The price of climate protection must be paid by those who destroy our climate, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated in a Christmas interview published in the Tuesday edition of the
newspaper Magyar Nemzet.

The Prime Minister highlighted that the largest and richest states as well as the world’s largest multinational companies are chiefly responsible for the climate crisis.

“They must primarily foot the bill, not poorer countries,” he said, adding that “we cannot accept that, with reference to climate protection, they increase the prices of energy and foodstuffs, and make Hungarian families pay again.”

Regarding the issue of climate protection, he took the view that it is not a question of party orientation or ideology; protecting the created environment is in everyone’s best interests and is also an important part of Christian teachings. In his opinion, “it is better to approach this issue seriously”; empty political slogans do more harm than good, he said.

In the interview, the Prime Minister also said the family protection action plan offers the Hungarian people unprecedented benefits, and an opportunity to plan their future.

He stressed that family support “is the pledge of survival because a nation which is unable to sustain itself biologically is […] unable to preserve its cultural and emotional community, and will therefore disappear […]”. He added that so far half a million people have obtained homes of their own with the government’s support. Between 2011 and 2019, the government has left HUF 2,250 billion in total with Hungarian families.

“This is why we have a family-oriented and proportionate income tax, an extensive housing support system, this is why we support the possibility of working while raising children, build nursery schools and creches, make textbooks free and provide meals for needy children,” he listed.

“This, all its elements combined, amounts to Europe’s most comprehensive family support system,” Mr Orbán said, taking the view that we should get to a point where the situation of those who decide to raise children is better already in the short term compared with those who decide not to have children.

At the same time, the Prime Minister said a precondition of further family protection measures is to successfully keep the economy on a robust course of growth.

“Today, the Hungarian economy is doing better and better, but this level is not enough for further family support measures,” he pointed out.

In answer to the suggestion that the government is concerned about the onset of an economic crisis, Mr Orbán said “every intelligent person is aware” that 2020 will be a difficult year for Europe. In his view, Brussels made two serious mistakes: one of them was letting migrants in, while the other one was that they have spoilt European economic policy.

The EU’s competitiveness is continually declining, the performance of the Eurozone is slowing down, and in consequence, by now Central Europe has become the engine of economic growth. The Prime Minister highlighted that the most important task is to protect the results achieved by the Hungarian economy so far, and this will require the adoption of a comprehensive economy protection action plan. We need knowledge, technologies and industries which, in addition to jobs, are capable of generating high profits on a long-term basis. It is therefore important that global companies are increasingly relocating to Hungary the automotive industry of the future, the production of electric cars, he said.

He described immigration as Europe’s most important issue, which will determine European politics and relations between European countries “not only today, this year or next year, but for decades”. In Western countries, he continued, which let migrants in, Muslim populations increase year after year, while Christian populations decrease.

“This is a process which would be difficult to stop even if there was an intention to do so. But there isn’t,” Mr Orbán pointed out. In his words, immigrant countries refuse to accept that Hungary does not want to go down that path, and are therefore exerting ever more pressure. The pressure of migration which fluctuates “by virtue of its nature” is growing again. Not only according to the first-hand experiences of our soldiers and police officers that guard the Hungarian border, but also according to the European Union’s own intelligence, he stated

At this point, Mr Orbán stressed that if there were no fence and armed personnel on the Hungarian border, there would be masses of migrants in Hungary again. Meanwhile, Brussels persistently attacks the Hungarian laws protecting the border, and “fails to provide a penny to finance our fence”. The Prime Minister took the view that it is no coincidence that left-wing and liberal parties did not accept László Trócsányi as European commissioner; the person who created the legal framework for border protection.

Those countries are in the crosshairs of Brussels which are opposed to immigration and rejected the distribution of migrants based on quotas. Hungary is a country resting on national foundations where the culture of the population is Christian, and the people want to stay that way. This is why the cabinet is opposed to immigration, the Prime Minister laid down. He highlighted that “the Soros network” wants to turn the whole of Europe into a mixed-culture society, if possible, through the elimination of nation states.

“We, however, have received a mandate from Hungarian electors – with multiple confirmations – to go against that plan, and that is what we will do. They believe in the strength of their jaws, while we believe that they will lose a tooth or two in the process,” he said.

Regarding the new European Commission, the Prime Minister observed that they support every European institution, and seek to cooperate with them.

“However, for us Hungary is first. And when it comes to that, we’re not afraid to engage in debates,” he stressed.

In answer to a question concerning the eradication of poverty, Mr Orbán said “the first major results are finally forthcoming”. Since 2010, the number of people living in severe material deprivation has fallen to one third. It is true that “there are still several hundred thousand of them, but I also see the way we will progress, step by step”.

Regarding Christmas, Mr Orbán said “Quiet instead of battle roar, acceptance and love instead of retort, spiritual immersion instead of chit-chat, sacred instead of profane, Angel from Heaven. That is what I always look forward to.”

(MTI)