prime Minister's Office/MTI)