N

PM Orbán: We want peace; we don't want a new eastern front, and we don't need Ukraine's EU membership

The prime minister said fast-tracking Ukraine's accession was "the convenient pretext for the wartime reorganization of Europe".

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Budapest on Thursday: "We want a Christian culture, schools on a national foundation, streets and neighborhoods without fear, and we want to be proud of our nations -- this is the patriots' plan."

"We want peace; we don't want a new eastern front, and we don't need Ukraine's European Union membership, either," he said, adding that fast-tracking Ukraine's accession was "the convenient pretext for the wartime reorganization of Europe".

Opening the two-day event, PM Orbán said "many of Europe's and America's strongest, patriotic and sovereigntist leaders" were attending the conference.

"They are the toughest, most committed and most experienced leaders who have been fighting for their homelands in international politics, and who have been subject to multiple attacks, rudeness and smear campaigns … they know that there is no victory without suffering," he said, adding that if Europe's liberals were to receive "just half of those attacks … they would run crying and hide behind progressive journalists".

Welcoming participants, PM Orbán highlighted Matt Schlapp, the president of CPAC Foundation. Schlapp, he said, "recognises central Europe as the source for conservative renewal and realises that what can be done in Hungary on the small scale, could be done big in America."

Referring to Irakli Kobakhidze, the prime minister of Georgia, PM Orbán said he was "a hero of the international patriotic movement" who had won his country's election "against the whole liberal world" and achieved "the greatest GDP growth in the world", while "twenty percent of his country is under the paw of the Russian bear". The Georgian PM "managed to prevent Brussels from forcing Georgia into a war, he would not allow Georgia to become Ukraine's number two," PM Orbán said.

The prime minister called Hristijan Mickoski, his North Macedonian counterpart, a "captain protecting Europe's southern borders against migration", adding that he had won his country's election "while the whole of Brussels supported his opponent".

Robert Fico, the prime minister of Slovakia, is "the toughest of Europe's leaders and has made the greatest comeback", Orban said. Referring to the armed attack against Fico, he said it had been committed by "a coaxed, incited liberal gang".

PM Orbán greeted Andrej Babis as "Czechia's former and future prime minister", saying they had worked for years together in Brussels "against the pro-migration prime ministers". He said Hungry could not have been made "a migrant-free country" without Babis's support.

PM Orbán called Santiago Abascal, the leader of Spain's VOX party, "a hero" and said patriots in Spain were suffering from "the most brutal oppression", adding that VOX would be in government "if competition were fair" in Spain.

PM Orbán made a special mention of former Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki, and expressed his support for Karol Nawrocki, the conservative candidate in the upcoming second round of Poland's presidential election. He said developments in Poland were "unbelievable", with "Brussels tolerating and supporting the trampling of all European rules and constitutional principles." He said "the treatment of Poles and their PiS party" was "unprecedentedly shameful". "The Brussels leadership should step down for that alone," he added.

PM Orbán greeted Alice Weidel, co-leader of Germany's AfD party, who represents the Europe of Sovereign Nations party group at the conference. Orban added that the group's main opponent was Manfred Weber, whom he called "Hungarophobic, petty and vengeful". Referring to Weidel, PM Orbán said, "it is good to see that there are decent Germans who love their homeland more than Brussels."

Concerning Herbert Kickl, PM Orbán said the post of Austrian chancellor "was stolen" from the leader of the FPO party. "Politics is not always fair, but there is a moral balance; the time for Kickl will come and Austria will return to the club of patriots," he added.

PM Orbán also referred to Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch PVV party, saying the politician's life was in "constant danger" and that he was "high up in the blacklist of fanatics".

Meanwhile, PM Orbán said that "the presidency of Donald Trump had brought about a civilizational shift and restored hope to the world". PM Orbán noted that he had predicted Trump’s victory at last year’s CPAC Hungary. "And he won it. Next year there’s an election in Hungary. Any further questions?" he said.

"Donald Trump won and the Trump tornado swept through the world," PM Orbán said, adding that the US president had restored hope to the world.

"We won’t drown in a sea of woke and we won’t be overrun by migrants," the prime minister said. "Donald Trump has restored the hope for normal life and peace," he said, calling Trump’s victory the "biggest comeback the Western world has ever seen".

"What a blow to the left," PM Orbán said, referring to Trump's win, adding that "Trump has not only returned, he is doing what he pledged to do … I am amazed: is that possible? Is that possible in places other than Hungary?" Orban said.

The prime minister said Trump's first one hundred days had been "a real truth serum" for not only America but the whole of the Western World. He praised Trump for his measures concerning illegal migration, banning the "gender decrees" and "critical racism", as well as "the woke ideology" from the military.