Viktor Orbán defended Hungary’s extra pension payment and other programs for the elderly on Kossuth Radio this morning, saying: “There are two groups that the civil, national government needs to pay attention to, one is children and the other is pensioners,” adding that when possible, they seek to help these groups.
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| Image Credit: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images |
Anticipating a strong 2025, Orbán is looking forward to even greater opportunities to do so. “When there is a problem, one immediately thinks of one’s children and parents, which is probably why the focus of the government’s measures is usually on children and pensioners,” he said.
“Respect and recognition motivate the government, towards those to whom we can thank that we are here now. When there is an economic opportunity, it is a natural idea to expand towards pensioners,” the prime minister added.
“They also have houses, they can modernize them, sell them,” the prime minister said about the government providing funds for home renovation to pensioners living in towns with fewer than 5,000 residents. The program offers up to HUF 6 million, half as a government grant and half as a loan, and has impacted 600,000 people.
Regarding the 13th-month pension, which had been taken away during the Gyurcsány era, Orbán said: “It is difficult to understand why this has become a political issue.”
“The left is trying to defend that it was right to take this away, and Brussels has entered the debate, where economic regulations are formulated, first as recommendations, and then they become binding rules, becoming a prerequisite for obtaining financial resources,” the prime minister continued, adding that in his opinion, Brussels would rather give this money “to speculators and banks” than to citizens in need.
“The Hungarian government is resisting this, we have won the battle so far, the 13th-month pension will soon arrive to pensioners, use it as you please,” he assured listeners.
Viktor Orbán also spoke about the termination of the USAID program, noting that an economic agreement of considerable size is in the works. “The Democrats have destroyed economic relations, which need to be repaired, which is why the big action plan is being developed,” he said, adding that Chinese investments in Hungary surpassed that of Americans as well under Biden.
“Skeletons are falling out of the closet of the previous Democratic government; the liberal-global elite wanted to finance its goals around the world with the Americans, which was presented as aid but was used as a political tool,” Orbán said. He noted that many recipients are also on Soros’ payroll, and funded by Brussels as well, meaning groups behind “community-destroying, anti-family, pro-migration activities” received plenty of money.
“People and organizations paid from abroad want to overthrow the government, for example, the newspaper Politico received money from everywhere. They constantly attacked our country for preventing the spread of gender madness, for rejecting migration and for our position in the Russian-Ukrainian war,” the prime minister listed.
He also addressed the rise of Péter Magyar as simply the next opposition politician being promoted. “But this has failed. The cleansing wind of the Trump tornado is sweeping through, and the facts are coming to light,” Orbán said.
He joked that the left will have to come up with new conspiracy theories to accuse him of, as the Soros plan, continuously denied by the left, has definitely worked, with 1 million migrants arriving in Europe each year, and everyone who supported it receiving money.
“They must be swept out, the entire Soros network must be dismantled. We cannot accept money from abroad for political purposes and we will enforce this,” he emphasized, noting that large sums have been funneled into Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia to topple governments and bring to power those who will obey.
Of course, now, under the Trump administration in the U.S., the governments in both America and Hungary “accept sovereignty as the greatest value.”
The EU migration pact is still a thorn in the side of Hungary, and Orbán reiterated that force must be used to fight this: “You must rebel.”
He added that the €1 million/day fine is still better than letting in migrants and dealing with that nightmare. He also added that more and more countries are now also rebelling — the Poles, the Germans and the Italians.
Regarding an effort to reform their migration policy being ultimately voted down in Germany, Orbán said the upcoming election will hopefully fix that problem, with the conservative, anti-migration AfD continuously rising in the polls.