In Parliament on Thursday afternoon Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that his government will oppose the mandatory quotas, stand up for Christian culture and fight to protect the country’s borders. In his inaugural address, the Prime Minister stressed that Hungary needs the EU, and the EU also needs Hungary, and the country must and will enter the arena of European politics. He also stated that his government will be a government of free Hungarians and a sovereign Hungarian state. He stressed that he is aware that many will find it incredible, but he thinks that by 2030 it is an achievable goal for Hungary to be among the five best countries in the European Union in which to live and work.
At the beginning of his speech Mr. Orbán stressed that the Government is being formed on the basis of a two-thirds parliamentary majority capable of constitutional amendment, but “it will always serve the three thirds.”
In his words, the homeland cannot be in opposition, because it stands high above political parties, and “service to it cannot be dependent on whether at a given time one is in opposition or in government.” He promised his political opponents that in conflict between parties he will fight according to the code of chivalry, but “If we are attacked, we shall give as good as we get.”
The Prime Minister thanked everyone who voted in the elections, especially those who voted for Fidesz-KDNP, and declared that “I stand before you full of optimism, hope and the desire for action.”
“The work completed so far can give us all the requisite self-confidence,” he continued, adding that “If we look back, and even including the mistakes that were made, for Hungary we can wish that that the years ahead may always be at least as good as the past eight have been.” In his opinion, voters may also share this view, and this may be the explanation for the “prosaic mathematical fact” that the Fidesz-KDNP alliance gained more votes than the combined total cast for all the opposition parties represented in Parliament. Regarding the future, he said that in the next four years the Government will undertake to do great things: “We want to complete a truly momentous task – indeed tasks. We also know that, from a certain perspective, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush – but now we are hunting really big game.”
He also said that “It has been a long time since the stars were aligned as favourably for our homeland as they are right now. Today the Hungarian cause has been won. Everything required for great plans is now in place”.
In his words, Hungarians now not only believe that, if they acquit themselves well, tomorrow will not be worse than today: they also believe that tomorrow can be better.
Mr. Orbán stated that Hungarians “want us to have a government that is worthy of the opportunities that lie ahead of us […] This encourages and empowers us to prepare our plans not for four years, but for ten years; in fact, now we should think forward over a period of twelve years.” He added that this is a requirement for responsible governance, as the implementation of the European Union’s next financial framework will extend up until 2030. He said that he has always seen the twenty years between 2010 and 2030 as a single period.
He indicated that by the end of this parliamentary term he could reach the point at which he has served the same length of time in government as in opposition: sixteen years in each. Then, he said, “the scores will still only be level,” and “we will not be satisfied with a draw.”
He continued by saying that while many will consider it incredible, he thinks that by 2030 it is an achievable goal for Hungary to be among the five best countries in the European Union in which to live and work. The Prime Minister also believes that it is possible for the country to be among the five best EU Member States in terms of the new form of competitiveness ranking, in which the criterion is quality rather than quantity.
Mr. Orbán said that “after winning a two-thirds majority three times in a row we must commit ourselves to the impossible; because others can also do that which is possible”. In terms of this he highlighted his ambition to halt Hungary’s demographic decline and to return it to an upward path.
He said that major roads will connect Budapest with county-ranked cities, motorways will extend to the country’s borders, and that it will be possible to reach a multi-lane highway from any point in the country within thirty minutes. New solar parks and the Paks II nuclear power plant will bring Hungary to the forefront in the production of clean and sustainable energy.
He pointed out that at present six hundred multinational companies are responsible for 80 per cent of world exports, and therefore investments must be brought to Hungary which produce high added value and higher wages. He outlined another goal for increasing Hungarian-owned companies’ share in exports from Hungary to 50 per cent of the total.
Mr. Orbán expressed his support for a dramatic reduction in the extent of widespread illnesses, indicating that to this end he will not shy away from streamlining health care and introducing strong incentives.
He also said that a new Hungarian defence force will be built. In this context, he drew attention to the fact that neighbouring countries are continuously upgrading their military capacities, and in general it is also true that “a nation that is unable to guarantee its own defence is irresponsible, and is making a historic mistake”. He said that he is particularly counting on talented young officers.
The Prime Minister promised that Central Europe’s spiritual and cultural community of historical fate will also be built up in economic terms, and that its capitals and other cities will be linked by road, rail and air. “We support the major role of Poland, and in cooperation with it we shall lay the foundations of an extended Central European economic area”, he said.
Among goals for the future he mentioned the restoration of Budapest’s former greatness and glory. He said that the capital will play an important role in the unification of the nation, as Budapest is the capital of every Hungarian – wherever in the world they may live.
Mr. Orbán also stated that already before 2010 he believed the task ahead of him was to understand that “we were entering a new era, which demanded change from everyone”. He said that the aim of the crisis management measures adopted at that time was not to return to better times preceding the crisis, but “also to lay new foundations, and enact innovation”: a new tax system, new monetary policy, a new constitution, new legal codes, new family support measures and a new attitude to work.
He mentioned the inevitability of intellectual debate when a nation embarks on a new path. “At times like this the intellectual followers of the old world order, its financial beneficiaries, the lazy, the idle and the slothful all join forces to attack the innovators”, he said, adding that “the more successful we are, the angrier our critics become”.
“In my view, a contribution to the results we have achieved so far was made by our openly declaration that the age of liberal democracy is at an end”, Mr. Orbán stated, arguing that liberal democracy is no longer able to protect people’s dignity, provide freedom, guarantee physical security or maintain Christian culture. He observed that some in Europe are still “tinkering with it”, because they believe that they can repair it, but they fail to understand that it is not the structure that is defective: the world that has changed.
The Prime Minister said that the Hungarian people’s response to this changed world has been that “to replace the shipwreck of liberal democracy, we have built 21st-century Christian democracy, which guarantees human dignity, freedom and security, protects equality between men and women and the traditional family model, suppresses anti-Semitism, defends our Christian culture and offers our nation the chance of survival and growth.” He stressed that “we Are Christian democrats and we want Christian democracy.”
He also pointed out that it is the duty of the Government to prepare the country for a new era in technology. In this new era, he said, everyone must work, and today 800,000 more people are in employment than eight years ago. He added that government debt is 17 per cent lower than the eurozone average, while “twelve months’ wages in 2010 can now be earned in just eight months”.
One should likewise bear in mind, he continued, that the survival of the Hungarian people is not automatic, and one must assume the possibility of demographic “atrophy”. Survival is a question of life force, and therefore the Hungarian state and the Hungarian government of the day must be stable, strong and ready to take action, he said: “this takes priority over everything; this supersedes all else”.
He asserted that “we must have the confidence and dignity of a country which knows that the Hungarians have given more to the world than they have taken from it”.
He indicated that he would like to convince neighbouring countries to cooperate on turning the Carpathian Basin into Europe’s safest, most rapidly developing single economic, trade and transport area. “In the past few years we have provided ample evidence that there is no reason to be afraid of the Hungarians, and those who cooperate with us reap the benefit”, he added.
The Prime Minister also said that Hungary remains a committed member of the Western system of alliances, but this does not change the geographical distinctiveness of Hungarian statehood: to the West is the land of German iron chancellors; to the East the Slavic world of military nations; and to the South the Islamic multitude. Therefore, he warned, Hungarian policy cannot align itself with theories of the export of democracy, it cannot join in delivering sermons to other nations, and it cannot find common voice with those who insult the German, Russian and Turkish peoples and their leaders.
Mr. Orbán said that his government belongs to the school which holds that the Hungarians have never wanted to be a slave-like nation. He quoted from The National Song by Sándor Petőfi, observing that every Hungarian child takes this oath: “Who lived and died free, Can find no rest in a land enslaved. To the God of the Hungarians we vow, We vow, that slaves no longer shall we be!” He stressed that “My government shall be the government of free Hungarians and a sovereign Hungarian state”.
Turning to the EU, the Prime Minister declared that Hungary wants a strong Europe, peace and mutually advantageous agreements. “We need the EU, and the EU also needs us”, he added, stating that the Government will focus all its strength on representing the view that the EU must operate as an alliance of free nations, must give up “the fever dream” of a United States of Europe, and must return to reality.
In Brussels nowadays thousands of paid activists, bureaucrats and politicians are working to have migration declared a fundamental human right, he said, and “therefore they want to deprive us of the right to decide for ourselves who we let in to the country and who we refuse entry to”. He stated that eventually migration would lead to the disintegration of nations, with a single open society remaining, ruled by a single European government. “This is the fate that awaits those who fail to defend themselves against migration”, he said, confirming that his government is a determined opponent of all this.
Mr. Orbán argued that multiculturalism was the first step in the process, political correctness the second, and the mandatory resettlement quotas would be the third. He said that “We must and we will enter the arena of European politics, in order to stop the Europe that we love – and for which we are ready to make major sacrifices – climbing to the next step towards self-immolation”. He declared that Hungary shall oppose the mandatory quotas, stand up for Christian culture, and fight to protect its borders.
The Prime Minister concluded by saying that “now that I have taken my oath, I hereby pledge to every member of the Hungarian nation – to all fifteen million Hungarians, both individually and collectively – that in all my actions I will be guided by the service of our nation and country, the Hungarian people, Hungarian interests and Christian values”.
(MTI)
