Everybody Has a Job in Hungary, Claims Orbán & More
- 21 Jan 2025 2:16 PM

Inflation has been crushed, so much so that we were able to increase pensions in real terms last year, and we were able to give pensioners HUF 150bn more than what was in line with inflation, Orban added.
The PM said wages have started to increase, the government has doubled the family tax credit, subsidised credit for young blue collar workers has been introduced in addition to the student loan, the budget deficit is decreasing, and the national debt is not growing.
No one disputes that in 2025 the growth of the Hungarian economy will be at least twice that of the European Union, he added.
Orban said HUF 450bn of investments are being launched, Hungarian SMEs will receive HUF 1,400bn this year, and family savings are at least one and a half times the EU average.
We, Hungarians, have a well-developed strategy for the coming world era in contrast to Brussel. Its results are obvious, and even our opponents tend to discuss them only with awkward embarrassment, he added.
Meanwhile, Orban: EU 'sick man' of Europe
"The sick man in Europe today is the European Union itself," Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a conference organised by the 21st Century Institute and the Mathias Corvinus Collegium.
According to Orban, the EU is unable to guarantee peace and security in Europe and its immediate neighbourhood; it cannot ensure Europe's welfare, stem illegal migration or provide a perspective to Europe's agriculture.
Orban insisted that the bureaucrats in Brussels could not be convinced, and while "the EU sees failure after failure, the Brussels institutions are getting stronger and stronger, and seek to obtain further powers."
"In Brussels they do not at all think that the EU is sick; they think the EU is working as it should, while the objective of European integration is integration itself: building a bureaucracy ruling over the nation states," Orban said.
Orban said the "treatment to heal the EU" required change, which could be achieved "through political means, from the outside, and through taking on conflicts with Brussels". He said, however, that "facilities inside the EU" could also be resorted to, adding that "we Hungary are the opposition of the regime in Brussels."
Orban: EU could be 'absolute loser' in new world order
Europe's incumbent leaders have made the EU isolated and "if all goes unchanged, the EU could become an absolute loser in the new world order, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a conference on Monday.
Speaking at the conference organised by the 21st Century Institute and the Mathias Corvinus Collegium on Hungary's recent EU presidency, Orban said Hungary was "doing well" in terms of the economy, state administration and national identity, being "in the front lines globally", adding that Hungary was "not a follower but a pioneer, one of the courageous experimenters."
The prime minister said Hungary's economic neutrality marked in the international arena a path that is different from, and sometimes is even in conflict with Brussels' expectations.
"Europe has now become isolated from all key players of the new world order, such as the new American administration, Russia, China, and Africa," he said. Under its EU presidency, Hungary continuously worked to build its future ties, he said but added that "if all goes unchanged in Brussels, the EU will become and absolute loser in the new world order ... we don't want to be losers, thank you," the prime minister said.
Orban: Hungarian EU presidency 'beginning of new era'
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has referred to Hungary's presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of last year as "the beginning of a new era".
Speaking at a conference dubbed Successful Hungarian presidency 2024 - chance for the European Union, organised by the Mathias Corvinus Collegium on Monday, Orban said the upcoming era would be recorded in history books as "one in which (US President) Donald Trump and European patriots started a reconstruction of the Western world".
The world sees "the rise of the East, Asia, and the world order created and dominated by the Anglo-Saxons is over, " he said.
The world's main power centres are in the process of building the new economic, political and cultural frameworks "for us to live in probably for decades to come", he said. "Brussels is the only geopolitical centre where they are not interested in changes in global politics and impacts on us ... the EU has not even started preparing for the race, so it should sober up," Orban said.
Orban: 'Western world has patriotic, pro-peace, anti-migration president in Washington'
"The western world now has a patriotic, pro-peace, anti-migration and pro-family president taking office in Washington, and within a matter of hours, even the sun will shine differently over Brussels," the prime minister said at a conference evaluating Hungary's EU presidency in Budapest on Monday.
"A new president in America, a large patriotic group in Brussels, great enthusiasm, patriots who love their country; so the great attack can begin: I hereby launch the second phase of the operation aimed at occupying Brussels!" Viktor Orban said.
At the conference organised by the Mathias Corvinus Collegium and the 21st Century Institute, dubbed Successful Hungarian Presidency 2024 - Chance for the European Union, the prime minister said: "Brussels is being kept under occupation by an oligarchy coordinated by the left-liberal and transatlantic elite." "This is a regime that's not European but global; it isn't a democracy but an oligarchy, and it is federal rather than based on the sovereignty of nation states," he said.
Orban referred to "a progressive liberal front stuffed with George Soros's money ... attacking us because we are sovereigntist and patriotic, too."
"They're attacking us because we insist that the rule of law should apply to Brussels," he said. "They're also attacking us because we demand that the fight against corruption should also extend to Brussels, too."
Orban mentioned former justice commissioner Didier Reynders as an example, noting that Reynders had "accused Hungary of violating the rule of law for years and of corruption, and now he is being prosecuted for corruption and abuse of office."
Orban said he knew their tactics. "They resort to every means possible, promising positions, scholarships, appreciation, publicity, power and money; and if need be, they make threats of fines, financial sanctions and stripping you of your voting rights."
"There will always be people thinking that this is the lesser evil; but unless that downward spiral of blackmail is ended, it will become worse," he warned.
Orban mentioned Poland as an example, saying Brussels hired "new minions" to "control member states", adding that "it was actually Brussels bureaucrats that replaced Poland's conservative government with the incumbent liberal cabinet."
Orban said the strength of the right wing "does not come from Brussels or from the approval of the left-liberal elite but from the authorisation of European citizens." Last year's European elections brought a right-wing majority "realistically close", he said, insisting that it could replace the incumbent "elite" in Brussels.
Hungary'S EU presidency, meanwhile, "showed the necessity for change and proved that change is possible". The situation now was better than in 2024, because "not only have right-wing forces strengthened, the flagship of Western liberal politics has also been wrecked."
Meanwhile, Orban called Hungary's EU presidency "the start of a new era". He said the upcoming era would be recorded in history books as "one in which Donald Trump and European patriots started transforming the Western world". He said the world was witnessing the "rise of the East, of Asia", and "the world order created and dominated by the Anglo-Saxons is over."
The world's main power centres, Orban said, were in the process of building the new economic, political and cultural frameworks "for us to live in probably for decades to come". "Brussels is the only geopolitical centre where they are not interested in changes in global politics and how these affect us ... the EU has not even started preparing for the race, so it should sober up," he said.
Orban thanked the over 1,000 people that had worked for the success of the Hungarian presidency, making a special mention of Janos Boka, the EU affairs minister. Those "working against the presidency should go to hell," he said, adding that "Hungarians working against Hungarians on instruction from Brussels should be thrown into the deepest pits of hell."
"The sick man in Europe today is the European Union itself," Orban said.
Orban said the EU was unable to guarantee peace and security on the continent or in its immediate neighbourhood and it could not ensure Europe's welfare, stem illegal migration or provide a outlook for European agriculture.
Orban insisted that "the bureaucrats in Brussels" were immune to persuasion, and while "the EU sees failure after failure, the Brussels institutions are getting stronger and stronger, and seek to obtain further powers."
Orban insisted that the bureaucrats in Brussels could not be convinced, and while "the EU sees failure after failure, the Brussels institutions are getting stronger and stronger, and seek to obtain further powers."
"In Brussels, they don't think the EU is sick in the least; they think the EU is working as it should, while the objective of European integration is integration itself: building a bureaucracy ruling over the nation states," Orban said.
Orban said the "treatment of the bloc's ailments" was change, which could be achieved "through political means, from the outside, and by taking on conflicts with Brussels". Hungary, he added, was "the Brussels regime's opposition".
"The big boys are busy preparing for the new era full steam ahead," Orban said, insisting that they were creating a new geopolitical framework with the aim of ensuring "they're not threatened or endangered in their immediate neighbourhood", and have control over spheres of influence "vital for their own security".
He said this is why Ukraine's NATO membership lay at the heart of the Russia-Ukraine war. Russia, he added, wanted to prevent this by any means and would do so. Also, Greenland, Canada and Panama were now on the agenda of international politics, he added, as were the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.
Orban said the economy was the second area in which leading powers were creating a new world order. He noted that China is switching to high value-added, innovative high-tech industries such as electromobility, space research, telecommunications and AI. "This, too, is at the core of Donald Trump's economic policy."
"Western liberals have raised the idea of woke capitalism ... and western liberal politicians have swapped the principles of competitiveness and efficiency for diversity propaganda," he said, adding they saw themselves as being on the right side of history, working for a moral world order. But this had led to stagnation and soaring inflation, the prime minister said. "Factories shut down one after another and wages lost their value at an alarming rate," he added.
The United States realised that "if this continues, [the rest of] the world, and certainly China, will overtake them," Orban said, adding that the US had also realised that they were in danger of becoming a market for top-notch products manufactured elsewhere, so the US would "no longer write the future but will be reading it at best".
When it came to state organisation, "the western, liberal model they call liberal democracy has failed; it has collapsed under its own weight, or more precisely, under the weight of its own mistakes," he said.
Regarding policies serving identity and cohesion, Orban said powers were successful only where "state life is based on common identity -- history, language and religion -- things that liberal democracy has written off, perhaps even looked down on and deemed obsolete."
Speaking about Hungary's EU presidency, the prime minister said the government had a window for six months on "what is going on in Brussels". "We saw the core of it ... and what we found there was not nice," he said, adding that "this is the only geopolitical centre that does not deal with global political changes and its impacts on us; the EU has not even started preparation for [the global] competition". "If this all continues, the EU will be dropped from the competition, its economy will collapse and the conditions for a secure life will disappear, which is why the EU must sober up," Orban said.
The Hungarian EU presidency "raised the flag of peace, opened the door to a ceasefire and peace talks, started a dialogue with warring sides and put pressure on European leaders to restart diplomacy and communication," he said, arguing that "Hungary could only do this on an national basis because of the majority of EU members oppose peace."
"Despite of all this, Hungary had endured and is now proudly passing the peace baton on to the new US administration," Orban said, adding that "good intentions, courage, diplomatic skills, a Christian sense of duty are all very well, but peace requires strength."
He said that by taking on fierce debates, the Hungarian presidency had highlighted that the war had weakened Europe. It showed that not only Ukraine, but every European national economy, had been on the losing end because of the war, he said.
The EU, he said, did not want peace "but are pressing for war; they don't want border controls but migrants; they're not protecting the family but gender [LGBTQ issues]; they don't seek affordable energy but green policy," he said.
As regards the major achievements of the EU presidency, Orban said these included the Schengen accession of Romania and Bulgaria in line with its own geopolitical interests, the launch of accession talks with Albania which "has brought every states in the Balkans closer to the European Union". He also noted a common plan to streamline economic regulations, strengthen community farming and reduce energy prices.
Orban said Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was leading a "rebellion" against the EU's migration policy. He also mentioned the demographic conference "held maybe for the first time in the EU's history", as well as declarations adopted on upholding the values of Jewish life amid "resurgent anti-Semitism in Western Europe".
He also noted the founding of the European Party of Patriots, "a strong proponent in Brussels of national sovereigntism".
Hungary, he added, strove to be "a winner" of the emerging new world order, referring to government efforts to modernise the Hungarian economy in the early 2010s, shifting tax away from labour to consumption and creating one million new jobs alongside steady wage growth.
Orban said the government had put families at the heart of the economy and society, while research and innovation were put on new foundations and new tech industries were launched in the country.
In place of liberal democracy, the 2010 constitution "protects the nation, families, and the community" on a sovereign basis and according to Christian traditions, he said. "In America, it's said that we were Trump before Trump," he added.
Orban identified the economy, the organisation of the state, and self-identity as areas where Hungary was a "pioneer", "a role model" and a "bold experimenter" rather than a "follower". For Western conservatives, he added, Hungary was "a beacon" while "Western liberals hate us from the bottom of their hearts".
Orban said struggles over the past 15 years were now giving way to a new economic policy, and the latest National Consultation survey on economic neutrality, with 1.35 million respondents, provided the political support for the measures. He said liberals saw economic neutrality as "a political ploy", but it in fact defined Hungary's place on the world stage and "a path that is different and even contrary to the expectations of Brussels".
Orban blamed the incumbent EU leadership for isolating Europe "from all the important players in the new world order". Whereas European leaders "say that Hungary is isolated, this is the old communist trick ... of accusing their opponent exactly of what they're doing." Europe, he said, had isolated itself from the new US administration, and its liberals "portray Donald Trump as a demon". This would not be forgotten in Washington, he added. The EU had also isolated itself from China, launching a tariff war, he added.
Moreover, Brussels had cut itself off from Russia, he said, accusing European leaders of making the Russia-Ukraine war "their own" and ditching Russian energy without anything to replace it with.
Also, the EU had isolated itself from Africa, "the continent of the future", he said. "Instead of common sense, they are setting LGBTQ and gender policies that are completely foreign to the region" as a precondition for cooperation, he added.
The prime minister said Hungary had built up cooperation with "the Republican president who has won a landslide victory" during its stint in charge of the European presidency while also keeping communication channels with Russia open, ensuring basic energy security. He said almost half of Chinese high-tech investments destined for Europe "end up in Hungary", while Hungarian expertise in the water industry and agriculture "is welcomed everywhere in Africa".
Orban said Europe would be "the loser of the new world order" if it refused to change. Hungary, by contrast, "wants friends, cooperation, economic relations, business benefits and advantages in international politics," he added.
The prime minister listed achievements such as full employment, the lowest utility bills in Europe, an inflation pushed down to a level whereby pensions had grown in real terms, while pensioners also got an extra 150 billion forints on top of the inflation-indexed increase. Orban also referred to rising wages, a doubling of the family tax credit, the introduction of loans for employees, a declining budget deficit and a stable public debt.
Orban said it was indisputable that the rate of Hungarian economic growth this year would be double that of the European Union.
He also mentioned the launch of 450 billion forints worth of investments, 1,400 billion forints worth of cash injections for Hungarian small and medium-sized enterprises this year, while household savings would be "at least one and a half times the EU average".
Orban said Hungary's EU presidency had focused on the Hungarian people, "and the government will shape the Brussels-Budapest relationship accordingly". "Hungary's grand strategy" rather than the interests of the EU would drive developments, he declared.
Source:
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.
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