Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán accused the European Union on Thursday of seeking to impose a “puppet” government on Hungary and presented next year’s election as a choice between peace or war in which Hungarians “die for Ukraine”.
As tens of thousands of his supporters filled Budapest’s central square, Orban said Brussels wanted war and intended to eventually divide Ukraine, Reuters reported.
The event was organized on the occasion of the anniversary of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956. Orban faces the most serious threat to his 15-year rule in the form of a pro-European opposition party ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections.
The commemoration of the anniversary of Hungary’s anti-Soviet uprising comes at a sensitive time for Orban, who opposed the EU’s military aid policy for Ukraine after Russia’s invasion and maintains good relations with the Kremlin despite his isolation from other EU member states.
Orban, a longtime ally of US President Donald Trump who has advocated for peace in Ukraine without specifying what the cost to the Ukrainian side would be, also had high hopes for the scheduled meeting in Budapest between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. But Trump postponed the meeting yesterday, citing a lack of progress in diplomatic efforts and a sense that the timing was not right for an event of this magnitude. The US president has imposed sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil companies in an attempt to deprive Moscow of vital revenue.
Hungary relies heavily on Russian energy inputs and it was unclear whether these US measures could threaten the country’s oil supply.
Orbán, who addressed the crowd at 12:00 local time (1:00 p.m. Bulgarian time), said earlier that “the day of the peace march in Budapest” had arrived.
“Today we send a message to the whole world – Hungary says NO to war! We will not die for Ukraine. We will not send our children to be slaughtered on the orders of Brussels,” the Hungarian Prime Minister wrote on social networks.
“That’s why they want to get Ukraine into the EU at any cost… to bring war to Europe and take money from the EU to Ukraine,” Orban said at the rally outside parliament.
Supporters of the prime minister crossed the Danube bridge chanting “We don’t want to die for Ukraine” as a summit was being held in Brussels. Some of them stated that the protection of the country’s sovereignty was of the utmost importance.
“The sovereignty of Hungary is under threat from several directions, and the biggest threat, in my opinion, comes from the imperial ambitions of the European Union,” said a demonstrator, quoted by Reuters.
In the parliamentary elections in April next year, Orbán will face the center-right Tisza party of the opposition Peter Magyar, which leads in most polls. The opposition is counting on attracting Orbán voters who are disillusioned with his policies, especially given the fact that the economy is showing weak growth after an inflationary shock, Reuters notes.
Magyar’s supporters called for change
Magyar, who blames Orbán for running an increasingly authoritarian and corrupt government, also addressed his supporters. He promised to keep Hungary firmly anchored in the European Union and NATO.
Waving the national flag, Magyar took to the podium as his supporters filled Budapest’s historic Heroes’ Square. They shouted: “Enough with us” and “Russians, go home”.
The Hungarian president recalled 1989, when Orbán famously stood up and demanded that Soviet troops leave Hungary during a reburial ceremony for former prime minister Imre Nagy, who led the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising.
“This politician who demanded that Russian troops leave Hungary is now the Kremlin’s most loyal ally,” the opposition leader said.
“He built a system where power is centralized, the press is controlled… and the country is run by fear.”
His supporters said it was time for a change. “I’m fed up with this system that’s been in place for 15 years,” said Istvan Cirkus, who said young people are fleeing the country.
“We are sliding down, the GDP is at the lowest level compared to Europe.”
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