Speech by Viktor Orbán at the general assembly of the Patriots for Europe

Excellencies, Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, Fellow Patriots,

First of all, I would like to thank Madame Le Pen for hosting us today. It's great to be in Paris again. It's great to congratulate Santiago Abascal as our new president. I'm sure he will be a great leader of us and we will be loyal members to follow you, President.

First, I would like to make some remarks about the election last week in the United States, and what we can learn from it. As you know, last week the biggest election in the Western world came to an end in America. After a break, a patriot himself, Donald Trump, will finally return to power as president. We can say now proudly that now we patriots are the majority in the Western world. We are of course all very happy about this, but I think celebration alone is good, but not enough. We must reflect and ask ourselves what can we learn from this, and the answer is simply: a lot. There are several important lessons. First is that the Left will do whatever it can to kill us - politically, morally, and legally. They cannot accept the idea of us coming back to power: it's only a democracy if they win, and everything is justified to stop us if we seem to be going to win. They weaponized the law and the courts against us. This is what they did with Trump across the Atlantic, and this is what they have done to our friend Matteo Salvini, and this is what they are trying to do against our wonderful host, Marine Le Pen. And according to the latest news, what exactly they tried to do against Herbert Kickl, the head of the FPÖ. We have to give a common answer - this is the first lesson we can draw from the American election. And this is my second point: that the election in America showed clearly that we can still win under these extremely difficult circumstances. And not just win by a small margin, but we can achieve a historic and monumental victory. And the reason for this brings me to my third point: we can win because the Left is completely incapable of governing. They are the obstacles standing in the way of a brighter future for the people. Countries could be governed better, but the Left simply lacks the competence to do so. They had the power, but they left Europe and America powerless. They mismanaged inflation, energy security, war, education, civilizational challenges, and of course migration. They are the barriers to making America, Hungary, and Europe great again. Why are they often portrayed as experts? The truth is that they are only experts of the old world. We, the Patriots, are the experts of the new world. New times call for a new era and new measures. And the first important lesson from President Trump's campaign and victory is this: we must take bold positions and be able to speak about them loudly and clearly. Loudly and clearly. May I say that there is no need to shift to the centre, because the centre has already shifted toward us. Take migration for example. It was one of the central topics of the campaign of Trump. President Trump did not say, "Let's deport 30 percent of illegals." No, that's what the Left said. He said "100 percent". And look what the people chose! This is the kind of brave leadership we need: clear, decisive, and confident. We must firmly say "no", to protect our countries and our people. No gender, no war, no migration.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

There are fundamental changes taking place. Whether we like it or not, there are fundamental changes happening. The role of the West in the world changed inevitably and undeniably. Europe's relationship with the leading power America is also changing. And in Europe, there is also a new political reality. Basically, we are the new reality, the Patriots. It's not just an anti-establishment spirit anymore. It has a concrete body with a strong voice pushing for change in Europe every single day. In the European elections, the people of Europe sent a clear message: they want change in the Brussels. And we should bring about this change. We are now the third largest force in the European Parliament. And there is every chance we could become the strongest by the end of this term. We have already won in France, the Czech Republic and Austria, and we will keep winning. We have our challenges, of course - forming international alliances and harmonizing policies are also more difficult on the Right. We are patriots. We love our countries, and every country is unique. Even if we face similar problems, different countries need different solutions. The Left is in a better position: they don't care about their countries; they only care about following their own ideologies. But even we on the right have to find some issues where we can make a real impact and come up with concrete objectives. And migration is of course one of the most important ones. This is what unites us. The Patriot's objective is clear: we do not allow people in, and those who are already here must be removed. It is as simple as that. We must protect our borders and our countries. Weak borders create a weak Europe, while strong borders create a strong Europe. If Brussels does not like this, we must either change the rules or opt out of them, just as our Dutch friends did. We Hungarians selected a way of running a rebellion. We in Hungary don't let any migrants in, whatever Brussels says.

Nationwide organized rebellion based on law and referendum: that was the way how we protected our nation against the migration. So in conclusion, I am optimistic. People across the Western world are tired of being ruled by the Left. The age of the Left has been like a long bad movie: poor plot, no resolution, and people ready to walk out halfway through. Now it's time for a new story. The era of Patriots and sovereignty is on the horizon. And as it comes, we the Patriots must be ready. We have a vision, clear objectives, and a concrete plan to achieve them. As the Hungarian presidency motto goes: Let's make Europe great again.

Thank you very much for your attention.