Fidesz: the EU also accepts restrictions on the freedom of speech

In response to a question on Poland-Hungary ties, Gulyás noted that Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his newly appointed Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, had not held a bilateral meeting in recent times but they had met at the recent EU summit.

He also said that Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico had said on a recent visit to that Slovakia stood by Hungary in Brussels, but “they also need Hungary to stand up for Slovakia”.

Commenting on Visegrad Group cooperation, he said its four member states had several joint interests despite differences in political opinion, so “there is scope for pragmatic cooperation”. He expressed hope that the next V4 meeting could take place in the first half of 2024.

Asked about Ursula von der Leyen’s prospects, Gulyás said the current European Commission president had a high chance of remaining in her position.

Commenting on Sweden’s NATO accession, he said “it appears that this is not as important to the Swedes as it is to the NATO secretary general”, who projected its accession date to be in the first half of the year. “Nobody has contacted us about it from Sweden,” he added.

The government, he said, wanted to avoid Hungary being the last country to ratify Sweden’s NATO accession. Some commonly understood concerns must be resolved first, he said, and communication was needed to rebuild trust. He also said that the Turkish parliament had repeatedly announced and then postponed a vote in this matter. “Let’s wait and see when the Turks decide,” he added.

“The more countries, the stronger the force,” he said in response to a question on whether Sweden’s accession would strengthen NATO. At the same time, he said Sweden’s contribution would be “modest”, adding there wasn’t a single conflict in the world where an individual country’s contribution would be decisive, though within the bloc, the power of the US was decisive, he added, and and only a few other countries played a significant role.

Commenting on a recent Hungarian visit to the Sahel, he said the African region was currently one of the deepest sources of migration, and Hungary’s position was that help must be taken to where it is needed. The Hungary Helps programme aims at this purpose, he added.

In response to another question, he said a military mission in Chad was making good progress.

Commenting on the visit of the Latin patriarch to Hungary, he said the most important subject was how Hungary could effectively help Christians in the Holy Land and the victims of the Israeli-Hamas conflict under the arrangements of the Hungary Helps programme.

Commenting on German farmers’ protests, he said his personal view was that green policies launched in the past were currently being forced on people beyond the bounds of common sense. “Imposing a twentieth extra tax on famers using diesel is obviously difficult to accept,” he added. He said Germany was characterised by domestic political instability that the country had never witnessed before, and public opinion of the German chancellor had never been as poor as it was today. “The three-party coalition is marred by disagreements on many issues, and its public support is only around 30 percent, which would have been inconceivable in the past,” he added.

Commenting on the EU digital directive entering force in the next month, he said it would be useful and necessary to formulate common European action concerning big-tech companies like Facebook and YouTube.

“At the same time, it should be noted that currently the EU also accepts restrictions on the freedom of speech and some constitutional restrictions that the Hungarian government — which reprersents a classic liberal position — does not find acceptable,” he said.

The Hungarian government will be represented in the body reviewing regulations ranging from tax obligations to the “extremely questionable” rules of comment restriction, he said.

Asked about this year’s mayoral elections, Gulyás said the elections were on the schedule of next week’s Fidesz board meeting, and Fidesz would have its own candidate.

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