N

PM Orbán at EPC summit: Agreement on need for quickest possible peace in Europe

The prime minister said the key issues are war or peace, migration or protection, blocs or connectivity, subordination or European sovereignty.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said there was general agreement at the European Political Community summit in Budapest on the need for the quickest possible peace in Europe and for a response to the outcome of the US presidential election.

PM Orbán told a press conference after the event on Thursday that unless there was a revolt against the laws and court rulings now in force, there would be no way to stop migration.

"The situation discussed today can be described as difficult, complicated and dangerous," PM Orbán said, adding that peace, stability and prosperity were simultaneously under threat in Europe.

The prime minister noted that the war Russia launched against Ukraine has been going on for three years, the Middle East "is in flames", with a danger of escalation, while conflicts were destabilising North Africa, and illegal migration was a continued challenge at a scale nearing the earlier record high. He added that the global economy was fragmenting into blocs at a rate unprecedented since the Cold War.

PM Orbán noted that the fifth meeting of the European Political Community, the largest diplomatic event in Hungary's history, was attended by 42 heads of state and government, the leaders of European institutions, the Secretary General of NATO and representatives of the OSCE. Together it was easier to come up with better responses to these dangers than individually, he added.

His personal appraisal of the situation, he said, was that everyone saw there was "no time to waste". "It looks like history has speeded up", he said, adding that a chapter had closed with the US elections, and the world would change "faster than we think".

The key issues on the agenda were "war or peace, migration or protection, blocs or connectivity, subordination or European sovereignty", he said.

PM Orbán noted that no formal decisions were made at the meeting and differing opinions were numerous, but agreement was broad that there must be a response to the outcome of the US election. "We need to be cognizant of the fact that big changes are afoot," he said.

He said there was general agreement on the quickest possible peace in Europe and that Europe should assume greater responsibility for its own future peace and security.

"We cannot expect protection solely from the Americans," Orban said. He added that there was broad agreement that Europe must remain a key player in the upcoming talks and developments that determined the future.

The negotiations would have an impact on Europe's fate, and Europe must be present with sufficient weight in order to influence subsequent decisions, he argued.

PM Orbán said the issue of migration was once again acting as a strain on European institutions and there was general dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs, coupled with a desire for change.

Judicial activism, he added, was a big obstacle to the desire of political leaders for change, and this must be overcome.

"We decide things, governments enforce them, and these common decisions clash with European and then national judicial rulings, and the results in terms of reducing migration simply collapse," he said.

Hungary was an exception, he said, having always sided with rebellion against judicial activism, and without a revolt against the current laws and court rulings, it would be impossible to stop migration.

PM Orbán noted that in addition to the plenary session, working groups dealt with economic security and migration.

At the meeting, they thanked French President Emmanuel Macron for launching the EPC two years ago, he noted.

The meeting's participants agreed on continuing and strengthening EPC cooperation and on attending the next meeting held by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in Tirana next May.

Following the outcome of the US election, it was clear that the pro-peace camp had grown exponentially, Orban said in response to journalists' questions.

Asked about a possible peace process, PM Orbán said he preferred not to take a position on an issue where complete agreement was absent, adding that opinions differed on the war's prolongation or whether there should be a rapid ceasefire and peace negotiations.

"We're not talking about victory or defeat [but] about a ceasefire … and people's lives; we're talking about stopping the destruction," he said.

Europe, he declared, must respond to the new situation arising from the US elections.

"[T]oday we have taken an important step towards finding a solution acceptable" to all 27 EU member states, he said, adding that EU leaders will attend an informal dinner after the EPC summit, followed by a European Council meeting on Friday, which may provide a forum for forging a joint response.

"An old sin has a long shadow," PM Orbán said, quoting a Hungarian proverb, explaining that a price must be paid sooner or later should action not be preceded by the necessary intellectual preparation.

Europeans, he said, had entered the war without defining victory. Without such a definition, "how do you gauge how long you must fight?" "We never asked: should Crimea also be taken back? … What does victory look like?"

Asked whether President Vladimir Putin was pro-war or pro-peace, PM Orbán said it was not Russia's position under discussion but that of the West and NATO, and this is what preoccupied him.

A ceasefire, he said, was a means of communication, a prerequisite for forging peace. If talk focused too heavily on what a long-term peace solution would look like, the chances of a ceasefire would diminish, he added.

Regarding the planned 50 billion euro loan for Ukraine financed jointly by the EU and the US, Orban said the question arose: if America did not take part in future financing, then how would Europe solve this independently, if at all?

Moreover, the amount in question clearly would not suffice, he said, and new requests would be forthcoming. He raised the question: which country would finance Ukraine's further needs?

Europeans, he added, had less of an inclination to finance a war whose purpose they did not comprehend, or indeed how long it would last, and whether sanctions would be effective.

The outcome of peace talks would not only determine the future of Ukraine, but it would also define the kind of European security architecture that would follow.

"If Europe wants to participate in negotiations on building a new European security architecture, it is important to communicate with all parties involved in the war, otherwise someone else will," he said.

Regarding US-Hungarian relations, the prime minister said much had "gone wrong" in the past four years, and Hungary had been discriminated against in many areas. "Righting all of this will be the first stage of our cooperation with the new administration, and we also have plans of an economic nature…" he said, adding that he would reveal this in due course.

Commenting on his relationship with Trump, he said his close alliance with the president-elect presented a huge opportunity for Hungary "as never before, which we will make use of".

PM Orbán added that he was always proud to fight alongside those who tried to enforce the will of the people against the ruling elite. "This is called democracy."

On the topic of trade, he said Trump was "a very tough negotiating partner, so … no one should have any illusions". Talks with the US on the future of the structure of trade would be hard, he added.

Asked whether he would drink champagne with the other 26 European leaders to celebrate Trump's victory, Orban said he had kept his promise to do so only up to a point, adding that he was in Kyrgyzstan at the time of the presidential election, so they "tapped" the vodka stock and celebrated the "fantastic result".

PM Orbán said that at the start of the migration crisis in 2015 the Hungarian government's first act was to rebel by building "our fence when it was still seen as a capital crime".

Other countries have been building fences ever since, but this was no longer considered a crime, he said.

Hungary then introduced a system which he said was the only solution to migration: no one should be allowed to enter the country until their application had been assessed. Over the past ten years he had not heard of any other solution, besides the Hungarian model, that had worked.

But legal regulations were now hindering its efforts, PM Orbán said, citing the recent European Court ruling penalising Hungary even though the country protected not only its own borders but the whole of Europe's, too.

"No other solution exists today" other than to rebel against the current "bureaucratic, jungle-like regulations and judicial activism", he said. "But unless rebellion is Europe-wide, nothing will work."

"I am the only prime minister in the whole of Europe who has survived the migration crisis since 2015. And the only reason for that is because I always stayed on the people's side," he said.

He said this meant ensuring security and protecting borders and "a feeling of home". "Anybody who does not do that fails," he added.

In response to a question as to whether he considered it his goal to dismantle the system of checks and balances in connection with illegal migration, and if he wanted to reduce the power of the administration of justice, he said: "We have introduced laws in line with the constitution, and we follow the path of national legislation…"

The European Commission has taken Hungary to the European Court, "they decided that what we do is bad … so we must pay and amend our legal regulations," he said. "If the legal regulations are changed without amending the constitution, they will go against the latter, which must not be done," he added.

PM Orbán said that changing the constitution in connection with migration was an "impossibility". He added that this was what he meant when he said it was a trap and judicial activism, adding that the situation was the same in Italy.

The prime minister said national governments had been "paralysed" as regards illegal migration because national courts followed European court rulings instead of national law. He added that it was obvious that the majority of people in almost all countries was against illegal migration, yet national governments were unable to enforce the people's will.

"The situation is complex, and it is not simply a matter of discussing checks and balances, but it concerns European sovereignty and excessive regulation, taking away the possibility of making decisions at the national level and raising it to the European level," he said.