Orbán: ‘We do not want to shed blood for Ukraine, we will not go to war’

In a speech delivered on Margaret Island, Orbán endorsed the candidates of the Fidesz-Christian Democrats alliance in the European Parliament election and said that Hungary could only stay out of the war if Hungarian voters backed up the government.

“Do we want to shed Hungarian blood for Ukraine? No! We will not go to war, we will not die for somebody else on foreign soil,” Orbán said in his speech.

Addressing the Peace March, organised by the Civic Union (COF) and its foundation COKA, Orbán said it would be impossible to hide from the war, and that the only antidote to war was peace.

“Our mission is to stay out of the war and preserve Hungary as an island of peace,” Orbán said.

He said evil was behind world wars and urged people not to give in. The time for exorcism has come, he added.

“Either we win or they win. There is no third way, only a third world war,” he said.

Orbán said there was no solution to the war on the battlefield and called for a ceasefire and peace talks.

Firstly, the election must be won next week, he said. An election victory and reinforcement from every country in Europe would pave the way for the establishment of a European pro-peace coalition in Brussels, he added, stating that a “transatlantic peace coalition” could be established in the autumn “if the Americans elect a pro-peace president”.

We were “in the minority” at the start of the year, but could be “in the majority” by year-end, he said.

Referring to the European Parliament and local elections to be held on June 9, he said God had created the world in six days and commanded rest on the seventh, but now unfortunately “we must not rest even on the seventh day”, “we must put the pedal to the metal”. “Victory will come only if we all go to vote. Only peace! Only Fidesz!”, he added.

Orbán said there were already enough pro-war politicians in Brussels, so the candidates of Fidesz-Christian Democrats, headed by Tamas Deutsch, needed to “occupy Brussels”.

“We need our own kind there, who don’t believe in war and violence, but believe in the power of love and solidarity,” he added.

He said the 2022 victory of Fidesz-Christian Democrats in national elections had “raised the price of Hungarian shares on the political bourses of every capital in Europe”. Although those shares are in demand, they are not for sale, not to Brussels, not to Washington and not to George Soros, he added.

In a message to ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia, in the west of Ukraine, Orbán said the day was not far off when “your destiny will take a turn for the better”.

He also sent his regards and wished a speedy recovery to “Slovakia’s pro-peace Prime Minister” Robert Fico, adding that Fico had been shot because he stood on the side of peace, “practically giving his life for peace”. He said Fico was “carved of hard wood” and would return to put Slovakia and Hungary side by side in the fight for peace.

Orbán said the ruling parties’ victory in the European Parliament election needed to scare the Brussels bureaucrats out of their offices.

He noted that Fidesz-Christian Democrats had won all elections since the autumn of 2006, including parliamentary, local council and European elections. “We have won eleven times in one go. An absolute record, a KO, an undisputable victory,” he added.

Orbán said that the Fidesz-Christian Democrats camp was the largest, most unified and most hardened camp in all of Europe, and the ruling parties were able to campaign most successfully, theirs being the largest election army.

“Never before have so many people lined up for peace, because the only purpose of the Hungarians’ election army is to preserve peace,” he said. “We are Europe’s largest legion of peace, we are Europe’s greatest peace-preserving force,” he added.

Orbán said the Fidesz-Christian Democrats were again “on the verge of a huge victory”.

Orbán said Fidesz had a “great chance” to score a goal, but still had to take the shot. Having a routine is an advantage in government work, but during a campaign “routine is poison, routine kills”, he added.

He said a good campaign needed a common cause and a successful campaign required heart, while passion was necessary for a winning campaign. Victory on paper doesn’t exist in politics, he added.

“Another week of hard work, the legendary Fidesz finish, and we will push the enemy off the field,” he said. He added that the task at hand was greater than ever before: to prevent Europe from rushing into war and to its ruin.

He said Europe was making preparations for war and that “every day another stretch of the road to hell is inaugurated”, pointing to initiatives involving hundreds of billions of euros for Ukraine, the deployment of nuclear weapons in the middle of Europe, the conscription of young men into a foreign army, NATO’s Ukraine mission and units of European soldiers in Ukraine

“It appears that the pro-war train has no brakes, and the engine driver is insane,” he said, adding that stopping that train was at stake in the EP elections.

He said the Hungarian government knew how to do this and noted that it had earlier decoupled the “Hungarian carriage” from the pro-migration “train” and rescued Hungarian children from the hands of gender activists.

We won’t allow our children and our grandchildren to be shipped to the Ukrainian front, either, he said. “No migration, no gender, no war,” he added.

Every vote cast for Fidesz-Christian Democrats in the European Parliament election “saves lives”, he said. Every vote for Fidesz-Christian Democrats increases the weight of the pro-peace side and affirms Hungary’s decision to stay out of the war, he added.

“We can only stay out of the war if ours will be the biggest election victory in Europe,” he said.

If the left-wing wins, he added, it would only be a matter of time before the war caught up with Hungary.

Orbán said the pro-war side was “beyond common sense” and wanted to beat Russia, just as was attempted in the first and second World War, and was even ready to clash with the entire East.

He likened the intoxication of war to a drug that removes all responsibility and said the pro-war side was “uninterested in the future of your children”.

“They can’t be won over, so we won’t win them over, we will defeat them,” he added.

He said the founding fathers of the EU were right in believing the continent could not bear another war. As for Hungary, “we can gain nothing in war but stand to lose everything”, he added.

He noted that the lives of one and a half million Hungarians had been lost in the first and second World War and wondered “how strong our country would be” if they hadn’t died.

“I will say it slowly, so they understand in Brussels, too: We will not enter the war. We will not march east for the third time, we will not return to the Russian front, we’ve been there before, and we have no business there,” he said.

“We will not sacrifice Hungarian youth for the profit of wartime speculators,” he added.

Orbán said that George Soros had written the “script” for a victory over Russia using Western weapons and Eastern European troops, then replacing the lives lost with migrants, 30 years earlier. He added that the Hungarian left wing were “payrolled” by Soros.

Opposition parties weigh in on Orbán speech

In a statement, Klara Dobrev, the EP list leader of DK-MSZP-Parbeszed, called Orbán “the only pro-war politician in Europe” and said he had signed a “dirty deal” with Russian President Vladimir Putin on gas that required Hungarians to pay “the highest gas prices in Europe”.

“Viktor Orbán is financing Putin’s war in Ukraine with Hungarian money,” she added.

Anna Donath, the head of Momentum, said Orbán had “taken a stand for Russia’s total victory and Ukraine’s defeat behind a peace banner”. Anybody who is pro-peace backs Ukraine, not Russia, she added in a post on Facebook.

Donath said supporting Ukraine to defend itself and win its fight for freedom would lead to peace.

LMP co-head Peter Ungar said Orbán was mistaken to say the EP election was a vote of confidence in the government. The EP elections are about issues within the scope of the European Parliament, such as the green transition, not World War III, he added.