In his regular radio interview this morning, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán talked about his meeting with President Donald Trump, what’s at stake in the upcoming European Parliamentary elections, and the latest data on Hungary’s economic performance.
“The most important thing was to discuss our views on what to expect in the world,” said the prime minister about his meeting earlier this week with President Donald Trump, “what will be the big challenges.” The meeting also covered several other topics such as the diversification of Hungary’s gas supply, defense cooperation and international NATO missions, he said, speaking this morning on Kossuth Radio’s Good Morning, Hungary.
“[T]here are some countries,” Prime Minister Orbán said, “including Israel, Hungary, Poland, Italy and the USA with leaders elected by the people, leaders who put their country first and don’t promote the building of world government but oppose it.” These countries, he said, “believe in a world order in which states follow their own interests, elect their own leaders and, when it is necessary, they cooperate with each other."
The PM also emphasized that the current president of the United States comes from the world of business, so “he has a different mindset, resulting in a more ambitious and bolder leadership.” President Trump, said the prime minister, knows precisely “that 1,700 American companies are operating in Hungary, knows the Hungarian-American foreign trade numbers, the Hungarian economic model, and of course what he knows best is that Hungarians put a stop to migration coming by land.”
“That's how they look at us,” said PM Orbán, “that we are the ones who successfully stopped migration at the southern border of Europe.”
Turning to the upcoming European Parliamentary elections, the prime minister said there is a “liberal network or mafia” that is trying to make us believe that migration is a world phenomenon that “cannot be stopped”.
“At stake in these elections is whether we can choose leaders who turn against the idea that migration is an essential part of our lives,” he said. “Can we choose leaders who protect Europe because ultimately Europe is the home of European people, and Hungary is the home of Hungarian people?”
“We should send a strong message that we want change. We want a Europe that protects its borders on land and sea,” the prime minister said, “and we want leaders in Brussels who don’t want to organize but want to stop migration.” That’s the big issue confronting voters, he said, and called on everyone to turn out to cast a ballot on Sunday, May 26.
Hungary’s latest economic data points to 5.2 percent GDP growth in the first quarter of 2019, the prime minister noted. The goal, he said, is “to reach a two percent higher economic growth than the European average,” adding that “we should build an economic system in which people have a job and it’s worthwhile to work.” The Hungarian economic model developed since 2010 is based on the principle that everyone should have a job and “the higher economic growth means that we are more competitive than our European competitors because our future depends on this.”