We are opening a new chapter in Hungarian-US relations

The Hungarian Prime Minister and the US President answered questions from members of the press for some half an hour before a joint lunch held in the White House. At the event broadcast live on the M1 current affairs news channel, Mr Orbán said during the previous Democratic administration, a great deal of damage was done, but he is grateful for everything that the new US administration has done in the past ten months in the interest of improving bilateral relations.

Now, we are in a good situation in order to open a new chapter: the golden age of the United States and Hungary, he stressed, adding that they would equally speak to the US President about economic, military and political cooperation.

He pointed out that Hungary neighboured Ukraine, and therefore, a contribution to the ongoing peace efforts was an important issue for us.

In answer to a question from a journalist, Mr Orbán described the procurement of energy as a topic about which they would like to talk at length and to explain the consequences from the viewpoint of the Hungarian people and the Hungarian economy.

He said Hungary is primarily supplied with crude oil via pipelines which is a key issue for us. He added that it was worth separating the issues of crude oil and natural gas; ninety per cent of Hungarian households are heated with the latter.

He said one pipeline comes from the direction of Turkey, while another from Croatia; the latter is, however, a low-volume pipeline. Regarding the supply of crude oil, there is a pipeline via Ukraine and there is a second one that also comes from the direction of Croatia, he pointed out. He indicated that they would like to convince the Croatian government to increase the capacity of that pipeline, but at present, it was not sufficient to supply Hungary on its own. If the capacity enhancement takes place, then that pipeline could undertake a larger share of Hungary's supply, he added.

Mr Orbán also spoke about the fact that the West was not united on the issue of the war in Ukraine, and that only the governments of the United States and Hungary were pro-peace.

The Hungarian Prime Minister said he is convinced that the main question is whether the West is united on this issue. He highlighted that Donald Trump had major peace aspirations. At the same time, Brussels and the European Union believe that Ukraine can win on the battlefield. There is no question that had the name of the president of the United States been Donald Trump at the time, today there would be no war between Ukraine and Russia, he laid down.

He took the view that without pressure from the United States in 2022, the Europeans themselves would not have adopted such a tough stance, several countries would have rejected the idea of providing assistance other than humanitarian help. However, he said, the then government of the United States exerted a great deal of pressure on the governments of European countries to support this war, and therefore, we have a responsibility for putting right what went wrong at that point.

He added that he understood Donald Trump's commitment to stop the war at any cost which would not be such an escalated conflict, had the previous US administration not exerted this much pressure on Europe.

Mr Orbán highlighted that he would like to contribute to the US President's peace efforts because the western world had made a very serious mistake a few years previously.

In answer to the question of how to exert pressure on the Russian President in order to end the war, the Hungarian Prime Minister said he has ideas regarding this which he will share with the US President.

In answer to another question, the Hungarian Prime Minister also stressed that in Hungary the percentage of illegal immigrants stood at 0 per cent, thanks to the fact that there was a crystal clear system according to which migrants were first required to apply for entry. He added that the European Union sanctioned Hungary for not allowing illegal migrants to enter its territory, and with this, the territory of the European Union.

Mr Orbán also sought to clarify in response to one other question that the Hungarian government was the only one in Europe that regarded itself as a modern Christian government. All other governments are left-wing and liberal, and since 2010, the Hungarian government has been trying to do something different than they are, both on a philosophical plane and in practice. Hungary is a special and unique island in the European liberal ocean, he pointed out.

The Hungarian Prime Minister also said that he will not ask Donald Trump to help with the handling of Hungary's conflicts with the EU because that is "our job." He pointed out that they were in Washington in order to launch a golden age in Hungarian-US relations. Mr Orbán made it clear that "we will handle our affairs" within the EU.