PragerU’s Melissa Streit recently sat down with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán for a close-to-one-hour-long interview for her Real Talk show, asking him about a range of topics, from Hungarian domestic issues to global matters.
The host began by asking the PM what his response is to those who accuse him of having “helped his friends get rich.” Orbán flatly rejected the allegation, stating that he cannot engage in favoritism because the Hungarian rules are very strict—the same or very similar to the ones existing in other EU countries regarding, for instance, public procurement. He dismissed the corruption accusations by quoting Margaret Thatcher, who said she is happy when she is attacked on a personal level because that means “they cannot attack my policy.”
Reacting to critics who say that he has been in power too long and only ‘dictators’ rule for 16 years in a row, Orbán responded, referring to his party’s victories in elections, “This is democracy.” He also reminded listeners that he has also been in opposition for 16 years, so he has “seen both sides of the coin.” He confirmed that he is running again next year as his party’s PM candidate because, he said, for now, he is the “best chance” for Fidesz to win the election in 2026, which is why he is not handing over the helm to somebody else.
Regarding Hungary’s current geopolitical situation, Orbán said that for Hungarians, living in danger is a normal historical experience. But these are times of “extra danger,” he said, with the country being threatened on the one hand by the war in Ukraine, which the PM described as a “proxy war of the West with Russia,” and by an “empire-building,” federalist Brussels on the other.
The PM said President Trump is in a unique position to help achieve peace in the Russo-Ukrainian war and encouraged Americans to “keep” their president and appreciate him as a peacemaker.
Orbán said that because of the precarious context that his country finds itself in, it is in Hungary’s interest to have good relations with all global powers, including the U.S., China, and Russia, and rejected criticism that he is “wishy-washy’ about whose “side” he is on internationally.
Speaking about Hungary’s position in the EU, the PM emphasized that the European Union should prioritize the member states and not the Brussels institutions, which should function as “service centers” that work for the member states. Commission chief von der Leyen, he said, should not act as if she were “Hungary’s boss.” “She is a bureaucrat paid by me, to speak bluntly,” Orbán quipped.
When the conversation turned to the tariff deal struck by von der Leyen with the U.S. president, the PM reiterated that it was a defeat and that the Commission chief also made pledges that she had no authority to make and has no means to honor, such as buying hundreds of billions of euros worth of energy from the United States.
When asked about why the Hungarian government banned Pride marches, Orbán referred to the Hungarian Constitution, which enshrines the primacy of the right of children to be protected over other freedoms. Organizing a protest in support of Pride or in favor of homosexual rights faces no legal prohibitions in Hungary, he explained, but “open sexual propaganda” is not allowed in public spaces.
Multicultural societies do not seem to work in the West, Orbán opined, referencing eroding social systems, religious tensions, growing Muslim communities, and shrinking Christian and Jewish communities. The PM described multiculturalism as “a very risky experiment” that Hungary would prefer not to emulate and noted that France and Germany, countries he “used to admire,” have changed beyond recognition as a result.
As of this October, Orbán said, another change is coming to Hungarian family policy: women with three children will also be exempt from paying income tax for the rest of their lives, similarly to women with four kids who have been tax-exempt for years. Next year, women who have two children will also be exempted from paying income tax for life. Whether “moms love” him because of these measures, Orbán said he didn’t know, and he was not sure how they voted, but “it is good for them, and that is what matters.”
And Hungary’s future? What about that?
“Great and rich,” Orbán said. “That’s my program.”
