The Hungarian opposition leader accuses the government of not being a pacifist
On Wednesday, the opposition leader of Hungary Péter Magyar announced on Facebook that on Thursday morning, evidence would be published that “Viktor Orbán and his game have lied in recent years. They lied in the morning, afternoon and night. They lie at all frequencies.”
In the morning, Tisza’s party (respect and freedom) published an audio recording on Facebook:
“The Viktor Orbán government is a government of lies and war. It ends. They have to leave. Orbran government to the Hungarians about peace, but they want to take our wonderful country to war. For years, the Government of Orbán, the government the government
The recording has just over a minute and the publication says it was made in April 2023 (one year and two months after the beginning of the war in Ukraine). It shows that Orbán Defense Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky speaks.
“The fifth Government of Orbán has decided to build a truly effective force and ready for combat, to break with our previous peace activities,” says Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky, and adds that “as a result of a process, we are breaking with the mentality of peace.” Also according to the Minister of Defense, this break is also at the origin of the process “known by the public as rejuvenation”, because it was simply “the easiest way” to change direction.
“We are breaking with the mentality of peace and advancing to the zero phase of the road to war,” he said.
The change was requested by the Minister of Defense to Lieutenant General Gábit Böröndi, who was appointed head of the Armed Forces in May 2023, after the then President of the Republic, Katalin Novák, had dismissed Romulus Ruszin-Szendi unexpectedly, who worked as a specialist for Tisza, led by Píter Magyar since February.
“The right person has to be in the right place,” said Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky, explaining the decision of the Defense and Security Subcommittee of the European Parliament. The defense minister said at that time that Romulus Ruszin-Szendi had mainly performed combat functions and that the prolonged Russian-Ukraine war required operational level knowledge. For this reason, Gáboro Böröndi proposed to the new head of Cabinet, under whose leadership believed that Hungarian defense forces could adapt to the prolonged war situation and build a better equipped and prepared army for culture.
The Minister of Defense reacted to the recording
“I am building an army ready and able to defend Hungary with weapons! Because peace requires strength,” defense minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky reacted on his Facebook page to the video published by Péter Magyar.
The phrase “Peace requires strength” can also be attributed to Viktor Orbán, which said the same in ZalaeGerszeg at the Rheinmetall Hungary factory opening ceremony in August 2023.
Orbán said at that time that the government had not renounced the plan to build an independent defense industry. He added that it might seem that they were chasing events when installing this factory in war time, but it was not the case, because the decision on the factory was taken in 2020, two years before the Russian-Ucanian war.
“Everything you see here happened before others realized that it was necessary,” said Hungarian Prime Minister at that time.
Gergele Gulyás: “This makes no sense”
At the press conference of Thursday’s ministers, HVG magazine questioned the chief of gabinet of the prime minister, Minister Gergely Gulyás, about the audio recording of Péter Magyar. He replied that it was “meaningless” and that there was no case to speak.
Government in favor of peace
The words of the Minister of Defense are surprising because, in Hungary, the members of the Government of Orbán and Viktor Orbán often it is heard that the Hungarian government is in favor of peace, while the European Union is in favor of the war, such as the former president of the United States, Joe Biden.
Orbán visited the Russian president Vladimir Putin last year, in which he nicknamed “Mission of Peace”, with whom relations seem to be intimate. But with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, relationships are colder.
ADVERTISINGHungarian prime minister considers that only him and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico are the government chiefs in favor of the person of the European Union. This although they were the only two to visit Putin in Moscow. Orbán will not go, but I am present, on May 9, Victory Day in Moscow.
