The political director of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Balázs Orbán attended a conference of the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C on 21 April. Mr Orbán declared at the event organised by one of the defining American conservative think tanks that Hungary has become ‘a safe haven for conservatives’.
As the only foreign speaker at the political conference entitled Leadership Summit, Balázs Orbán drew attention to the achievements of Hungary’s family policy, such as doubling the number of marriages and halving the number of divorces, without any changes in the legal regulations. He also reported that the number of abortions has been reduced by half since 2010, when the Orbán government started to introduce family-friendly economic measures. He stressed that people respond to changes in policy with action, and ‘if someone is able to create a safe place for conservatives in an entire country, then they have won the battle.’ Regarding the debate surrounding the definition of a family, he stated that ‘the father is a man, and the mother a woman’, and ‘at this point, the debate in Hungary is over.’
Several members of the United States Congress also spoke at the high-level conference held on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Heritage Foundation’s existence. Senator Josh Hawley spoke about the United States’ foreign policy challenges, opining that the biggest mistake was letting China into the World Trade Organization (WTO), which resulted in the loss of millions of jobs in the United States. Regarding the cultural struggle taking place in America, he said that among all the challenges facing the country, the most urgent and dangerous is ‘the new radical left and the new form of Marxism embraced by the left,’ which ‘seeks to fundamentally transform American life, change and occupy every institution we value.’ The Republican senator also called for the reform of the Republican Party, as he believes it is not prepared to face the challenges.
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said in his welcome speech that conservatives have had to learn in recent years that it is not enough to hold onto power, but they must also know how to wield it.
The closing speech of the two-day event will be given on Friday by Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, who is considered to be one of Donald Trump’s biggest challengers within the Republican Party in the race for the party’s presidential nominee in 2024.
Balázs Orbán in the United States
As part of his trip to the USA, the prime minister’s number one advisor gave several interviews to different media outlets. He even appeared on Tucker Carlson‘s show, where he spoke about the Hungarian government’s commitment to protecting children from ‘woke’ ideology.
Yesterday, I spoke up in defense of 🇭🇺Hungary's stance on child protection amidst pressure from Brussels.
— Balázs Orbán (@BalazsOrban_HU) April 20, 2023
Thank you, @TuckerCarlson for having me on the show!
🎥🎙️👇Watch the full interview below: pic.twitter.com/sEi1tCVBsP
Carlson called Hungary one of the last democracies of the West, emphasising the uniqueness of the child protection law in the country, noting that many EU states have been attacking this law. He then asked Balázs Orbán why Hungary is adamantly defending the legislation. The political director said that ‘woke’ ideology and LMBTQ propaganda started to make their way into Hungary through schools and NGOs. He added that Hungarians were first puzzled by what woke was, as there is no Hungarian word for the concept, but the majority soon realised hat this is a serious problem. He then reminded that the Hungarian government decided to hold a referendum on the topic, after serious backlash from Brussels. He highlighted that almost 4 million people said yes to the child protection law. These numbers would translate to about 130 supporters in America. Following this, Brussels started to attack Hungary even more, but the country will not give up, he stated. He then added that the Hungarian people are behind him and he is representing their interests. He said that his job is not to be popular, but to represent the interests of his nation in Brussels.
Balázs Orbán also gave an interview to the Washington Times during his time in the US. Among other things, Mr Orbán was asked about the allegation of the Hungarian prime minister having described the United States as ‘a top adversary’ of Hungary in a meeting with Fidesz parliamentary group members. ‘Prime Minister Orban never said this thing. This is fake news,’ Mr Orbán told the US conservative newspaper.
