Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Speech at a Spontaneous Rally in Szarvas
23 May 2014, Szarvas

In modern language, what we have here today is called a flash mob. Would you believe it? People usually organise these in opposition to us, when someone is not happy with something they gather together like this and through being together they express the fact that they do not agree with something. That’s easy to do. But to instead gather together to express the fact that we agree with something is more difficult to achieve. And this is why we have gathered here today. I would like to thank you for having been so kind as to come here today so that we can be together. I can see that people have arrived from not only Szarvas, but also from other places. I see the Mayor of Béksécsaba at the back there. My fellow MP, Mr. Vantara, it’s nice to see you!

There are a few short reasons why I thought that it would be worth us meeting in a kind of flash mob like this. The first is that there will soon be European Parliament elections. And now that I am travelling around the country – I’m visiting medium-sized cities now, not the big cities: I’ve been to Körmend, Dabas, Mór and Balmazújváros – I try to tell people everywhere that I know that you have just given your utmost. It has been a long time since you were this tired, because the fact is that never before have people worked so hard for a political victory here in Hungary than we have all done together prior to the elections in April. And one feels that it would be nice to let yourself go, lean back and say ‘good job’; to accept the congratulations and discuss with everybody else what great a success we have achieved. And instead here I am telling you not to do this, or to stop doing it if this is what you have been doing until now, because there will be elections again this Sunday, there’s nothing for it but to go out and vote again. And what I would like to say a few words about is why it is important that we take these elections seriously and go out to vote.

The first and most important reason is related to internal politics. Everyone is talking about European issues, about the European Union, and I have things to say about that too, but there is also a reason that is to do with internal politics. If we have already beaten them once and so little time has passed, the balance of power cannot have changed too much; why not defeat them once again? And I suggest that we should drive in another nail now, and then we can drive in the third [at the local government elections] in the autumn. What I sometimes say, with suitable modesty, is that it is a good thing to win. It is a good thing to win once, but to win two times is twice as good, so why not make use of this opportunity? And in addition to the fact that it is nice to win, it is important that we make it clear to our opponents that what happened in April was no accident. The fact is that an era has ended. Voters in this country will never again believe in a certain kind of politics, because people have had enough of certain things. They have had enough of politicians forever putting a spanner in the works and instead of helping those whose are responsible for the fate of the country, tripping up and preventing progress at every opportunity while on top of everything inciting hatred everywhere. Hungary wanted nothing of this. If you were watching carefully, you will have seen that we tried to behave in a cultured manner throughout the campaign. I’m not saying that we always succeeded, but this was our intention and in general we succeeded. And then compare this to everything that we have heard from the opposition, to what they said, to how they said it and to the aggression and downright hatred that was behind it. The future of a country cannot be built on that. This is why it is very important that we declare for a second time that we want nothing of hatred and the Hungarian left cannot recover its footing using politics like that. If they wish to regain their footing, and they have every right to do so, then they need to be so kind as to find something that is good for the country. And so the most important thing is that we make it absolutely clear that we have brought that era to a close.

The second important thing, Ladies and Gentlemen, is related to Europe, because things still revolve around them; it may be easy to say that Brussels and Europe seem like such far-away places, but just think about the battles we are fighting at this very moment with the European Union. The Land Act, so we can keep Hungarian farmland in Hungarian hands; protecting the reduction in utility prices, because they want to reinstate the status quo; they want to force Hungary to raise energy prices again so that the multinationals can achieve greater profits. They are continuously attacking the bank tax, and we must continuously be ready to grapple with totally idiotic proposals that lack all manner of human thinking, such as the fact that they want to tell us what species of trees can grow here and what cannot. Because it may be a question of taste whether one likes acacias or not, but we will be the ones to decide the fate of the Hungarian acacia. We don’t need Brussels to tell us what species of tree should or shouldn’t grow here in Hungary. It is clear that in the upcoming period we will have to stand up to protect the interests of Hungary with relation to a good many important issues. How did this occur during the past four years? Those who were unable to prevent the work of the government here at home tried to trip us up abroad. I would like to ask you most sincerely to not send people to Brussels who will not act in the best interests of our homeland out there, but who will act in opposition to the Hungarian Government. Let us send people who help us to stand up for Hungary’s interests.

And here we have our excellent candidate. I have beside me my fellow Member of Parliament Norbert Erdős, who we would like to send away from here with your permission and assistance. Because he has already graduated from a good many schools: he was a member of Fidelitas and he’s an old hand, but there are a couple of schools that he is yet to attend, such as the school of international politics, and so I have asked him to leave Hungarian internal politics and suspend his work here for a while and to come out to Brussels and learn everything there is to learn about this profession so that he can be of even greater help to us in future. He said yes, and accordingly I would ask that you exploit this opportunity and enable a Member of Parliament from Békés County to leave for Brussels if Fidesz receives enough votes at the election.

And finally, there is one other thing that I’d like to mention. Because it may be true that it is we here at home who decide on issues involving our own lives, but the state of the European economy is also a very important factor. And being among ourselves we can perhaps say that if you read the news that reaches Hungary from the international press then you will have seen that things aren’t going too well in Europe: unemployment is rising, competitiveness is falling and Europe’s share of the global economy and in global commerce is continuously decreasing. So we will have plenty of work to do in Europe too; we also need to change European politics. We should send people to Brussels who are capable of changing European politics so that Europe is no longer a crisis zone but one of the world’s developing and prospering continents where more and more jobs are being created. And who ensure that every country receives sufficient opportunities, no country is repressed by any another and that Hungarian products can be freely and safely marketed in Western Europe.

I actually arrived here from visiting some bee-keepers. I visited the Szarvas area bee-keepers’ association. I went out to the hives too and managed to survive what counts as an exciting adventure for a young man from Transdanubia with relative success, and the bee-keepers also made it clear that they need the European market, because if they can’t sell their products in Europe then those forces will gain the advantage in Hungary who want to bring Hungary out of the European Union instead of fighting for our interests there, and that will result in many Hungarian producers and workers losing their opportunity for advancement and thus losing their livelihoods. And accordingly, I ask that you support us. Please continue to support the candidates of Fidesz and the Christian Democratic People’s Party. We are a central power in Europe that allows no quarter to either the left or the radical right. We want to change the European Union and we will always stand up for Hungarian interests. It is for this that I ask for your support.

And in closing, since my work is done, because I have finished what I came here to do, I would also like to tell you a few personal things. I was last here in 2010 during the local by-elections. Much has happened since then. And I would like to thank you for the support that you gave us in 2010 and which you have given us again in 2014. Thank you for this in the name of Fidesz and the Christian Democratic People’s Party, and I also thank you personally. I know that people often think that prime ministers are superhuman. And people also like to think that their prime minister is made out of iron, or if he isn’t then he should at least behave as if he were, but once every four years even I am prepared to admit that this is not the case. Everybody is human, including prime ministers. It is also important to me that my work be acknowledged, it is also important to me that I receive the support that we all like to receive based on our work. Just as you do in your profession, it is also important to me to feel that there are lots of people behind me when I am being attacked by my opponents. And I never really fight those who attack me, but am instead fighting for those who stand behind me. And it is important that the people who stand behind me regularly express their support, and for this reason I would like to thank you for every friendly handshake and pat on the back, and a special thanks to the women for your prayers and for every kind word with which you have done your best to keep up my strength and enable me to persevere through these past years.

I am grateful for this and I am grateful to the people of Szarvas and to all the people who live here. I wish you and your families strength and good health. Come out to vote on Sunday.

Go, Hungary! Go, Hungarians! Onwards, to another victory!

(Prime Minister’s Office)