Prime Minister Viktor Orbán appeared on public Kossuth radio today for his regular Friday morning interview. This time, he did so in a little more turbulent time than usual. With President Katalin Novák’s resignation still looming above the Orbán administration, the first agenda point for the interview was the nomination for her replacement, Tamás Sulyok, President of the Constitutional Court.
PM Orbán affirmed that while, by law, it was him who recommended Sulyok for the Fidesz–KDNP faction’s nomination, in reality, it was a collective decision preceded by long negotiations.
‘Hungary is a strong country. In a time of trouble like this—the previous President has resigned—one’s heart is still bleeding…However, every problem has a silver lining. When we listed whom we, and hopefully the parliament as well, deem worthy of this job, duty, and mission, we found a good number of Hungarians worthy of this, which strengthens one’s faith in our nation and country,’
the Prime Minister said.
He went on to outline that his experience, his knowledge of the law and constitution, his knowledge of international law, as well as his professional reputation were what led to choosing Tamás Sulyok as the nominee for President.
The Prime Minister also stated that the first step in restoring national unity, which has been shaken by the pardon scandal, is to make sure that
there is no pardon in paedophile cases.
He hopes that the new President will make this very clear when they first address the nation in office. PM Orbán assured all that his administration and the National Assembly are also doing their part to make sure that such a scandal could never happen again, which they will start by vetting all government foster care workers.
When asked if stricter child protection laws could lead to further conflict with Brussels, Viktor Orbán quipped back:
‘If we were concerned with what the Brussels bureaucrats like or don’t, we would end up being like them’.
With that, PM Orbán reiterated his administration’s stance that it would not allow LGBTQ propaganda in schools, despite EU pressure to do so. He also opined that there is an increased effort by the EU to push for the typical leftist agenda points, such as LGBTQ, migration, and pro-war lobby, because they feel that the upcoming EU Parliamentary elections in June will bring a shift away from left-wing progressivism in Europe.
Viktor Orbán on Sweden’s NATO Accession
The Hungarian parliament is expected to vote on Sweden’s NATO Accession on Monday, 26 February. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson will be visiting Budapest for the occasion.
On this topic, PM Orbán said in his radio interview that there were ‘some military and weapons issues’ left to be discussed with his Swedish counterpart. However, through a ‘confidence building process’ with PM Kristersson, Orbán had the reassurance to convince the Fidesz–KDNP faction in parliament to vote in favour of Sweden’s admission into the military alliance.
He informed that large military cooperation agreements are about to be signed between Hungary and Sweden, with the Hungarian Defence Forces being reinforced with four new Gripen fighter jets. However, PM Orbán stressed, the Swedes must accept that ‘we are not the same…Hungary is a country with a Christian culture; Christian values are fundamental to our society’. He also claimed that ‘the Swedish are pro-war, while we are pro-peace regarding the Russo-Ukrainian conflict’. However, he also called the differences in the Swedish and Hungarian value systems ‘manageable’.
Since the two-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is soon coming up, PM Orbán was asked about the current state of the armed conflict as well.
The interviewer brought up a poll, according to which only 10 per cent of EU citizens believe that Ukraine can still win the war against Russia.
PM Orbán agreed that Ukraine has little chance of winning on the battlefield. That is why he is advocating for a negotiated peace. While he does have moral objections to the invasion by President Putin, everyone has to accept that war is a matter of ‘realpolitik’. Also, country leaders will one day have to answer to their people why they were sending their tax money to a country that could never win the war.
He also expressed hope yet again that Donald Trump would be returning to the White House next year, which he believes would bring the start of the peace negotiations sooner.
Related articles:
