Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, has taken some shots at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Union’s leadership, and against his probably least favourite Hungary-born billionaire George Soros, during his annual state of the nation address.
During the speech, Orban asserted that the past decade has been “the most successful” for Hungary in the last century, but noted that his country was still threatened by so-called “sinister menaces” the European economy was facing. The prime minister thus praised Hungary’s decision to break away from IMF loans and not to succumb to demands for more austerity, which, he alleged, would have made Hungary dependent on Soros.
“If we’d followed their advice, then Hungary now would be lying in a hospital ward with IMF and Brussels debt tubes hanging from its every limb and the faucet of the debt would be in the hands of George Soros”, Orban said on Sunday, as quoted by AP.
The prime minister insisted that a slowdown in the EU’s growth had a strong influence on his country’s economy, as 85% of Hungary’s exports were meant for other countries on the European continent. However, he slammed the idea that Europe should simply be represented by Brussels alone.
“We are Europe and we do not need to meet the expectations of tired and disillusioned elites of Brussels. There were times when we believed that Europe is our future but now we know that we are the future of Europe”, Orban said as translated by Euronews.
