This form of governance, he said, “includes liberalism, but doesn’t include democracy”.

Liberals, he said, strove for a hegemony of opinion, which they aimed to achieve through the use of political correctness by “stigmatising conservatives and Christian Democrats and side-lining them”.

“I’m fighting liberals for freedom,” Orbán said. “Whereas I’m on the side of freedom, they’re on the side of the hegemony of opinion.”

Concerning his ruling Fidesz party’s recent departure from the European People’s Party (EPP) and their future goals in European politics, Orbán said Fidesz wanted to “change Brussels”.

In its current form, Brussels is not capable of addressing people’s problems, he said. Orbán said this had been proven by both the migration crisis and the 2008 financial crisis.

“We wanted to change Brussels together with the EPP, but they weren’t prepared to do it,” Orbán said. “Now we have to establish a new political community that can influence Brussels.”

As regards the differences between Hungary and Germany’s positions on migration, Orbán argued that migration would lead to the emergence of parallel societies and the problems that came with it. “I don’t wish this on my own country,” he said.

Responding to a question in connection with EU institutions, Orbán said “there are components in the European Union that would need to be strengthened”, adding that the opposite was true as regards the European Parliament.

The EP, he said, “is playing a particularly harmful role to the extent that it uses parties as the basis of European politics”.

“So the question is not whether to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the EU, but rather what kind of EU it is we want,” he said.

Asked about the EU’s future, Orbán said it was certain that no unified European people would be formed on the continent by 2030.

“There will still be Hungarians, Slovaks, Germans and French living here, as there will also be nations and states that will be cooperating, the form of which they will certainly figure out.”

“But it is a question whether the post-Christian and post-national societies will be able to build a stable western Europe.”

On this note, the prime minister said he was “more firmly convinced about the future of central Europe”. “I strongly believe that our children will live much better than us,” he said.