The EU’s refusal to approve Hungary’s recovery plan for the past 18 months was “for obvious political reasons”.

“They don’t like the Hungarian government” because of differences of opinions on fundamental issues, he added.

Brussels would have preferred a left-wing government to enter power after the general election and they “rolled the dollars to the left wing to help them win” instead of giving the money to the country, he said.

After the elections were won by the right wing, the European Commission was forced to negotiate with Hungary, he added.

Orbán said patience was needed because “we must seek an agreement” despite the EC repeatedly setting new conditions.

The government, however, will refuse to change its position on certain basic issues, such as migration, allowing sexual propaganda in schools and the introduction of sanctions, he said.

Meanwhile, the government is calculating with a 1.5% growth rate, which would be enough to maintain the utility price caps, which leave 181,000 forints (EUR 440) with families on average every month, Orbán said.

“If Hungary’s government, entrepreneurs and employees work well” in the coming years, Hungary could avoid going into recession, Orbán said.

Párbeszéd: 'Irrational War on Brussels a Threat to Hungary's Fundamental Stability'

The opposition Párbeszéd party on Friday slammed government policy, saying the “irrational war with Brussels is threatening Hungary’s fundamental stability.”

Although the European Commission’s proposal to withhold funding worth 3000 billion forints (EUR 7.3bn) is “not necessarily equivalent to the scrapping of the funds”, the delay will cause “grave problems in the budget”, he said.

The approval of Hungary’s recovery plan means merely that the 2,000 billion forints allocated for the purpose “are not lost forever”.

The proposal will have to be adopted by the member states at a meeting on Dec. 6, he added.

That vote will come after decisions on two topics the Hungarian government has earlier threatened to veto, the aid to Ukraine and the matter of the corporate minimum tax, he said. “If those mutual threats are be implemented, it will hurt Hungary immeasurably more,” he said.

Socialists: Approval of Rule-Of-Law Legislation 'Fidesz Farce'​​​​​​​

The government parties’ approval of rule-of-law legislation requested by the European Commission is part of a ruling “Fidesz farce” as long as the government uses the state of emergency as an excuse to govern with decrees, the opposition Socialists’ group leader said on Friday.

Bertalan Tóth said on Facebook that no matter what legislation the ruling parties approve, whether it’s to fight corruption, restore the rule of law or speed up access to data of public interest, “it is clear that they do not take it seriously”.

​​​​​​​As long as the state of special legal order stays in force, which allows them to deviate from the law by way of decrees, to introduce special taxes and change the budget, their demonstration of will to agree with the EC is only part of another Fidesz farce, he said.