Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Europe is approaching a decisive moment, as the next few days will reveal whether the war draws nearer to the continent or whether international efforts manage to cool the conflict. Speaking on Kossuth Radio, he said those with real power act, while those without it merely talk. According to Orbán, the US and Russia are negotiating, while European leaders stand on the sidelines, discussing rather than influencing events.
He described the situation as dangerous, though, he added, the past four years have been filled with similar uncertainty. The key question now, he said, is whether the conflict intensifies or whether diplomatic progress between Washington and Moscow reduces the immediate risks. If the talks are successful, tensions may ease, though Europe will not be free from danger. If, however, Europe’s approach prevails, the war could creep closer to EU borders.
Orbán pointed to an important meeting in Belgium, where the German chancellor and possibly the European Commission president are expected to push Belgium to approve the confiscation of Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s war effort. Belgium has resisted this pressure, partly because most of the frozen Russian assets are held there. Orbán argued that the idea that the war costs Europeans nothing is misleading, and that Belgium fears devastating financial consequences if international courts later rule against such a move.
Commenting on recent corruption scandals, he said Brussels is engulfed by corruption, noting that a Belgian MEP who had frequently criticized Hungary is now under investigation.
Turning to energy security, Orbán stressed that Hungary cannot afford to lose access to Russian gas and oil. Without them, he warned, household utility costs would surge to three or four times their current level. He credited former US President Donald Trump for ensuring that American sanctions did not apply to Hungary’s energy imports, while also highlighting the need to secure long-term agreements with Russia.
He criticized the EU’s plan to introduce a ban on Russian energy from 2027, saying he hopes peace will come before then and make the proposal irrelevant. Orbán accused Brussels of bypassing legal requirements by trying to introduce energy restrictions as trade policy rather than sanctions, an approach he said violates EU law. Hungary, he added, will challenge this in court.
Orbán also warned of physical risks stemming from the war itself, as both sides are capable of striking deep into each other’s territory, including energy infrastructure.
Shifting to domestic politics, Orbán dismissed the leaked economic programme of the TISZA party, claiming that left-wing groups always favour tax increases and believe money is better managed by the state than by families or businesses. He argued that TISZA’s proposals would channel funds to Ukraine and undermine Hungary’s wage policies, including future minimum wage increases.
He also recalled the referendum on dual citizenship held 21 years ago. Although divisive at the time, he believes the issue has since healed, noting that the left consistently opposed granting citizenship to ethnic Hungarians abroad. He said the moral foundation for the later introduction of dual citizenship was laid by the referendum results and the right-wing majority achieved in 2010. According to the prime minister, Hungary has since moved beyond the old left-wing view that only those living within the country’s borders can be considered fully Hungarian.
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