In response to a question concerning recent remarks about Russia's invasion of Ukraine by the Prime Minister's political director Balazs Orban, Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Prime Minister's Office, said Hungary has been a NATO member for 25 years, has always fulfilled its related obligations "and will continue to do so".
Commenting on recent reactions to the director's remarks by certain ambassadors in Hungary, he said he considered it "tasteless and cynical that the ambassadors of those countries are edging into a dispute about history in connection with 1956 that did nothing ... when the Russians shot Budapest to pieces and crushed Hungary's fight for freedom."
The political director's remarks were prone to misinterpretation, Gulyás told a government press briefing held after two cabinet away days in southern Hungary. Asked about the possible personnel consequences of the director's remarks, Gulyás said: "The issue is closed on our part".
Meanwhile, Gulyás said the appearance of Peter Magyar and his Tisza Party in Hungarian politics had brought with itself "unprecedented aggression and arrogance". Magyar, he said, outdid Democratic Coalition leader Ferenc Gyurcsany in terms of making false statements. During the election campaign, Magyar called for the cancellation of the right for immunity and also said he would not become an MEP, Gulyás said. Since then, after he was suspected of theft, he became a great supporter of the right for immunity, became an MEP and "does not want the EP to suspend his immunity", he added.
On the subject of the current situation in the Middle East, Gulyás noted that the government has asked all Hungarians staying in Lebanon to register for consular protection and to leave the country as soon as possible. The government "will help everyone get home", he said, adding that commercial travel was still an option, he said.
Destabilising wars led to migration pressure, and Hungary will do everything to prevent an influx of migrants, he said, adding that Europe was particularly susceptible to migration from the region.
Gulyás said most EU member states were in agreement that Israel "has the right to defend itself", and "serious discussions" about how to find an exit route from the current situation were underway.
In response to a question about concerns voiced by certain German politicians who were concerned about the risks of their secret services cooperating with Vienna in the event of the Freedom Party of Austria forming a government, Gulyás congratulated the FPO on its victory in the election, adding that it was "good news for us too", and the whole of Europe, because "they belong to the Patriots for Europe party family".
The winner gets an opportunity to form a government in every civilised democracy, and "I believe the same will happen in Austria". "All Austrian governments are our partners and allies, and if the FPO becomes a part or leading force in the government, it will mean the same excellent cooperation also in these areas," he added.
Gulyás also said Orban was planning to attend a rally announced by Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini. The former interior minister had demonstrated that both land and maritime external borders could be protected, he added. "He did not commit a crime," he said, and instead of "launching a criminal procedure against him, he should be awarded for this", Gulyás added, expressing hope that the court would decide in his favour.
In response to a comment about the European Commission referring Hungary to the Court of Justice of the European Union in connection with Hungary's sovereignty protection law, he said the Sovereignty Protection Office did not have powers of enforcement and so it could not even commit the violation of basic EU treaties listed in the report.
Meanwhile, when it came to Romania's accession to the Schengen area, he said, Hungary was the country's "biggest supporter". He said there was a "realistic chance" of the matter being put to a vote under Hungary's EU presidency, but this would mean Austria and the Netherlands not using their veto.
Regarding church scandals in Hungary in recent years, he said all illegality was condemnable, and all churches must take action to combat it, including the Catholic Church.
Asked about a company belonging to the prime minister's father which is a supplier of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line under construction, Gulyás said details of the investment had been decided ten years ago, and that the main contractor had nothing to do with the prime minister's family. The government, he added, did not "have a say" concerning who the main contractor "ordered stones from".