Hello, good afternoon. Good afternoon to everybody. It is an honour to be here, first time representing Hungary as Prime Minister.
I had a fruitful meeting today with the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola. We agreed that the Article 7 procedure against Hungary, now running for eight years, must be closed. We will receive every possible assistance in this.
After that I attended the meeting of the heads of state and government of the European People's Party, and I have just come from the meeting of the Friends of Cohesion, which was organised by the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni. Before that I had a short meeting with the Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico, and after that a Visegrád Four coordination with the four Visegrád prime ministers — or rather, with three of them together. I am pleased that everyone accepted my invitation, and on 23 June, next week, we can meet in Budapest and Gödöllő. We all agreed that it is important to restart the coordination of the Visegrád Four, the V4.
It is regrettable that this has not worked for years. We agreed that this is a very important coordination forum and an influential group among the 27 member states. So I look forward with great expectations to the cooperation of the Visegrád Four, the newly reinforced Visegrád Four. I am pleased, as I said, that I can represent Hungary as Prime Minister.
I have said everywhere, and Hungary is being received everywhere with great expectations, that we will represent Hungary with a different method. We will certainly not agree on everything. I can promise one thing, and I have promised and committed this to everyone: I will represent only and exclusively the interests of Hungary and the Hungarian people, whether here at the European Council or in bilateral meetings. So we will not agree on everything, but we will not fight just for the sake of fighting.
We will not agree or veto here for domestic or party-political reasons, but solely on the basis of Hungarian interests. I think this will already be something new, as will the fact that since March 2025 there is for the first time a real chance that there will be an accepted European Council conclusions text. Since last March it has not been possible to do this because of the Hungarian veto, Viktor Orbán's veto. We are working to make it succeed this time. We still have reservations, there are still one or two problems we have to solve, but I very much hope that the evening is still long enough for us to solve them. You know the topics: enlargement, competitiveness, China. And the most important one comes tomorrow: the negotiations on the seven-year financial framework. That was obviously the topic of the Friends of Cohesion coordination with 16 member states. We agreed on a great many things and reached an agreement that we will remain united as long as possible, since according to the plans the member states would like to reach a unanimous agreement on the next seven-year budget sometime in December. That is all I can say. There are one or two questions, I am happy to answer them and then I have to run.
Thank you very much. I also said, and I have said everywhere, that I am very pleased, firstly, that we managed to reach a political agreement with the European Commission on bringing home 6,000 billion forints of EU funds. I told everyone that the necessary legislative amendments are in progress, and although Fidesz and the opposition obviously do not support the anti-corruption legislative amendments or joining the European Public Prosecutor's Office, fortunately we have sufficient support and sufficient representatives to adopt this. Obviously the current opposition is trying to prevent this 6,000 billion forints from coming home and being spent on Hungarian healthcare, transport, business development or agriculture. They will not succeed in preventing it. And let me also answer your question. I also said that we are very pleased that we have managed to achieve a historic breakthrough with Ukraine regarding the language use, cultural, political and educational rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia. This makes it possible, as we said in advance, for us to contribute to the opening of the first cluster in connection with Ukraine's accession.
What we have reservations about, and we are not alone in this, is that now, after the opening of the first cluster, we should immediately talk about opening all the other cluster chapters. The positions are very divergent, if I may be honest, among the member states. There are those who say the same as we do. We stand for a merit-based, performance-based accession process, as I have said before. There cannot be two kinds of accession procedure. The Union cannot do this to the Western Balkan countries, which have been working for years, for many years, to open chapters, to close chapters, while bypassing them and favouring other member states in a different accession and enlargement process. That would not be honest, it would not be pragmatic, and it would be a very bad signal towards the Balkan countries. I believe that where there are results, those results must be recognised. It is also in the interest of the Union and the Western Balkan countries that they become members of the European Union as quickly as possible. So this is the difference: some may want a different accession method, some would open everything immediately, some would open only two chapters. And we say that we have just opened the first cluster, the ink has not even dried on it yet. At present, I think we should send a positive signal to those candidate countries that have already put in a great deal of work. We will talk about this, but of course unanimity — I worked in this building as a diplomat for many years. I know that it is difficult to find a compromise among 27 member states, but I remember times when it succeeded, and we will work on this, and I think others will work on it too.
There is an important topic where I think there is a big difference of opinion between the Tisza and the European Council position. Well, the devil is in the details. One thing is what prepared document there is and what conclusions the Council issues. That is one thing. What is said in the room is another matter. Since I have not yet heard the positions and opinions of the heads of state and government, I cannot say in advance. The old hands here told me — Donald Tusk, Robert Fico, or I could even mention the French President — that these European Council meetings are never boring, you have to stay alert and pay attention, and it is not worth going out for coffee because big things can happen. So I promise that however long the night is, I will not go out for coffee. If possible, I will ask for the coffee to be brought to the table.
I can say the same as I said before: we are working on it. This is not the only open case. There are several European Court of Justice rulings that touch on important and sensitive issues concerning Hungary and Hungarian legislation. We are negotiating with our Polish colleagues, with our Czech colleagues, with the European Commission and also with the European Parliament to find this solution. I can say that when this court ruling was handed down, when the whole case started, there was a completely different legal environment, a different EU legal environment, and an even more different mood in Europe. Tomorrow at 9:00 there will be a coordination of the member states calling for a stricter, more coordinated and more determined fight against illegal migration. This is like the Friends of Cohesion, only here the member states are coordinating on fighting illegal migration. I see that the mood is very different, the approach is very different from before. Of course there is a court ruling and there is a Hungarian law, whose validity will expire soon. We have to work on finding a solution that achieves the same result as the previous government wanted to achieve, but without having to pay this 1 million euros. As soon as this solution is ready, and as soon as it is in a state where it can be submitted to the Hungarian Parliament for debate, adoption, or even public consultation, we will announce it. For this, the colleagues have to coordinate with several member states and with the EU institutions. I can say further that, unlike the previous government, which lied about fighting illegal migration and at the same time planned a migrant camp in Vitnyéd, even paying for it from public funds, we will not allow illegal migrants to come to Hungary, and we will also tighten the entry of legal immigrants and workers, as we have already partly done. We want to promote the Hungarian workforce and we want as many people as possible to return home.
I will come to Hungary again when there is something worth coming for. Thank you.
So far, under the Orbán government, it has cost 1 billion euros, about 400 billion forints. The Tisza government was formed barely a month ago, and the ministers took up their posts only a week or two ago. I can say that in these three weeks we have brought home — that is, we have done everything to ensure that the 6,000 billion forints arrives. So perhaps the deadline should not be demanded from us. We are now in damage control and firefighting, clearing away the damage and solving the problems caused by Viktor Orbán's two-faced, hypocritical — I could even say anti-Hungarian — government. Thank you very much. All the best.
I ask that at least you do not lie in Brussels. I know that the propaganda people are very nervous, because four weeks after the election, with 90%, the public money pump has collapsed. I ask that you do not lie in your questions.
The other gentleman said it was a blatant lie. He never said such a thing. So I ask that you do not use other people for money. I ask the same of János Pócs. He already did this in Zsadány. I think he will soon have to answer before the court. He may have lied so much that it amounts to a cumulative offence. Thank you. Good work.
