“Only the future will reveal whether Margaret Island will remain a recreational park or become some kind of ‘offshore island.’”
“Politicians and the media on both sides are currently puzzled as to why Orbán has deemed this verbal attack necessary. Diplomatic skills are generally not one of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s great strengths.”
“The Germans already sent the cavalry once in the form of tanks. We would request that they not send them again. It wasn’t a good idea back then and it didn’t work.”
“I consider what happened in this matter to be qualified treason, because you can’t call it anything else when when one group of people dispossesses other people in such an unscrupulous way.”
“There doesn’t seem to be any chance that Fidesz will succeed in making people believe that the tobacco scandal was a sin committed by the left wing or the multinationals.”
“If they would put down their penis pump and the pole-dancers would get off their equipment, then maybe we could debate this topic with them.”
“It’s not about right- or left-wing problems, it’s about problems related to basic rights… You can’t have basic rights that apply to only one political camp.”
“The KDNP doesn’t smoke. It didn’t submit any bids, it didn’t adjudicate any bids, there’s nothing on earth I have to say about the affair. I don’t smoke, either.”
“I shamefacedly confess: Before I wrote my first Facebook comment on the tobacconist scandal, one of Philip Morris’ top European managers called me up and persuaded me… to attack the government on all fronts.”
“In my opinion, the next step is: Fidesz is going to think hard about getting rid of alcohol from all the other shops, just like they got rid of tobacco from all the other shops.”
“These people are fanatics and do not represent mainstream Hungary.”
“We will not be anybody’s boot-lickers. We will defend our homeland. We are the grandchildren of Attila and we are not afraid of anyone!”
“Today, it isn’t enough just to stuff Simicska full of money, but the local, corrupt little kings of Fidesz as well… Let’s not mince words: This government is a government of highwaymen and thieves.”
“Clearly, the multinational corporation lobby, the tobacco lobby, and the constant hysteria-fomenting animus of left-wing parties are behind the affair.”
“Europe has fallen into the trap of an aggressively secular, internationalist and anti-family vision… The Europe of old that reached for the skies is now stuck to the ground.”
“This has triggered worry and misunderstanding, and contaminated bilateral relations between our countries… Is it your intention to demolish the bridge of partnership?”
“The multitudes who stand against Orbán want a strong, united opposition, and when they look at us now, they see the opposite.”
“You can’t compare Viktor Orbán to Silvio Berlusconi in Italy, either, because the Hungarian premier doesn’t have any girlfriends. Only two things interest him: Power and soccer.”
“Orbán keeps saying that the west is in decay and he turns to the authoritarian east instead. He is constructing himself an authoritarian regime.”
“There is no safer place for Hungarian families’ money than in Hungarian state securities, or at the Hungarian State Treasury.”
“Is it really sensible to make citizens pay for a tax whenever the state would fail to be in compliance with EU law?”
“I constantly have to prove that I am not a black sheep — that I know how to eat with a knife and fork.”
“Hungary is not England, not Switzerland and not Norway. We would have just one alternative outside the EU, and that’s Russia, with which our experiences are pretty bad.”
“Every country lives in its own kind of capitalism. Just compare Germany, the USA and China. In 2010, Hungary effectively began a new economic policy, and for us, it’s the kind of market economy that establishes the greatest social benefits.”
“A sovereign country doesn’t operate in a manner where, before its parliament makes a decision, it runs around and asks all the possible EU institutions and other civil-society institutions and organizations for their opinions.”
“We must take it as fact that next year’s elections in Hungary will not be free and fair.”
“[They are] clearly doing it as a provocation… I consider it tasteless and I deeply condemn the intent.”
“Hungarians think the debate is based on a sober, matter-of-fact, ‘the other person may be right’ kind of logic, but the European Parliament is not a European place. Facts are secondary.”
“The government has taken away most people’s bread and is now returning the crumbs.”
“Today, those who protest about being ‘tied to the land’ are not even capable of considering what it is they’re rallying against. They’re not acting on the same moral basis as we were back then.”
“The government has confiscated 3,000 billion forints, or 10 percent of our wealth, half of which they have squandered.”
“This is a tough battle. My back has been scarred by whips and cudgels. Powerful people hit me with those things, not just any kind of people. But I am happy in spite of it all.”
“I don’t want to deal with this. The poor Mr. Minister has got plenty of his own problems.”
“Merkel… has not identified any concrete points that would violate the European Union’s basic principles. In concrete terms, she’s just getting all fussy.”
“This is not the first time he has done or said untenable things… but this kind of tastelessness, this gross behavior is surprising, even coming from him.”
“It was a vulgar gesture.”
