Latest news with #Orban
Budapest Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Budapest Times
Hungary must stay on the side of peace, PM says
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Hungary must stay on the side of peace. The prime minister said the war in Ukraine will not end unless the Russian and US presidents sit down for talks and they reach an overall agreement which will cover the war as an important element, but not the only element. PM Orbán said in the interview with Tamás Király on the YouTube channel Ultrahang that if everyone wanted peace, 'it is impossible that peace would not be achieved'. 'What happens in the current situation is that everyone says they want peace, yet some of them do not really want it,' he added. PM Orbán said that Europeans and Ukrainians obviously wanted to continue war no matter what they said, and the US president truly wanted peace. 'As for the Russians, what's certain is that they want to reach the marked territorial borders and want to prevent, if necessary by war, that Ukraine should become a NATO member or a NATO weapons depository,' he added. Beyond the issue of the war, the comprehensive Russia-US agreement would cover the development of energy prices, US access to Russian markets and Russian access to US markets, economic sanctions, technology, and the issue of arms control, he said. PM Orbán said Hungary was a 'dangerous example' showing in Europe that it was possible to take a stand against war, to stand up for peace, and 'if you are strong enough you can stay out of the war'. Hungary was 'the antithesis of all that Europe is doing, talking about peace but in truth being interested in maintaining the war,' he added. He said he was regularly putting in use all his links with both the Russian and the US presidents to promote peace. While US President Donald Trump has failed to create peace since his inauguration in January, 'if Biden had stayed or Kamala Harris had come in his stead, we would be in the middle of a world war.' Trump 'is a man of peace and doubtlessly the only one with a chance to contribute to a Russia-Ukraine peace' deal, he said. Asked why he stood firmly for keeping Hungary out of the war from the beginning, Orban said his 'firm conviction' was founded on national interests, among other reasons. 'Hungary cannot come out of a situation where 800,000 or a million people are armed in Ukraine, creating a larger and stronger army than Hungary's; only God knows what that would be used in the coming decade,' he said. PM Orbán said 'no condition is in place' for Ukraine to win against Russia. Ukraine 'has fewer men and less money than Russia even is the West stuffs them with money, its weapons industry is decades behind Russia's, and, most importantly, Russia is a nuclear power, and no one … has ever defeated a nuclear superpower'. 'I have always thought that the plan that Ukraine should defeat Russia on the frontline, possibly destabilising it so it can be transformed, was a foolish one,' Orban said. Meanwhile, PM Orbán said the focus of 'the historic period we are living in' was not the Russia-Ukraine war but 'the problem of Christian-Muslim coexistence'. 'What's the point in Christian, white Europeans killing each other by the hundreds of thousands on the Russia-Ukraine border while masses of people, who are strangers to our culture … and belong to the world of Islam are allowed to enter at the other end of the continent?' PM Orbán said that this 'abnormal behaviour' was a sign that 'political leaders are misreading the historic time'. 'The power issues of the Russia-Ukraine war, and its conclusion, may be more important at the moment, but it isn't the historic time that will determine the lives of our children and grandchildren.' He said there was no danger of Russia attacking NATO member states, adding that while Russia had some 140 million inhabitants, the EU had 400 million. Further, the money Russia could plough into a war with Europe 'is a fraction' of what the West could mobilise, even without US help, he said. He said he had yet to see a 'sensible argument' of why Russia would start a war against Western Europe, that it could only lose. At the same time, the Baltic states and Poland 'are worried that NATO won't protect them against a Russian attack; that explains why they want to beat the Russians now and bring the matter to a head,' PM Orbán said. At the same time, the solution to the problem is not on the battlefield, he said. 'The response to their dilemma is not forcing a war but strengthening NATO,' he added. PM Orbán said the NATO summit of 2008 had proven that Russians had the power to prevent Ukrainians or Georgians from becoming NATO members, and since that time once again Russia had to be considered a persisting, long-lasting and continually strengthening player in world politics.
Eyewitness News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
'Trump before Trump': Orban's illiberal model on show
At the American embassy in Budapest, the atmosphere has changed since US President Donald Trump was sworn in six months ago. "No more public scoldings. No more moralising from podiums," the new charge d'affaires Robert Palladino told guests, including several Hungarian ministers, at this month's US Independence Day celebration. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wants his country to serve as a laboratory of far-right ideas and an inspiration for Trump, whom the nationalist describes as "a great friend", and is hoping for a US presidential visit. Self-touted as a "Trump before Trump", Orban has transformed the national life of Hungary, an EU member and home to 9.5 million people, during his 15-year rule. In his drive to build what he has called an "illiberal state", he has been accused of silencing critical voices from the judiciary, academia, media and civil society, and of restricting minority rights. Trump's predecessor Joe Biden once accused him of "looking for dictatorship". - 'Open-air museum' - "Hungary is like an open-air museum, whose leader appears to have proved it is possible to bring back the so-called good old days," Zsolt Enyedi, a senior democracy researcher at Vienna-based Central European University, told AFP. "Illiberal ideas have been institutionalised," he added. Both Trump and Orban target minorities, including the LGBTQ community. "Orban realised there was not a strong public resistance to incitation against vulnerable groups... so he leveraged these to campaign," Enyedi said. "Similarly, Trump deports people without going through due process as American conventions would dictate," the researcher added. US author Rod Dreher, who lives in Budapest and promotes the "Hungarian model" in the United States, praises the two leaders' common fight against the "ideological left". "It does matter a lot to ordinary Americans when their little children are being sent to schools and being taught about transgenderism," the 58-year-old told AFP. - 'Strongman' tactics - In a recent discussion hosted by the Hungarian-government-financed Danube Institute, where he works, Dreher cited the example of the University of Pennsylvania, which agreed to ban biological males from its women's sports teams, settling a federal civil rights complaint. "Pure Orban," Dreher says. "We would not have gotten that out of a normie Republican president. "When institutions that should be neutral are so far to the left, it takes a strongman like Trump just to try to bring them back to the centre." The Trump administration has threatened to cut funding to prestigious universities like Harvard and Columbia, criticised federal judges who suspend its decisions and is in open conflict with major media outlets. By limiting access to certain journalists and replacing them with fringe media loyal to his cause, Trump is very similar to Orban, according to Enyedi. "Both make it clear that they are acting out of revenge," he said. This week, the CBS network announced the end of Stephen Colbert's "The Late Show", long a staple of late night US television, saying it was "purely a financial decision". It came days after the comedian blasted parent company Paramount's $16 million settlement with Trump as "a big fat bribe". But, for now, dissenting voices remain much stronger in the United States than in Hungary. While Orban has not yet been invited to the White House in Trump's current term, envoy Palladino foresees that a visit by the US president to Budapest is "hopefully not too far off". Such a "historic visit" would, he said, be "a reflection of real alignment between two sovereign nations that believe in tradition, strength, and identity. "But that moment won't happen on its own. It will require vision, effort, and commitment -- on both sides of the Atlantic."
New Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
'Trump before Trump': Orban's illiberal model on show in Hungary
BUDAPEST: At the American embassy in Budapest, the atmosphere has changed since US President Donald Trump was sworn in six months ago. "No more public scoldings. No more moralising from podiums," the new charge d'affaires Robert Palladino told guests, including several Hungarian ministers, at this month's US Independence Day celebration. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wants the European nation to serve as a laboratory of far-right ideas and an inspiration for Trump, whom the nationalist describes as "a great friend", and is hoping for a US presidential visit. Self-touted as a "Trump before Trump", Orban has transformed the national life of Hungary, an EU member and home to 9.5 million people, during his 15-year rule. In his drive to build what he has called an "illiberal state", he has been accused of silencing critical voices from the judiciary, academia, media and civil society, and of restricting minority rights. Trump's predecessor Joe Biden once accused him of "looking for dictatorship." 'Open-air museum' "Hungary is like an open-air museum, whose leader appears to have proved it is possible to bring back the so-called good old days," Zsolt Enyedi, a senior democracy researcher at Vienna-based Central European University, told AFP. "Illiberal ideas have been institutionalised," he added. Both Trump and Orban target minorities, including the LGBTQ community. "Orban realised there was not a strong public resistance to incitation against vulnerable groups... so he leveraged these to campaign," the researcher said. "Similarly, Trump deports people without going through due process as American conventions would dictate," Enyedi added.
The Sun
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Orban's illiberal model in Hungary draws Trump comparisons
BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has positioned himself as a pioneer of far-right governance, earning comparisons to former US President Donald Trump. With a self-proclaimed 'illiberal state' model, Orban's policies have reshaped Hungary's political landscape, drawing both admiration and criticism. At a recent US Independence Day celebration in Budapest, American charge d'affaires Robert Palladino noted the shift in diplomatic tone, stating, 'No more public scoldings. No more moralising from podiums.' Orban, who calls Trump 'a great friend,' hopes for a US presidential visit to solidify their ideological alliance. Over his 15-year rule, Orban has been accused of suppressing judicial independence, academia, media, and civil society while restricting minority rights. Former US President Joe Biden once accused him of 'looking for dictatorship.' Zsolt Enyedi, a democracy researcher at Central European University, described Hungary as 'an open-air museum' where illiberal ideas have been institutionalised. Both Orban and Trump have targeted minorities, including the LGBTQ community, leveraging public divisions for political gain. US author Rod Dreher, a Budapest resident, defends Orban's policies, arguing that the 'Hungarian model' counters left-wing ideologies. He praised Trump's hardline stance, stating, 'When institutions that should be neutral are so far to the left, it takes a strongman like Trump just to try to bring them back to the centre.' Trump's tactics—such as threatening university funding and sidelining critical media—mirror Orban's strategies. Enyedi noted, 'Both make it clear that they are acting out of revenge.' Despite similarities, dissenting voices remain stronger in the US than in Hungary. While Orban awaits a White House invitation, Palladino hinted at a potential Trump visit to Budapest, calling it 'a reflection of real alignment between two sovereign nations that believe in tradition, strength, and identity.' - AFP
Reuters
6 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Main challenger to Hungary's Orban begins campaign tour on a canoe
TOKAJ, Hungary, July 16 (Reuters) - Hungary's main opposition leader Peter Magyar set off on a campaign tour in a canoe on Wednesday saying his Tisza party could go it alone without needing allies to defeat nationalist Prime Minister's Viktor Orban in the 2026 election. Magyar's centre-right party has a firm lead over the ruling Fidesz in most polls and poses the biggest political challenge to Orban in his 15-year rule at a time when the Hungarian leader is struggling to boost an inflation-hit economy. Speaking in the eastern town of Tokaj before an 80-day tour of the countryside, Magyar said Hungary was in a downward spiral with the economy stagnating and public services crumbling. He is promising a "Hungarian New Deal" to revive the economy with massive investment, EU funds and more predictable policies if his party wins next year. "Tisza will sign an alliance, a coalition with Hungarian people ... we will not be signing some kinds of behind-the-doors deals," Magyar told reporters beside the Tisza river. The energetic 44-year-old lawyer and former member of Orban's circles burst into Hungarian politics early last year. He cited polls showing Tisza was on course for a convincing win in 2026 by going alone. No date is yet set for the vote. Orban said in a Magyar Nemzet podcast earlier this week that unlike his Fidesz, Tisza was a "digital political movement" and not an established party, and he was calm about the election as his government's performance spoke for itself. Magyar will tour small villages and towns, where Fidesz has been strongest in the past four elections which Orban swept with landslides. From Tokaj, he paddled off in a canoe towards the village of Tiszaladany and then Tiszalok later on Wednesday. Orban is expected to deliver a keynote speech on July 26 as an informal election campaign gathers speed even without a date. The government launched massive tax cuts and a large-scale subsidized housing programme in recent weeks.
