Totó dog, the Russian bear and the sovereignty of Hungary, or why do business with the Russians?
Totó dog, the Russian bear and the sovereignty of Hungary, or why do business with the Russians?
The Orbán government pursues an interest-based foreign policy to make the great powers interested in Hungary’s development. Central Europe has always lost when it comes to the confrontation between East and West, but the example of Hungary proves that it is still constructive to maintain relations with Russia if we are members of the European Union and NATO. Whatever Ferenc Gyurcsány has to say now, he has sought to do so, and whatever they put it in Western European countries, they do.
If there is Russian gas, there is an overhead reduction, if there is no Russian gas, there is no overhead reduction. (Viktor Orban)
Russian gas supply was provided to Hungary until 2036 under the market price under a long-term contract signed last year. (Vladimir Putin)
The Orbán government pursues an interest-based foreign policy aimed at: make the great powers interested in the development of Hungary, Thus, in addition to the United States and the European Union, it is building political relations based on mutual respect and interests with China, Russia and, as a regional power, Israel or Turkey.
The principle of Hungarian foreign policy
You can and should do business as long as we benefit from it – not to interfere in the domestic politics of others, but to expect them not to interfere in ours.
Most Western European countries do the same, saying only in a hypocritical way and expecting something different from Central and Eastern Europe. Because he treats this area as a colony… and what is free for Jupiter is not allowed for the little circle, the Germans say.
The Hungarian government has kicked this disadvantage.
The Orbán government recognized that It is in Hungary’s long-term strategic interest to build mutually beneficial relations with all major powers, not to commit itself unilaterally to world politics, thus preserving its sovereignty.
In the spirit of this, the Orbán government does not build its system of international relations according to the expectations of other countries, but trades or concludes contracts in the interests of Hungary and does not interfere in internal affairs anywhere.
It strives for mutual respect and expects other countries not to interfere in Hungarian democracy. The country’s political and economic room for maneuver in this decisive, interest-based foreign policy has expanded considerably in recent decades. Today, Hungary has become an important factor in the EU political scene, a model country in Central and Eastern Europe.
The opposition is only trying to make conflicts between the great powers subject to ideological domestic political debates with this Western enemy.
at least now…
The benefits of cooperation
Energy is at the heart of cooperation between the two countries: the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant and the confirmation of a long-term gas contract signed last autumn, as well as capacity expansion.
Together, the nuclear power plant and the long-term gas contract will ensure Hungary’s energy security in the midst of the current European energy crisis.
The Hungarian Prime Minister emphasized that this would protect the results of its reduction, just as it did not renew Hungarian households with European energy.
Extensive cooperation and business relationships can be observed in other areas as well. As the XXI. Senior Researcher of the Institute of the Century, András Kosztur summarized:
- Increasing the role of Gedeon Richter (more precisely, its Russian subsidiary Gedeon Richter RUS, which has been operating since 1996) in the Russian pharmaceutical industry.
- Supporting MOL’s new investment in rubber bitumen production in Tatarstan.
- Logistics cooperation and the establishment of a container transshipment terminal on the Ukrainian-Hungarian border will allow for expansion.
- Continuation of production of railway passenger cars to be transported to Egypt (Dunakeszi factory).
- Expansion of air traffic between the two countries.
- We will receive the production technology of Russian vaccines for the Hungarian vaccine factory under construction.
Gyurcsány: we have to do business with the Russians!
Who is the next quote from?
It is a matter of fact that today the three centers of power in the world outside Europe are the United States, Russia and China. Hungary is our ally and friend in the United States, but we also need to build a close partner with Russia and China, even if we agree with them in everything, because that is in Hungary’s interest.
No, not Viktor Orban said. It was Ferenc Gyurcsány who declared this to the late Népszabadság, just before his fall.
But it all had a precedent. During the 2006 Prime Minister’s debate, Ferenc Gyurcsány boasted that under the MSZP-SZDSZ governments
partner with Russia,
which justified the need on the grounds that, due to its economic influence, the Eastern great power was unavoidable, and it was useful for Hungarians to do business.
Although the debate was the last in this genre, which is understandable in that the left has proved that it makes no sense for our candidate for prime minister to lie for an hour, it is worth mentioning that Gyurcsány has repeatedly praised him for what a good human relationship he had with Putin, and then at one point it was in Orban’s eyes that Fidesz was unable to cooperate with the Russians.
Gyurcsany, the Russian bear and Toto dog
In the company of Ferenc Gyurcsány’s wife, Klára Dobrev, she met Vladimir Putin several times, not only in an official capacity, but also as a private person. In 2006, he wanted to dazzle Putin, who was visiting Budapest, by inviting him straight to the Small Villa.
The Russian president liked the Tokaj wine and the puli dog named Totó the most when he had lunch with the Gyurcsany family. Putin spent more time than planned in the Hungarian prime minister’s house, and foreigners had to say it was time to leave for Prague. Totó gave the guest two kisses, who really enjoyed being able to chat with Klara Dobrev in their mother tongue.
Blikk wrote then.
Thus, during his official visit to Hungary on March 1, 2006, before the official start of the campaign, Putin had lunch in the villa on Rose Hill in Gyurcsány, and then in the autumn of that year they met in Sochi and in 2007 in Moscow.
Then, in February 2008, Gyurcsány signed an agreement with Putin in the Kremlin on the construction of the Hungarian section of the South Stream gas pipeline.
Their relationship turned out to be so good anyway that after Gyurcsany’s failure as prime minister, Putin even invited him and his wife to Moscow. The Russian prime minister (then Medvedev was the president) hosted Gyurcsany with his wife, Klara Dobrev, at a narrow restaurant in a Ukrainian restaurant. They allegedly complied with the kind invitation at their own expense.
There was a lot of talk from the family and the children to the situation in the two families in the country.
Issues of international politics were not left out either
– said the former prime minister, who had already failed, said about the meeting.
Hungarian model
According to the Prime Minister, Hungary and Central Europe have always lost when it comes to the East-West confrontation, but Hungary’s example shows that it is possible to maintain constructive, balanced relations with Russia if a country is a member of the European Union and NATO. a XXI. Century Institute of Analysis.
Viktor Orbán referred to this attitude as a Hungarian model, which in his opinion is no better when it comes to the security of Europe.