This speech was delivered at the Conference of Speakers of European Union Parliaments on 12 May 2025, Budapest.
Good morning.
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I warmly and cordially welcome you to Hungary, and especially to the Hungarian parliament. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. This is not entirely unjustified. I have been a Member of Parliament since the first free elections in 1990, and between 1994 and 1998 I was Chairman of the Hungarian parliament’s European Integration Committee, and also Joint Chairman of the EU-Hungary Joint Parliamentary Committee, and I am currently the doyen of the European Council. But what is even more interesting is that I was also leader of the Opposition for 16 years, and so I know parliamentary politics from both sides. Thank you for your invitation. The Conference of Speakers of European Union Parliaments is the highest forum for cooperation between national parliaments. Its task is a serious one: to set strategic goals for cooperation. You could not have asked for a better venue than our Upper House. In Hungary, the Lower House has always been the scene of political battles; and for as long as it has existed, the Upper House has always been the scene of cooperation and strategic debate. Today I am asking you to engage in dialogue on two strategic issues that will decide the fate of Europe and the Member States for decades to come, and will define the role of national parliaments. The first is the defence of national sovereignty, and the second is the question of Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today the world is undergoing a transformation on a scale comparable only to the Peace of Westphalia, which marked the birth of modern nation states. The world is changing, the mindset of the Western world is changing, and we Europeans must respond. New winds are blowing in the United States. The political programme of progressive liberalism has failed, and has been replaced by patriotic politics. This change is not only a domestic political development in the US, but also has major international consequences. We do not know for sure what the future holds, because we cannot know; we believe, however, that the United States has not suffered an electoral accident, but has embarked on a new era. Over the past eighty years it has been in the interest of the United States to maintain a liberal international order. This has come to an end. It has now begun to dismantle this order, because it no longer sees it as being in its own interests. Across the ocean the curtain has come down on the old world order. China, meanwhile, is moving ahead at breakneck speed. It is now competing with us not only in industrial capacity, but also in technology. India is about to enter the global political arena. The world’s most populous country is a superpower not only in population, but also in economic and technological ambition. It has the backing of the world’s largest market, and has all the potential to become a global powerhouse on a par with China. What about us in Europe? Europe is unprepared! It is as if we are trying to solve the problems of the next decade with solutions from the previous decade. But the old truths are no longer working. The world has changed, but we Europeans have not followed. I have been a member of the European Council for fifteen years, and I have personally lived through these wasted years, through fifteen years of drift.
Ladies and Gentlemen, if we had led Hungary the way the Commission has led Europe, we would have been ruined long ago. The Western strategy aimed at breaking Russia has failed. No one dares to admit it, but we have lost this war. Russia’s economy has not collapsed, sanctions have not worked, and the Russians have prevented Ukraine becoming a member of NATO. The Americans have recognised this and are now negotiating. We Europeans are continuing the war and pretending that we can win. I hope I am wrong, but we will end up alone with this war in our neighbourhood, while we spend all our money on an unattainable victory. We have abandoned Europe’s successful economic strategy. Cheap energy – which is of course Russian – plus advanced technology – which is mostly German – adds up to a competitive European economy. That was the old strategy. We have abandoned it, there is no new one, and we are left in the middle of nowhere. Cheap energy has vanished from Europe. American and Chinese companies now have access to energy at a third or a quarter the price of that available to European companies. We Europeans only have access to expensive energy because of the sanctions. The sanctions combined with the Green Deal are destroying the European economy. Under these conditions we are not competing, but retreating. This is no longer a theoretical issue, but economic reality. It is causing the European economy to stagnate, and we can be thankful if it does not contract. Today, only four of the world’s fifty biggest technology companies are European. In the last twenty years the gap between European GDP and US GDP has doubled. Since 2000 per capita real income has grown twice as fast in the US as in the EU. These problems are serious enough on their own, but now they are happening simultaneously. We need a new strategy and strong European leaders.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today Europe is rich and weak. This is the most dangerous combination! This is why we must first of all strengthen Europe. We have historical experience of what a strong Europe looks like. In the jungle of complex geopolitical debates, one thing is certain: after the Peace of Westphalia and the emergence of nation states, Europe became a strong and commanding world power. The glorious era in Europe’s history began with nation states, which have made it successful for centuries. And they have also done so over the last eighty years. The success of the European Union has been built on the economic and political strength of nation states. The European Union has been successful through cooperation among nation states and strong leaders of strong national democracies – and indeed this is how it was born, how it was created. Hence the importance of national parliaments. In Europe no strong and successful nation state can exist without a strong national parliament. In short, the European Union owes everything to national parliaments. National parliaments are the historical arenas and laboratories for the development of European constitutionalism and democracy. The shared European values that are so often invoked in Brussels were in fact born in the chambers, halls and corridors of national parliaments. If the Union is to succeed, it must accord more respect to national parliaments. National parliaments are not artificial institutions created by treaty, but genuine representative bodies that evolve organically. This should not be forgotten – even in Brussels. This is why it is repugnant and arrogant for bureaucrats who have never been elected by anyone to give lectures on democracy and values to elected representatives and the leaders of national institutions.
Your Excellencies,
For fifteen years now I have seen that whenever Europe has faced a problem, the response from Brussels has always been the same: more powers for Brussels, less freedom for the nation states; the centre always grows stronger, and the Member States always grow weaker. And the result is that the problems never diminish, but always get worse: financial crisis; migration; energy crisis; war. Ever more EU powers, ever more crises. And what has happened to those who resisted centralisation and the confiscation of powers by stealth? Anyone who steps out of line, who defends the nation-state framework, is threatened with the withdrawal of EU funds. If that fails, Brussels will render the work of national governments impossible, intervene and bring them down, helping into power its favoured agent parties that abandon national sovereignty. From first-hand experience I can say that in Hungary this has already been tried twice: in 2018 and in 2022. Those attempts were unsuccessful, but now they are trying for a third time. In this respect Hungary is not alone, however, as there are others. Matters have now reached the point at which they openly admit that they want to ruin Hungary’s economy in order to replace the national government with a puppet government of their own liking, which will serve the interests of Brussels.
Dear Friends,
This is not the purpose for which the founding fathers created the European Union. Meanwhile, the NGO scandal in Brussels is growing. It has emerged that the Brussels bureaucracy has been allocating hundreds of millions of euros of public money to organisations that have acted as advocates and lobbyists for a federal Europe. This can only be described as an attempted coup against national parliaments. The question is this: What can national parliaments do about the supranational steamroller in Brussels? I would like to draw your attention to the resolution adopted by the Hungarian parliament in July 2022. The Hungarian parliament adopted a resolution on Hungary’s position with regard to the future of the European Union. It proposes the following. The Hungarian parliament proposes the deletion from the Treaties of the principle of “ever closer union”. It proposes the enshrinement in the Treaties of Europe’s Christian roots and culture. It proposes the enshrinement of the principle of the European Commission’s political and ideological neutrality. It seeks to strengthen the principle of subsidiarity. It intends to create a detailed catalogue circumscribing the powers of the European Union.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
If all the national parliaments wanted this, it would happen.
And finally, Ladies and Gentlemen, I must also talk about the idea of admitting Ukraine to the European Union. And now this is more than an idea – it is also a political aim. I am aware that on this issue we do not all think alike. We respect positions that differ from ours, we constantly listen to them, we try to understand them, we try to come to terms with them. I will now present the Hungarian position. We believe that several European nations want to give Ukraine further support, so that it can continue the war. We have a different opinion. We think that the longer the war goes on, the more lives will be lost, and the worse the situation on the battlefield will be. In our opinion, continuation of the war will only worsen the situation in Europe. The Commission’s idea – and indeed its proposal – to enforce compulsory divestment from Russian energy resources because of the war will simply kill the Hungarian economy. I am not talking about the impact on the European economy – I am simply citing the fact that if this is implemented, it will kill the Hungarian economy. Imagine the price of energy for households and companies suddenly doubling. Hungarian families could not bear such a thing! Brussels cannot want to destroy Hungarian families. This is why we Hungarians want peace, and why we want to jettison the policy of economic sanctions as quickly as possible. The issue of Ukraine’s accession to the EU deserves a separate conference. All I can say for now is that we, as a neighbouring country of Ukraine, see that if you take in Ukraine, you will take in the war. We have never taken in a country at war – and for good reason. In addition, we Hungarians believe that Ukraine’s membership would be an economic burden that the Member States would be unable to bear. I would like to remind everyone that we Hungarians and the other Central European countries were admitted to the European Union because Central Europe would be beneficial for those who were already in the Union. This was not a moral or social gesture on the Member States’ part: we were admitted because those who were already in the EU would benefit from our membership. This was an accurate calculation. If you look at the figures, all the older members of the EU, without exception, have benefited from the membership of the Central European countries. But Ukraine is a different story: we would be harmed. It would be a bad deal: agricultural crisis; unemployment; high levels of debt; falling living standards. Why would we want to bring this about? I respectfully ask you to study the Hungarian position and consider our arguments.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
If we really want to build a strong Europe, the national parliaments must play a leading role, not a supporting role. Those who do not accept a role will sooner or later become stage scenery and ornament, and the story will continue without them. I believe that we, as national parliamentarians, have a duty to play our role – and we Hungarians are ready to do so.
Make Europe Great Again!
Thank you for your attention.
Viktor Orban is the Prime Minister of Hungary.