Orbán: if we are not radical enough, we'll have no room for concessions

The Prime Minister believes that foreign policy should return to the centuries-old tradition of a prime minister-centred foreign policy. He backs up his position by arguing that in earlier periods, when Hungary had a sovereign foreign policy, it was typically led by the prime minister, Telex reported on Monday.

The news portal notes that this period cannot be very long, since the constitution conceived by Orbán's Fidesz party stipulates that Hungary was not sovereign between 1944 and 1990, and the country had no independent foreign policy when it was as part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy from 1867.

Nevertheless, the Prime Minister did mention Tisza - although he did not clarify whether he meant Kálmán Tisza, who was Prime Minister between 1875-90, or István Tisza, who was Prime Minister between 1903 and 1905, and between 1913-1917, although the latter was unwillingly drawn into World War I, which hardly seems a sign of a sovereign foreign policy.

István Bethlen, the orchestrator of the consolidation after Trianon, and Count Pál Teleki are more relevant, although the latter's suicide was a sign of his reservations against the drift into World War II, which also cannot be classified as a period of assertion of sovereign foreign policy.

"Hungary is destined by history, but it also tends to set itself a more ambitious goal than its size and economic performance would dictate," the PM gave his credo.

This requires "energy, dynamism and initiative in shaping external relations".

In such countries, the reins of foreign policy must be held tightly, which means it is best if the prime minister holds them.

With this slicing remark he has practically taken the reins from / officially made a puppet of Péter Szijjártó. The current Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade has delivered an address not long before Orbán. In his speech entitled "A multivectoral Hungarian foreign policy", Szijjártó said that he would put it in his own words: "let's be on good terms with everyone".

 The PM apparently disagreed and surreptitiously scolded his minister when he remarked: "If we are on good terms with everyone, then we too will have a crumb of the greats' largesse fall off the table. If we do this, something will indeed trickle down to us, but the issues that are vital to us will be decided for us by others." 

He also slammed the pre-2010 governments, noting that they followed the "dare to be small" principle.

The Prime Minister stressed the importance of a foreign policy based on national interest, which he says is the optimal combination of idealism and realism. Orbán believes that flexibility is essential in pursuing the national interest, and that radicalism on migration, for example, can help Hungary to gain prestige not only through its size but also through its wisely applied foreign policy.

A foreign policy based on national interest has principles and values, but "it constantly forces those who hold this view to be flexible". According to Orbán, this is simply an acknowledgement that Hungary is not big enough or strong enough to be respected simply because of its size. Instead, we are left with a cleverly used foreign policy, which Orbán has repeatedly called the Hungarian soft power.

Hungary wants to pursue an independent foreign policy, even if the country's relative dominance is low, negative in fact."

Orbán believes that this must be counterbalanced by taking on conflicts. "You can make a relative dominance out of this, and we are making it," he said, while acknowledging that Hungary is a country of only ten million people, with only so much GDP and only so big an army.

According to Orbán, radicalism has not only a tactical, but also a strategic goal, which is to raise Hungary's prestige and increase its international influence.

The Prime Minister pointed out that radical politics creates opportunities to engage in international negotiations and increasing possibilities for combinations and coalitions. According to him, radicalism means getting to the heart of the matter when formulating goals.

If we are not radical enough, there will be no room for concessions in the debate,

he said.

Orbán denied that Hungary has become isolated, on the contrary, Hungarian foreign policy has never been as extensive as in recent years, he said. A radical approach has become a hallmark of Hungarian diplomacy, and this attitude is Hungary's soft power, the PM said.

Cover photo: In the picture released by the Prime Minister's Press Office, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán speaks at a conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Hungarian Institute of Foreign Affairs (MKI) in Budapest on 4 December 2023. Source: MTI Photo/Prime Minister's Press Office/Zoltán Fischer