The prime minister dismissed the idea that this is a mere debate over opinions within the EU. “It’s not a difference of views, it’s a difference of actions,” he said, highlighting the widening rift between Hungary’s stance and Brussels' approach.
Prime Minister Orbán called the European war strategy a fundamental error. The assumption that Russia will run out of money before Europe does, and that this economic exhaustion would force a Russian retreat, has not materialized. “This is all based on a delusion,” he warned, noting the €170-€180 billion already spent by the EU with no end in sight.
According to PM Orbán, it is unprecedented in the history of warfare that the opposing sides refuse to negotiate. He argued that the European Union should not push Ukraine toward more conflict but work to initiate talks with Russia instead. “The longer the war goes on, the more people will die,” he said bluntly.
One of the most pressing concerns raised by Prime Minister Orbán is Ukraine’s potential EU membership. He reiterated that such a step requires unanimous support from all 27 member states—a threshold Hungary will not support. “The Hungarian people do not want to be in a union with Ukraine,” he declared, arguing that EU membership would effectively drag Hungary into the war.
“We sympathize with the heroic Ukrainian struggle, but we don’t want to share their fate,” he added.
The Hungarian government, the prime minister stated, supports a bilateral partnership with Ukraine — similar to the arrangement it has with the U.K. and Turkey — but not full accession. “If we take in Ukraine, we are at war with Russia. We don’t want to die for Ukraine,” he said, emphasizing the need to protect Hungarian lives and interests.
This divergence with the EU has led PM Orbán to call for a national signature drive against Brussels’ war plans. “We need political reinforcement to make it clear: Hungary does not support any war strategy,” he said, warning that if opposition parties like Tisza or DK were to take power, Hungary would be “dragged into the war” and forced to fund Ukraine’s efforts at the expense of Hungarian families.
The prime minister reaffirmed that the issue of family support remains central to the government’s domestic agenda, with the government committed to aiding families directly, rather than diverting funds to multinational corporations or foreign conflicts. He criticized the Tisza Party’s ambiguity on this front, warning that their silence hides plans aligned with Brussels. “They would take money from families to give it to Ukraine,” he said, underscoring the importance of national unity in resisting such pressures.
Brussels' influence, the Prime Minister Orbán added, has had unintended consequences — like strengthening ties between Hungary and Slovakia in a shared defense of sovereignty. “Small nations are rowing in the same boat,” he said, framing the current political moment as one of growing solidarity against centralized EU pressure.