For party policy purposes, such as the secret services and the law enforcement agencies, then we would have even fewer Fidesz seats in parliament in the next parliament. And it is also no coincidence that we had an unprecedented turnout rate yesterday. Almost 80% of Hungarians cast their votes, which gives a huge mandate for the new Tisza party and for this new era, because the Hungarians have understood, from the smallest village all the way to Budapest and also thousands of kilometers away from their home country, they all understood the weight, the significance of this vote, that this vote will determine the fate of our beloved country for a long time. So I am very grateful to everyone who was involved in the election process, and in particular those who traveled across continents or drove thousands of kilometers to be here and to help their country and to cast their votes.
As we have explained, we expect the transition process or the transition period to be quick and to be short. And according to the rules, the 4th of May is the last date when the election result becomes final, but it can happen sooner. And the president, who is a puppet, must convene the new parliament 30 days after the elections at the latest. But I would like to call upon Tamás Sulyok, the president of Hungary, to convene the parliament as soon as possible. And he shouldn't wait until the 12th of May, but maybe the 5th of May will be possible, or even sooner if the result is final sooner. And I would also like to call upon him to invite me as the leader of the strongest party to form the new cabinet, because our country has no time to lose. Hungary is in trouble in more than one way. It's been robbed. It's been betrayed. It's been indebted. It's been devastated. We became the most impoverished and the most corrupt country in the EU. And I would like to repeat what I said last night: that this government will represent every Hungarian, those also those who did not vote for this party. We will represent every Hungarian within the country, but also across the borders. Lajos Kossuth, one of the great historical figures of Hungary, who also has a statue in the Capitol in Washington, D.C., and he said, 'Everything for the people, everything with the people, nothing about the people above the head of the people.' That is democracy. This is what Lajos Kossuth said, and this is what will be our guiding light as well. We will do everything in our power to start a new era, because the Hungarians did not only vote for a change of government, but rather a change of the whole regime. Tisza did not hide its intentions. We said what the issues were, and we also said that it is not enough to have a simple majority in parliament to resolve all those issues. We need to change the regime, because the country was practically overtaken and managed by an organized crime group, an organized crime syndicate, where the political criminals were in cahoots with the economic criminals and also with the media and the economic elites. So we do need regime change. And I would like to say in advance that the Tisza government will represent everyone, but we will not be perfect. We are all humans. We will make mistakes. We have made mistakes, and we will make mistakes. But when we do so, we will take responsibility for it, and our country will no longer be a country of no consequences. Hungarians made a decision about many things last night. One, which is the most important maybe, is that Hungary used to, still does, and will belong to Europe, no matter what the current or the resigning corrupt government was planning, and no matter how they were trying to lead Hungary out of the EU. Hungarians yesterday decided, 23 years to the day after our accession to the EU, or the referendum, the monarch accession to the EU, they reinforced Hungary's place in Europe and in the EU. I would like to thank here the more than 50,000 volunteers who, in the past two years, night and day, whether it was winter wind or in the summer heat, they were helping the change of the regime. Never ever before did any party have so many volunteers. We carried out a miracle. We made a miracle happen, because from nothing in two years, we created the strongest party in Hungary, a party that got an unbelievable and never seen before mandate in our modern history. So, thank you very much to all our volunteers. We have numerous tasks in front of the Tisza government, and we want to start the work as soon as possible. Thank you for the congratulations. Many leaders, world leaders, congratulated not me, but congratulated Hungary that, amidst such conditions, in such a state party environment, without fear, full of courage, they could stand up for their country, for a free, independent, sovereign Hungary, and they could stand for our country that has its place, will have its place in Europe. I spoke to many EU leaders over the phone. I spoke to the Commission head, and I will continue the negotiations. One of the most important tasks of the Tisza government will be to bring home the 8,000 billion forint, about 20 billion euros, without which the Hungarian economy cannot work. For four years, we've had no growth. Thank you for all the congratulations. I can see that Moscow and the Kremlin, Beijing, have also said their voice. They are accepting with respect the decision of the Hungarian people, pragmatic cooperation. They are open to, as is Hungary, because geography is geography, and these countries will change in the near future. I will ask every country, as Hungary respects all other countries, shows respect to all the sovereign countries, and is not going to intervene into the domestic affairs of any country, whether they are in the Balkans or the internal affairs of Spain or France, nor with money, neither with any other way, or into Slovakia's domestic affairs. I would like to request from all other foreign countries to look at Hungary as a free, independent, sovereign European country, a country that is part of the two biggest alliances, the European Union and a member of NATO. I would like to reiterate here that not a word is true about the lies how the propaganda tried to mislead a part of the Hungarian public. You representatives of the foreign press, you don't live here. You don't know. You can't know this North Korean type of propaganda that was really propaganda, which didn't include one small element of truth. Viktor Orbán was threatening his own people. He tried with children, our old grandparents, to hold them in fear. He threatened Hungarian people that if a new government would come, Hungarians would be taken to the Ukrainian-Russian front. Their family members would be taken to the front. Viktor Orbán fell very low, extremely low, to try to keep his power and the stolen goods and the stolen money. I want to send a message, a clear message to the entire world that in Hungary, nobody wants war. Hungary stands for peace. The Tisza government will be the government of peace. Contrary to Viktor Orbán, who has not dealt with the problems affecting Hungarian people in the past years, he did not speak about healthcare, education, the cost of living crisis, five-dimensional chess game. What was he, what he was involved with? And I think this is the cause of his failure. He spoke about Russia, Ukraine, Iran, the Iranian Shah, the Ayatollah, the American presidential elections. If he were woken up in the middle of the night, he would have said he won the American elections, not Donald Trump. He spoke about everything except issues, problems that affected the Hungarian people. And the Hungarian people said a no to all this. Millions of Hungarians proved yesterday that Hungarian people write their history not in Moscow. Our history is not written in Brussels or in Washington, but in Hungarian streets, Hungarian squares. I am grateful that they managed to prove this. We will have a lot of tasks. First of all, to accept the anti-corruption measures. We will start Hungary's accession to the European prosecution service. National asset recovery and protection office will be set up. We will modify the fundamental law, and we will write into it that a prime minister in Hungary can only have two cycles, can only serve. So this is 8 years in Hungary. We will restore fundamentally rule of law, plural democracy, checks and balances, the system of checks and balances. We will re-establish this because this is what we got the mandate for from the Hungarian people. It's a great honor for me. You cannot imagine a greater honor than this, that the first free prime minister, Lajos Batthyány, in the 19th century, to sit in his chair to represent, I can represent Hungarian people, and I can tell all Hungarians that 24 hours a day, every single day of the week, and 365 days a year, I wish to serve the Hungarian nation. Politics is service in our mind, and we will bring back politics to the people because politics should be about people. Perhaps I will receive some questions. Often they ask me about the secret of this. Yesterday people asked me, what is the secret? How from zero, no state funds, with the help of volunteers, Hungarian volunteers, the support of Hungarian volunteers, 500, 5,000 foreign support, how can you battle with a state party who has the propaganda, the secret service, the authorities, who has everything, and not just to compete with them but to achieve victory over them, never seen before? Even before the question, I can say that the secret lies in that politics is about people, and this is what many politicians forgot. I can see that many places in Europe, there are crises in government one after the other. Mainstream politicians are frightened that extreme forces are gaining more and more ground, and the party system is overturned in many European countries. I can send a message. I was asked personally by Western European politicians about the secret. You have to stay with the people. You have to put the work into it, whether you like it or not. I visited 700 towns and villages in two years. There are towns and villages, some I visited seven times. I was on Hungarian streets and squares more than in my own bed, in my own flat. This meant that I met my three sons far less than I would have liked to. We started with a Ford Transit truck, a 25-year-old Ford Transit truck. We went around Hungary. I was there in the smallest settlements. I met many million people. I looked into the eyes of hundreds of thousands of people. We shook our hands and we asked, how can we help? How can we prove that politics can be beautiful? It can be frank. It can be honest, it can be fair, and it can be useful. Many people can say this is populism. If it is, it's a good kind of populism because this is what politics should be about. Not politically correct talk, talk, but honesty, humanity. This is what we did, that it's about people. This is what we did. I'm happy that I did not listen to the spin doctors, media analysts who said this would not be possible because you will get tired, exhausted in the countryside. People are not interested in politics. I saw just the opposite. Yesterday's election result showed and 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 the Partium, which is in Romania. And we did 1 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 forint they ask nothing. But we can ask the opinion of citizens. I believe that this will give again and again a mandate for or to 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 to 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, this is a normal operation, normal way of working, and this is what is expected by the other members, is that we are open and honest with each other, especially when it's like a private conversation, but even in a greater room. But 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, and 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. I just get information to 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 disappeared, who was 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, 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 conditions, 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 super majority or a simple majority, but now we will be fortunately using the plans that we have ready for the super majority. 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 interest, 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 stock take, 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 responsibility, 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 were 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. It's a Shambrash Partizán, Hungary. I have two questions. One, 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 that as a 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 and walk. But jokes aside, I said that we would like, I and the MPs will continue to be present. We said that they are not only there for the people during the campaign. They will be true representatives of the people and not only voting machines. And the 30 days that it will take to set up the new government and the new parliament, the new cabinet and the handover procedure. And that is a very important 30 days that we will have to work very hard during those 30 days because that will determine how we can do our job for the rest of our term, whether it's the EU funding, the tax cuts and etc. But after this 30 days, Hungarians can rely on me that I will travel across the country, go to various places, small and larger towns and villages, even though I'm not going to visit six villages each day as I used to during the campaign. But what I did say was that I don't think that government should always have cabinet meetings 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 forint. 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 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 are parts or 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 super majority 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. 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 super majority that gives that enables us to 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 Hungary in its foundations, which partly led to my appearance. I just wanted to make this comment as talked about in 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. 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. And Kálmán Hegedűs, I couldn't 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 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 develop, a country that develops. But he didn't use it. He misused this opportunity.
Thank you. 24.hu, Chaba. 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 earlier? 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 forints 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. Ben Sabo, captain who was a captain of the national bureau of investigation. Under what pressure they were working? They were forced, small police officers, or Pál Szilágyi 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 assets given to them, transfer of assets to them, ministry building, leases, sales, gas, oil procurement, Paks, MET, Botond, Lőrinc foundation, state ad support contracts, all banned campaign financing, above 10 billion public procurement, investigating all public procurement above 10 billion, half Hungarian, foreign. So maybe I'm too fast, I apologize from 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. 6.2 billion Hungarian forints were given to this office. This will be thrown over to the asset recovery. Ben Sabo, Pál Szilágyi and many others will be welcomed to this new institution. We will still remain a little bit with the Hungarian. So now TX is not sitting together with the other.
Da 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 Tamas appointed him. 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 he would like, the prime minister would like to congratulate. And I said on this telephone in a few, no, from his own telephone, I asked him to give him the number 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 didn't, 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, 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 not 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 will, well, we have decided to try to work with him. And if what we see is that the governor of the national bank and 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. Majar, RTL News. I saw that someone gave you a piece of paper during your speech regarding the information concerning Petato. 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 people like that, 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 and because someone worked as a career diplomat or a head of department in a ministry, they were looking at, 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 what 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 TVN news from Poland are here. So the floor is yours. Please pass the microphone.
>> So you have two questions. So have you already 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, Székely and Mariusz 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 has a special relationship. It's a deep friendship and a deep alliance over a thousand years. We had shared kings and queens. The Polish 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. Székely. 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, former Northern 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. Székely and Mr. Romanowski 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. The next question is from the ORF, the Austrian public broadcasting company.
>> Thank you. My name is Hawk Pai. >> Hi. >> What will be your goal of your upcoming visit to Austria and of developing the relationship to the neighboring country? And the second question is, will you reverse Viktor Orbán's stance on Ukraine support and unblock the 90 billion euro credit that is being withheld on the European level?
>> Thank you. First I will discuss with the chancellor of Austria and but I also met him formerly in Munich. So we agreed that I will visit him because we used to have, 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 Czech and Czechia and Slovakia and if it's possible we would like to extend the Visegrád four cooperation. There is the Slavski three, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria and there's 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 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 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 European 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 belongs to us and that every other member states have 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, the deficit and that 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 underlining 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 to 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.
My first question goes towards the relationship between Israel and Hungary. Last year when I was here I was covering how Prime Minister Viktor rolled out the red carpet for Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu and also Israel has, Hungary has made a decision to start a process that Hungary withdraws from the ICC. Really revise this decision. And second, you have just underlined how important it is to forge close ties with European leaders. What will the relationship look like between Hungary and Germany? What kind of relationship would you like to build with Germany's chancellor Mr. Merz? Thank you very much.
>> 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 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 anti-semitism. 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, Merz, 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 SMEs. 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. Viktor Orbán, what he stood for at home and abroad. What should we expect from Péter Magyar? What will you be standing for?
