‘We must not give up the Hungarian Way’ — Orbán kicks off hotly contested election year with key pledges on war, migration, and sovereignty

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán used a wide-ranging international press conference in Budapest to frame the run-up to Hungary’s 2026 parliamentary election as a choice between what he called a Brussels-driven path toward war and centralization and a sovereign national course focused on peace, energy independence, and family-friendly policies.

Opening Monday’s event, Orbán said the “rules of the old liberal world order are no longer valid,” arguing that a new global phase had begun. “The new era will be the era of nations,” he said, adding that Hungary was already adapted to this reality.

He identified four defining issues of the period ahead: “War and peace, energy, migration, and development.”

On the war in Ukraine, Orbán reiterated Hungary’s refusal to take part in any form of military or financial involvement. “Hungary’s task is clear: we must stay out of war,” he said. He rejected EU proposals for joint financing and support, stating bluntly: “We will not give our money to Ukraine. We won’t give a war loan either — the word loan is a scam. Everyone knows it will not be paid back.” He added: “We do not send soldiers and weapons, and we do not accept the transition to the Brussels war economy.”

PM Orbán: Hungary has decided to stay out of the war economy, we are building a peace economy

@PM_ViktorOrban launched Hungary’s 2026 political season with a wide-ranging international press conference in Budapest, laying out the government’s position on key… pic.twitter.com/zTarm02w5j

— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) January 5, 2026

Instead, Orbán said Hungary had chosen a different economic direction. “Hungary has decided to stay out of the war economy. We are building a peace economy,” he said, describing this approach as “the Hungarian way,” which he said offered “an opportunity for development.”

The Hungarian prime minister warned that the country’s opposition Tisza party, led by Péter Magyar, would adhere to Brussels’ demands in several areas, handing over taxpayers’ cash to fund the war, and accept the EU’s controversial migration pact and gender ideology, infringing on sovereignty.

Energy policy was also presented as a core element of national sovereignty. Orbán said energy would be “the most important issue of technological development, in addition to sovereignty,” arguing that countries able to secure cheap and reliable energy would emerge as winners in the new era. He sharply criticized EU sanctions on Russian oil and gas, saying that current regulations “would cut off supplies from Russia to Hungary” and that Brussels was abusing its legal powers. “Energy policy falls under national competence,” he said, confirming that Hungary was initiating legal proceedings against the European Commission. He also claimed that existing EU measures had “increased prices in the European Union by 20 percent.”

Migration was described as a fundamental and unresolved conflict with Brussels. Referring to the EU’s migration pact, Orbán said Hungary would be required to process 23,000 asylum applications a year, establish migrant facilities, and accept relocated migrants from other member states. He rejected this outright. “We will not take in any migrants. We will not change border security, and we will not become an immigration country,” he said. “Brussels cannot decide who Hungarians must live with.”

Orbán linked these positions to the broader political stakes of the 2026 election. “The government’s view is that the options facing the country are simple,” he said. “Either we follow the Brussels path, which leads to austerity, or we follow the Hungarian path, the path of peace, which creates a better life for Hungary.”

Funding war < Supporting families

While Western Europe shifts toward a war economy, Hungary strengthens a peace economy: higher wages, tax cuts for parents and small businesses, lifelong tax exemption for mothers, and a 14th-month pension. This is what choosing peace looks like. pic.twitter.com/uKX774Gj0H

— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) December 31, 2025

Turning to domestic policy, Orbán argued that Hungary could continue developing even as much of Europe faced fiscal tightening. “You will have money for development if you do not give it to others,” he said, again referring to the government’s refusal to finance war-related spending. He stressed that resources would be used “for Hungarian families, not for foreign governments.”

He highlighted a package of measures that took effect on Jan. 1, calling them “decisions that are unthinkable in Western Europe today.” These include the completion of the doubling of family tax benefits, with a further 50 percent increase, personal income tax exemptions for mothers under 30 with one child and under 40 with two children, and an 11 percent rise in the minimum wage. Orbán also pointed to the launch of a corporate tax reduction program, the introduction of a 14th-month pension, continued 3 percent fixed-rate mortgages for first-time buyers, and additional pay increases across the public sector.

“The rate of growth is at the mercy of war,” Orbán said, “and we are still able to make the lives of Hungarians easier under such circumstances.” He argued that this demonstrated the resilience of the Hungarian economy, adding that “not many countries would withstand such measures while maintaining the budget deficit and public debt.”

In his closing remarks, Orbán said that Hungary’s position was not accidental but the result of consistent choices. “We must not give up the Hungarian way,” he said, presenting the election year ahead as a referendum on whether the country continues on what he called the path of peace and national independence or yields to external pressure from Brussels.

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