Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban suggested that 2025 may have been Europe’s last peaceful year, attributing this not to the conflict in Ukraine but to the broader decline of Western Europe. He made the remarks in an interview with the newspaper Magyar Nemzet when asked whether 2025 could mark the end of a prolonged period of peace on the continent.

According to Orban, for eighty years after the end of World War II, Europe lived with a constant fear of a new major war that could escalate into a nuclear conflict. However, he said that a fundamentally new global reality is now taking shape.

Orban emphasized that while the Russia-Ukraine conflict carries risks of escalation, it should be viewed primarily as a consequence rather than the root cause of Europe’s instability. In his view, the real source lies in the political, economic, and social decline of Western Europe. He argued that this process began in the mid-2000s and accelerated after what he described as an inadequate response to the global financial crisis. Orban noted that about twenty years ago the economic indicators of the European Union and the United States were roughly comparable, whereas today the United States is moving ahead while Europe is losing ground. A continent once seen as a model of peace and stability, he added, has in recent years turned into an increasingly irresponsible actor.

Orban has previously stated that some European leaders are seriously considering the possibility of a military confrontation with Russia by 2030, stressing that Hungary should make every effort to avoid being drawn into such a conflict.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has earlier said that Russia does not intend to fight Europe, but added that if Europe were to initiate hostilities, Russia would be ready to respond.