Hungary's two governing parties, Fidesz and the Christian Democrats (KDNP), held an external meeting of their parliamentary groups. At the session, Hungarian PM and Fidesz President Viktor Orban spoke about the need to abandon the sanctions policy and reviewed the tasks facing the ruling parties, among other issues.

According to information obtained by the Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet, PM Orban began his speech by saying that the Ukraine-Russia war was no longer local, as it turned into a global economic warfare due to the sanctions. In his view, everyone can now see clearly that we can expect a protracted war and that we must be prepared for this war to continue even next year.

As security and the protection of economic and national sovereignty have become more important for Hungary than ever before, a defence fund has been set up to this end, Mr Orban said. Troops have been recalled from their border protection duties (and replaced by trained border rangers), so that professional soldiers can prepare for protecting the country.

In Viktor Orban’s assessment, the war worries people, who keep following the events, but it is inflation that directly affects families at the moment. He pointed out that

before the elections, they thought that economic conditions would develop in a predictable manner, but in January 2022, Brussels adopted economic and trade sanctions, including sanctions on oil deliveries. Soon after this, the idea of sanctioning natural gas procurements was also put on the table, leading to the doubling of gas prices within a month from June, with prices producing a three-fold increase in the following month.

If sanctions were withdrawn, the prices would instantly drop by fifty per cent and so would inflation, Viktor Orban said, adding that without the sanctions, Europe’s economy would regain strength and would be able to avoid the looming recession.

When these sanctions were forced on Europe by Brussels in early summer, EU bureaucrats promised something else, Fidesz’s president recalled. They pledged that these sanctions would hurt Russia, and not European people. Since then, it has become clear that the imposed sanctions are causing more damage to Europe than to Russia.

To the best of our knowledge, we’ll see a meaningful political opportunity to revise the sanctions in November, Mr Orban said, calling on members of the ruling party alliance to do everything possible to ensure that Europe withdraw these sanctions by year’s end, at the latest.

In PM Orban’s assessment, the sanctions are being imposed on Europe by Brussels bureaucrats, and the economic problems, the energy crisis and inflation are all caused by these punitive measures, supported by the Hungarian left wing.

Regarding the opposition, Mr Orban also made mention of the fact that, just as they stressed during the election campaign, the Gyurcsany era and its representatives, who once destroyed Hungary, want to mount a comeback.

With the establishment of the Gyurcsany-Dobrev shadow government, the Brussels bureaucrats and the Soros-affiliated NGOs want to bring this shadow government to power. In PM Orban’s opinion, this is also clear from the fact that they are paying them. This is what they did in the election campaign and this is what they are doing now,

he stressed, and then went on to define the future tasks of the Fidesz-Christian Democrat party alliance. He said it must ensure a steady energy supply and protect workplaces and families. Families will be protected by reduced utility prices and the government’s firewood scheme and brown coal program, while businesses will be offered protection through three state-sponsored programs. The first is a scheme to provide more than 200 billion forints (nearly €500M) for energy-intensive small and medium-sized enterprises. The second scheme provides production companies subsidies to cover part of their energy costs and funding for investments that result in energy savings. The government will also launch a central scheme rescue factories and elaborate a new job protection action plan for the services sector, Mr Orban said.

According to Magyar Nemzet, PM Orban underlined towards the end of his speech that Hungary’s energy supply was secure. There will be enough natural gas, electricity and crude oil, he said. The sanctions are causing serious damage to the country, but with hard work, there is a chance that Hungary will emerge from this crisis as a country that can again successfully overtake others in a bend.