Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Speech prior to the EP Elections
22 May 2014, Balmazújváros

Please allow me to first of all wish you all a good afternoon and to pass on the good wishes of the people of Szatmárnémeti, because I have come here from there. We need to campaign there too because we are preparing for European elections and the Hungarians have a separate list of candidates in Transylvania. I travelled there this morning to help them with a little campaigning, but the European elections aren’t the only thing that has brought me here. Before sharing my thoughts on the elections with you, let us first of all close the topic of the previous elections. I haven’t been here since then.

I would like to thank the people of Balmazújváros and the surrounding area for having stood up for our candidate – God bless the candidate! – in such impressive proportions and with such force at the elections in April, and for having stood up for the political school of thought that let us for now simplicity call a civil, national and Christian school of thought. Thank you for your support. We won a fantastic victory. Because it is not unknown, and this is what happened with us in 2010, for the opposition votes of Hungarians who are dissatisfied with the state of the world to result in a two-thirds majority for our side, but for someone to be in government for four years, and as such to not just talk about what should be done, but to actually attempt to realise it, and for the Hungarian electorate to stick by them to such an extent that this perseverance results in another two-thirds majority, well this is unprecedented in both Hungary and Europe: we achieved a huge victory. Thank you! I would also like to say thank you for what happened prior to 2010. Because there are many of us here who did not set out on this path yesterday. And our lives were not only about victories and back-to-back two-thirds majorities, because I remember when in 2002, though only by the skin of our teeth, we lost the elections. That was the most difficult time. And I would like to say thank you to the people of Balmazújváros and the surrounding area, to those whom it concerns, for not having given up after 2002 but for instead persevering and for enabling us to remain united. This is what later resulted in the 2010 election victory and then in the 2014 repeat two-thirds majority. Thank you for your perseverance and thank you for your loyalty!

And I would also like to say a personal thank you, because I know that of course people vote for parties and for excellent candidates, but people sometimes also vote for a prime minister and the truth is that I recognise the personal support inherent in this. According to public opinion of course, prime ministers aren’t human; they are simply a machine that’s made out of iron, and their job is to withstand everything. And prime ministers usually behave as if this were the case, but we all know that even prime ministers are only human, they too have feelings and moments of weakness, and they too need support. We men don’t usually talk about things like this, but we can perhaps mention it once every eight years or so, and so I would like to say a big personal thank you for all the support that I have received from you personally; for the encouragement, the congratulations, the pats on the back, the prayers and the good wishes. I am very grateful and thank you! All I would like to say now about the four years we have ahead of us is that we will do everything possible, and I personally will do everything possible, to satisfy the vote of confidence that you have once again given us.

And now it’s time to get down to work, because I have been travelling around the country and have recently been to Körmend, Dunaújváros, Mór and Dabas, and I will be visiting Szarvas tomorrow, and I can roughly see what the situation is with regard to the European Parliament elections. And since we are among ourselves – don’t record this part – the fact is that we aren’t particularly enthusiastic. And the reason for this is that we feel that the important issues have already been decided. Because the important issue was after all the parliamentary elections, and now that we’ve sorted that out we can all get back to work, but the fact is, Ladies and Gentlemen, that we must take this Sunday’s elections seriously. For two reasons, possibly three.

The first reason is that it is good to win. It is good to win once, but it is even better to win twice. And so, since the fact is that there will be elections on Sunday, I suggest that we win them and do not give our opponents – and we must talk about them also – the chance to pick themselves up off the floor, but instead make it clear that this is the end of an era. The left is a fallen left, that era is over. I am not saying that this new era will be easy, but it will certainly be a different era; we will be organising our lives according to different ideals, different values and different programmes, and we do not want the left, who have now been pushed aside twice in a row with a two-thirds majority, to have an influence over this. This is how things stand, and we should not give them a chance to crawl back onto their feet at the European Parliament elections. Secondly, the European Parliament elections are also important because although we will be the ones to decide what happens here in Hungary, our plans and decisions can be blocked in Brussels. And for this reason it is very important that the people who represent Hungary in that foreign theatre of war are of a suitable quality. And if we send people to Brussels who do not stand up for the Hungarians and who do everything in their power to prevent the work of the government from out there, having not succeeded in doing so here at home, then things will be more difficult for Hungary during the next four years. And so I recommend that we send honest, good-hearted, courageous and upstanding people to the European Parliament who are capable of standing up for the Hungarians. And I can tell you that the list of Fidesz – Christian Democratic People’s Party candidates is made up of such people. If we send them to Brussels, they will help Hungary instead of hampering us.

Thirdly, another important criteria that we must keep in mind is that although we are talking about European elections here, there are a few ideologies among our rivals that I personally feel are a danger to Hungary, and I would like to draw your attention to these, irrespective of current political battles. These are schools of thought that could determine our long-term future. I would like us to unite as a kind of central power and make it clear that ideas that pose a mid- or long-term danger to Hungary shall have no place here in Hungary. There are two such schools of thought that I would like to draw your attention to. One is the ideal of a United States of Europe, which is represented by the left, who want to sacrifice our thousand-year-old Hungarian statehood on the altar of some non-existent, now developing United States of Europe. Let’s not go there, we shouldn’t want anything to do with that. I recommend that we keep our Hungarian sovereignty, Hungarian traditions, Hungarian culture, Hungarian language, Hungarian economic interests and Hungarian political independence, and that we also make it clear at the upcoming elections that an election manifesto like this, the programme of a United States of Europe, is not even enough to get your foot in the door here in Hungary; the left cannot succeed with a programme like that. I ask that you make this absolutely clear. And on the other side, let us also make is absolutely clear that although we may have several issues with the European Union, and if anyone, then we Hungarians certainly have cause to  have certain issues with the EU, and in recent years they have been impeding us rather than helping us. And you know that I would be the last person to launch a promotion campaign in favour of the European Union. I was the one standing there in the ring before the European Parliament when the representatives of all kinds of countries who call themselves European were screaming with protruding arteries on their necks at a country, us, that they do not know and with regard to which they know nothing about how we live our lives and what difficulties we must face. And still, they wanted to have a say in what should be in the Hungarian constitution, how we protect families, what should happen to Hungarian farmland or what should be the fate of the reduction of utility prices in Hungary. I will certainly not be campaigning in favour of these people, but I would nevertheless like to make it absolutely clear that we should not behave according to feelings of anger or emotion, but according to common sense when we take a stand on important and difficult issues with regard to Europe. I would like to ask you not to listen to those who say that Hungary should exit the European Union. Do not listen to them, because of course there may be emotions that push one’s feelings in that direction, but the truth is that we cannot lay the foundations for the long-term growth of the Hungarian economy if we are not part of the unit that includes Europe’s most highly developed economies; we need to be there. Although, we should only be there if Hungary has a committed national government. If we have a national government, then the European Union is an opportunity, not a threat. And so I would ask that you also reject those who want to run their heads against the wall and who argue in favour of exiting the European Union – these are those to the right of us – and that we make it absolutely clear that we have a heart, we have questions, we have self-respect, but we also have common sense. And it is in Hungary’s national interests that Hungary be able to exploit the opportunities available to the greatest extent possible. In addition to which we also have a history. I have already said this during the parliamentary election campaign: the Hungarians should have learned by now that if we are not there where the important European issues are decided, then we always draw the short stray; if you’re not sitting at the table then you shouldn’t be surprised to find yourself on the menu. That’s how things work for Hungary. We have to be there, where the decisions are made.

And finally, I have just one thing left to do, and that is to ask you to under all circumstances go out to vote on Sunday. I know the weather will be warm, there is a lot of work to do in the garden and we have voted enough already this year, but I would nevertheless ask you to gather your families and go out to vote. And the role of women is of paramount importance here. Because of course we men all behave as if we were the head of the family, but the truth is that it is usually the women who keep the important matters organised, and when it comes to taking part in an election – this too I have learned – it is the word of the women that is decisive. And so I would like to ask the ladies to gather their families and talk them into going out to vote. The former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was of course a woman, once said that “if you want people to talk about something a lot, entrust it to a man, but if you want to get it done, entrust it to a woman”. And so I would like to ask the wives and mothers of Balmazújváros to take this matter in hand and get things done. Take your families out to vote and let us make sure that whatever the voter turnout may be, our supporters are all there. And if we are all there, then we will achieve a glorious victory. Hungarian justice comes in threes, as the saying goes; this is the second that we need to reap. I wish you much strength and good health!

Go, Hungary, Go, Hungarians!

(Prime Minister’s Office)