Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán led thousands of his citizens in a peace rally in Central Budapest on Saturday, demanding an end to the war in Ukraine and to stop the escalation between the West and Russia.
The emergency break needs to be pulled to prevent the “European train hurtling toward war”, Prime Minister Orbán warned as he addressed thousands gathered in the Hungarian capital to protest against the war in Ukraine and the refusal of Europe to push for peace talks.
The rally, which came less than a week before 450 million EU citizens will head to the polls to select the next European Parliament, saw thousands march from the Chain Bridge to Margaret Island in the middle of the Danube carrying banners reading “No War”.
People gather during a rally in support of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his party in Budapest, Hungary on Saturday, June 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Branding the upcoming elections as a struggle between life and death, Orbán warned per state broadcaster MTVA: “If the left wins, it’s only a matter of time before war overtakes us… It is necessary to prevent Europe from rushing into war, to its own destruction.”
“They think they will win this war. But the intoxication of war is like a drug: those who are addicted to it do not consider themselves responsible for anything. They don’t listen to anyone, they walk over you. They feel no remorse. We are not important to them, nor you, nor your life, nor your future, for which you work every day.”
Urging those who back peace to support his Fidesz in the EU Parliament vote, the PM said that his government represented the “only pro-peace government” in the EU, saying: “No migration! No gender! No war! – This is the position of the Hungarian government.”
Despite often being accused by Brussels and the media of going against the principles of the European Union, Orbán appealed to the ‘founding fathers’ of the bloc, saying that they were right to seek a framework to prevent another major war in Europe in the wake of the Second World War.
“Now we are expected to participate in another war. I will say it slowly so that they also understand in Brussels: We will not go to war. We will not head east for the third time, we will not go to the Russian front again, we have been there before, we have nothing to gain there,” the Hungarian leader vowed.
In his address, Orbán also reiterated his call for peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow, saying: “This peace cannot be won with weapons. There is no solution to this war on the battlefield, there are only dead and destruction.”
A man wearing a T-shirt showing Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump, attends a “peace march” in support of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his party in Budapest, Hungary on Saturday, June 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
While Orbán was initially joined by others within the EU calling for peace, such as Emmanuel Macron, this is no longer the case, with the self-described “Jupitarian” French President performing a complete about-face in becoming one of the strongest voices calling for an escalation in the war, including potentially sending French troops into the battlefield.
In addition to arguing that the European Parliament elections will be critical in preventing a full-scale war between the West and Russia, Orbán has also consistently said that he believes peace will only be achieved with the re-election of Donald Trump as President of the United States.
Following a meeting with the former president at Mar-a-Lago in February, the Hungarian PM said: “I don’t see anyone other than him, neither in Europe nor in America, who is a leader strong enough to stop the war.”