In the past three days, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán posted no less than nine short videos on his Facebook page, chronicling the events of the European Union summit, the joint Polish-Hungarian fight against political conditions being tied to EU funds, and the two countries’ eventual victory. He ended with a video in which he said, “Hungary is a great nation, and we deserve to be treated fairly. That’s happened today.”
The first video was posted by Orbán two days ahead of the crucial EU summit, in which he says, “We have a good chance for victory in the EU budget debate.”
The second video set the stage, with Orbán saying, “I’m leaving for Brussels now. Preparatory talks today, D-Day tomorrow morning,” followed by a still image a few hours later showing the Hungarian delegation embarking on a flight to Brussels.
In the subsequent video, posted on the day when the trilateral agreement between Poland, Hungary and the German EU presidency was presumably reached, the PM said, “The winning cards are in our hands. We hope to have a fine day tomorrow.” The next morning, when the Hungarian press reported the agreement based on a draft text obtained by conservative daily Magyar Nemzet, Orbán said:
“We gathered all of our friends and neutralized our opponents. The final negotiation begins within minutes. We hope that the end result will serve the interests of Hungary, the interests of Poland and also the interests of the European Union as a whole. Hungary is a great nation, and we deserve to be treated fairly. That’s happened today.”
Skipping to the last video of the series, a short excerpt from the two prime ministers’ joint press conference in Brussels, Orbán said the following about the agreement:
“This is the strongest instrument in the European Union we use today. So, congratulations to Mateusz and a little bit to myself as well. But this is the story. I love my country, I love my nation, and if we reach any result, it’s just because we are motivated by good ambitions. That’s the reason we reach our targets, even today.”
Title image: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (L) and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawieczki (R) at a press conference in Brussels on December 10, 2020. (Facebook video capture )
