We are preparing to win the elections

We are preparing to win the elections, we are not considering any other scenario, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated on Tuesday on the YouTube channel of Ultrahang where he spoke to Tamás Király.

In answer to the question of whether - should, as a result of the outcome of the elections, Fidesz be compelled to enter into a coalition with another party - he would feel strong enough to lead a coalition government, Mr Orbán said in Fidesz they adopt every decision collectively. "Should such a situation emerge after the elections, our leadership - 8 to 10 people usually - will sit down and discuss what we should do," he added, observing that he would tell them what he would like, while the others would state what he should do in their opinion, and they would then come to an agreement.

He indicated at the same time that a two-thirds mandate is a comfortable majority, he would like "such an elderly gentleman kind of majority," but should he have to fight and draw his sword, fighting coalition battles with daily regularity, and should the community believe that they have no better idea than that he should do this, he will.

"I'm a soldier, I have no career, I have no political career, I have service time. I have always looked upon this in such a light. The older I get, the more I look at it like this," he stressed.

Mr Király also asked the Prime Minister about the hand gesture he made when at their joint press conference on Tuesday, the US Vice President said that Mr Orbán will win the elections. According to the reporter, the opposition press concluded from this that the Prime Minister himself has the feeling that they will lose the elections.

"No, it means that it's not yet a foregone conclusion," because "to say that an election is a foregone conclusion is an unforgiveable lack of respect towards the people," Mr Orbán said. He stated: "naturally, we will win, we want to win, and I say many things about victory, but always in such a way that it can only come about as the people's decision," he laid down. His hand gesture meant that this is an open battle, and the end of the battle is easier now than it was a month or three months ago, he added.

"We just got into the swing of it," "the government parties always get into the swing of it at the end, but this is how I planned it, this is how we planned this campaign anyway." The starting pistol was fired on 15 March with the Peace March, and "since then, I think that we have been on an unstoppable march," he said.

Regarding the fact that some say in connection with the explosives found near the TurkStream pipeline that it was a self-orchestrated operation, Mr Orbán said "this is not a game." "If nothing of the kind had ever happened before, it would be possible to talk such nonsense, but at the end of the day, the Ukrainians blew up the Nord Stream pipeline," shut down the Hungarian gas pipeline, and "then they also shut down the oil pipeline," meaning that "they're capable of anything," he pointed out.

In response to the suggestion that while he says that "our supporters are only just coming forward," there are revelations with daily regularity from people who were previously Fidesz supporters, but they have now joined the ranks of Péter Magyar, he said "I meet people in the street, at rallies, we are more and more." These revelations "work for us" because these state administration agencies - police, the intelligence services, army - have internal order, loyalty and a code of conduct. Those who violate them turn against the uniformed ranks, and "I think that this generates more Fidesz voters" because you cannot behave like this, not vis-à-vis the government, but "you cannot behave like this vis-à-vis your comrades-in-arms," he pointed out.

These are not people with knowledge or in positions who would be able to discover a wider context of things; it is more like that for some reason they are probably not happy in their skin, he observed. He added: if what they say were true, then people in masses would be leaving the uniformed services, but this is not a mass phenomenon, it is only about one individual or another.

In answer to a question about a mission in Chad - according to Captain Szilveszter Pálinkás, the Chad mission was launched "in response to suggestions from within the family" - Mr Orbán said the Hungarian Defence Forces are a serious institution where there are no suggestions, or to be more precise, even if there are, they have no military consequences. "Captains, first lieutenants don't plan missions, anyone who claims otherwise is bonkers," these are planned at the highest level, decisions are made at the highest level, he laid down.

Regarding a conversation between him and Russian President Putin disclosed by Bloomberg, he said he does not know what exactly it is about. "I myself have seen something like this, but I have recently spoken to both the American and Russian presidents several times, and I have always informed the public about these conversations," he added.

Quoting from the transcript of the conversation, Mr Király asked Mr Orbán what he meant by "yesterday, our friendship reached such a high level that I can help you with anything." The Prime Minister said "yesterday meant that the US President phoned me," and he said there would be a peace summit, and they suggest that it should take place in Budapest. "This is President Putin and President Trump's joint proposal."

"I think this is an expression of friendship, meaning that if the heads of two important states think that Hungary is the right venue and I'm the right host, a country and a leader can receive no higher recognition than that," Mr Orbán said.

The Prime Minister also spoke about the fact that since 2009 he has built a highly transparent relationship with Vladimir Putin. "We agreed that our history is extremely difficult, and that our history yields itself more to animosity than anything else, but we should leave that all behind somehow, we should regard it as an issue of history, we should leave it to historians, and if I win - because this was in 2009 - […] then we should build transparent, forward-looking cooperation."

They discussed that they should have programmes, there should be a public list of these, and they should meet every year, "one year here in Hungary, the next over there in Russia, and we should publicly take stock of the status of each of the several joint Russian-Hungarian programmes in progress, and that these should be as overarching, as robust as possible, there should be as much energy and money in them as possible, there should be as much economic reason in them as possible," he stated. He pointed out that not once had they not honoured what they had agreed on.

In the interview, the Prime Minister spoke about the fact that Germany tried to maintain "its special, deep and extensive relations" with Russia even after the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war, but after the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipeline this changed, and "they lined up behind the Americans." "So, at the time, the political map was such that the United States was the most robustly pro-war, they were followed by the Baltic states, the Poles, and then the Germans," he listed.

The Prime Minister made reference to US Vice President J. D. Vance who arrived in Hungary on Tuesday and who said that the United States will conclude the conflict in Iran well. He stressed that the US President had done everything that was humanly possible in order to bring the Russo-Ukrainian war to a conclusion. That the Europeans do not want to cooperate with the Americans and want to continue the war even against them, and in actual fact believe that they can defeat Russia, is a European problem, he observed.

History has not yet decided on the issue of Iran. Posterity may well construe this conflict as a war that America was responsible for, but may also see it as a step leading to the creation of long-term peace in the Middle East. Hungary has always striven to remain on speaking terms with Iran, even despite the western sanctions. Our goal is for Hungary to occupy a position which results in the highest possible number of friends, the fewest possible conflicts, and the most possible practical benefits, he stressed.

In answer to the question of whether Hungary will be able to stay out of the US-Iranian conflict, he said "we have always stayed out so far." In this context, he said the future of NATO is a question that is not related to Iran. Regarding the alliance, he said its current state is untenable, "it's coming apart at the seams." The Prime Minister said the question is whether NATO will remain a military alliance - which he believes is the Hungarian interest - or the Americans will change over to a system of bilateral relations. The latter means that there is a more robust security guarantee and a more optimal form of cooperation than NATO has managed to offer so far, and we will find ourselves in a new era.

In response to the suggestion that the next president may be from the Democratic Party, he said it is a mistake to build a strategy relying solely on the Americans, forgetting the strategic consequences of the changes of presidents. "Therefore, I never do anything of the kind," he stated.

In answer to the question of whether it will be possible to come to an agreement with the European Union or relations will remain tense if Fidesz wins the elections on 12 April, he said "there are things we agreed on, and there are things we will never agree on." We must seek to reduce the number of affairs on which we cannot agree, and to increase the number of those on which we can, "this is possible," he added.

He said the placement on the streets of posters depicting Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and Ursula von der Leyen was fair because the President of the European Commission refuses to grant the Hungarians' request on the issue of the Ukrainian-Hungarian conflicts. She should be on the side of an EU Member State, he underlined.

He also said an energy crisis is unfolding in the world, fuel shortages can be expected worldwide, but surely in Europe, and independently of this, a financial lending crisis will also evolve, and the two will hit Europe together. Europe has no raw materials or energy of its own, Russia has unlimited supplies of both; pursuing a strategy based on wearing such a country out economically seems like a crazy idea, he pointed out.

The Russian budget is set to an oil price of USD 59 per barrel, and every price rise of USD 10 results in an extra revenue of USD 3 billion a month for the country. "The Russians are not in a hurry because they are replenishing the coffers," he said.

He described the unfolding of the crisis as a process where the prices of fuel and energy start rising first, the next step is that the Brent oil price will lose its significance as a compass, while the next station will be the development of a shortage of stocks. This will be followed by a shutdown which will first manifest itself in the restriction of air traffic and, he said, we are not far from this.

By Mr Orbán's account, it is a sign of the financial crisis that, in response to various world economic developments, interest rates on the loans available today are much higher than they were a few years ago. Most of the western economy is a credit economy, implementing developments from credit, and the moment is coming shortly when the maturing loans will have to be renewed. A financing crisis will sweep through the world, banks will stop lending or the availability of credit will become more uncertain, the economy will start drying up, growth will disappear, and recession will set in which could even cause a pan-European financial crisis, he said. He added: there will be troubles in the world economy, and as a result, coordinating central bank and fiscal policies will be key. "I'm working on this coordination."

In answer to another question, he said he has not yet spoken about the retirement of Interior Minister Sándor Pintér; he does not want to lose the knowledge and expertise that the Interior Minister has to offer. Hungary is one of Europe's safest countries, and without the minister it would not be, he stressed.

In answer to a question concerning Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó's future, he said he is Europe's longest-serving foreign minister, he knows everyone, including people who are no longer in office, and this knowledge is "irreplaceable."

He also spoke about the fact that their experience in Fidesz's anti-war signature collection campaign was that the percentage of new supporters was above 20 per cent; supporters have been lost, but there are many who only just joined them.

He dismissed the idea that in the event of an election defeat, he would refuse to hand over power as "nonsense." He said he was one of the leaders of the opposition for 16 years and has been prime minister for 20 years, there is no one in European politics who has won and lost elections as many times as he has. "If there is a living guarantee that this will be democratic in Hungary, it's me. But there are more robust institutional and constitutional guarantees as well," Mr Orbán said.

In answer to the question of how much his circle of friends and personal relationships changed after he "became a bigwig," he asked back "Did I become a bigwig?" In his words, he would be more inclined to describe himself as "a big little man" because this is a service, and then pointed out: by the time he became prime minister, he had a stable family, and that is the most important.

"If you have no family, you need many friends," if you have a family, you only have few friends left "as you have your wife, your children, and they provide the protective shield that helps you when you need it," he pointed out.

He said best friends remain, but marriage in itself, even without politics, causes some loss of friends, only one's best friends will remain friends "because your responsibility is different, you must devote your time to other things, and then things change, but this is not unnatural, it's more the order of life."

Speaking about his work, the Prime Minister said he is surrounded by a great many creative people, his colleagues continually bombard him with proposals, he receives many great ideas, and when he goes home, he does not take any work or dossiers home, at most, some speech writing chores for which he asks for and receives suggestions and additional ideas.