Hungarian PM stirs controversy over speech in Romanian town

Viktor Orban spared time to throw jabs at the European Union while attending a summer school held yearly in the Romanian spa town of Baile Tusnad.

“We are slowly moving from a pro-war European policy to a pro-peace policy,” claimed the Hungarian Prime Minister, now the Europeans just need to come to their senses before it’s too late. He stated that in the war both sides suffered serious losses, but they did not want to stop. The Prime Minister believes that there are two reasons for this: both sides believe they can defeat the other. Ukrainians think they are defending their country, while Russians think they are defending NATO, he pointed out. Orban also stated that in previous years, the US declared its main adversary to be China, but now it is waging a proxy war against Russia while accusing China of supporting the Russians.

He railed against policies in some Western countries promoting or protecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and voiced support for what he asserted were Christian values.

Orban suggested that the biggest problem in the world today is the disintegration of the West. He emphasized that, according to our understanding, Europe is made up of national states, while according to Western thinking, national states no longer exist. In his opinion, national states “have a biblical basis, one that will be judged at the end of the world”. The West, on the other hand, denies the existence of nation-states, hence the denial of the existence of common culture and public morality.

There are historical tensions between Romania and Hungary over the Romanian region of Transylvania where there is a significant Hungarian minority. There have been claims that over the years, Orban’s government has been encouraging repeated calls for autonomy by the Hungarian minority living in Transylvania.

Viktor Orban gave a revisionist speech in Tušnad last year. “The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told me not to talk about territorial units that do not exist in Romania, but we did not say that Transylvania and the Secuiesc Land are Romanian territories”, said the Hungarian Prime Minister in 2023.

This year’s visit sparked reactions from Romanian authorities. Romania Primes Minister Ciolacu met with Viktor Orban on the sidelines of his visit to Baile Tusnad. Romania’s full accession to the Schengen Area was also on the agenda of the discussions. Orban announced that the topic will be on the agenda of European leaders this fall, as Hungary holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council.

Rareş Bogdan, an MEP from the European People’s Party, said that the Hungarian PM “uses this opportunity to send messages to his voters in Transylvania, those with Hungarian citizenship.” The Romanian member of the European Parliament added that the relationship between Orban and the European Commission is tense. “Orban uses double standards. On the one hand, he keeps asking for EU money, on the other hand, he attacks the very same EU institutions, demands we engage with Putin and blames the European Parliament and the Commission for Russia’s actions. Makes no sense”, said Rareş Bogdan.

Orban is also a staunch supporter of former US president Donald Trump whom he has met multiple times. Orban also told the crowd that he had spoken a day earlier by phone with Trump, repeating a previous suggestion that “Hungarian professionals” are participating in the creation of Trump’s program. The programme to which Orban might be referring could be Project 2025, a controversial initiative put together by various conservative NGOs’. Critics have characterized Project 2025 as an authoritarian plan to steer the U.S. toward autocracy, consolidating the president’s grip on the executive branch.