Viktor Orbán: “The good news is that the days of the European Commission are numbered >> Four Winds 10

The following video shows an excerpt from a speech given last Saturday (July 28, 2018) by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the annual Bálványos Summer Open University and Student Camp in Tusnádfürdő (Băile Tuşnad), in the ethnic Hungarian region of western Romania.

I’ve included a transcript of the entire 43-minute speech below the jump. The section that Vlad excerpted runs from about 27:56 to about 34:24. The entire video is currently being processed, but Vlad says that will probably take most of the night. You can expect to find it here sometime tomorrow.

Viktor Orbán’s talks at these conferences are notable for their breadth of intellect and insight. His mostly off-the-cuff remarks are calm, reasonable, and thoughtful. As Vlad said, “This is a speech by a grownup. You don’t get many of those in politics.”

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

Video transcript:

00:08		Good day, everyone. It is an honor to be here again,
00:12		and I can speak to you together with our Bishop, Mr. [László] Tökés,
00:16		…immediately, to dissolve
00:20		one of his sour comments, let me cite…
00:24		we discussed the fact that Zsolt Semjén said László Tőkés
00:28		is our compass, then Tőkés replied: “Just don’t allow yourself to lose your compass, then!”
00:32		…Politically, that is
00:36		very true, too. Respected ladies and gentlemen, every year
00:40		I used to ask my friend Zsolt Németh for his opinion —
00:44		what should I talk about?
00:48		…I will not quote the different ideas,
00:52		but he said I should pay attention
00:56		so that no matter how wide a context in which I speak —
01:00		because after all, we are in a free university lecture —
01:04		I might aspire to the wider correlations, to begin from
01:08		Székely [Szeklers] Land, from Transylvania, by which the Hungarian nation’s point of view
01:12		could be interpreted. I note this, because I will do a lot of
01:16		roaming, but I will try to take a point of view,
01:20		and talk about the world from the point of view
01:24		that had, has or could have relevance for Hungary.
01:28		After all, every one of us is interested in the same question —
01:32		including our present audience, I think, too — what will happen?
01:36		What will happen in the next year,
01:40		until we meet again in our next free university event?
01:44		What will happen between now and July 2019?
01:48		I suggest that we take stock of our perspectives,
01:52		our own opportunities and our own strengths.
01:56		Let’s start with what has happened
02:00		since we met last year. What has happened
02:04		in the past year. The history of events is not what is interesting here,
02:08		but rather the meaning of what happened in the past year.
02:12		It’s a cliché, but events have accelerated,
02:16		and in a short period of time much more has happened to us than previously.
02:20		That’s why it’s no wonder that it is much harder
02:24		to believe what has already happened, not to mention what lies ahead,
02:28		and about that I will speak next.
02:32		Respected ladies and gentlemen, the most important thing indeed
02:36		from the year we left behind is that the Hungarians of the Carpathian valley
02:40		successfully leaped over another psychological threshold.
02:44		We were able to welcome the one millionth
02:48		re-naturalized Hungarian citizen. That was
02:52		the most important event over the last year.
02:56		… Unless… even if that were all
03:00		that we had done, it would have been worth
03:04		waving our hats just for this, but we have done more than that.
03:08		And what we have done, I would formulate,
03:12		is that the process of national reunification has been transformed
03:16		into nation-building. This past April we had
03:20		its dress rehearsal; the results verified that
03:24		nation-building was successful. On April 8th, in the election,
03:28		we proved that we Hungarians are capable
03:32		of understanding our otherwise complicated and complex situation,
03:36		and if necessary, with a singular will, we can make a choice about our own fate,
03:40		and we are capable of acting together as a nation. From here,
03:44		looking at it from Székely Land, I could say
03:48		that the expatriate Hungarians stood with the Hungarians of the mother country;
03:52		every vote cast here was took responsibility
03:56		for Hungary. For this taking of responsibility and
04:00		standing by, I would like to thank you in the name of the people of the mother country
04:04		with a heart that is grateful to you. We won in a hard battle,
04:08		with joint forces.
04:12		What happened in Hungary?
04:16		We concluded our third governmental cycle.
04:20		I would like to urge the young folks for whom memory is foggy
04:24		to bring to mind that once upon a time we were in government
04:28		between 1998 and 2002 as well. So it is not a slip of the tongue when I say
04:32		our third cycle is closed and we have started the fourth.
04:36		Looking back to 1990,
04:40		when Hungarian democracy was born, we can say
04:44		that we were in opposition for 16 years and in government
04:48		for 12 years. If God wills it and we are alive
04:52		at the end of the four years that are ahead of us, we can say:
04:56		The balance is restored. In my Inaugural Speech as Prime Minister,
05:00		I said the government is made up of sportsmen;
05:04		we are not satisfied with a draw.
05:12		…If we think of the last eight years only,
05:16		then I can say that after eight years of continuous governance,
05:20		we were given a chance to do four more years of work.
05:24		I interpret this fact — agreeing with a young analyst, too —
05:28		that they [the voters] empowered us
05:32		to construct a new era.
05:36		The two-thirds [super-majority] victory in 2010 I interpret to mean
05:40		that the voters empowered us to close out
05:44		the bleary transition period [from communism to democracy] and start a new system
05:48		for the economy, which brought a Hungarian model — in politics
05:52		this meant a new Basic Law, which brought constitutional order
05:56		on a national and Christian basis. In 2014
06:00		our second two-thirds super-majority victory gave us the authority
06:04		to stabilize this new system. The time came
06:08		— much mocked by our opposition — for the System of National
06:12		Cooperation [NER in Hungarian] — which is not too witty a phrase, but
06:16		as we know historically, that system used to be the System of Obstruction —
06:20		after all, it is a justifiable goal.
06:24		Then the 2018 two-thirds victory is nothing other than
06:28		the empowerment to build a new era. Nevertheless,
06:32		it is important to remind ourselves that an era
06:36		is always more than a political order.
06:40		An “era” is a particular and typical
06:44		cultural medium. The era is an order with
06:48		a spiritual nature. Some sort of shared mood,
06:52		perhaps tastes as well. A kind of
06:56		behavioral pattern. The system, the political system,
07:00		is usually defined by rules and political decisions.
07:04		An era is more than that. An era arises
07:08		from cultural currents, collective beliefs,
07:12		and societal customs. Now this is the task ahead of us, so we shall
07:16		embed the political system in a cultural era.
07:20		That is why it is logical and not at all surprising
07:24		that the most exciting debate at present
07:28		has erupted in the area of cultural politics.
07:32		That happened almost immediately after the elections.
07:36		If you have been following the Hungarian news and public political discourse,
07:40		you know what I’m talking about. I think this is understandable,
07:44		and it is good this way. Because a new spiritual and cultural approach
07:48		is indeed what we need after the third two-thirds [super-majority].
07:52		And there is no denying it: from September
07:56		we are facing big changes.
08:00		Respected ladies and gentlemen. From the past year,
08:04		I can only tell you that the stabilization of the political system
08:08		on a national and Christian basis was successful; the foundation seems stable and solid.
08:12		So it is not gratuitous to earmark the next four years
08:16		for the task of building an era.
08:20		I will showcase here a couple of facts that
08:24		express the stability of the economic and
08:28		political system built after 2010.
08:32		In the field of growth, Hungary was in the negative in 2009,
08:36		producing minus 6%. In 2017 the result
08:40		was plus 4%. I will tell you some big numbers now,
08:44		but I think the scale will be understandable.
08:48		In 2010 the value of what Hungary could produce in one year
08:52		was 27,224 billion Ft [$98.4 billion USD].
08:56		Now its value is 38,183 billion Ft [$138 billion], which we have produced
09:01		every single year since 2010, so the difference is 11,000 billion Ft [$39.8 billion] more
09:04		compared to every year before since 2010.
09:08		… Everyone may know
09:12		that we put our finances in order; the loans we had taken out because of the 2008 financial crisis
09:16		we paid back, and sent the IMF home. The deficit is under control, and
09:20		state debt decreased from 85% to 71%.
09:24		It is also known that exports have grown
09:28		from 19,690 billion Ft [$71.2 billion USD] to 31,102 billion Ft [$112.4 billion USD].
09:32		They have never been this high
09:36		in the history of Hungary. In the group aged between 15
09:40		and 64 years old, the number of employed
09:44		grew from 55% in 2010 to 69%,
09:48		which means, that 756,000 more people work
09:52		now in Hungary than did before 2010…
09:56		Incomes are 60% higher than in 2010.
10:00		The demographic fertility rate grew
10:04		from 1.25 to 1.5, and we can see
10:08		stability in indicators such as the number of doctors,
10:12		which is 3,665 more doctors working than in 2010.
10:16		The number of crimes decreased by half. The access to
10:20		broadband internet increased, from 51% to 82%, and
10:24		let me give another data point — another cultural one —
10:28		the number of visits to theaters increased
10:32		by 3,160,000 in Hungary in 2017;
10:36		7,601,000 visitors bought tickets in theaters. So when I talk about stability,
10:40		this is the stability of the entirety of Hungarian life, from the economy
10:44		to middle-class cultural consumer customs and
10:48		the decrease of the number of poor. Respected ladies and gentlemen,
10:52		this is a stability that does not make us pompous,
10:56		or leap away from the reality of what I
11:00		would like to say next.
11:04		What we can do now.
11:08		In this situation, with a two-thirds super-majority
11:12		supporting our backs, a national government
11:16		cannot do anything less than mark out ambitious goals,
11:20		goals so great that they seemed unimaginable earlier,
11:24		or were thought to be impossible. Goals of such a magnitude that they will give meaning
11:28		to the work of the next years.
11:32		We formulated those goals without any exposition.
11:36		To answer the question “what will happen?”, I will name a couple of them.
11:40		We are thinking with a 2030 event horizon.
11:44		We want to be among the European Union’s five best countries.
11:48		Hungary should belong among the five best countries,
11:52		the best to work and live in.
11:56		If we belong to the five most competitive countries by 2030,
12:00		we should be able stop the demographic decline by then.
12:04		By 2030 little Hungary will be physically connected
12:08		with the rest of the regions; the speedways should go to the borders
12:12		by 2030. We should have energy independence in Hungary,
12:16		which is one of the most important dimensions of our safety.
12:20		Paks [Paks is a city which has a Russian-built nuclear power plant — its renovation and new blocks to double capacity are planned and in progress] should be ready, and the new energy sources will have come online.
12:24		Push back endemic diseases, build up the new Hungarian army,
12:28		and let’s start building up
12:32		Central Europe economically. Respected ladies and gentlemen, these are the perspectives
12:36		that will make understandable what I will say next. The most important
12:40		from the location of our present point of view [Transylvania]:
12:44		our plan to rebuild the
12:48		entire Carpathian valley. I see the historical situation in such a way…
12:56		I see the historical situation that ended
13:00		the era of 100 year of Hungarian isolation.
13:04		We are strong again, we are dedicated, we are brave, we have strength,
13:08		we have money, we have resources, and in recent years, we proved
13:12		to our neighbors, that whoever
13:16		cooperates with the Hungarians will do well. This is the moment
13:20		to once again build up the Carpathian valley. We have an offer for our neighbors.
13:24		Our offer can be summed up:
13:28		that we should connect our countries with each other
13:32		finally and seriously. Let’s connect our major cities
13:36		with fast trains and speedways.
13:40		It is shame that we do not have such a connection between Debrecen and Nagyvárad [Oradea — Romania],
13:44		Kassa [Košice — Slovakia] and Miskolc, between Nyíregyháza and Szatmárnémeti [Satu Mare — Romania],
13:48		between Eszék [Osijek — Croatia] and Pécs, or perhaps between Kolozsvár [Cluj-Napoca — Romania]
13:52		and Budapest. Our offers include connecting our energy networks;
13:56		it’s a shame that this is not the reality today.
14:00		We also suggest synchronizing our defense policies,
14:04		and coordinating our army development efforts, too.
14:08		And finally our offer is to invest
14:12		in each other’s territories. Right now I would not speak of the exact business case —
14:16		but yesterday as the result of the meeting with
14:20		the leaders of Hungarians outside the borders, I can say that in the Carpathian valley
14:24		we started up the renovation of around 1000 kindergartens.
14:28		These will be all Hungarian-language institutions.
14:36		So we have an offer for our neighbors: let’s rebuild the
14:40		Carpathian valley together. For this to stand on the
14:44		basis of mutual respect, our offer is valid only in this spirit,
14:48		and mutual respect demands
14:52		honest talk. This is a great opportunity,
14:56		due to the hundredth anniversary [of the Treaty of Trianon].
15:00		100 years ago Romania stepped
15:04		into the era of modern Romania. We understand
15:08		that from their point of view there is cause for celebration.
15:12		We ask them to understand that from our point of view, there is no reason for celebration.
15:16		And we also ask,
15:20		… We also ask…
15:24		let’s face the facts: the one hundred years of modern Romania
15:28		could not deal with the fact more than 1.5 million
15:32		Hungarians live here. We know that in Bucharest,
15:36		they say: Székely Land does not even exist.
15:40		I agree with the celebratory slogan of RMDSZ [Transylvanian party representing Hungarians]
15:44		which maintains that [Székely Land] existed before modern Romania,
15:48		existed then, and as I look around and know the locals,
15:52		I can calmly say: Székely Land will continue to exist even when
15:56		the whole of Europe has already submitted to Islam. I am pretty sure of that.
16:08		So our offer is…
16:12		… so our offer is that
16:16		for all of our neighbors, but in the direction of
16:20		our Romanian friends too, that instead of denying the truth,
16:24		— which is not rational behavior — let’s perceive this situation
16:28		as a resource; let’s look at Transylvania as a resource.
16:32		Let’s aspire for a strengthening of Székely Land;
16:36		let’s aspire for a strengthening of Hungarians; as
16:40		I said, this will be a strengthening
16:44		of Romania too. We could set out on that road as well.
16:48		This [offer] is open; only some volition is required. Respected ladies and gentlemen,
16:52		when we are finished with the rebuilding of the Carpathian valley, or perhaps
16:56		in parallel with it, the task that lies ahead of us
17:00		is to build up Central Europe, which
17:04		is more spacious and larger than the Carpathian valley. Here is the opportunity,
17:08		in the years ahead of us, to build up
17:12		in Europe a large, strong and safe
17:16		political and economic region,
17:20		and Central Europe. Let’s say that
17:24		besides economic development and its characteristics,
17:28		this is an area of Europe with a particular culture,
17:32		different from Western Europe. Let’s build this up and make it accepted.
17:36		In the interest of having Central Europe occupy its worthy place in Europe,
17:40		it deserves to draw up some theses.
17:44		I formulated five theses for the building-up of Central Europe.
17:48		The first says that every Central European country has the right
17:52		to defend its Christian culture; it has the right to refuse
17:56		the ideology of multiculturalism.
18:00		Our second thesis is that every country
18:04		has the right to defend the traditional
18:08		family model. It has the right to specify that every child
18:12		has the right for one mother and one father.
18:16		…The third Central European thesis
18:20		sounds like this: every Central European country
18:24		has the right to defend the its important
18:28		— from the viewpoint of national strategy — economic sectors,
18:32		and its markets as well. The fourth thesis sounds like this:
18:36		every country has the right to defend its borders, and
18:40		has the right to refuse to accept migration.
18:44		And the fifth thesis is as follows: that every European country
18:48		has the right — in the most important questions —
18:52		to insist on the principle of one nation, one vote;
18:56		and they cannot circumvent this right in the European Union, either.
19:00		We Central Europeans state: there is a life beyond globalism,
19:04		which is not the only viable path. Central Europe’s
19:08		path is the Alliance of Free Nations. That is
19:12		the task beyond the Carpathian valley, the mission
19:16		that awaits us.
19:20		…Well, these were the more peaceful waters.
19:24		…Now let’s sail out
19:28		from the [lake] Balaton to the open sea. Let’s see what is happening
19:32		in the world around us.
19:36		First of all, the American president honored his promises. You may remember
19:40		how the European elite waved away
19:44		the goal set by the American president —
19:48		that he will change the present order, which is based on multilateral agreements,
19:52		and he will convert it into a system based on bilateral agreements.
19:56		Let’s face it, he started doing that in the past year.
20:00		Well-planned and with engineering precision, he is moving forward,
20:04		and in front of our eyes there unfolds a new world based on a bilateral
20:08		world politics and economic order.
20:12		The other big thing happening around us
20:16		is that the Chinese
20:20		are on the march and their development continues.
20:24		The third important circumstance we must take into consideration is that the Russians also
20:28		redeemed their promises, which the liberal representatives of
20:32		European elite also just waved away.
20:36		They took some steps and are pretty close to solving the issue of gas transportation
20:40		to Europe, bypassing Ukraine, with the Nord Stream pipeline.
20:44		Soon it will be ready, and the blueprints for the Turkish Stream are already on the table.
20:48		And the fourth important thing that happened in the last year
20:52		is that Europe’s shift to the right continued, and it turned out
20:56		that it was not only a Central European process — let’s remember the German election results,
21:00		the Austrian and the Italian elections.
21:04		A generic shifting to the right may be observed
21:08		all over Europe. Respected ladies and gentlemen, that is why
21:12		I bring up here these correlations, because for
21:16		A country of ten million and a fifteen-million nation,
21:20		it is vital to understand what is happening
21:24		around us. We must face the fact
21:28		that in the case of country with a size similar to ours,
21:32		the risk posed by folly and its consequence is much higher than in the case of larger-bodied countries.
21:36		Respected ladies and gentlemen, it is important for us to understand
21:40		who wants what in this world, in order to understand
21:44		what will happen in the world politics that goes on around us
21:48		in the year ahead. The Americans will continue
21:52		their experiment to keep
21:56		their leadership position in the world and successfully compete
22:00		with China. Let’s not forget, China has a demographic advantage
22:04		four times as great; it has internal stability, it now has
22:08		a technologically well-developed economy.
22:12		Time and processes are on their side, and the Americans do not want to accept this.
22:16		They have figured out that if everything continues as it has so far
22:20		under previous Presidents, the result is foreseeable.
22:24		They have only one chance: they want to change the rules of the international game.
22:28		Whether they will be able to succeed — especially
22:32		without armed conflicts, able to succeed — nobody can tell yet.
22:36		But we can be sure that intention
22:40		is determinant in world politics, the solid and resolute will.
22:44		That is why in the context of changing
22:48		the rules of the game, they are trying to clear away the trade surplus
22:52		that exists today on the side of Europe. That is the
22:56		reason for the trade war-like clashes between the European Union
23:00		and the USA. They will reconcile with the Russians,
23:04		in the field of arms non-proliferation, and they will have a Russian-American agreement.
23:08		And they will create trade positions,
23:12		if necessary with sanctions,
23:16		in the China-US relationship as well. What will the Russians do in the next year,
23:20		respected ladies and gentlemen? To understand that, we need
23:24		to know that Russia looks at itself
23:28		as a country which thinks it is not safe
23:32		if it does not have buffer zones around it.
23:36		That is why Russia will try to create buffer zones around its borders,
23:40		just as it has up until now. One of the victims
23:44		of this policy is Ukraine. The Ukrainians decided they no longer want to have
23:48		this 50-50 Russian-Western influence situation;
23:52		they want to join the Western world, and that is why they are trying to break away
23:56		from the Russian zone, to apply, and perhaps even be let into NATO,
24:00		and the European Union too, and they would build up a modern Ukraine.
24:04		I do not see a NATO membership; the possibility of EU membership is almost zero,
24:08		and instead of a new Ukrainian state, I can see an economy
24:12		drifting towards debtor slavery. The Russians’ purpose — to tilt back
24:16		to the previous situation — looks like a not implausible possibility.
24:20		In this context, we must think of the relationship between the EU and Russia,
24:24		and let me to say it roughly but consciously:
24:28		the European Union presently conducts primitive policies towards Russia.
24:32		It conducts policies of
24:36		sanctions and security-threatening. It is not capable of differentiating, but it would be necessary
24:40		to do so, because inside the European Union there are countries
24:44		which might feel really threatened. They might truly feel that every day
24:48		their life is being lived under a security risk.
24:52		These are the Baltic states, and Poland is such a country, too. These feelings are historically
24:56		and geographically well-grounded. In the meantime it is obvious
25:00		that Hungary does not feel such a threat, Slovakia does not feel such threat,
25:04		nor do the Czechs and Western Europe, and
25:08		we have obviously no reason to feel that way [threatened].
25:12		There is no single set of policies that is good for everyone, so it would be more correct
25:16		if NATO and the European Union were to give extra super-safety guarantees
25:20		to the Poles and the Baltic states, while allowing
25:24		the others at last to trade
25:28		and build economic cooperation, to allow resources, energy and trade
25:32		opportunities to build up into development opportunities for those the countries.
25:36		Instead of primitive Russian policies, articulate Russian policies
25:40		are what we would need in the case of the European Union.
25:44		Respected ladies and gentlemen, there is another group of countries I must speak of,
25:48		which is always falling out of the forefront of our interest, and that is the group consisting of
25:52		Turkey, Israel and Egypt. I would not like to talk overlong about that here.
25:56		The only thing one should know here in Tusnádfürdő and Székely Land
26:00		is that the safety of Hungary, Székely Land,
26:04		the Carpathian valley and whole of Europe is dependent on
26:08		whether Turkey, Israel and Egypt are stable enough countries
26:12		to hold and stop Muslim
26:16		migration from that direction. If any of those three countries
26:20		loses its stability, it will have serious consequences
26:24		for the safety of the whole of Europe. Remember when,
26:28		in the context of Arab Spring, Egypt lost
26:32		its stability for a short time, what kind of consequences this brought on.
26:36		But this is true for Turkey too; one can love or not love its President
26:40		and his political system, one can sympathize or not,
26:44		But one thing is for certain: we need a stable Turkey that protects us
26:48		from the uncontrolled updraft, against the masses
26:52		of migrants. We could say the same thing about Israel. If there
26:56		were no Israel, it would create that fully radical Muslim territory,
27:00		from where nothing but threats could be directed at Europe.
27:04		So our interest is that these countries remain stable,
27:08		with stable political systems, and have [stable] political leadership.
27:12		Respected ladies and gentlemen, from all this emerges only one conclusion for Europe.
27:16		In such a complex and changing international situation, we cannot live
27:20		the same way as we have lived before. It is impossible that Europe
27:24		should not be able to provide the necessary
27:28		force for its own defense. We cannot live continuously
27:32		on the money of the Americans and under their safety umbrella.
27:36		It’s good that they are here; we need them; we need NATO, but
27:40		Europe must have its own defensive capabilities.
27:44		We will need a European army. We have the financial funds,
27:48		we have the technological basis, only the political courage
27:52		is lacking; that is what we have to create during the next period.
27:56		And finally, I would like to say a couple of words about Europe.
28:00		That is the most jolting stretch of road… please fasten your seatbelt!
28:04		I can only say, respected ladies and gentlemen, thinking
28:08		ahead to the coming year: if we look at Europe,
28:12		once upon a time Europe was a great civilization.
28:16		Once upon a time Europe was a world-forming
28:20		power center. The reason why it was this way was that
28:24		it dared to think, dared to act; it was brave and undertook
28:28		great things. If we look at it from an intellectual perspective,
28:32		a civilization, we can make the following statement — this has its own literature —
28:36		that civilization is built from four things. Civilizations
28:40		are intellectual things. They build from the spirit of religion,
28:44		the intellect of creative art,
28:48		the intellect of research and the spirit of enterprise. This is
28:52		what a civilization is built from. If we look at our Europe,
28:56		we can see that, with respect to the spirit of religion, it has denied its Christian basis.
29:00		With respect to creative intellect, we can see
29:04		that censorship and political correctness are forced on everyone.
29:08		With respect to the intellect of research, we can say of our Europe
29:12		that the USA has stepped ahead of us, and slowly China, too.
29:16		Concerning the spirit of enterprise, we can state that in Europe,
29:20		instead of a spirit of enterprise, we have the spirit of bureaucracy,
29:24		Brussels’ rules and economic regulation.
29:28		These processes, respected ladies and gentlemen,
29:32		started earlier, but in the background of
29:36		the 2008 economic crisis they became clearly visible.
29:40		The seriousness of the situation — I mean the seriousness of situation for European civilization —
29:44		is shown by the migration crisis. I will simplify
29:48		a complex thought: we must confront the situation
29:52		that the leaders of Europe are incompetent;
29:56		they were unable to defend Europe from migration.
30:00		The European elites have failed, and the
30:04		symbol of this failure is the European Commission.
30:08		That’s the bad news. The good news is that the days of the European Commission are numbered.
30:12		I even counted it: they have around 300 days left, and then their
30:16		mandate will expire.
30:24		The Commission is an important thing in the EU, and its decisions
30:28		have serious consequences for the member states,
30:32		thus for Hungary as well. So the Commission,
30:36		in accordance with the Basic Treaty — or more correctly, set of treaties —
30:40		the Commission is the guarantor of those contracts.
30:44		For this it must be impartial, independent;
30:48		it must guarantee the four freedoms. But instead of that,
30:52		the European Commission today is partial, because they are on the
30:56		side of the Liberals. Biased, because they work against Central Europe.
31:00		And it is not a friend of freedom, because
31:04		instead of freedom, they are building European socialism.
31:08		Rejoice: their days are numbered.
31:12		After this… let’s ask
31:16		ourselves the question: why did they fail, the European elite?
31:20		Which is now an exclusively liberal elite.
31:24		We could give the following answer — at least I look there for an answer —
31:28		First of all, they denied their own roots. Instead of
31:32		a Europe built on a Christian foundation, they are building an open society
31:36		of Europe. In a Christian Europe work conferred honor,
31:40		the people had dignity,
31:44		women and men were equals, the family was the basis of a nation,
31:48		the nation was the basis of Europe, and
31:52		the nation states guaranteed safety. In today’s open-society Europe,
31:56		there are no borders. The European people are replaceable
32:00		with migrants. The family is a variable option;
32:04		it has become merely a form of coexistence. The nation, national
32:08		consciousness, and national feeling have become negative and deemed something to overcome,
32:12		and the state NO LONGER GUARANTEES THE SAFETY OF ITS CITIZENS.
32:16		The safety of Europe. In liberal Europe,
32:20		to be European means nothing in reality.
32:24		There is no direction; this is just a shape without substance.
32:28		Moreover, respected ladies and gentlemen,
32:32		liberal democracy developed into
32:36		— now I am fulfilling my answer to the provocations of László Tőkés, and saying something —
32:40		So moreover the liberal democracy developed into
32:44		liberal non-democracy. In the West the situation is that
32:48		where liberalism IS, democracy IS NOT!
32:52		…Respected ladies and gentlemen,
32:56		…The lack-of-democracy argument
33:00		can be supported with the following: in Western Europe
33:04		the limitation of freedom of speech, and censorship, have become general.
33:08		Any news that is unpleasant for the liberal elite
33:12		is jointly controlled by the leaders of the states
33:16		and technological giants. If someone does not believe that, they should go to those web pages,
33:20		visit social media networks, and see what sly
33:24		methods they use to delete negative news
33:28		about migrants and limit access to those sources,
33:32		and how they close off European citizens from the opportunity
33:36		to face reality.
33:40		The liberal concept
33:44		of freedom of opinion developed from
33:48		liberals who thought that difference of opinion was important,
33:52		until they were shocked to discover that there are other opinions.
33:56		Liberal “freedom of the press” reminds us
34:00		of the old Soviet joke, which goes like this: no matter how I try to assemble the product for the
34:04		bicycle company, it always becomes a machine gun.
34:08		… so liberal freedom of the press,
34:13		no matter how I put it together, always becomes censorship and political correctness.
34:16		Respected ladies and gentlemen, this is the diagnosis I was able to provide for you.
34:20		Let’s see what we can hope for, what we need to do after this,
34:24		what we can do.
34:28		I would advise every one of us to concentrate all of our strength on the
34:32		2019 [European] election.
34:36		Surely there are many of us here who remember
34:40		that the European elections held every five years were always
34:44		waved off, because we did not really feel
34:48		it would have much importance.
34:52		I will note here that the European elite frequently complained
34:56		about what a pity it was that all European elections
35:00		are usually about national election issues, and there is
35:04		not a single pan-European issue that the Europeans could decide together.
35:08		I would like to report that this situation has ended. Now we have one.
35:12		A pan-European issue, about which nobody — except for Hungary —
35:16		asked the people. We had a referendum about immigration.
35:20		It’s time that the European election be about
35:24		one big, common, serious European question:
35:28		about immigration. About a future connected to this issue,
35:32		and I suggest we turn all of our strength towards this hugely,
35:36		crucially significant election.
35:40		If Europe decides about migration, it will also decide
35:44		about the so-called European elite.
35:48		It will provide an answer to whether the European elite handled the migration well or not.
35:52		The European elite is seemingly nervous.
35:56		Nervous, because the European election
36:00		that lies ahead of us may perhaps
36:04		bring favorable results for us.
36:08		Europe’s grandiose transformation — which we call simply the “Soros Plan”—
36:12		will be stuck. The “Great Goal”, to
36:16		transform Europe and carry Europe
36:20		into a post-Christian era and
36:24		move into the post-national era —
36:28		this process can get stuck at the European election. And, respected ladies and gentlemen,
36:32		it is in our elementary interest to “stick” [block] it.
36:40		Our opponents are very close to victory.
36:44		We do not even sense how close they are. We do not sense
36:48		how significant this fact is. Instead of a long explanation,
36:52		let me give you a quick outlook.
36:56		If one thinks about the past hundred years of European democracy,
37:00		one might discover that in Europe,
37:04		on one side were community organizations within the remaining
37:08		Christian traditions; let’s call them Christian-Democratic parties.
37:12		And on the other side were community organizations that questioned that order and stepped outside of it;
37:16		let’s call them left-wing liberal parties. Their competition decided
37:20		the progress of Europe, while these two powers competed against each other.
37:24		Sometimes one, sometimes the other was up. This competition had
37:28		beneficial effects as well; it freed up creative energies.
37:32		Actually, this race ensured
37:36		the development of Europe. This was a political and intellectual race
37:40		at the same time. That was Europe up until now.
37:44		That was European politics. That is how questions of power
37:48		were decided in Europe. But, my dear friends, if
37:52		the situation comes when each country
37:56		has a Muslim population of 10% or more —
38:00		who we know for sure will never vote Christian parties —
38:04		and to this we add the European native population
38:08		who have left Christian traditions — I have to say that
38:12		if the situation develops as I described, winning an election on a Christian basis will be
38:16		impossible in Europe, and the groups, communities
38:20		guarding Christian traditions will be pushed out of power indefinitely,
38:24		and decisions will be made without them about the future of Europe.
38:28		That is the goal here, and they are this close to seeing it happen, respected ladies and gentlemen.
38:36		… That is why, that is why the election ahead of us
38:40		has crucial importance. In this election we must show
38:44		that there is an alternative to liberal democracy;
38:48		it’s called Christian democracy, and the liberal elite
38:52		can be dismissed in favor of a Christian democrat elite. About the correlation of Christianity
38:56		and politics: there are numerous misunderstandings in Central Europe.
39:00		So I must make a note here, too, in brackets.
39:04		Christian democracy does not mean that
39:08		we defend the Christian faith here.
39:12		On the question of damnation and salvation, no state
39:16		or government is competent.
39:20		Christian democratic politics means
39:24		that we must defend the living sprout of Christian culture, not the faith
39:28		and principles, but the life [style] that grew out of that. Such as: human dignity,
39:32		the family, the nation. Because Christianity
39:36		does not want to reach universality by liquidating nations,
39:40		but by preserving nations, and the communities of faith,
39:44		these are all that it must strengthen and protect.
39:48		That is the task of Christian democracy, and not to defend matters of faith.
39:52		Well, respected ladies and gentlemen,
39:56		if we have made it this far, we have only avoid to one more trap.
40:00		Only one more trap of an intellectual nature, because humans are the sort of creatures
40:04		who will not willingly step out of their comfort zone, not willingly take on debates and arguments,
40:08		who willingly make concessions to their opponents, but
40:12		in issues of an intellectual nature this is more harmful than advantageous.
40:16		Here in front of our noses hangs
40:20		a lot of bait. That is the following sentence:
40:24		that Christian democracy can be liberal, too. I suggest that we do not
40:28		swallow that bait. We do not want to be hooked.
40:32		Because if we accept this, all the battle we struggled through
40:36		will lose meaning, and it will all have been for nothing. Let’s say it calmly:
40:40		Christian democracy is NOT LIBERAL.
40:44		Liberal democracy is liberal;
40:48		Christian democracy by definition is not liberal,
40:52		if you like ILLIBERAL, and in some important issues, let’s say three
40:56		big issues, we can phrase it concretely.
41:00		Liberal democracy sided with multiculturalism.
41:04		Christian democracy will give priority to Christian culture. Which is
41:08		a … [idibenalis — incomprehensible word] thought, liberal democracy supports
41:12		immigration. Christian democracy is against migration, which is
41:16		a real illiberal thought. And liberal democracy
41:20		stands on the side of the variable family model, while
41:24		Christian democracy stands with the Christian [traditional] family model, which is also
41:28		an illiberal thought. Respected ladies and gentlemen, let’s gather our strength.
41:32		Let’s undertake this intellectual debate, and for the European parliamentary election,
41:36		let’s arm ourselves.
41:40		We are on the verge of a great moment. Let’s see if it will come about.
41:44		We have a chance not just simply to end liberal democracy and
41:48		on top of it build a non-democratic liberal system — we can say goodbye
41:52		to that in May of next year — but
41:56		to the 68s elite entirely. Respected ladies and gentlemen,
42:00		If the 68s elite departs, then we only have to answer
42:04		one question. Who comes [next]? For this we have to give the modest
42:08		answer: we are coming. Calmly,
42:12		restrained, we have to say,
42:16		the 90s will come, instead of the 68s; the 90s are coming,
42:20		the anti-Communist, committed Christian,
42:24		nationalist-feeling generation is coming in European politics.
42:28		Thirty years ago we thought: Europe is our future.
42:32		Now we think: we are the future of Europe.
42:36		Hajrá! [Go for it!] Thank you very much for your attention.

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Viktor Orbán: “The good news is that the days of the European Commission are numbered

Viktor Orbán: “The good news is that the days of the European Commission are numbered

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