“If the EU takes in Ukraine and wants to defend its territory, we will be neck-deep in the war,” he said.
The prime minister reiterated Hungary’s long-standing position that it has not authorized anyone to engage in war on its behalf. “Hungary is a member of the European Union, it is not at war with anyone, and so the EU cannot be either. The war-supporting countries may see themselves as being at war, but the Union cannot be used for war aims as long as even a single member state opposes it. And Hungary opposes it.”
He linked Ukraine’s EU membership to far-reaching consequences: economic collapse, disruption of the European agricultural system, and the diversion of EU development funds. “With Ukraine’s accession, the war would force its bloody reality into the EU. We fear exactly this,” he said, warning that Hungary would go from being a net beneficiary to a net contributor in the bloc.
More than 2 million Hungarian voters had already expressed a clear position on this in a national consultation, he noted.
Addressing recent geopolitical shifts, Prime Minister Orbán pointed to the reconfiguration of global economic power. “It is time to take seriously that the United States has begun a deep transformation of the previously unshakable global trade order.” He emphasized that countries in the Far East, particularly China and the so-called Global South, are responding with strength and organization “unseen for decades.”
India, he added, has resisted Western economic pressure and tightened cooperation with the China-Russia axis — developments he said would affect Hungary’s foreign trade and foreign policy as well.
The prime minister criticized the European Union’s failure to keep pace. “Even our low-intensity expectations were deeply undercut,” he said, adding that the EU had effectively removed itself from the narrow circle of global powers.
Turning to the issue of migration, PM Orbán said Hungary remains “an island of peace and security,” with zero illegal migration and no migration-related crime. He reaffirmed that the Hungarian government rejects the EU’s migration pact, which Brussels aims to implement in 2027. “Because we refuse, Hungary is fined 1 million euros each day. Shame on Brussels,” he said.
He also ruled out any political compromise on migration, stressing that the matter leaves no room for mistakes. “As long as Hungary has a national, not a Brussels-led government, the southern fence will stand, there will be no migration pact, and thus no migrant ghettos and no migrant crime either.”
In closing, Prime Minister Orbán said he sees no capacity for renewal within the European Union. What he does see, he warned, are “the emerging decisions, the centralization plans, the prestige-based defense of failed policies.”
“I see the United States and Asia overtaking us. And I see Hungary’s ability, strength, and knowledge developing faster — and aligning its growth rate with that of the United States and Asia, not the European Union.”