LIVE: Péter Magyar holds press conference after winning Hungary election

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for this great interest that you are showing, both from the international and from the Hungarian press. Thank you for joining us today, paying attention to us, to our country. Let's wait for everyone to be seated.

As Jolt has explained, I will be available to you for about three hours, but from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. I will have phone calls with a dozen of European and other leaders, and I don't want to make them wait. So, please be patient, and also please observe the rule of two questions. There are hundreds of press representatives, and I will try to answer every question and answer them briefly.

Hungary and the Hungarians wrote history yesterday, on the 12th of April. What we saw and experienced in Hungary, and also from across the world, it was history in the making in real time. This was a decisive victory, and for Tisza and for Hungary we have a strong supermajority in the new parliament, and according to the current figures we will have 138 MPs in parliament, which has a total number of 199 seats. But some ballots have not yet been counted, and still roughly 400,000 votes still haven't been counted because they were cast elsewhere, and we expect that there will be an additional three to four MPs for the Tisza party, totaling 142 eventually, which is a never-before-seen mandate. No one has ever voted for the same party. No, this number of people have never voted on the same party. Roughly 3.3 million people voted for us, which gives us a huge mandate but also a huge responsibility. And Fidesz, the state party, used to have a two-thirds majority, but currently they have only one of the votes in the Hungarian.

I would like to point out here that the reason that the state party won this many seats is that they have a propaganda machine behind them, spending hundreds of billions of foreign currency spreading lies morning, day and night, and the entire state apparatus was managed by the state party, very not unlike what we used to have in the 1980s and before that, before the political changes. Now, if without this propaganda machine and without using the state institutions for party policy purposes, such as the secret services and the law enforcement agencies, then we would have even fewer Fidesz seats in the next parliament. And it is also no coincidence that we had an unprecedented turnout yesterday: 80% of Hungarians cast their votes, which...

...home country, the weight of our... to help them. The transition period... election, I'll become president... and you shouldn't wait until the 12th of May, but maybe the 5th of May will be possible if the result is soon. I would also like to call upon him to invite me as leader of the strongest... to form the new...

We will bring back politics. Politics should... questions. Often they ask me the secret of... people ask... battle with... to victory... even before... politics is about. This is what many... see that there are crisis... politics... more and more... overturned in many ways. You have to... work into it. There are towns and villages... my own flat. My three... people. How can we prove that beautiful? It can be... it can be fair and it can be... people can say... the good kind of... this is what politics... correct... Happy...

...showed, and it was due to this that we did things. When Viktor Orbán... he betrayed his country. He betrayed Hungarians living outside Hungary. Hungarians living in Transylvania, when he was supporting the Romanian George Simion candidate. We decided to walk to Nagyvárad and with the Partium, which is in Romania, and we did one million steps on foot, going through the smallest villages in Hungary and in Transylvania to our sisters and brothers outside the borders. This is what politics is about, and it seems that it struck a chord with people. We got a tremendous mandate. This goes hand in hand with huge responsibility.

Allow me to repeat here that the government is a collective. It's a team. The prime minister is not going to be like a king, but like a captain who coordinates tasks, who relies on the opinion of his ministers, on their proposals, who relies on members of parliament, but also on Hungarian people. I myself have changed a lot. I learned how important direct relationship with the people is crucial, or as they say, participation. Yes, it is important. This is the only way democracy can work. Facebook posts are not enough, to go into some studios and send messages to people and make decisions above their heads. This is how we will function, how the Tisza community functioned in the past two years. We will make decisions together with the people. We will draw them in. This can mean referenda. The previous government made it impossible to hold a referendum. But this can mean an online questionnaire. So not the ones we've seen that for 20 billion foreign currency they ask nothing, but we can ask the opinion of citizens. I believe that this will give again and again a mandate for the government, not in Brussels to fight, but to bring and make the best decisions. This is what we shall continue.

Let me say a few words about foreign policy, because I guess a lot of the press here is interested in this. Hungarian people made a clear decision yesterday. They are proud that we are part of the European Union and NATO. They are proud that for 1,000 years our ancestors, our kings and queens and princes have struggled to be part of Europe. We are proud that we protected the borders of Europe for hundreds of years. All Hungarians are proud of their European identity. And people could see that if this vile propaganda is lying to them, is accusing the European Union and criticizing them, that they want war, everyone knows that it's a peace project that was created, the European community, that there should never be a war between the founding member states. And since the EU was created, earlier it was called differently, but there was no war. So Hungarian people could feel and understand that the fact that there is peace today in Hungary is due a great deal to the EU and NATO.

We also see the faults of the EU, 27 member states. It's a large organization, many national interests, party interests, lobby interests. I myself, for eight or nine years, I worked as a diplomat in Brussels, as a diplomat of the Hungarian government at the permanent representation, and I could get to know the functioning of the EU. It's a complicated, bureaucratic... seeking compromise, how difficult this is, and also the beauty of this. I can tell you that you can indeed find the compromise. I am here, and I personally, and Hungary is also prepared to create compromises. We shall have debates. I'm sure we will have debates, because all member states are there to represent their national interests, the interests of their people, their companies. But we are not going there to fight so that we can fight and then we can write on billboards to the Hungarian people that Brussels is evil and it has to be stopped. I can promise you that I will always represent the interest of Hungarians, both in Strasbourg and in Brussels, but also in Moscow, in Berlin, or in Washington, or in Beijing, everywhere. I will be very strong and steadfast and honest about Hungarian interests, and I will represent them.

But I attended the Munich Security Policy Conference, and I met many EU leaders, and I can see that this is a very normal operation, a normal way of working, and this is what is expected by the other members, that we are open and honest with each other, especially when it's like a private conversation, but even in a greater room. So we should discuss and settle our disputes, and Hungary will be there. We will be a constructive partner, because Europe is in trouble in more than one way. There is still a war waging next to us for over four years, and we are in dire economic straits, and we have lost pace. We have lost a lot of competitiveness. There are many social issues, and we are here, and we are ready to help. I am personally ready to help to accelerate this process rather than expanding the issues, rather make it more streamlined, to make decision-making easier, and also to accept the countries that are ready to join, rather than making them wait in line, because that wouldn't be in the interest of the European people.

So there are countless... well, we have seen countless number of times, as well as yourselves, that the leadership of the EU... how shall I put this... the EU doesn't really have leadership. So Henry Kissinger's question cannot really be answered to this day. Okay, I just got information... we provide you. So we will be there, and we would like to help to make Europe's voice stronger, to help Europe make headway, and to make decisions together, whether it's competitiveness concerns, competitiveness, or any other topic, to support European citizens and also Hungarians. There's a new piece of information in front of me.

Many people believe that Péter Szijjártó, who was the resigning minister of foreign affairs, because he wasn't there behind Viktor Orbán. But I would like to reassure you that he resurfaced, and today at 10:00 he went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with Eszter Zsófia, and he is in a meeting, and they are currently destroying documents that have to do with the sanctions. This is what's happening in Hungary. We know that people have been destroying documents, just like in the old communist age, that shredders are working full-time, not only in ministries but also the other background institutions. They are destroying, shredding documents, but that's not going to help them. But this is just to give you some context about the situation in Hungary.

Today, a normal transition period is just a handover process in a normal country. If there is an opposition party which has been more popular than the governing party for over a year and will take over the government, then the resigning prime minister will share information with the incoming leader, information that is important regarding the national security. But that's not what's happening. That's not what is happening in Hungary. We have no information at all. And just one last remark: that there are many things that we don't know. There are international treaties, confidential government decrees were passed by the Orbán government. There are classified documents that they signed, and we have no idea what they are. There are many international commitments that the Hungarians have no idea about, not even myself, the leader of the largest opposition party and the future prime minister. Orbán Viktor took out loans with unknown interest and conditions. We have no information about those loans. He signed international treaties that cost billions to Hungarians, but we have no idea about the details, the terms and conditions of those loans.

So we will have to get our hands on all of the documents that haven't been shredded, so that the country remains operational after the handover, whether it's critical infrastructure, IT systems, national security systems, the foreign exchange reserve, the oil reserve. We have our team, we have our plans. We had plans for a supermajority or a simple majority, but now we will be fortunately using the plans that we have ready for the supermajority. So I would once again call upon the president to listen to the voice of the people, because the voice of the people is the voice of God, and convene the first parliamentary... to convene the parliament and also receive me in the Sándor Palace where he resides as soon as possible.

But we will do everything in our power once we read and learn about those documents, whether it's confidential government decrees or confidential loan agreements, to review them, and those who do not violate the financial or security interests of Hungary, to disclose them, to make them available in the public domain, whether it has to do with education, healthcare, infrastructure, the budget, the economy, what the current status of the country is, what the robbers have left behind, those who robbed and betrayed the country. So we will have a stocktake, and then after that we will have a stable budget. And clearly the current budget will have to be amended, because it already collapsed back in 2025. It was amended twice already, and in the first three months we had a deficit that is unprecedented in the Hungarian budget since 1990.

And the world watched from the outside how Orbán Viktor is robbing his own country and takes out loans without responsibility. But fortunately, Hungarians decided yesterday to end that era and open a new era, the era of humane and functioning and free European Hungary. So there are many things I should address, like the constitution, the economy, the responsibilities, actions to be taken. But now I will stop here and open the floor for questions.

I would like to ask all of you to state your name clearly, your country, and also the name of your newspaper or your news outlet. And the first few questions will be asked by the Hungarian press, and then later on the international press will have a chance. Now, formerly, the international press conferences worked in a way that at this point the propaganda media could ask the questions that were written for them by the government itself, and the independent press couldn't ask questions. And therefore we will now give the floor to those large Hungarian news outlets who are still independent and who survived the last 16 years, very often working with donations and with advertisements, but they were practically the public media of Hungary instead of the state propaganda channels. And first I will ask Partizán to ask their question.

Thank you. Sámuel Bartsa, Partizán, Hungary. I have two questions. Yesterday you called upon Tamás Sulyok, the president of Hungary, to resign. Can you share with us your thoughts if he was not to take that step? How will you make him resign? And also during the campaign you said many times that you will not only go among the people during the campaigns but regularly. Can you make a commitment as prime minister? When will you travel the country once again to meet your voters, your electorate in person? Let me answer the second question. Yesterday people suggested that we should take a tour of gratitude. They are not... that we'll take... the handover... very hard... in behind closed doors. So I'm sure there will be some cabinet meetings that will not touch upon sensitive issues, and therefore we may have some public and open government or cabinet meetings, and people will be able to ask questions.

So we would like to change politics in Hungary, and we would like to give an example, not only in Hungary but also for the whole world, what politics should be about. It's not politics by Orbán. These politicians like Orbán who are playing the high priests of peace, they are the ones who start wars or who generate wars. And I would like to be very clear. Minister Orbán said that if Donald Trump were to ask, they will consider sending troops to the Iranian war. Now, I don't know if you are aware of this, but his son, his only son, was planning a military mission in Chad, in Africa, with 200 Hungarian soldiers for tens of billions of foreign currency. So once again, the prime minister's son, and he said privately that up to one half of the Hungarian soldiers who will be deployed there may die. And this is in the middle of the 2020s, in an EU member state, that the prime minister's son is planning a military mission in Africa. So this is not how we approach politics. We will work for the Hungarians instead.

And to your other question, it is clear for everyone that Hungarians decided to change the regime, and Tamás Sulyok, president, and the other puppets were parts of this regime. And they were elected not because they were qualified for the job, or because they wanted to represent the unity of the nation, which is the job of the president, or to watch over those in need and support them, and to be the human face of Hungary, which would be the role of a president, but rather he was appointed to sign everything, every document that he's presented with, whether it's the menu or the constitution or the laws. So we don't need people like that. That's not a president to me. He is not a president. He allowed the country to be robbed, the national bank to be robbed. He didn't say a word when thousands of Hungarian children were abused by pedophiles. Pedophiles who were appointed by this government, who were awarded by this government, or who were pardoned by this government, the president didn't say a word. That's not a true president. And I hope that he is listening.

He may not have heard last night. So let me repeat: he should resign. He should resign as soon as possible. This is the decision of the Hungarian people. We have a supermajority which will make it possible for us to amend the constitution. But I don't want to be a lawyer, especially against a lawyer like the president. But I hope that the remainder of his dignity would be left, and he would leave his office, because we don't need the puppets of the mafia. Hungarian people deserve a president who is really showing the unity of the Hungarian nation, who would stand for a humane Hungary, who would act if he sees that GRU, the military secret service agents, are here and wanted to influence the Hungarian elections. 1956, 70th anniversary this year. Such a person cannot be the president of Hungary on the 70th anniversary of '56. He should leave.

We have solutions. We are not going to do anti-rule-of-law measures to restore the rule of law that way, but with a supermajority that enables us to do many things. Next question. 444.hu. You also referred to the two-thirds majority. So it will be two cycles that you will restrict how long the prime minister can be. So will you talk with the opposition about this? Can you say that Viktor Orbán is never ever going to be the prime minister, and that you yourself will only do two cycles max? Last time when asked about your ministers, you said let's cross our bridges when we get there. Now you said the team is ready. What can you share with us about the cabinet, the future cabinet ministerial structure? Who will be the heads of the different ministries?

Balázs Gulyás, you heard it's partly due to him that we can stand here, because more than two years ago he was the journalist who wrote the pardon scandal. He wrote an article which really shook in its foundations Hungary, which partly led to my appearance. I just wanted to make this comment as talked about the relevance of independent press. So structure, maybe I'll start. So first, I have said many times that we will have a different governing structure than what it was with Fidesz. In Fidesz there were these big major ministries, and we will have sectoral ministries. So minister of health, minister of education, environment protection, rural development, clean finance ministry. So we will have foreign trade, domestic trade. We will have a prime minister's office. Secret service will go back to where it was before. Information office will go back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and we will have responsible ministers. They will take responsibility for their decisions.

Many names are known, actually more than what would be expected, because few names were known when a Fidesz government led to a Fidesz government. So a prime minister needs to have discretionary power to discuss it amongst themselves, assessing the magnitude of the mandate, to create the team with whom they plan to manage the country. Andra Kármán, György Hegedűs, I could mention many others. I don't want... I won't announce any new names here, but within weeks you will, or the Hungarian public will get to know them. Parliament committees will hear them, and then people will see them. They will be experts, I can say. So not puppets, not corrupt, sometimes betraying. So not corrupt puppets, but real expertise is going to be there in Hungary, which I think is good news, and it's necessary for us to progress.

Prime ministerial cycle, I can state, so we got a mandate now for one cycle. I can, if my body... one term... I can't see five years ahead. So for four years we got a mandate date, which is tremendous, and this will be in the fundamental law. And I said because Viktor Orbán has been prime minister for 20 years now of 36, 20 years as a prime minister. So this limitation in the fundamental law will apply to him. So he cannot be prime minister of Hungary, but still he is the prime minister who was in office for the longest period of time. He had a tremendous mandate. He had a tremendous opportunity. He could have carried out tremendous things for his country, to make Hungary a country that develops. But he didn't use it. He misused this opportunity.

Thank you. 24.hu. Csaba Hvat... holding to account. Where are you? I can't see you. Sorry. So yeah, holding to account. I want to ask my questions: anti-corruption measures you mentioned. What are these measures going to be? And asset recovery institution office, when can it be set up earliest? What mandate will it have? What will be the first cases in your view? Thank you.

So anti-corruption measures, European prosecution service, I said. So even if Hungary decides, parliament can initiate our accession, but it's about six months before this can all happen. We will create an anti-corruption office. I know some of you don't believe in office, but intentions are crucial. Do you want to do something, and not the name or the label that matters. So everything with public money, it will... so preventive education and watchdog role, whistleblowing and anonymous whistleblowing possibilities. So to really uproot or to take out corruption, Hungary cannot develop. For some time it was almost like accepted. We spoke about corruption like it's called theft, and the money that is stolen, the thousands of billions of foreign currency through overpriced public procurement. This is the money of the pensioner. It's missing from child protection in Tiszadob child protection home, where they don't give extra food to the children, and the refrigerator was locked so that a five-year-old child cannot eat if he's hungry. So this is not normal. We should not accept that stealing public money is normal.

But we will restore the independence. So no politically appointed leaders, whether they were at the prosecution, police, or inland revenue, or at secret service, to cover up cases. Bánk Szabó, captain, who was a captain of the National Bureau of Investigation. Under what pressure they were working? They were forced, small police officers, or Palkó spoke about the defense forces not to go after the real culprits. He spoke about many agencies, and politically motivated procedures were launched against civilians, or journalists, or artists. If we restore professionalism, if we can separate the operative and the political management, and if we can say that a minister cannot intervene into the work of a police commander, into their professional work. So only political oversight, because obviously it's the minister of the interior who has this political oversight.

National Asset Recovery Office will have... this will be an important role. It's going to be one of the most difficult tasks to head, to lead this. We have some candidates, but here we cannot make any mistakes, because there's a huge expectation from people, and it's the interest of the Hungarian economy that from the past 16, 20 years crimes can be revealed, so this office can really help investigative authorities, so they won't be competing, the different units or branches or agencies, they will work together. What remit? Well, two-thirds majority we were given. So substantive remit, even investigative rights can go to such an office. But we want a coordination role.

National bank, 650 billion. Motorway concession. Tobacco and waste concession. Breathing machines, Matthias Corvinus Collegium assets given to them. Transfer of assets to them. Ministry building leases, sales. Gas, oil procurement. Paks, MOL, Bányászati, Lajos foundation. State ad support contracts. All banned campaign financing. Above 10 billion public procurement, investigating all public procurement above 10 billion, half a million Hungarian forint. So maybe I'm too fast. I apologize to the interpreters. So I only mentioned just the first couple of tasks that this office will have. So this industrial-scale corruption has to be solved. 8,000 billion from the EU doesn't arrive because of this. And this is why we became the poorest and the most corrupt country in Europe.

I can tell you, I would hope that in June we will be there. I will do everything personally to set it up. So there is an office. It can replace the so-called sovereignty protection office that was created to serve the propaganda. It has nothing to do with sovereignty protection. 6.22 billion Hungarian forint were given to this office. This will be thrown over to the asset recovery. Bánk Szabó, Palkó, Silvester, and many others will be welcomed to this new institution. Will still remain a little bit with the Hungarian. So now TX is not sitting together with the other.

Dia Shimore, yesterday you said Viktor Orbán congratulated you. Did he say anything? And my other question: so you asked for many people to resign. Mihály Varga you didn't mention. So Sulyok Tamás appointed him. Why? Why is Mihály Varga different? Why did you not tell him to resign? Thank you. Telephone. Congratulations. I guess it's not a secret. This was a short telephone conversation. It was as I had imagined, although I did not guess it would happen, but the prime minister did it. So my telephone rang, and my once good friend, Gergely Gulyás, the godfather of my son, was there, and we know each other's number, and he said the prime minister would like to congratulate... a nice... because I don't take unknown numbers. He gave the last four digits. The comrade prime minister called within minutes, and I said, 'I am Péter Magyar. Good evening.' And he said, 'I am Viktor Orbán. I would like to congratulate you for your victory.' I said to this, 'Thank you very much for your congratulations on behalf of Hungary, and it's a great honor. It's the greatest honor that sitting in the chair of Lajos Kossuth I can serve the Hungarian nation as prime minister.' And I also said, if I can say this, from today, from the 13th of April, we have a joint responsibility to reunite the Hungarian nation and to do everything so that it will be easier and better day by day for Hungarian people. And he said, 'Good, I wish you good night.' This was our telephone conversation.

To your other question, the governor of the National Bank, well, I intentionally left him out from the list. I said that Hungary was in a very difficult financial and economic situation, and the National Bank of Hungary's prime responsibility is to ensure the stability of the exchange rate. And well, it hasn't been very successful recently when we have had major inflationary pressure as well. But as far as I can see, that irrespective of who appointed Mihály Varga, he is a different kind of governor for the national bank. He seems that he is willing to observe the requirements and the provisions of the Act on the National Bank. And I think that it's important in a country, especially if it's in a difficult financial situation, to have cooperation between the budget and the fiscal and monetary policy, but obviously respecting the independence of the National Bank. And that is why we have decided to try to work with him.

And if what we see is that the governor of the national bank and the national bank itself will do its statutory job instead of blocking the economic policies of the new government, then we may be able to work together. So it's not necessary to create even greater chaos and to launch new procedures or to lose the confidence of international financial markets in Hungary even more, with a war between the government and the national bank. We don't want that. The next is RTL. But we should also come to the international press soon. Yes, RTL.

Thank you. Magyar Iván, RTL News. I saw that someone gave you a piece of paper during your speech regarding the information concerning Péter Szijjártó. Can you share with us some details where the information is coming from? Do you have any proof that this is what's happening, that they are shredding documents in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? And also, my question is whether Hungary will be able to detach itself from Russian oil.

Well, to your first question, this is an insider piece of insider information regarding what's happening in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Many people shared information with us in the last couple of weeks, information concerning crimes, felonies that are taking place in the ministries and the background institutions. And I believe that the state knows, and our prosecutors and our police officers know that the government is counting on them. They took a vow to protect and serve the Hungarian people, but not the state party, not Viktor Orbán. And I think it is only just if they report crimes when they see them. Until now it was pointless because they couldn't investigate. But so this is where the information is coming from. And once again, we will rely and count on everyone who did their job well, who kept the laws, didn't violate the laws, because this government needs good government people, good police officers, good prosecutors. And there are such people in the country, but they haven't been able to do their jobs. But now they will be able to do their jobs, and they will have a lot of work to do.

So this is where the information is coming from, and we also receive information from ambassadors, because someone who worked as a career diplomat or a head of department in a ministry, they were watching how the country is being robbed. But still they can be a good public servant, and we rely on the experience of those people. They can take out the materials, the documents, the files from their drawers that until now they couldn't act upon. Now they will be able to act upon them. So the foreign press may not be aware, but we have a beautiful poem written in the 1950s when we had the darkest communist dictatorship in Hungary, and József Attila wrote a poem, a sentence about tyranny. It's about 10 pages, but it's one sentence, a single sentence, and that poem could not be published for five years, so he kept it in his drawer, and then during the 1956 revolution, that's when it was published. So this is the kind of document that I'm talking about. So now people can open their drawers and take out the files.

And when it comes to the Russian oil, I've said many times, but I will repeat it now, that the Tisza government will do everything in its power to diversify our energy mix, energy purchases, for two reasons. Because that gives us security, and energy security is one of the most important issues in Hungary. And secondly, this is how you can purchase oil or gas at the cheapest, the lowest prices. So I was trying to explain this to the Fidesz propagandists. If you are buying oranges from three places, from the east, from the west, and from the south, then even during a geopolitical conflict or a war you will be able to buy oranges, and you will be able to buy oranges cheaper because your sources will compete with each other. So the same applies to oil and gas. But let us also not forget that we cannot change geography. There are many things we can change, and Hungary has worked miracles, but we are unable to change geography. Russia will be here, Hungary will be here. So, but we will try to diversify. That doesn't mean that we want to detach ourselves. We want to buy oil at low prices and securely.

But the Druzhba, the friendship oil pipeline, and what's happened there, we can see that it threatens Hungary's energy supply, or what's happening in Tehran, in Iran, that threatens our energy supply. So it is in the interest of Hungary to diversify our energy mix and energy supply as much as possible, to build cross-border capacities, to sign international treaties by the Hungarian state or by MOL, so that we are able to buy energy from the east, from the south, from the west, or from the north, to supply Hungarian households and companies. So, and obviously there is a war which is still ongoing, and that's why we have the sanctions. But we see what's happening in Iran, in Tehran, and sometimes the sanctions are lifted because otherwise the global economy would collapse and countries would go bankrupt because of the oil shortage. But as soon as the war is over, and let's hope that the negotiations will be successful and this war will stop soon, then immediately Europe will lift the sanctions, because we are neighbors to Russia, and it is not in Europe's interest to buy raw materials at higher prices, because that destroys our competitiveness. It's sometimes easy to say things, and I understand the moral issues or the issues of principle, and I will protect human rights as much as possible, as much as the next guy, but let's not shoot ourselves in the leg. So we will try to buy oil and gas from as many sources as possible. That's my answer. Thank you.

And now the foreign press. I have said many times that as prime minister his first journeys will take him to Warsaw, first to Poland, and then Vienna, Austria. So let's begin with those two countries. I can see that TVN24 from Poland are here. So the floor is yours. Please pass the microphone. So you have two questions. Who paid for your trip to Warsaw? Would you meet the president of Poland who supported Viktor Orbán during the campaign? And the last thing, Viktor Orbán granted asylum to two politicians from Poland. Speaking of Jędras and Martin Romanowski, you said many times that you will get it back. Would you tell us when? Thank you.

Thank you. My answer to your first question is that yes, I spoke to Prime Minister Tusk yesterday. He congratulated me on the phone, and he expressed his joy that Hungary will no longer be a puppet state for Russia but will return to Europe, and that's what the Hungarians decided. And indeed, my first trip, hopefully, and this is what I discussed with him, will be to Warsaw at the beginning of May. I'm very happy to go there. I would like to also travel to Gdańsk or other Polish towns. And once again, I would like to point out that Hungary and Poland have a special relationship. It's a deep friendship and a deep alliance over a thousand years. We had shared kings and queens. The Poles helped us out, we helped them out over those 1,000 years. And we are too very proud of that. We have a saying that Hungarians and Poles are two good friends. They fight together and they drink together. And Viktor Orbán hurt that friendship to a large extent by serving Russian interests, and by also... well, so he practically destroyed the Hungarian-Polish relations, but we are going to rebuild them. That's one of my personal issues, to restore the friendship between Poland and Hungary to what it used to be a couple of decades or a couple of centuries ago. And obviously when I'm traveling to Poland, I will be glad to meet the president who was democratically elected. He didn't congratulate me, but well, I can live with that.

And the other question, what was the other question? Sorry. Ah yes, Mr. Romanowski and Mr. Jędras. Well, I think I spoke very clearly about this earlier, that I suggested that they shouldn't buy any furniture in Hungary in IKEA because they are not staying long. Hungary will not be an asylum for international criminals. And that doesn't only apply to them, but also to Mr. Nikola Gruevski, the former North Macedonian president, who is also a felon. But, and that's not because this is fair, but also we expect other European countries that if Hungarian political criminals are escaping to other countries, we want...

them to extradite them back to us in line with the spirit of European cooperation, these potential criminals. And I can only suggest to Mr. Giro and Mr. Romanovski that if they have nothing to hide, then they should go home and stand in front of the people. Well, he used to be a minister for justice, so he must know the Polish judicial system. So he should clear his name of the accusations, and that's not my job. So we will find a way, unless they have already left. But if they haven't left, we will extradite them to Poland. And thank you.

Thank you. First, I will discuss with the chancellor of Austria, but I also met him formerly in Munich. So we agreed that I will visit him because we used to share a country, and Austria is a key economic partner of Hungary. Many Hungarians work in Austria, and we have a good relationship, even though this relationship has deteriorated in recent years under the government of Viktor Orbán. So I would like to strengthen the relationship between Hungary and Austria for historical, but also for cultural and economic reasons. And I would like to say in general that we are not trying to only restore the Hungary and Poland friendship, but also the Visegrád Four countries, that is including Czechia and Slovakia. And if possible, we would like to extend the Visegrád Four cooperation. There is the Slavski Three — Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria — and there is the Visegrád Four country, and those could be merged, and we could even invite other member states such as Slovenia, Croatia. So I would very much like to have a strong European Union with a strong Central Europe with economic, cultural, infrastructural cooperation. We already have this with Austria, but not with Warsaw. We do not have a direct train line to Warsaw. So I believe this is in the interest of every country, including Austria and Hungary. So I hope that we will be able to make progress here.

And the 90 billion loan to Ukraine. Well, I'm not sure what we are talking about, because in December at the meeting of the European Council, Viktor Orbán got an opt-out. So the Council of Europe decided that Hungary, Slovakia, and Czechia will be left out from the 90 billion euro loan. So it doesn't apply to our countries, and that's how it was accepted. And I'm not entirely clear on that. I would like — I will discuss with the European leaders, but I personally agree that Hungary should opt out. Hungary is in a very difficult financial situation, and it is our job to bring back the EU funds that belong to us and that every other member state has received but us. So we haven't received it. We are unable to use it to improve our economy. So we cannot really take out even more loans. The Hungarian budget deficit and state debt has tripled since 2010. So we would like to bring home the EU funds, but this is already a decision that was made in December in Brussels. So I don't know why this should be reopened, even though I understand that the position of Viktor Orbán changes often, because he first accepted it and then he rejected it. The same with the EU accession of Ukraine. In 2022, he wrote a letter to Ursula von der Leyen that Ukraine should accede to the EU immediately, but then he is against it. He is very strongly opposing it. So we would like — we will try to be coherent and honest in our communication and not change our minds every six months.

From the beginning, we have said that we are not supporting the fast-track accession to the EU of Ukraine. It would be impossible that a country in war be taken by the EU. These discussions cannot be held — all the chapters to discuss. So I don't think this has relevance, but I can see that there are some movements. So the people that we have spoken with, the member states, don't take this as a possible scenario. So all accession countries have to go through the same process. They have to discuss all the chapters, and if Ukraine does it, then in Hungary there will be a referendum whether the EU should take it, and it's not going to be in the near future.

Thank you very much. Yes. And I'm looking for my papers. The Orbán government started — I think on the 2nd of June this will close, and this is a process we cannot stop. However, we are going to relaunch Hungary's accession to the International Criminal Court cooperation. I think it's in the interest of the international community and Hungary for us to be there. Israel and Hungary, obviously, there's a special relationship. A lot of Hungarians live in Israel. A lot of Israeli citizens come here to Hungary. We have a very strong Jewish community living in Hungary, one of the largest, thankfully, in security, safety, and peace, and zero tolerance in Hungary to all forms of antisemitism. This is going to continue. We won't do anything like the propaganda, what the Orbán government said in some of its propaganda brochures. But Israel is also an important economic partner. We strive for pragmatic relations. I cannot guarantee — of course, we need to examine every decision, but I don't want to run too far into the future. We will see what decisions the EU will make and to see what the truth is.

Germany is the most important partner of Hungary. Strong historic alliance, cultural ties, a lot of Hungarians work there. Most important investor in Hungary. The relations also — Viktor Orbán, no bilateral relationship, no bilateral meeting happened between the two politicians. We want to create very strong ties. In Munich, I met the chancellor yesterday. He called me and said he would like to host me in Berlin to discuss any open issues and to have close political ties, similarly to the economic ties. German investors are doing a good job here. They employ a lot of Hungarians. I can also see there are some German investors that were kind of persecuted by this government, and competitive equality was not guaranteed to them. But I could say this for Austrian companies as well. Level playing field is what we want to provide to all foreign investors. So not benefits like to the South Korean or the Chinese investors that the previous government did, but no, we want to have a level playing field. We are waiting for foreign investors. We want to support Hungarian businesses. Foreign investors will see, and also the Hungarian investors will see, that the rule of law is working. Legislation will not be passed during the night, but predictable, stable processes. This is what I can say, and I'm looking forward to the cooperation with Germany. I studied in Hamburg. I love that city, and I really like Germany, although I've forgotten a lot of my German. Mr. Merz said a few words in German. So we are now about halfway through, and now I'd give the floor to the BBC to ask their question. So BBC, Katya Adler.

Thank you. To your first question, I can say what I have, I think, referred to — what can be expected. We want to cooperate with our European partners. Hungary will be a country of rule of law, a reliable partner, not just in the EU, within the EU, with the United Kingdom, with the United States, within NATO. So you will see about Hungary what you saw decades ago. Hungary was a frontrunner. This is what we want to go back to. We want to place Hungary to the frontrunner of Central Europe. We know we have strong competitors. From me you will always see, and from Tisza we will stand by the rule of law, human rights. Even if sometimes there is a contradiction between human rights and economic interest, we will always choose human rights, and we will be a reliable, trustworthy partner. Maybe sometimes it won't be simple because we will be representing Hungarian interests, but we will always be reliably there if there is an issue, and we will communicate honestly. And if someone communicates, or if there is honest communication, then you can always find the solution. Your second question I don't fully understand. So it will be more than one month from now that the Tisza government is going to be formed. By then, it's going to be off the agenda. So this — I can see that in Brussels negotiations are going on to bring it back, but this is a decision that's been accepted. Hungary has an opt-out. Hungary was left out and is going to be out, but the European partners have accepted this. So I think with this I have answered the question.

Thank you. First question. It's not the task of a politician. It's not the task of a prime minister. It's not the task of a prime minister, not a party leader's task, to assess whether the other party president, former prime minister's place is in prison or not. A prime minister's task, a government's task, is to guarantee the independence of the judiciary, the independence of investigative units, to give financial sources or funds so that they can carry out their tasks. So the new independent Hungarian judiciary's task will be to investigate who carried out what kind of criminal offenses. It will be the task of the asset recovery institute to examine whether there was a crime or not. How did they deceive? How did they manipulate public procurement? Everyone can see that it's not a normal thing, and it cannot happen legally that Viktor Orbán's friend, so treasurer Lőrinc Mészáros, gas technician, water technician — in 10 years he's five times richer than the royal family in 400 years. So we are talking about someone who cannot read or write, who cannot really speak. So he's a childhood friend of Viktor Orbán. I think all of us have assumptions that this is not okay. You can't do this legally, but it's not my task, and I would be cautious that it's not the politician's task, it's the judicial system's task to do this. What we can do is we can guarantee the independence of the judiciary, the investigative bodies. We will create the asset recovery institute. I can see the social need that our country has been robbed. But we are not living in communism that we take something away without a court decision and we say that someone should go to prison. This is not my task. But the judiciary will carry out its own task.

Regarding Russia and Hungary, I'm glad that what the Kremlin said today — that they respect the outcome of the Hungarian elections and that they've heard that I myself and the new government will strive for a pragmatic relationship with Russia — and I can confirm that. And similarly to many other European countries who have a pragmatic relationship with Russia, because you cannot change geography, we are exposed to Russia in terms of energy sources, because there is a heavily overpriced Paks nuclear power plant expansion. But we will revise all contracts. We will renegotiate them if necessary. We will terminate them if necessary. So if Vladimir Putin calls me, I will pick up the phone. But I will not call him myself. But if he were to speak, I can say I will ask him to please stop the killing after four years, stop the war. That has no point at all for them either. Tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of Russians also died and families destroyed, including Russian-speaking people living in Ukraine, killing them, bombarding their cities, raping them, etc. But so this is what I would tell him, and I think that would be a very brief discussion. I'm afraid that he will not stop acting on my advice, but I hope that he will be forced to end the war soon.

Thank you very much. The first — thank you. To the first question, Ukraine and Hungary. I can say that we, the Tisza government, will try to have an alliance with every neighboring country, or preferably a friendly relationship with every neighboring country, and primarily because Hungary is surrounded by Hungarian people, as a result of an international treaty which is more than 100 years old. Many Hungarians live also in Ukraine, even though much fewer than a couple of years ago. In Carpathia we have some historic towns, and roughly 100,000 Hungarians still live in Ukraine. So it is in our interest to have good relations with our neighbors and to resolve any disputes that applies to Ukraine, Slovakia, Serbia, and also Austria. There are some outstanding issues, even though they may not be as sensitive as the ones with Slovakia or Ukraine. So I received the congratulations from your president, and I'm sure I will meet him if nowhere else than in the European Council when I will become prime minister, and I will strive to resolve the situation with every neighboring country. There were many — there are many outstanding issues that we will inherit from the Orbán government because they used these disputes for party political reasons and purposes.

And let me now turn to the second question. We have always been clear that in this situation, and I wasn't changing my mind one day to the next. I didn't say different things in Brussels or in Moscow, just like Orbán did. So everyone in Hungary knows that Ukraine is the victim of this war, and that Ukraine, based on the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, that it is the job of any Ukrainian government to protect its territorial integrity and sovereignty, and no one should tell them that at the — hopefully at the end of a four-year war — under what conditions they should enter peace or sign a peace treaty. So we cannot say to any country to give up their territory. If they do, they are a traitor, and this is what the Fidesz politicians said. Then I would like to ask them what happened — what would you do if Russia attacked Hungary? Which Hungarian counties would you be willing to give up? So this is a bloodcurdling speech, and it's not doing right by our heroes of the revolution of 1956. And I hope that every international player will be party to this, because obviously Hungary will not decide the peace between Ukraine and Russia, but they should give security guarantees, territorial guarantees that can be observed or that can be kept. So Ukraine will not end up like many other countries where he gave up — in the Budapest Memorandum he gave up his nuclear arsenal, but then four guarantees, but those guarantees were violated repeatedly by Russia. So once again, I would like to say that we will strive to be friendly with all neighboring countries, but with Ukraine it will be a condition precedent to resolving the situation is to ensure the rights of the Hungarian minority living in Ukraine. And I believe it's clear also for the Ukrainian government that linguistic rights must be restored in Ukraine. And I don't really understand why this hasn't happened until now, because either — so there was obviously intention there from either Ukraine or Hungary, but we couldn't reach an agreement. And the Hungarians living in Ukraine are not asking much. They are only asking the same rights that they used to have 10 or 15 years ago, so that they don't have to live in fear, so that Hungarian kids don't have to leave the country if they wish to use their mother tongue. I think this is not such a great ask, and I hope that we will be able to resolve those disputes.

Thank you. So the first question having to do with the eurozone. Yes, indeed. We did mention it more than once in the campaign that it is in Hungary's interest to join the eurozone, and Bulgaria has already joined recently, and Hungary hasn't used this opportunity that is granted — well, the flexibility that is granted by the non-membership of the eurozone. On the contrary, we had giant inflation. We had some very bad economic decisions. We increased our state debt. So we didn't observe the Maastricht criteria, and therefore the majority of Hungarian business leaders believe that the Hungarian economy could have some stability if we had a date, a target date for the eurozone accession. And I said in the campaign, and I can only say again, that we will need to look at the budget, the actual position of the budget, and our international commitments, and we will have a public discussion about the eurozone membership. And once that is over, we will have a decision about the date when Hungary joins the eurozone and how Hungary can comply with the Maastricht criteria, which is in the interest of the country because it provides stability, also price stability for Hungarians. They will not need to face record inflation rates that — what happened during the Orbán government. Whether it's 2030 or 2031 or later, I cannot tell you right now. We will need to wait and see the Hungarian budget position and the weaknesses or the exposures.

And regarding the 20 billion EU funds, it's very important to bring them home as soon as possible, because for the majority there are some very strict deadlines. There are some funds where the deadline is August 2026, and we are aware of that. The EU institutions and the Commission are also aware of that deadline. So I said clearly what we can do and what's good for Hungary, for the Hungarian companies, and for the Hungarian people, and what the EU expects us — or the Commission expects us to do. There are four things. Anti-corruption measures, including joining the European Prosecutor's Office. The second, the independence of law enforcement and the judiciary. Third, freedom of press and stopping the propaganda spending. And the fourth, academic freedom — restoring academic freedom to the Hungarian universities, liberating Hungarian universities and giving them back to the Senate and citizens of university and also research institutions. These are the things that we can do and we will be able to do, and I hope that the decision will be made quickly. I said that my first journey will be to Warsaw, the second to Vienna, and the third to Brussels, and that can happen in one or two days. I must be very quick, and I hope that by then we will have a preliminary agreement. I would like to discuss that with Ursula von der Leyen today on the phone to repeat our commitments, our promises, and then they will give us a timeline so that we don't lose all that money which is badly needed for the Hungarian economy. We have already lost two billion euros — one at the end of 2024 and the other at the end of 2025 — but we don't want to lose any more money.

And thirdly, I can say the same thing — that this is already a decision, but I will have some consultation. I will consult EU leaders if any decision is still required. That can only be a technical decision, because the decision of merit was made in December, and in the last month or the next month, hopefully — well, Viktor Orbán will still be the caretaking prime minister. And I said even yesterday that if there are any international commitments that must be met, then please — I asked him to call me. He knows my number now, so we can discuss it. And I do expect him to do so. As the future prime minister, I should be informed, and he shouldn't make decisions over my head. But if he's blocking something, also the same procedure should apply. So I'm looking forward to his phone call.

Thank you. First question. Thank you. So yes, indeed, I said we have some very close historic and cultural links and friendship with Poland. But I have already discussed with your prime minister that we would like to restore and strengthen the institutional system, but also infrastructural links are required. Economic links should be developed, because how is it possible that we have much greater investments with other countries that are much further away from us, or they invest here, whereas with our historic friend that is not very far from us, we don't really have joint ventures, we don't have a shared Central European platform. So we would like to deepen our friendship and cooperation in every field, but first comes the friendship and honest communication and laying the groundwork, and then anything can happen. And I am personally involved in a strong alliance between Poland and Hungary. I remember when I was a diplomat in Brussels, the Visegrád Four cooperation was so strong, and the decision-making was slightly different — that the V4 countries had the same number of votes as the Germans and the French together, and we were able to influence decisions. And at the time, the Brits were also part of the EU. Let's hope they will rejoin. But this is not only in Hungary's interest, it's also in Poland's interest. Poland is also stronger if it has stronger ties with Hungary, and vice versa. And that also applies to Czechia. So I would like to thank Mr. Andrej Babiš, the Czech prime minister, who sent me a congratulatory letter, and he is also a strong ally of Viktor Orbán, and he invited me and congratulated me, and he asked me to visit Prague, visit him in Prague. Prague is one of my favorite cities. So I will be glad to meet him there, and I would like to discuss with him how we can, despite our political differences, build a strong V4.

Donald Trump, American president — I don't think it works like this that I call him. He called Viktor Orbán in the kitchen. It has happened, and the vice president traveled to Budapest in the campaign. I think people attack this. But I think all leaders can decide whether they support or campaign or endorse, as it is said in English. There's no — I don't have a problem with this. But obviously, after an election, it's a different situation. And in NATO, the US is a strong and important partner of Hungary, leading strength of NATO and the world. We have to do everything, regardless of what happened in the election campaign, to have a close relationship with the US. I myself am not going to call him, but if he or anyone else from the US administration contacts the Tisza administration, we will be available. For the 70th anniversary of the 1956 revolution, when we are expecting world leaders to Budapest, the US Secretary of State or the vice president or the president can visit Hungary for these celebrations.

Thank you very much. First of all, the MAGA and these populist institutions and the defeat of Prime Minister Orbán in that field. I don't think this is my task, because MAGA and this whole patriot group — this is not our case. This is theirs. I believe this is a major losing for them. Viktor Orbán was their ad face. I mean, what ad face he was, but he was the idea behind this fight against Brussels. Viktor Orbán is an interesting personality. I don't want to talk too much about him because he's the past. In '89 he was fighting against the Soviets. Then he was the Liberal International's vice chair. Then he was fighting against others. Then he was European People's Party vice chair. He was fighting against liberals. Then he was again elected prime minister. He started fighting against Brussels and against the American elite when it was headed by the Democrats. And then when the Republican president was elected first, and then he started fighting against Europe, and he created this network of populist think tanks — how should I put it? Yes, state-financed network. So he's always fighting against someone.

An elected Hungarian prime minister's task is not to fight against someone on the global stage — against liberals or the conservatives or this or that — but to make the lives of Hungarian people better, to deal with our problems: that hospitals shouldn't close, that we shouldn't die five years sooner than the European average. This is a major loss at European level, and this is why the world was monitoring so closely. We love our country, and I'm sure that the international press and attention was aimed at us because he was and will remain — despite his losing now — remain in this party. Many have congratulated us from his allies, from Viktor Orbán's allies, congratulated us. The vice president, when he was here, JD Vance, they will cooperate with the next Hungarian government, whether it's going to be headed by Viktor Orbán or the leader of the opposition that they didn't know then. Hopefully we'll get to know each other. The Americans have dropped him, then now the Kremlin have dropped him after the statements of today, and I believe more and more those linked to MAGA or patriot alliances. It was his very close Russian ties — it could be seen that he was not representing European interests but other interests, Russian interests. So now, having lost the elections so strongly, let's say for him this is a major loss. The whole propaganda, secret service agencies — he called world leaders, he was bowing to the east, to the west, he asked for help from everywhere, and still he lost. So I believe his stance fell.

And the second question — the state is not going to finance CPAC events. No. Or Mathias Corvinus institutions. The state shouldn't have. I think this was a criminal offense. Party financing mixed up with government expenditures that are budget funds. I think this is a criminal offense, and the future authorities will have to examine or investigate these, because these budget funds were not for party events. CPAC can come to Budapest, very welcome, but not from Hungarian taxpayers' money, then Fidesz's money or Viktor Orbán's buddy's money before we take it back. Thank you.

The first question — first question on the far-right issue. Yes. Yes. We know that these players are important allies of Viktor Orbán. They work together. They are supporting each other. I can say the same thing if you look for the reasons — European politicians, I mean, who don't belong to the extreme left or the right or the anarchists, but some kind of — they are in some mainstream party, and they see that there's a decline and extremities are rising. So it's not these band-aids that should be used, but the real reasons should be found, because these are not coincidences. It's never a coincidence when extreme is on the rise. I don't like the word extreme. National Front in France has a lot of supporters, and I think a lot of decent French people, patriots, are supporting the National Front. I don't like when they say — Viktor said we are left. We are not left-wing. We are Hungarian patriots. If the word patriot wouldn't have been taken, I would say we are patriots ourselves. I respectfully recommend to everyone. And I learned a lot about the way of thinking, the mindset of people, how you can do politics. Let's talk about the essence. And this is what I recommend to European leaders. So they should leave this politically correct talk aside. Talk about what fears people have, what affects their feeling of security.

Europe mismanaged the migration crisis. They didn't see that this is a real fear in people. The European culture, labor market situation deteriorating. So pseudo solutions — they tried to be the good people, the good man, the good — they are helping the problems, but their own citizens — they forgot the fears of their own citizens. This is one example: illegal migration. Most countries now, rather late, they have realized that their initial stance was not good. And it's not because you shouldn't help people who are in a problem, but the problem shouldn't be brought to Europe, but we should help the most in those countries that are the issue countries where the problem is there. So it's not tinned food and we take three immigrants and we sell weapons to African countries and become rich. I will be an honest person. Not everyone may like this. I'm not doing this to attack, but I'm not too old and I'm not an experienced politician. But what I can see — what happened here yesterday is a landslide. And this is how European leaders are looking at this. What are the lessons learned from this? What can we learn from this? To talk directly to people, to deal with people, to care about them — not rosy and pink words, but if Europe has a problem, if Europe loses its economic power, military power, it should be said, and we should find a solution for it, and we should work together. But of course, recognizing our differences, respecting the differences of the member states.

If I talk to the president of the Commission or the Council — I spoke yesterday, President Costa — I will use this opportunity to talk about: let's not force things on one another. Europe has this slogan: unified in diversity. So we don't have to have a European United States. So some politicians thought about it, but Europeans don't strive for this. At least I see this here in Hungary. They want functioning, strong nation states and a good and well-functioning EU that gives the framework that helps people so that they can travel freely, they can work, they can invest in each other's countries, and to live in peace. This is what Hungarians want. I worked eight or nine years in Brussels. So for some reason, people in Brussels think everything is happening there, everything should be regulated. But less is more occasionally. And if you adhere to it, stick to it, and everyone respects it, we are further ahead than if we have 125 rules and no one wants to adhere to them. But I don't want to go too far. All I wanted to say was that the extreme right — but I don't like this name. I think everyone can find the solution, and I would recommend to all politicians: work, work, work. This is what we asked from our volunteers, and without money, without power, in minus 20 and in plus 40, they worked, and the result was that yesterday we got the largest mandate ever, and I'm extremely grateful to them.

Second question: Russia, is it a security risk? I think yes. I think everyone knows. We know the Russians. And I'm not talking about the Russian people, the Russian culture, the Russian people. They are fantastic people. But the Russian bear in Hungarian history — we felt it in 1849, in 1944, 1945, but in the 1920s, in 1956, and then they were here with us for a long time. So we know exactly what this is about. And Europe has to be able — and the member states separately — but Europe has to prepare for this, has to protect and defend itself. And what the previous Hungarian government said is not possible — that Russian hackers go in and out of the foreign ministry before the breaking out of the war, and sensitive NATO information landed in the hands of Russians. So it's no coincidence that we are allies. We are in the same club, in the same team. Not even in a football team — I can't go to the dressing room of the other team and share the tactics that we discussed before the match. And Péter Szijjártó did this. He was on a hotline with the Russian foreign minister, with his good friend. This cannot happen. Of course, a foreign minister should be in contact with another foreign minister. This is what diplomacy is about. But sensitive information of my allies I cannot hand over to a country that is in war.

Thank you very much. Yes. The first question — thank you. I received the congratulations from the government of Serbia. And yes, indeed, also in the campaign there was a false flag event on — actually Easter Sunday, when there was a planned attack on the gas pipeline, but it was an attack that Viktor Orbán had already disclosed a week earlier. And I think that the Serbian leaders also backed out from this event or mission, because — and that it was only — it was a good thing that they did so, because the Tisza government will investigate this situation, because if there is an actual danger, then a prime minister must take responsibility for that instead of playing like a theater play, because Viktor Orbán flew there by helicopter and wearing a helmet or whatnot. So no, he must guarantee the security of the country, whether it's Serbia or Hungary. So under this government there will be order, peace, security, and development in Hungary.

I will gladly meet the Serbian president. I know exactly what's going on in Serbia, and I also know the ties between the Orbán government and the Vučić government in Serbia, and I also am aware of the links between Robert Fico and Slovakia and Viktor Orbán, and I know who is behind that. I know who is the godfather behind these friendships. Yet the people — Hungarians living — because of the Hungarians living in Serbia, it is very important for us to maintain the relatively good Serbian-Hungarian relations and not to make them dependent on individuals. I think that Serbian leadership — it is in the interest of the Serbian leadership and of Hungarians living in Serbia and ourselves in Hungary, despite the fact that we think differently about the world than President Vučić or his government or Serbian leaders, but it's very important to have friendship and good relations with Serbia. So, and we are not going to interfere with the internal affairs of other countries. I saw the riots or the demonstrations in Serbia, and I know that in Serbia, similarly to Hungary, the media is in a very tough situation, and I can only send a message to the Serbian people without interfering with their country, that they should take — they should use the power from the Hungarian elections last night, and to all other countries with a hybrid regime, that I hope that we can give them hope. If people unite their efforts, if we are able to unite our efforts, that we can make headway even in very difficult situations. And yesterday was such a day, and I hope that it will give some hope also to Serbia, that despite all the odds and all the international endorsements for Viktor Orbán — the many global leaders endorsed him: the Russian president, the US president, the Chinese president, the Turkish president, the prime minister of Israel, and many other leaders such as Mr. Vučić or Robert Fico, and I could continue the list. Yet Hungarian people said that no, we write our own history here in Hungary, and the Hungarian people won yesterday. So once again, I'm more than happy to meet him and to talk to him, and I will do so also with the Democratic Association of Hungarians in Serbia, even though they strongly supported the campaign of Viktor Orbán, despite the opinion of Hungarians living in Serbia who wanted to decide for themselves who they should vote for. So I would like to say thank you to those Hungarians living in Serbia who...

voted for us. But I can say to every Hungarian living across the border that they can rely on the Tisa government. They will have the double citizenship, the same funding, but the funds that they've been receiving so far will not be stolen by criminals linked to Viktor Orbán, but it will be spent on Hungarians living whether in Serbia or in Romania.

Thank you. The first one. Yes. Yes. I think you know George Simion, who was a candidate for the presidency in Romania, and we know him. He has a past. George Simion was dancing on the graves of Hungarian war heroes, our ancestors, and such a person, whether he becomes a politician or not, no Hungarian prime minister can support him, and especially not in an ancient Hungarian church. But Viktor Orbán did that. He didn't only endorse George Simion in the Romanian elections, unsuccessfully, because the majority of Romanians and Hungarians living there didn't vote for him and his policies. But they had leaflets together. 500,000 leaflets were distributed in Transylvania about a candidate for the presidency who was dancing on the graves of Hungarian war heroes. That was considered betrayal both in Hungary and also in Transylvania.

And it's true that many Hungarians did vote for Fidesz who lived there, but I can tell you why they voted for Fidesz: because they are being misled, because the same propaganda works there in Romania. The same party propaganda is financed from Hungarian taxpayers. The same propaganda works there as we have here. And they lied in the morning, at noon, and in the evening about Tisza and about myself. Personally, I will support Hungarians living in Romania in every possible way. I visited many times. I have some friends, family friends, and even relatives living there. But Orbán Viktor and his party lied throughout the campaign about me. And RMDSZ did play a part indeed, together with Kelemen Hunor, the leader of RMDSZ, and we are in the same European party — they are also in the EP like us — but yet they participated in this campaign of lies and the misleading of the Hungarians living there. I think that wasn't right.

But let's forget about it. The campaign is over now. Tisza has a strong mandate. I will be elected by the Hungarian Parliament to become the next prime minister of Hungary, and I, as a prime minister of Hungary, will cooperate with every organization of Hungarians living abroad who represent their constituents, and I will give them every support and help. I personally and also my government will support Hungarians living across the border. I think I will have a phone call with Hunor Kelemen either today or tomorrow, and I will say that I don't hold grudges, and it's not about me or what they claimed about or said about me during the campaign, but rather what we can do together for Hungarians living in Romania. So I'm looking forward to the phone call, and I hope we will be able to cooperate with each other. We had a little question concerning Hungarian-Romanian relations.

We are looking forward to it. We would like to cooperate with Romania. We would like to further improve the cooperation with Romania economically, culturally, and also help our fellow Hungarians living there. And I think that the Romanian government will also be open to that. We could cooperate with each other if we had respect for each other, if we didn't criticize each other too much on either side. So I'm looking forward to a good relationship or deepening our economic relations with Romania, whether we could also involve not only Croatia or Slovenia or Austria, but even Romania in the V4 cooperation. So we could become V8 instead of V4. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you for the question. I can say that, well, for over a year, formerly it was €2 million euros per day, and then after that €1 million euros per day — that was the fine imposed by the EU on that. So we have lost almost €1 billion euros on that, the Hungarian people, lots and lots of money that's missing from the Hungarian state, healthcare, the education system, or the infrastructure. So the government did that only to generate disputes, because there are many European countries that are led by allies of Viktor Orbán who were able to comply with the EU law on asylum seekers and yet still stop illegal migrants coming to their countries. So if Slovakia was able to do that, if Poland and if many other countries are able to do that, then it's possible to do, and this is what we are going to do.

And I've explained this clearly to the president of the Commission and to every European leader that Hungary has a very strong stance on illegal migration. We do not accept any pacts or allocation mechanisms, and we will maintain our border fence on the southern border, and we will mend it because there are some holes on the fence. And unlike Viktor Orbán, we will not release 2,200 finally convicted human traffickers from the Hungarian prisons. We will not take illegal migrants to the Slovak border if it's in the interest of our friend in Slovakia. So we are honest, and we would like to protect Europe and Hungary from illegal migration. There are legal forms of migration which we accept, but we don't accept the illegal forms of migration. So we will find a way not to pay this fine any longer, because that's missing from the Hungarian budget. I think this is a misappropriation of funds what Orbán and his government did, that they couldn't find a legal solution to keep out the illegal migrants yet not having to pay this penalty. So we will find a way, we will find a solution, but this will have strict policies on illegal migration. Thank you.