Orbán announces introduction of new legislation to prevent protesters from occupying bridges, Kategóriák: Belföld,Külföld,Gazdaság,English

The Hungarian PM also explained why they didn't arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, why Hungary is leaving the ICC, and spoke about the government's plans to revive the economy.

Az iNews.hu-ról elérhető hír a következő kategóriákban Belföld,Külföld,Gazdaság,English : Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gives an interview on the programme entitled "Good Morning, Hungary!" at the Óbuda studio of Kossuth Rádió on 14 February 2025. Photo: Vivien Benko Cher / Press Office of the Prime Minister / MTIMost Friday mornings, Hungary’s Prime Minister gives an interview on one of the public radio stations. Since the independent media has not had a chance to interview him for several years, these weekly radio interviews provide a rare opportunity for finding out what the leader of the country thinks about current events, how he sees his opponents and any issues at hand.25 years is a long time, and during that time, there have been some serious international changes in the global political arena. Many international organisations have challenged the sovereignty of sovereign nation states, and they have been increasingly overreaching their competences. One of these is the International Criminal Court, which has become a political court, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at the beginning of his customary Friday morning visit to the public Kossuth Rádió, commenting on his government's Thursday announcement that the country would be withdrawing from the International Criminal Court.Prior to the Prime Minister's arrival at the headquarters of the public broadcaster, demonstrators, MPs and activists from the opposition party Momentum tried to block his entry by sitting down in front of the building's entrance. There was a heavy police presence at the site, and they tried to keep the protesters away from the building. Eventually, Orbán walked into the building about 10 minutes before 7.30 am, protected from the protesters by a double wall of police officers. Some shouted "War criminal, war criminal" at him as he walked by.Once in the studio, Orbán also said that according to his recollection, when Hungary joined the ICC, “it was tied to the idea that after the end of the communist era, Hungary should take its place in the international arena by becoming a member of NATO, of the European Union and by securing its place in institutions that would mark Hungary's place in this new world, free of socialism and the Soviet Union. And it was good for that. And by the way, Hungary has always been half-hearted about this whole thing.”He explained what he meant by this: although we had signed the document, we had "never made it part of the Hungarian legal order". When asked why the Hungarian authorities did not arrest Netanyahu even though the ICC had issued an arrest warrant for him, the Prime Minister responded that there were three answers to this question. First of all it is not customary, secondly, we did not want to do that, because Israel is our friend and it is good for Hungary to have friends, and thirdly, he said "even if we had wanted to, we could not have ordered the police to do so, because we had not made the document part of the Hungarian legal code, thus, there was no legal way to do so."I don't want to bore anybody with complicated legal explanations, but although we signed this statute that people are talking about, the country became a member of such an international court, but we actually never made it part of Hungarian law. In such cases, the correct procedure is that, even if you sign something, it's not worth much, it also has to be adopted by Parliament, and that's how it becomes part of Hungarian law. This has not happened in Hungary, or actually, we did do this, but it was never promulgated. So the bottom line is that we signed an international treaty, but we never took all the steps to make its enforcement possible in Hungary," he said.They talked about anti-Semitism, and the fact that there is zero tolerance for it in Hungary, and also about the relationship between Hungary and Israel, which is important for the Jewish community centered in Budapest. “So I think that for the Hungarian citizens of Jewish origin living in Hungary, I think they are happy about this, it makes them feel secure, maybe even proud that the relations between the two countries are good, that we have a direct security interest in Israel being stable, and we have an economic interest in it as well.”According to the Prime Minister, there is a good economic relationship between Hungary and Israel, we also have a military relationship, and they also make a significant contribution to tourism in our country. "In all of Europe, the Jewish community is the safest in Hungary," Orbán said.Five economic and five political targets for the year aheadTurning to Hungary's economic performance, Orbán indicated that there are five economic and five political targets the government has set for this year, such as bringing down the prices, Europe's biggest tax cut for "families and mothers", a major programme to support small businesses, and a tax rebate for pensioners on food. He then listed the political programmes, including the protection of children and the crackdown on drugs."In the first quarter, the Hungarian economy will grow by 0.7-0.8 percent (...), in the third quarter we will reach 3 percent", and by the end of the year more than that. In Orbán's view, this is certainly doable.As to how it will be possible to remain independent of international influences or to maintain results in spite of those, Orbán said that "if there is work, you have everything, and never before have we had so many people employed in Hungary as we do now", and then added that "we have never before managed to attract so many Roma into the workforce in Hungary as we have right now, which is something we are very proud of".Orbán went on to explain that the only thing Hungary has to do now is to support Trump and his policy on Ukraine, except that, he continued, Western Europe is taking a different direction. "Let there be peace, while we strengthen our military and our economy," Orbán said. "Poor countries have never had a strong army". In his opinion, Trump has already succeeded in isolating the conflict, the next step will be to achieve a ceasefire. "I believe that Hungary will be able to implement its own peace plan" even if the environment in Western Europe remains unfavourable, Orbán said.“The only thing we can do is to change the law”Orbán also received a question about the recent demonstrations related to the freedom of assembly, and said that he had worked on the subject several times in recent days, speaking with both lawyers and fellow MPs. "We will introduce an amendment that will seek to also take into account the rights of those who are not demonstrating, who are staying away from the demonstration," he said, adding that protesting is possible, and the freedom of assembly is important, "because it is good if everyone can express their opinion, even in a powerful way if they want to", but it is not normal to have thousands or tens of thousands of people stuck in traffic jams in Budapest because a few hundred people decided to block bridges. "We will put an end to that."He explained that he thought that the law was clear that the right to assemble could not be exercised in a way which disproportionately disrupts traffic, but then a court ruling was handed down allowing the closure of a bridge – referring to the decision of the Curia which finally allowed Ákos Hadházy's bridge-blocking event after the police first tried to have it moved to another location."Judges apply the laws that parliament has adopted. If the judges take these kinds of decisions – and we don't want such decisions to be taken – then we cannot order the court to act otherwise, because the courts are independent. The only thing we can do is to change the law and make it impossible for judicial decisions to allow for the closure of several bridges in Budapest at the same time, because that is what happened here."Viktor Orbán avoids critical questions at home. It’s been years since he gave an interview to independent media. However, for several years, most Friday mornings he has been a regular guest on state-owned Kossuth Rádió, where he is interviewed by a lead editor of the public broadcasting service (operating from an annual budget of 320 million euros), who doesn’t shy away from asking questions.