Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that the European Commission’s financial blackmailing tools are no longer effective against Hungary, as US President Donald Trump agreed to provide a ‘financial shield’ for the country.
‘If Hungary were to suffer any external attack on its financial system, the Americans have given their word that they would protect Hungary’s financial stability in such a case,’ he explained, adding that, in the event Hungary were to face such an external, speculative, or political attack, the country could count on an American financial shield. According to him, the negotiations have ensured that the Hungarian economy faces neither financial nor financing problems. ‘If there is no money from Brussels, there is money from America,’ he declared boldly.
Orbán gave an interview to a group of journalists as his delegation flew back home after the highly successful meeting with Trump at the White House on Friday, 7 November. The ‘Hungarian Day in Washington’ — as Orbán described it — resulted in multimillion-dollar deals across several sectors, including energy, defence, space technology, AI, and education.
Following the meeting, Orbán announced at a joint press conference with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó that Hungary had secured permanent exemptions from US sanctions on Russian energy imports, as well as relief from Biden-era restrictions on Russian participation in the Paks II nuclear power plant project.
Speaking to the press on the flight, Orbán denied mainstream media reports, reaffirming that the exemptions have no time limit. ‘I made an agreement with the president. He said, we exempt you from the American sanctions without a time limit — those that would have targeted the TurkStream and Druzhba oil pipelines. So that’s off the table,’ the prime minister said.
Orbán added: ‘With cautious estimation, we have spared Hungarians from petrol prices reaching 1,000 HUF per litre. And when the heating season begins, without this agreement, gas bills would be two and a half to three times higher. We’ve protected Hungarians from that kind of hardship.’
Watch the full interview below:
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