Hungarian PM: Hungary Should Not Be Dragged Into War

On Hungary’s national holiday marking the outbreak of the 1848 revolution, Viktor Orbán referred to the “youth of March,” who said at that time that “let here be peace, liberty and concord.”

Addressing a crowd on Kossuth Square in front of the building of Hungarian Parliament, the prime minister added that “we need the same thing today: strength. [Because] the world only respects those who have the courage and strength to stand up for themselves.”

He was of the view that for 12 years, his government has been building a strong Hungary and “neither floods nor pandemics nor wars have diverted us from our goal,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said.

In his opinion, Hungary was the weakest in 2010, but then the Right was allowed to govern again, “leading us to where we are now.” Today in Hungary, 200,000 more children have been born than if the Left had been in government; furthermore, the country has a national constitution and one million new citizens, he said, referring to Hungarian citizenship given to people in the neighboring countries.

Speaking about the war in Ukraine, PM Orbán said that Hungary is now conducting its largest-ever humanitarian aid operation but added that “this war should never have happened,” and was of the view that “Hungary did everything it could and should have done for peace.”

“We know that the best war is the one we manage to avoid,” the PM said, adding that “it is in our interest not to be pawns in someone else’s war since we have nothing to gain and everything to lose.”

The prime minister also expressed his opinion that “the Left has lost its common sense and would wade moonstruck into a brutal, protracted and bloody war.” However, he said, “we will not let the Left drag Hungary into this war; we will not allow the Left to make Hungary a military target.”

Referring to the upcoming parliamentary elections, the PM said that in the shadow of war, what is at stake are peace in Hungary and the country’s security. Do we want “a party on the Right in favor of peace or a party on the Left in favor of war?” the PM asked, referring by ‘the Left’ to the joint opposition of a wide political spectrum. Answering his own question, he said that “we need a government that is not caught by surprise and that is not venturing out into open water for the first time.”