“You have to take into consideration the character of the EU. It was created to coordinate the activities of nation-states. It has a fine-tuned, sophisticated institutional architecture” – Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary said in an interview published on 19 July in a WSJ article which has been summarized by the MTI.
„That has a consequence for leadership. For the EU that means it has institutional leadership. When things are going well, institutions can satisfy people’s desire for leadership. But when you are in a crisis, you don’t trust institutions, you trust people. You need people to say we need to make risky decisions, we need to take action, follow me” – Mr Orban declared.
To the question about joining the euro zone he answered that the advantages of not being in the euro zone should be exploited. Now, the only rational approach for the country is to follow its own, targeted economic policy. To change Hungary’s currency will require a two-third vote of Parliament. This guarantees that it will not be a divisive issue. Accession of Hungary to the euro zone will depend a lot on how well the new, integrated euro zone functions.
In connection with the Tavares report, the process of the European Parliament is very dangerous because, according to the PM, this is nothing but the hidden building process of a bureaucratic empire. The Hungarian government thinks very differently on some basic principles so the question is whether we can live together in the same political framework with people who have such different convictions. The mainstream of European political thinking today is motivated by the notion of progress. On the contrary, the Hungarian government believes that we are living as human beings created by God and we don’t think there is some target for European history. “Mainstream European political thinking is that we should abandon our roots. Roots are considered as the enemies of freedom. However without roots we are lost” – Viktor Orban mentioned. The mainstream says the approach of the Hungarian government is not a modern, European one. However the Prime Minister believes that the values and traditions defended by his government are European ones. He said he was ready to discuss these points, but not in a way where the mainstream defines what is modern or European. Mr Orban felt hatred in the European Parliament when he participated in the meeting dealing with the Tavares report. „It’s not a rational argument they make. It was shocking, like an inquisition. What happened with the Tavares case is alien to the culture of the EU. How can the same group be the prosecutor and the judge?” – the PM claimed.
Talking about the aim of the Hungarian government’s policy with opening up to the East, Viktor Orban stated that the Asian model of democracy was not associated with the Hungarian democracy because Christianity-based democracies are always different from democracies that are not Christianity-based. According to him, democracy is based on two cultural principles: the first is that God created us in his own likeness and therefore the second is that to destroy it is a sin. Asians have different principles which is interesting and exciting but it cannot be a pattern for the Hungarians. When he talked about the opening to the East, he basically thought about the culture and the economy, he meant a cooperation like the French and the Germans had already built with the East. “There’s nothing unique in this, we’d like to catch up with them” – Mr Orban said.
To the question about the role of the state in the economy he answered when everything is going well, the role of the state in the economy should be limited. But in a crisis, the state should help the country out of the crisis. The Hungarian political strategy is very clear: they say the crisis is over when every one has a job. So to get a job is not the result of a successful crisis management but the tool to get out of the crisis.
