Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary gave his national holiday speech on Sunday, 15 March at Kossuth Square in front of the Budapest Parliament Building. Hundreds of thousands of his supporters marched through Budapest to hear his words in their traditional ‘Peace March’.
Both Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó of Hungary and PM Orbán claimed on the scene that this was the largest attendance the Peace March ever had in its history.
The prime minister started his holiday speech by saying: ‘You don’t need to explain to a Hungarian what freedom is’, claiming that the Hungarian people can simply ‘feel in the air the ennobling force of community effort.’ Hate can never lead to freedom or community effort; thus, we can never let the country be governed by hate, PM Orbán warned.
Referring to the 12 points of the Hungarian revolutionaries in 1848, he warned not to let the 12 points become the 12 points of Brussels; and further cautioned all that ‘today, Brussels has dressed up as a Hungarian man’, presumably referring to Tisza Party prime ministerial candidate and MEP Péter Magyar. ‘Their 12 points are the 12 points of slavery,’ he declared.
‘We will defend the family support programmes for mothers, we will defend our children, and we will not let our national flag be replaced by a Ukrainian or a rainbow flag. Long live the Hungarian freedom!’ the prime minister went on to tell the crowd.
The traditional ‘Peace March’ of supporters of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán PHOTO: Tamás Gyurkovits/Hungarian Conservative
In the current turbulent geopolitical environment, PM Orbán stated that ‘the sea of the world is boiling’, and pointed out that the 2015 European migration crisis started with the civil war in Syria. Iran, however, is nine times larger than Syria; that is why it is very important that, as long as he is prime minister, Hungary will say no to mass migration, Orbán pledged.
PM Orbán: You Decide Who Will Govern Hungary, Me or Zelenskyy
Prime Minister Orbán called out President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine by name, saying: ‘Can you see this, Ukrainians? Can you see this, Zelenskyyy? This is the 1,000-year-old state of the Hungarians, and you think that with an oil blockade, blackmail, and the threatening of our leaders, you can scare us?’ Here, the prime minister was referring to the Ukrainian government’s refusal to restart the Druzhba pipeline, and the recent threatening statements by President Zelenskyy and a former SBU general against PM Orbán and his family.
The speaker went on to say that the next Hungarian election, held less than a month from today, will be a ‘crossroads’ for the country, a choice whether the nation goes with Ukraine and war or pursues a different path. ‘We must choose who forms the new government: me or Zelesnkyy,’ PM Orbán bluntly stated.
‘We don’t know the day or the hour when the first Brussels soldier will step on Ukrainian land. One thing, however, is certain: this will happen,’ PM Orbán warned. He added that Hungary must stay out of this conflict, declaring: ‘Our sons will not die for Ukraine, but will live for Hungary.’
‘Using Ukraine as an excuse, they [the EU leadership] want to turn us into indentured servants. As long as I am the prime minister, I will not let them fleece Hungary,’ PM Orbán concluded.
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