P

Speech of Viktor Orbán at the European People's Party Congress

Valletta, 30 March 2017

Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen, Presidents, dear Friends.

I would like to congratulate and thank our Maltese sister party and its President for the excellent hospitality. Our topic today is the future of Europe. We, Central Europeans have suffered for decades under communist dictatorship and Soviet military occupation. We are grateful to God for being able to re-join Europe and being able to become members of the European Union. The way we see it, Europe is the best place in the world for human life. For the time being. We can live in freedom and prosperity, in our own cultural environment. For the time being. If we think about the future, we can see serious dangers; we must therefore speak frankly and openly. This is a precondition of our future success. We have a competitiveness crisis. We have a migration crisis. We have a security and terror crisis. We have a demographic crisis. And we have a foreign policy crisis – with a destabilized Ukraine and a boiling Balkans. I have to say, the future of Europe is casting a shadow on the present of Europe. Tomorrow is casting a shadow on today. This explains why radical parties were able to gain ground even here in the most successful continent of the world.

Dear Congress,

With regard to the migration crisis, two years ago in Madrid we had rather questions now we have rather evidences. Migration turned out to be the Trojan horse of terrorism. Migration turned out to be a false solution to labour shortages. Migration turned out to be more and more an NGO-business. Migration revealed that we have taken in significant anti-Semitic potential to Europe. Migration revealed that the newcomers rather living in parallel societies instead of being integrated to the mainstream society. Since our last congress in Madrid, it has become evident that the language of liberal political correctness is even unable to identify and to understand the true dangers of migration. We, Central Europeans expect that if things go on like this, there will be a dominant Muslim presence in the western half of Europe even in the lifetime of our generation. I understand that the Left is putting us under ideological pressure, for the West to feel guilty for the crusades and colonialism, but this leftist policy is intellectually disarming Europe against the invasion of the Muslim migration. We, Central Europeans want completely reform our migration policy. Borders must be taken under full control. Don’t believe anyone who says that this is impossible. We Hungarians are protecting the borders of the European Union over hundreds of kilometers – without any major contribution from the EU, in fact, but suffering from the backfire of Brussels. We are living proof that defence is possible. This is the real solidarity. We must take those away from our territory, who have arrived illegally, and we must refuse labelling any EU member state as a non-safe country. The Human Rights Court has to be reformed urgently, because its judgments are a threat to the security of European people and an invitation for migrants. And the key element: every legal procedure should be conducted outside the territory of the European Union, by creating safe spots on the shores of Libya. Obviously we must provide help for them who are in trouble. We should deliver help to the places where it is needed, and not bring the problem to ourselves.

Dear Friends,

I suggest to reform the foreign policy of the European Union as well. We need to speak frankly even if it is painful. We are making huge mistakes. Our failed policies have contributed to the destabilization of the Middle East and North Africa. The fact that we committed this together with the Americans is no excuse. The countries of the region were not controlled by fine gentlemen before our crooked intervention, but the situation wasn’t nearly as bad as it is now. We acted like pyromaniac fire-fighters. All I’m saying is, if we kick an anthill we should not be surprised if the ants overwhelm us. We have to wake up and proclaim a new European foreign policy that focuses on stability. This stands for Erdogan’s Turkey also. If millions of migrants start marching on the Balkans again, it will be impossible to maintain stability. And Macedonia can not be stable without Gruevski’s party. The stability of Balkan requests a new election in Macedonia as soon as possible. I welcome our resolution on the further enlargement of the European Union. For the stability of the Balkans, we have to accept Montenegro as soon as possible, and speed up accession negotiations with Macedonia and Serbia. I wish good luck to Prime Minister Vucic for the weekend election. My homeland is the gate to the Balkans. I see every day, how Russian, Turkish and American influence is growing, whilst the influence of the European Union is decreasing. This is a bad policy and it’s time we change it.

Dear Congress,

The Left has a clear action plan to transform Europe. They want to let millions of Muslims in. They want to put aside subsidiarity. They want to force bureaucratic rules on our labour markets. They want to raise taxes, and ultimately, Socialists want to build socialism in Europe. This would be fatal for Europe. We would lose our Christian identity, lose our competitiveness, and lose the hope of full employment. I suggest we accept the intellectual and political fight with the Left. We are the People’s Party, the Partido Popular, the Volkspartei, we should not be afraid of leftist criticism calling us populists. We know, we are not. The EPP should be the advocate and flagship of a Europe, where there is a room for our Christian identity, our national pride, there is a room for our traditional family values and our workfare societies. If we want Europe to remain the greatest place in the World, then the European Union has to change. And in order to lead the way, we must start changing ourselves, the European People’s Party. I am sure today we have taken a step to the right direction.

Thank you very much.