A couple of days ago Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gave a speech in which he looked ahead to the coming year and outlined the important issues facing Hungary. Mr. Orbán placed special emphasis on resisting the diktats of Brussels on migration and tax policy, and the importance of maintaining Hungary as a homogeneous state.

Many thanks to CrossWare for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Transcript:

29:54 … There is another thing here. While we want to be competitive,

29:58 it is very important to valorize Hungary more too,

30:02 in my thinking and in the government’s thinking it is in a significant place;

30:06 it sounds like a cliché, but a significant circumstance. In our thinking

30:10 we not only need the economy to be working in our country

30:14 to bring growth and all kinds of benefits for us,

30:18 but the place — which is our homeland — commonly

30:22 called Hungary — which in its present state happens to be this size — of course,

30:26 we think of a community of nations in the Carpathian valley when we talk about our homeland.

30:30 So the question is, how can we valorize this homeland?

30:34 And our economic decisions can be interpreted in this dimension, too.

30:38 First of all, I believe it is very important

30:42 that ethnic homogeneity be preserved.

30:46 Now we can say these things — a couple of years ago we would have been executed for

30:50 such sentences like these, but nowadays we can say, because life has proved

30:54 That too much mixing will cause trouble.

30:58 Naturally we Hungarians are heterogeneous, in the sense

31:02 that we are a European nation; if we were to start reading the names,

31:06 we would have everybody here: from “bunyevác” [south Slavs] to the “sváb” [south Germans].

31:10 But independent of everything else, this would still be within an ethnic range;

31:14 so while it is diverse, it still provides an ethnic homogeneity.

31:18 We are from the same civilization, and in my opinion, its preservation is a key question.

31:22 Of course we know from Saint Stephen [first Christian king of Hungary] to accept guests kindly,

31:26 and this is the right thing to do, but the basic ethnic character of the country

31:30 must not change. We can’t risk that. Because that would devalue the

31:34 the country, and it would throw it into chaos. So for that reason the government

31:38 has a definite direction, not only about migration, but

31:42 a general approach on how to think about the population of Hungary.

31:46 We think cultural homogeneity is also important,

31:50 which again must be meant within a range, of course.

31:54 A diversity which does not make it possible

31:58 to have multiple cultures unable to assimilate to each other.

32:02 To have civilizations exist beside each other. This is the problem of parallel societies.

32:06 We do not wish to expose Hungary to such issues. I am convinced

32:10 that if we maintain ethnic homogeneity, cultural diversity will be

32:14 kept within a range, inside a cultural homogeneity,

32:18 that will raise the value of Hungary as a place.

32:22 Hungary will become such a place, and it will signal the sort of economic indicators

32:26 to the outside, that from many other countries that are much more developed

32:30 than we are slowly, day by day, disappearing.

32:34 Consequently we could make our country more and more valuable. Similarly, we are not

32:38 going to screw around with public safety and terror threats.

32:42 Because one of our distinctive marks, which makes our country more valuable,

32:46 is that public safety here is outstanding compared to other parts of Europe.

32:50 It already is, and we have to keep it that way. The chance of terror is never zero;

32:54 trouble could happen at any time. We must be mindful; nobody could ensure

32:58 that it could never happen, but the fact is, the risk is low, and we do everything in our

33:02 power to keep it that way. We can and we will accept that responsibility.

33:06 I find it important from the point of view of the value of our country, that

33:10 it is not polluted. This is very important, especially for the development

33:14 of industry. The modern term for this is “green development”,

33:18 and it’s important than Hungary does not have such areas which would

33:22 for a variety of reasons be polluted by industry and unfit

33:26 to be included in a unified national development

33:30 policy. So this is a clean, green preserved country.

33:34 Also, this is cultivated country because we farm

33:38 the land. We do not have much territory left uncultivated.

33:42 Anyone travelling through the countryside can see here is where an agricultural nation lives.

33:46 Someone farms the land under his care,

33:50 at times at a higher or lower level, but he wants to farm it.

33:54 He wants to make it a cultivated landscape. This also brings our value higher.

33:58 This might not mean much in Budapest, but in the countryside

34:02 it means a lot. The people there understand what I mean.

34:06 Also full employment increases the value of the country,

34:10 and here I would like to counter any scheme

34:14 that automatically wants to place some positions

34:18 in the hands of foreigners. I think it means a lot that in a Hungarian hotel,

34:22 even the cleaning lady is Hungarian, too.

34:26 This is only true in a very few countries now — I mean that a citizen from that country itself works

34:30 in such jobs. It increases the value of a country if they are among the community living there

34:34 are people — based on their abilities — who themselves do the jobs necessary

34:38 for operating and maintaining their country. From the lowest jobs

34:42 to the chair of the president

34:46 of the Scientific Academy. That is for all the Hungarians to work

34:50 fill its positions — in an organic unity — to operate their nation.

34:54 I believe this is valorizing our homeland. It is also very important that

34:58 greatness, the desire for greatness

35:02 should never disappear from Hungary. That is why the Olympics

35:06 feels like a broken rib. [Leftists and Socialists torpedoed the 2024 Olympic bid — translator]

35:10 The Hungarians — independent of how big their territory was — always understood

35:14 what greatness means. That it is an intellectual, spiritual thing.

35:18 Greatness in culture, greatness in sports and greatness in science. We cannot give that up.

35:22 Because we are not just a nation from the Carpathian valley, we are also a great nation.

35:26 Even though we are shrunken now [due to the 1921 Treaty of Trianon] and there is a demographic decrease.

35:30 But this does not change the thousand-year-old fact

35:34 that we are a great nation. And this is an uplifting force, and increases our value.

35:38 For the people who live in this country, this is how they think about themselves.

35:42 This is important from an economic point of view, too. Finally,

35:46 it is an important dimension of the revaluation of the country,

35:50 — as [Central Bank] President Matolcsy discussed — a country which has a developing economy,

35:54 we are the kind where industrial firms,

35:58 the big, modern European corporations and now the Eastern ones, too,

36:02 can find everything in one place: suppliers, workforce,

36:06 good infrastructure and calculable, reliably low taxes,

36:10 and people who want to work. Ladies and gentlemen,

36:14 these circumstance are leading in that direction,

36:18 while we continue policies that help economic growth,

36:22 we should have a different view of Hungary,

36:26 which elevates the country to a high value,

36:30 the same as some other countries have done in the last fifty years,

36:34 did successfully after the Second World War — let’s not name countries,

36:38 because you might start smiling and I would not like to become a laughingstock.

36:42 But soon the time will come when I will be able to and will I dare to name them,

36:46 to tell how we were able to raise the value of Hungary in

36:50 Fifteen to twenty years, like other European countries

36:54 that are also not so big successfully did. Respected Ladies and gentlemen, just

36:58 one more question I would like to reflect on:

37:02 What do we need to do in the next couple of years?

37:06 To summarize the presentations by [Central Bank] President Matolcsy and Economy Minister Varga,

37:10 we must stay on the path we are on right now.

37:14 We must defend…

37:18 in the years 2017 and 2018 we must maintain

37:22 the growth of Hungarian economy in

37:26 the 3%-5% range. I think that will be the task

37:30 in 2019 and 2020; in the meantime

37:34 we must execute that turn of competitiveness — which [Central Bank] President Matolcsy discussed —

37:38 And after 2020 we must move up to the 5%+ level of economic growth.

37:42 I think this is the task, and for that we need two things.

37:46 As I said, continue on the same path with corrections mentioned by

37:50 [Central Bank] President Matolcsy and [Finance] Minister Varga,

37:54 and we must defend the country and defend this upward path,

37:58 from the dangers that threaten it.

38:02 Because we cannot be that naïve; looking around here — with the exception of the ladies —

38:06 we are all past the age of innocence; we can’t be so naïve as to think

38:11 everybody else will be sit on their behinds and applaud our fantastic successes, doing nothing.

38:14 This is not true inside the country, especially

38:18 not true if we look to the outside world. So there are always dangers;

38:22 we must protect our trajectory of upward development.

38:26 While we expect and count on Brussels for many things,

38:30 because it is an important place, in the meantime there are certain attempts from Brussels

38:34 that we must defend ourselves against. The ability to set our tax system

38:38 should never be handed over to Brussels, and the well-established system

38:42 of supporting job creation must also be kept and protected from them.

38:46 Similarly, we can decide for ourselves what to do with Hungary.

38:50 We have had parliamentary democracy for the last twenty-odd years now; we do not need

38:54 the same thing — if you’ve been watching the American and French elections —

38:58 to spend our election period analyzing what sort of external influences

39:02 are warping Hungarian voters.

39:06 All that “fake news” and other spreading rumors,

39:10 external influences. Even a country as big as the United States,

39:14 they were capable of generating arguments about whether or not

39:18 there were any external influences from other big countries

39:22 that had any significant effect on their own — extremely important — political fate, determining

39:26 their direction for years. We must examine the same question, too — it cannot be a taboo —

39:30 we must create transparency and continuously talk about

39:34 this question. Similarly as I noted,

39:38 about our interest in preserving our cultural and ethnic homogeneity;

39:42 we must defend against mass migration and against the policies

39:46 of Brussels, that want to flood Europe with migrants.

39:50 We must also fight for cheap energy too. I hope

39:54 we can move forward the debate about Paks [nuclear power plant expansion, blocked by Brussels].

39:58 Because we were able to parry most of their excuses and answer their questions,

40:02 Well, respected ladies and gentlemen, this is how I see the year ahead of us.

40:06 Ferenc Deák [19th c. politician] said: “We can fight without hope, too”, but I say