The Peace March demonstration to be held in Budapest on Saturday is being organised to emphasise that „Hungary is on the cusp of war and peace”, the prime minister said in an interview to public radio, adding that it was important to declare that the threat of war was real, „contrary to what many — especially in western Europe and the western-financed left wing — may say”. „We must also make clear that Hungarians yearn for peace and we don’t think Europe could cope with another war,” Viktor Orbán said. The demonstration to be held a week before the EP election is also a reminder that „the European founding fathers, who also thought Europe could not take another war, were right”, Orbán said. While the European Union was originally a peace project, created against war, „it is now marching ahead, dragging us into one,” he said. It should also be made clear that „we did not enter the EU to fight a war together, to pour 100 billion euros into the war…” He added that the US Democratic administration and the EU’s leaders were ready to feed „the monster” of war.
Meanwhile, Orbán said European leaders must be challenged on how the bloc’s economy could possibly be restored „if we spend all our money in Ukraine”. He said the EP election was about „making it clear to European leaders that democracy exists and the voice of the ever-growing pro-peace Europe cannot be ignored.” European leaders, he said, must be pushed to make pro-peace decisions, and pro-war politicians must be „chased away”. In Hungary, only the Fidesz-led government stood for peace, Orbán said, adding that attempts to win the war in Ukraine on the battlefield would „risk a world war”. „Let’s take back the initiative and let there be a ceasefire and negotiations — before we find ourselves in the midst of a great European war,” he said.
The prime minister said history showed that in the first stage of every war was „anger against the supporters of peace”, while pro-war supporters argued that no morally right solution existed other than war, „so whoever is on the side of peace is actually taking a morally wrong position”. „Then it became clear that war was not a solution to conflicts between European nations,” he said, adding that a shift towards those who favoured peace took place, and the years after the devastations of the second world war „should be saved”.
The prime minister said it was possible that „we may look back on 2024 — as we did on 1914 or 1939 — as a year when the big trouble started…” This, he said, could be avoided. „It’s not true at all that every war is written in the stars. Every war is a consequence of leaders’ decisions, and if the leaders are sane, there will be no war,” he said.