Orbán: Hungary is fighting two important battles with Brussels
During his regular interview with public radio, PM Orbán said the rate freeze had saved around 300,000 households HUF 55bn, so far. Phasing the measure out would put around one-tenth of those borrowers at risk of bankruptcy, he added.
PM Orbán said the rate freeze was necessary until the cost of borrowing fell with a reduction of the base rate by the National Bank of Hungary (NBH).
Without the mandatory caps on markups, he said the prices of most of the affected products would rise significantly. He acknowledged retailers' motivation to boost earnings but said some profit was 'unjustified' and, past a certain degree, 'could ruin people'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Budapest Times
16 hours ago
- Budapest Times
Prime minister meets UAE President during his first official visit to Hungary
During the visit, Hungary signed 14 agreements with the UAE that will create new opportunities in the two countries' relations. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met President of the United Arab Emirates Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during his first official visit to Hungary in Budapest on Thursday. During the visit, Hungary signed 14 agreements with the UAE that will create new opportunities in the two countries' relations, primarily in the areas of energy, agriculture and food industry, defence industry, telecommunications and new technologies, the statement said. The Ministry for National Economy signed three agreements with the UAE, including one on finding new investment opportunities with the global investment company Mubadala, and one on identifying opportunities for cooperation with the UAE Ministry of Investment involving data centres and artificial intelligence projects. Energy links are expected to intensify as a result of Hungary's Energy Ministry signing an agreement with the UAE's Ministry of Investment and the Masdar company on cooperation in the area of green and renewable energy, and storage capacities for renewable energy. An agreement between the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture and the UAE's Ministry of Investment is expected to give new impetus to cooperation in the food industry and agriculture, helping Hungarian technologies reach a market in the UAE. The Ministry of Public Administration and Regional Development signed an agreement with the UAE's Ministry of Cabinet Affairs on sharing government development and modernisation experiences, and the Ministry of Culture and Innovation signed a memorandum of understanding with the UAE Ministry of Family on deepening cooperation in family and youth policies. In addition to government agreements, cooperation between companies in the two countries will also be expanded. On the sidelines of the visit, the Budapest Stock Exchange and the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange signed a cooperation agreement.
Budapest Times
16 hours ago
- Budapest Times
Orbán: At least 20% of Hungarians' money would be given to Ukraine in EU budget
Commenting on the EU's post-2027 budget draft, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that at least 20 percent of Europeans' money and therefore 20 percent of Hungarians' money would be given to Ukraine. PM Orbán said in an interview with public radio that several independent expert groups have identified and added up 'hidden items in the budget categorised under the European Commission's individual decisions', and found that 20 percent, or possibly even 25 percent of the budget could be transferred to Ukraine. 'I can confidently say, not based on my own knowledge, but based on the knowledge of experts, that at least 20 percent of this budget is targeted at Ukraine,' PM Orbán said.
Budapest Times
16 hours ago
- Budapest Times
Hungary must stay on the side of peace, PM says
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Hungary must stay on the side of peace. The prime minister said the war in Ukraine will not end unless the Russian and US presidents sit down for talks and they reach an overall agreement which will cover the war as an important element, but not the only element. PM Orbán said in the interview with Tamás Király on the YouTube channel Ultrahang that if everyone wanted peace, 'it is impossible that peace would not be achieved'. 'What happens in the current situation is that everyone says they want peace, yet some of them do not really want it,' he added. PM Orbán said that Europeans and Ukrainians obviously wanted to continue war no matter what they said, and the US president truly wanted peace. 'As for the Russians, what's certain is that they want to reach the marked territorial borders and want to prevent, if necessary by war, that Ukraine should become a NATO member or a NATO weapons depository,' he added. Beyond the issue of the war, the comprehensive Russia-US agreement would cover the development of energy prices, US access to Russian markets and Russian access to US markets, economic sanctions, technology, and the issue of arms control, he said. PM Orbán said Hungary was a 'dangerous example' showing in Europe that it was possible to take a stand against war, to stand up for peace, and 'if you are strong enough you can stay out of the war'. Hungary was 'the antithesis of all that Europe is doing, talking about peace but in truth being interested in maintaining the war,' he added. He said he was regularly putting in use all his links with both the Russian and the US presidents to promote peace. While US President Donald Trump has failed to create peace since his inauguration in January, 'if Biden had stayed or Kamala Harris had come in his stead, we would be in the middle of a world war.' Trump 'is a man of peace and doubtlessly the only one with a chance to contribute to a Russia-Ukraine peace' deal, he said. Asked why he stood firmly for keeping Hungary out of the war from the beginning, Orban said his 'firm conviction' was founded on national interests, among other reasons. 'Hungary cannot come out of a situation where 800,000 or a million people are armed in Ukraine, creating a larger and stronger army than Hungary's; only God knows what that would be used in the coming decade,' he said. PM Orbán said 'no condition is in place' for Ukraine to win against Russia. Ukraine 'has fewer men and less money than Russia even is the West stuffs them with money, its weapons industry is decades behind Russia's, and, most importantly, Russia is a nuclear power, and no one … has ever defeated a nuclear superpower'. 'I have always thought that the plan that Ukraine should defeat Russia on the frontline, possibly destabilising it so it can be transformed, was a foolish one,' Orban said. Meanwhile, PM Orbán said the focus of 'the historic period we are living in' was not the Russia-Ukraine war but 'the problem of Christian-Muslim coexistence'. 'What's the point in Christian, white Europeans killing each other by the hundreds of thousands on the Russia-Ukraine border while masses of people, who are strangers to our culture … and belong to the world of Islam are allowed to enter at the other end of the continent?' PM Orbán said that this 'abnormal behaviour' was a sign that 'political leaders are misreading the historic time'. 'The power issues of the Russia-Ukraine war, and its conclusion, may be more important at the moment, but it isn't the historic time that will determine the lives of our children and grandchildren.' He said there was no danger of Russia attacking NATO member states, adding that while Russia had some 140 million inhabitants, the EU had 400 million. Further, the money Russia could plough into a war with Europe 'is a fraction' of what the West could mobilise, even without US help, he said. He said he had yet to see a 'sensible argument' of why Russia would start a war against Western Europe, that it could only lose. At the same time, the Baltic states and Poland 'are worried that NATO won't protect them against a Russian attack; that explains why they want to beat the Russians now and bring the matter to a head,' PM Orbán said. At the same time, the solution to the problem is not on the battlefield, he said. 'The response to their dilemma is not forcing a war but strengthening NATO,' he added. PM Orbán said the NATO summit of 2008 had proven that Russians had the power to prevent Ukrainians or Georgians from becoming NATO members, and since that time once again Russia had to be considered a persisting, long-lasting and continually strengthening player in world politics.
