Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán marked the 69th anniversary of the 1956 revolution against Hungary’s Soviet oppressors with a defiant speech in Budapest on Thursday, October 23rd, declaring that Hungarians’ lust for freedom and peace endures in the face of what he described as growing pressure from Brussels.
Speaking to a vast crowd gathered in front of Parliament following the Békemenet—the Peace March that brought hundreds of thousands through the streets of the capital—Orbán portrayed Hungary as “the only nation in Europe standing on the side of peace.”
He said the legacy of 1956 lives on in Hungary’s determination to remain free from foreign domination.
The Hungarian people do not ask for much from life. We are content with freedom. If there is freedom, there is everything. We do not wish to conquer or build empires. We only ask one thing, but we insist on it: leave us alone. Let us live freely.
Orbán accused Brussels of behaving like an empire intent on interfering in Hungary’s domestic affairs and dragging Europe into war. “From the freedom of nations, Brussels has created oppression. They want to bring the war into Europe and take our money out of it,” he said.
Referring to the war between Russia and Ukraine, Orbán said: “Brussels has decided to go to war. The pro-war countries have already created a war alliance. They call it, with inimitable elegance, the coalition of the willing. They are willing to send others to die.”
He added that the EU was blocking peace efforts, claiming:
If Brussels were not obstructing the American president’s peace mission, the war would already be over. Everyone knows that if Donald Trump had been president, the war would never have broken out, and if he were not being hindered now, there would already be peace.
Since the beginning of the conflict, Hungary has been the only EU member state to oppose sending weapons to Ukraine, instead calling for a ceasefire and negotiations. The Russian-Ukrainian war “is not our war. But it torments our lives too. The war blocks European and Hungarian economic growth,” Orbán said.
He accused Brussels of following “an old colonial logic” towards Ukraine, saying:
They speak of supporting Ukraine, but the division of Ukraine is already on the agenda. It has been like this for centuries. The billions given to Ukraine are not wasted money for them, but an investment. For them, war is not horror but opportunity. Buying and dividing up a country is cheapest in war.
Orbán reaffirmed Hungary’s position: “We want Ukraine to be connected to the European Union and to have a strategic partnership, but not to belong to our alliances. … Partnership yes, membership no—this is the will of the Hungarian nation.”
Looking ahead to next year’s Hungarian elections, Orbán said the choice would be between “war or peace.” He argued that his Christian-conservative government was defending Hungary’s independence, peace, and economic stability through measures such as reduced energy prices, low taxes, and family support programmes.
The opposition Europhile Tisza Party, he warned, would be a puppet government of Brussels.
Elections are set to be held in the Spring of 2026, with opinion polls suggesting that it will be a tight race. According to a recent survey, Orbán’s Fidesz party is in the lead at 47%—5 points ahead of Tisza, whose leader, Péter Magyar, will also make a speech later on Thursday.
Concluding his address, Orbán invoked the spirit of the 1956 revolutionaries: “In 1956 it was freedom or servitude. Today it is war or peace. There is nowhere to hide and nowhere to retreat. … Hungary stands in the way of Brussels’ war agitators. … In 1956 Budapest was the capital of European freedom. In 2025, Budapest is the capital of European peace.”
