Orbán: Brussels proposes that we destroy Hungarian families

Orbán said everything possible needed to be done before the start of Ukraine’s counteroffensive to convince the warring sides of the need for a ceasefire and peace talks, because “otherwise we will lose a lot of lives”.

The prime minister also said that the time was close when “Europe accepts Hungary’s pro-peace position”.

He said Western leaders had “led themselves to believe that the war in Ukraine could be won through the Ukrainians fighting and the West supplying money and weapons to such an extent that it will be very difficult to come off that war path”.

“But this is not our business; we are on the correct path morally and politically,” Orbán said, adding that “in many Western states people will sooner or later enforce peace through elections and replace governments promoting war”.

The majority of Europeans do not support war, Orbán insisted, adding that “they may support Ukraine morally, since Ukraine has been attacked and Russia is the aggressor, and they want justice … but they are divided over the question of what should be done and what can be undertaken”.

“With a few exceptions everybody is against us in the European Union … they have flown at our throat,” Orbán said, adding that “it is difficult to maintain a pro-peace stance in such a circle”.

He said it was obvious that “no better results could be achieved on the frontline than what Ukraine could have achieved before the war, through negotiations”. Decision makers “are now approaching the question what purpose the war has had at all”, he added.

Answering a question on endeavours to isolate Hungary, Orbán said “if you are Hungarian you must stand your ground” because “whenever we did not fight for our position we always lost, losing our self-esteem, our confidence and feeling ashamed”.

“But now we have a national government and it will not happen … there will always be left-wing hassle, such as the dispute around Hungary’s EU presidency … but Hungary, wherever it can, must have a loyal cooperation with the other European countries, finding a balance between cooperation and national interests,” he said.

On another subject, Orbán said he had received the reelection of Recep Tayyip Erdogan as Turkiye’s president with “great relief”. He said he had “not only kept fingers crossed but prayed a lot” for his election victory. “It would have been tragedy had he not won,” he said, insisting that if Erdogan’s opponent had won, “one, two, or three million refugees … would have appeared at the Hungarian border before the end of this summer.”

Orbán also said Hungary received its Russian gas supplies through Turkiye, and that country having a “pro-American leader or one supported by George Soros” would make it “strongly doubtful if the gas could reach Hungary or Serbia”.

Erdogan’s losing the election would have “given Turkiye a pro-war president”, the prime minister said, adding that “the ramifications would be unforeseeable”. Erdogan has a chance to mediate between Ukraine and Russia, as he earlier mediated over Ukraine’s grain exports, Orbán said.

According to the prime minister, Hungary “must always watch Berlin, Moscow, and Ankara … Hungary is in that triangle and it is in that triangle where the life of Hungarians must be managed.” He said “constellations are not equally good in those three relations but all three are stable, balanced, and could bring benefits to Hungary”. He added, however, that currently relations with Germany were “the most critical”.