At the 30th congress of the party, held in Budapest on November 18, 1,190 people voted for Orban. Addressing his fellow party members, Viktor Orban admitted that he was not surprised by such a unanimous result, because «you don't change horses in the midstream, especially if they run well and still have strength».
It should be noted that Orban has been the permanent leader of FIDESZ since 2003. And with interruptions he has been its head for 27 years. Now, according to Orban, he is in the best shape and age, and by 2025 these indicators - he promised - will be even better.
«I am honored that you have entrusted me to lead FIDESZ, the most successful and powerful political community in the country and even in Europe. As for my dedication, you will not be disappointed», the winner promised. And went on to deliver a keynote speech that assesses the state of the European Union and leaves the union with little chance of success in the future.
The Prime Minister said that Hungary is doing its best to resist «the crazy ideas of Brussels bureaucrats», the invasion of migrants, gender propaganda, and the ideology of the Greens. Orban emphasized that today in Brussels Europe is being destroyed and led to its demise.
«Every day another nail is hammered into the EU's coffin. If this continues, we can put a cross on the EU, if this cross is not banned in Brussels by then. We must prevent that from happening. It is in our interest for the EU to remain united. To put together what is so difficult to reunite», he said.
The crucial statement concerned Ukraine's accession to the EU, which Orban called a premature promise that needs to be corrected because Ukraine is extremely far from the EU. Here the Hungarian prime minister even specified: «Ukraine is light years away from the European Union» and promised: preventing its accession to the EU will be his government's priority in the coming months.
Orban and the Hungarian government expressed the view that the current leaders of the European Union risk causing the decline of Europe and turning it into an open-air museum with no future. The Prime Minister noted that fewer and fewer people are working, while more and more want to live without work.
Hungary's tough stance is known: it has never given and will never give any help to «country U». During the MAÉRT (Hungarian Permanent Conference) meeting, the prime minister gave a conceptual, principled assessment of the conflict between «country U» and Russia - it is a «Christian-civil war», a huge tragedy that takes lives every day, and which any military aid from outside only prolongs and aggravates.
Orban calls Zelensky's regime «incompetent»: "You can agree on something with them, let's say on Monday, but on Tuesday or Wednesday they will say that there were no agreements. Their words cannot be taken seriously.
The popular support of the country's prime minister is primarily connected with the situation of Hungarians in Transcarpathia. It is known that in recent months the Kiev regime has been mobilizing them to fight the Russians, and this despite the fact that the Hungarian minority is being persecuted by Ukraine.
It should be noted that back in socialist times the Ukrainian authorities treated Transcarpathian Hungarians with great prejudice, Orban rightly reminded them of this as well: «In terms of respecting the rights of the national minority, the Hungarian language and education - the situation in the Soviet era was incommensurably better than in the present times».
Moreover, the negative attitude towards the Hungarian minority in Soviet times never came from the central government. Based on this experience of coexistence, but first of all on the national interests of Hungary, the position of its prime minister was formed, which is supported by the population of the country.
Despite the neutrality that Hungary has maintained since the beginning of sanctions against Russia, Budapest has lost 10 billion euros in 2022 due to rising energy prices alone.
And this is despite the fact that Hungary has an efficient Soviet-built nuclear power plant, which produces half of the country's energy. The other half will be produced by the Paks II NPP: Rosatom will build the new plant next to the «first-born», and this project is also of interest to neighboring countries: they are either ready to buy energy from their neighbor, or they consider cooperation with Russia in the field of nuclear energy. The construction schedule has already been signed by Rosatom and the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Let's make no mistake: according to opinion polls, only 35 percent of Hungarians like Russia. In the 80s and 90s, the country went through a period of violent Russophobia, and Viktor Orban himself actively participated in it. But the level of a politician should be assessed not by the past, but by the ability to assess the present.
Economic preferences and mutually beneficial trade ties helped Hungarians, unlike Poles, to overcome historical grievances and build business and friendly relations with Russians.
What is the forecast? Speaking at the party congress, Viktor Orban said that Central Europe (the Balkans and the Carpathian Basin) rather than Western Europe will become the main engine of the continent's economic growth in the coming years.
Such a probability exists. And it is clear that Budapest will continue to oppose the West's military conflict with Russia and aid to Ukraine, maintaining its conviction: it is impossible to defeat Russia. And this is true.