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Hungarian PM targets NGOs and journalists in March 15 speech
Hungary's far-right prime minister Viktor Orban vowed to crack down on those who are - according to him - funded by foreign actors, likening them to insects. "They've been here too long, they've been through too much, they've got money from too many places," the Hungarian leader said on Saturday, March 15, a national holiday commemorating the country's 1848 revolution against the Habsburgs.
Orban gave one of his most controversial speeches yesterday when thousands of his supporters gathered to hear his words. “After today’s festive gathering comes the Easter cleaning. The stink bugs have overwintered," the Hungarian PM said. “We will dismantle the financial machine that has used corrupt dollars to buy politicians, judges, journalists, pseudo-NGOs, and political activists. We will eliminate the entire shadow army.” Orban claimed the groups he mentioned wearing a "scarlet letter" and a "special place in hell awaits" for them.
Similarly to previous years, the Hungarian leader used his platform to criticize the EU, saying, "There is always an empire that is trying to take away the freedom of the Hungarians, and right now it is the one in Brussels." Orban also touched on the Ukraine war that according to his claims, Brussels jumped headlong into. He rejected the idea of Ukraine joining the EU stating Hungary did not "jump into the war" with Brussels but rather stayed on the side of "peace". "The empire does not want to help but to colonize, the means of this is war, it will cost what it costs, and then Ukraine will gain EU membership," he added.
Orban has previously vetoed EU aid packages to Ukraine and most recently the bloc's leaders’ statement on the final agreement to arm Ukraine. Hungary cultivates closer ties with Russia than any EU member state.