If the opposition wins Sunday’s general elections, Hungary would descend into war in Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Saturday in an interview with commercial television channel TV2.

Orbán said it was in Ukraine’s interest to draw as many countries into the conflict as possible, and some European countries were ready to participate “directly or indirectly”. Hungary has every interest in staying out of it, he said. What is at stake in Sunday’s election is whether the country can stay out of war or risk its security, he said. “The left agrees with the Ukrainians, and Hungary will drift into war if they win,” he said.

At the same time, some member states of the European Union or NATO are also ready to help Ukraine “because they think Ukraine is fighting our war.

That’s wrong, it’s not our war. You can lose everything but gain nothing.”

he said.

“We are not helping anyone by having Hungary machine-gunned or by sending weapons which will be machine-gunned in Transcarpathia. We are also not helping Ukraine by imposing energy sanctions and ruining the Hungarian economy,” he said. Regarding sanctions on Russian energy resources, Orbán said

the Paks nuclear power plant had been operating for forty years with Russian technology.

“The new facility will have to be built close together, and such a factory cannot house two different technologies,” he said. Some 85% of Hungary’s gas supply and 60% of its oil come through pipelines from Russia, he said. Lacking a coast where it could receive tankers, this supply line has no alternative, he said.

“Hungary is in the east, a frontline country or could easily become one, so silly ideas like sacrificing some of our comfort to make the world better wouldn’t work here,” he said. Halting energy supplies from Russia would flip Hungary’s economy “in an instant”, he said.

If sanctions were imposed on Russian gas and oil, Hungary would have to use its reserves and close its factories when they ran out in a few weeks, he said. “A lot of people would lose their jobs”

he said.

Orbán pledged to do everything in his power to prevent this. Hungary supports European unity and sanctions against Russia – although it does not approve of them, it has accepted them and refrained from vetoing them, he said. “But energy sanctions are a red line that cannot be crossed,” he said.

Orbán pointed out that Hungary helps more Ukrainians relative to its population than any other country, noting that refugees receive food, housing, help with transportation and employment, while children see each other. provide free placement in kindergarten, kindergarten and school. Hungarians help Ukrainians fairly and from the bottom of their hearts, although they remember that

Ukrainians had mistreated ethnic Hungarians in peacetime,

he said.

“War never ends the way those who start it envision it at the beginning, so we must not take action out of haste or emotion that we will later regret,” he said.

Orbán said that because the war in Yugoslavia happened during his term as prime minister in 1999, he had experience in ensuring Hungary stayed out of a war in a neighboring country. and to manage crisis situations. International organizations, he said, have often recommended austerity, which means that people must pay the price of the crisis. Orbán added that he never wanted to go in this direction.

Orbán said his government developed a job protection program at the time of the 2010 global financial crisis and organized work-in-residence for those who had no opportunity in the market.

The government has raised salaries and supported entrepreneurs so they don’t have to lay off a staff member and can make investments during the coronavirus pandemic, he said. This is how Hungary has progressed compared to the European Union average, he said, noting that Hungary now ranks ahead of Portugal in terms of GDP per capita.

Orbán said the elections were taking place under new circumstances, noting that electronic devices and different platforms played a much bigger role now than four or eight years ago, so data transmission was now more important. .

Orbán said the left had illegally obtained people’s data and were now “bombarding them with their own political messages.” He said this opened the door to electoral fraud on a scale never before seen in Hungary.

Regarding the referendum on child protection held alongside the elections, Orbán said that people with “different lifestyles” who decades ago in Western Europe began to demand that they be treated like humans, had since created organizations and pressure groups and had begun to “promote their vision of life – to which they are entitled as adults – among children.

“Gender propaganda” has started to make its way from the West to Central Europe “and if we don’t stop it, this sexual propaganda targeting our children will easily make its way to schools”,

said Orban. “And when the parents want to put an end to it, we cannot; one day we will wake up and see that the education of our children is no longer in our hands,” he added. Orbán said the referendum was meant to protect parents’ right to raise their children. He said the election was “a responsible celebration because we have to decide together in which direction Hungary should go in the next four years”. The Prime Minister urged people not to stay at home and not to endanger the country’s peace and security.

“The national-minded party, Fidesz-KDNP, can protect peace and guarantee security,

while the left poses a risk of war,” he said. “Think about it when you vote.”

Source: MTI