The Hungarian prime minister gave a lengthy interview to the Hungarian news portal Mandiner. We include some excerpts below:

On Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu

Tibor Kapu is a hero to me not only because he is one of the two Hungarians who went into space, and this is both a huge physical and mental achievement, but also because of what he said when he looked at the Earth:

“I was looking for where Hungary is.” He could have said that I am finally free, I see the whole world, he could have spoken in a cosmopolitan way, but no. He said that the part that is important to me is what is ours. This is a very important sentence. 

On young Orbán

I just wanted to be an unbridled force, but then I could have headed not for politics, but for the Hungarian national football team, but I didn’t have as much unbridled force as I needed. I no longer remember whether Ady or Csurka wrote the key phrase that is still a yardstick for me: a nation like the Hungarians can only breathe radically. This means that we must think radically. Even if we don’t like what we see, we must think through everything that happens to us to the very last consequence, otherwise we will lull ourselves into illusions, and that will lead to big trouble. At the same time, in politics, we must not act radically. 

So I am radical in thinking, and moderate in action. 

On having a magic ball

This is because I not only see things, but I think things through. As prime minister, I must think everything through, courageously, without fear, without sparing energy. I am a person of thinking things through, and perhaps I am also competitive in this at an international level.

Migration is one example. I put a lot of energy into understanding what will happen. And not even half of what will happen to the entire European world has happened. Although, the real credit for migration belongs to my wife. 

She went to help migrants in the first wave, and when she came home, she said: “All young men of military age, with good physiques – let’s stop the stories about escaping, this will be a big problem. Go there and stop them!”

She posseses better intellectual ability, was a better student, a better lawyer than me, it is worth paying attention to her. 

On Fidesz’s accomplishments after 16 years in power

I think we have done what we said in 2009. We have fulfilled our greatest commitments to the country, that we will have a national government, a civil, Christian constitution, that we will transform the Hungarian economy and that everyone will have a job.

Of course, this does not mean that everything is in place. It does not bother me at all that after 15 years I have to say, people, we have made progress here, but there is still a lot of work to do. I never run out of work, not even after 15 or 16 years. My attitude is how to change, how to improve things, how to make them even better – this is how I relate to the world, both when I am in government and when I am in opposition. It does not affect me, the direction of my thinking is independent of political position. 

On politics in the digital age

Humanity is entering a third stage, and this also affects politics and our profession: when there are pictures. Young people only send each other pictures, the text is getting shorter and shorter. If I want to understand today’s young people, then I have to admit that there may be more information in a picture than in a Dostoevsky novel — we just don’t see it that way, because we see understanding as a value. 

And today’s young people look at a picture, have an impression, and move on. Understanding, the ability to understand, the striving for understanding, which was previously exclusive in politics, is shrinking, and the impression, the experience, the short term, one day, one mood are becoming more and more decisive. This may be good for communication, because we can create a community with each other more easily, but it certainly has a bad effect on a deeper understanding of important things.

On conveying messages briefly on camera

Those who don’t do well (at this) will be thrown out of the profession. Now we need different abilities, different skills – those who don’t have them, don’t have them. This doesn’t mean that they will disappear from politics, but we certainly can’t put them on the front lines. We will use them somewhere, because experience and knowledge matter, but we can’t send them to the battlefield. 

On the opposition

My master is the Hungarian people. I am a man of the Hungarians, I serve the Hungarians. Those who oppose me are never, their masters have always been somewhere else. 

Those who never wanted what was good for Hungarians, but internationalism, Western civilization, NATO, Brussels, God knows what, but they always derived from somewhere outside what the country needed. And such people are always found by those foreign powers that care about what is happening in Hungary and want to influence Hungarian events. 

On dealing with opposition leader Péter Magyar and his Tisza Party 

Timing is the most important thing in politics. Or rather, I would say, maybe not in substantive matters, but in the tactical part of politics. And a ruling party needs enormous self-discipline. I cannot afford that, and the country cannot allow its government to deal with its opponents more than 10-15 percent of the time outside the campaign period. And I am not willing to deal with them anymore. That’s all it takes, but that’s pretty much how I’ll put it. 

As we get closer to the election, and the campaign preparation, the pre-campaign and the campaign begin, the ratio will shift, we have to get into the fight, but right now we are still in a pre-preparation state. This is nothing compared to what will happen. 

On Judit Varga being destined for more

Since these are personal matters, I can say almost nothing, but it always hurts. I fought with Judit for the last year and a half, she wanted to resign at least three times, saying she couldn’t handle what she had at home. I told her, please, hold on, try, she’s talented, I really trust her, her work is important. She held on as long as she could. For me, this is also a personal pain, and on the other hand, it’s a huge waste on the part of the country. 

It is very rare for a natural talent like Minister Judit Varga to emerge in politics. 

As an old fox who has opened up space for many young people in politics and beyond, my job is to recognize talent and flair. And Judit had the skills of a prime minister. Of course, she would have needed another four to eight years, but she had everything that is needed for someone to dare to take on a country, to govern it, to make important decisions. 

Judit is brilliant – that is the best word. That is why it is all so painful and also infuriating.