Viktor Orbán delivered his 15 March speech at the Museum Garden in Budapest, where tens of thousands of people warmly gathered to listen to the Hungarian Prime Minister. The day commemorating the beginning of the Hungarian War of Independence in 1848 is a national holiday in Hungary, and as per tradition, the Prime Minister and other political figures deliver speeches.

‘In March 1848, Europe was ablaze. Blood stained the streets of capitals, with barricades and fighting in Vienna. What were the Hungarians doing? They were writing poetry. We drafted twelve points. We marched from Pest to Buda. It was our first Peace March. We liberated political prisoners without firing a single shot. We attended the theatre, watched a national play, sang a national song during the intermission, and emerged victorious by the evening. Nine months later, on the same date, Zoltán Petőfi was born,’ Viktor Orbán began his speech.

The prime minister emphasized that ‘the Hungarian Revolution is not about destruction, but construction. It’s not about negation, but creation. It embodies justice and beauty.

Ultimately, it’s not about death, but life.’

According to PM Orbán, the viewpoint propagated by the Western world, that the paramount question of human life is what kind of world we leave to our children, is misguided. ‘The question is not what kind of world we leave to our children, but what kind of children we leave to the world. In fact, that’s what it all comes down to!’, he underlined. He added that this was the essence of the matter in 1848. ‘The parents of the young men of March understood that there is only a homeland as long as there is someone to cherish it,’ the prime minister nailed down.

‘In the Western world, millions of people believe they come from nothing and go to nothing, consequently disregard anything or anyone. They initiate wars, neglect the deceased, and disenfranchise the unborn. We Hungarians aspire to live differently,’ PM Orbán continued.

In defence of national sovereignty, the prime minister stated: ‘We aim to construct a homeland where we are not subject to any landlord’s authority. The greatest privilege for us is to be born Hungarian.’

‘In the Western world, there’s a notion that you simply decide whether you’re a boy or a girl. And the home is merely a functional space. We Hungarians don’t subscribe to that belief. If you stand isolated in the world, you’re not free, you’re lonely.

We Hungarians are compatriots; that’s what the Hungarians declared in 1848, we are compatriots,’

Viktor Orbán articulated.

The prime minister shared the anecdote of a traveller in Europe who sees a man along the road who is breaking rocks with a hammer. When he asks him, the man says he is doing his job. Then he sees another man, also breaking rocks, and when he asks him what he is doing, the man responds: ‘I am building a cathedral.’ While the Left breaks rocks, we are building a cathedral, the prime minister said. ‘The Hungarian cathedral is being erected from the foundational stones laid by forty generations,’ he continued, emphasizing that our predecessors fought for the legacy we inherit today. The heroes of 1848 had already envisioned this cathedral, he declared.

Orbán also expressed the longing for the tranquillity of a peaceful life. ‘Europe today is not quiet; it’s getting louder. Brussels seeks to impose actions that are detrimental and contrary to the Hungarian spirit. They aim to embroil us in conflicts, impose migrant settlements, and enforce ideological transformations on our children. However, we will not allow them to succeed in these endeavours,’ the Prime Minister emphasized. He underscored that Brussels wasn’t the first empire to covet Hungary.

‘In the last five hundred years, all empires have realized that oppression, blackmail, and violence will get us nowhere. We are the stick in the wheel, and we are the David whom Goliath had better avoid,’ Orbán stressed. ‘If we want to preserve Hungary’s freedom and sovereignty,

we must take control of Brussels!’

‘We will march to Brussels and make the change in the EU ourselves,’ the prime minister stressed, referring to the upcoming European Parliament elections.

According to Viktor Orbán, this year will mark a turning point. ‘It’s time for Brussels to start trembling. We will not tolerate Brussels turning its back on the people, burdening our children with debt, and leading us into war,’ he declared. He added that it was time to restore the self-esteem and self-respect of the European peoples. ‘We are not alone; the Slovaks are rising, the Czechs are awakening, and the Americans are revolting. By the end of the year, we will constitute the majority in the Western world.’

‘We are on the brink of a sovereign revolution in America and Europe, where normal life can be restored, and a great era of Western nations can commence,’ PM Orbán opined.

Addressing a segment of the Hungarian opposition, the prime minister asserted that those who conspire against Hungary in Brussels are traitors. ‘Are you breaking stones or building a cathedral? Following Brussels directives or striving for Hungarian freedom? War or peace?…Will you stand up for your homeland or will you eat bread from the hands of foreigners?’, PM Orbán posed the rhetorical questions concluding his speech.

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