The new Hungarian state is being organised on the foundation of a work-based state, which is not liberal in nature, said Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Saturday at a gathering in Tusnádfürdő, Romania. He said he is building an illiberal democracy in Hungary and that local non-government organizations are but “groups of foreign-financed political activists" that are trying to enforce foreign interests against Hungarian interests.
A little help from our friends
Orbán reminded that his Fidesz party and its ally, the Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP), obtained two-thirds of the seats in Parliament, adding that it took the vote of ethnic Hungarians living outside the borders to ensure them supermajority. Referring to the 5 December 2004 referendum he said there might just be something as a moral equilibrium in politics. (Ten years ago Hungarian voters were asked whether ethnic Hungarians residing in nearby countries should receive dual Hungarian citizenship. The motion failed.) Orbán said that those who had voted against taking back ethnic Hungarians “have been brought to book" by Fidesz obtaining supermajority by the votes of those Hungarians living outside the borders.
Note that the Fidesz party collected slightly more than 2.1 million votes this April in the parliamentary elections, which is about one quarter (!) of the over 8 million eligible voters of the country. Also, there are 1.6 million ethnic Hungarians in the neighbouring countries who could have voted for Orbán and his party , yet only fewer than 123,000 did so, giving Fidesz yet another supermajority in the downsized Parliament. The 45% win of votes translated into 66.38% legislative majority in the 199-seat Parliament, whereas the main opposition alliance’s 25% resulted in 38 seats (19.1%) and Jobbik’s 20% landed the far-right nationalist party 23 seats (11.56%).
Legal amendments to prevent the governing Fidesz party from having an undue campaign advantage and periodic independent reviews of constituency boundaries are among the main recommendations made in the final report by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on the 6 April 2014 parliamentary elections in Hungary.
While the report, published on 11 July 2014, states that the elections were efficiently administered and offered voters a diverse choice, it also says the main governing party enjoyed an undue advantage because of restrictive campaign regulations, biased media coverage, and campaign activities that blurred the separation between political party and the state.
The report notes that the legal framework was substantially amended using procedures that circumvented the requirement for public consultation.The objectives: illiberal state, work-based society
Orbán said the rivalry between nations has a new element. Today, there is a race to find the community building method, the concept of a state that can best make a nation, a community competitive in the international arena.
“Today the world is trying to understand those systems that are not western, not liberal democracies and perhaps not even democracies, yet are successful. And the stars of analyses are Singapore, China, India, Russia and Turkey."
“Breaking away and making ourselves independent from the dogmas and ideologies accepted in Western Europe we will try to find the community organising method, a new Hungarian state which can make our community [...] competitive in the big world race," he stressed.
In order to do so “we had to say that democracy is not necessarily liberal. We want to organise a work-based society which in terms of its characteristic is not liberal in nature," he stressed, adding that “we need to break with the principals of liberal society organisation."
The PM argued that the earlier liberal Hungarian state was unable to force the current governments to represent national interest, to protect community assets, the country from indebtedness and families from becoming a “slave to their debts."
“In light of the 2014 election victory the 2010 winning of the Fidesz party may well be interpreted in a way that in this large global race the Hungarian citizens expect local leaders to work out a new Hungarian state organisation which, after the era of a liberal state and liberal democracy, - respecting the values of Christianity, freedom and human rights - will make the Hungarian community competitive again," said Orbán.
The country’s political leadership is attempting to create a close relation between people’s personal jobs and interest with the interest of the community and the nation, he added.
“The Hungarian nation is not a mere cluster of individuals, but a community that needs to be organized, strengthened and constructed. In his sense the new state we are building in Hungary is illiberal, not a liberal state," he underlined.
Bad, bad NGOs
In order to achieve that the Premier thinks a lot of challenges must be overcome. He pointed out that the non-profit world in Hungary shows a unique pictures because “we are not facing civilians here rather political activists paid by foreign interest groups" who are trying to enforce foreign interests against Hungarian interests. He noted that this activity is making it more difficult to build an illiberal state.
He said that is why it is laudable that a parliamentary committee was formed which constantly monitors, keeps record of and publishes every foreign influence gained in Hungary.
“We live in a world where anything can happen," said Orbán, mentioning as an example Hungary’s foreign currency borrowers. “It could happen, for instance, that if court proceedings run their full course Hungarians will receive back hundreds of billions of forints from the banks, money that should have never been taken away from them," he added.
Orbán noted that the coming era holds many uncertainties but also several opportunities for the Hungarian nation. According to a report by Index.hu, he mentioned among the dangers such events as Republicans calling for the impeachment of U.S. President Barack Obama for overstepping his authority.
“How long do you think I’d remain in power if such could be done in Hungary, if we could be impeached for going beyond our powers?" Orbán was cited as asking this apparently rhetorical question.
Supporting immigration is bad
The PM also said he does not share the U.S. foreign policy guidelines, according to which the task is to expand human rights. In his view Hungary needs to have the objective to make every major player of the world interested in “us being successful"; that is national foreign policy in his book. He said that instead of reciting human rights premises there needs to be practical, relation-centered co-operations.
Orbán clearly stated he is against European policy that accepts and supports immigration. “It needs to be said firmly, clearly and gently," he said, adding that he has failed to make this a European standpoint for he has been repeatedly outvoted.
Instead of supporting immigration it would be a wise policy choice to provide assistance for people that have the capacity but not the appropriate qualifications to have a job. “The time will come when the ethnic foundation of nation states becomes questionable. Do we want that?" He added that “we don’t want to turn Europe into the United States of America."
It was a mistake to sell MKB in the first place
Orbán has confirmed an estimate by Portfolio.hu, by saying that with the state purchasing MKB Bank from its German owner BayernLB, the share of Hungarian ownership in the local banking sector has exceeded 50%, which was one of Orbán’s long-wanted goals.
“MKB should have never been sold to a foreign owner," he added.
The PM also said we would be only scaring ourselves if we said Hungary is “drifting into the lap of the Russian bear". Hungary is member of NATO and the European Union and “our biggest problem is" that more than two-thirds of our foreign trade is directed to the EU, which is an unhealthy ratio. It would be healthy if this ratio stood at 50% and the other half was directed to other parts of the world “so that we would stand on more legs", Orbán added.
What is currently happening to the relation between Russia and the western world is very bad for Hungary. “Our interest would be" to keep Russia from falling behind western social development.
As regards the South Stream pipeline the PM said Hungary offers solidarity the Ukrainian people and there is agreement that one cannot annex territories from another country and there is awareness of the terrible economic conditions there.
Orbán thinks Russia will soon stop delivering natural gas to Ukraine for the country is unable to settle its gas bills and sooner or later gas transmission to Europe will be blocked. It is in Hungary’s interest to have a gas transmission way that ensures gas supply even under such circumstances. We must not throw our own interests away in such a conflict, he underlined.
Needless to say Orbán’s thoughts drew heavy criticism from the liberal opposition in Hungary, while the far-right Jobbik party agreed with some aspects of the speech.
The Socialist Party (MSZP) said that with his speech the PM “has exited the system of values of European and Hungarian civil democracies."
“Although in public law sense the country still has a Prime Minister and a government, but in respect of the values with this speech the Premier has broken not only with the Socialists but also with the liberals, the conservatives and everyone else who is seeking solutions in the value system of democracy. There is a need for a wider and stronger democracy that operates with both external and internal checks."
“Viktor Orbán’s whole exercising of power is held together by cynicism, which is shown the best as he exploits without any inhibition the lack of solidarity in the Hungarian society. After all that lashing out at cynicism is rather peculiar. This would give a job principally to a psychologist rather than to a political analyst," said András Schiffer from the liberal green party LMP.
He reminded that Fidesz - in alliance with the Free Democrats (SZDSZ) - was one of the key reasons why Hungary gave birth to such a liberal democracy after 1989 that failed to protect public assets from its scavengers and that no defense systems to this end were created.
“When Viktor Orbán is lambasting liberal democracy and the liabilities of Hungarian development after ’89, he should perhaps say a few words about how the ultraliberal Fidesz was backing unconstrained privatization after 1989."
Együtt-PM said: “We heard a shocking speech from the Prime Minister who is mimicking [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. But this speech does not mean the end of liberal democracy, but democracy itself. The state is no longer the state of every Hungarian, it no longer represents everyone, only a handful few of cronies."
Szabolcs Kerék-Bárczy of the Democratic Coalition noted that “Viktor Orbán has practically proclaimed that instead of democracy built on freedom, a fascist state organization dismantling democracy is the example to follow. The prime minister is, unfortunately, either deranged and/or a traitor."
“It is nonsense that Viktor Orbán set Russia and China - among others - as examples for Hungary to follow, because these organize their state efficiently."
Far-right Jobbik was happy that finally the PM is breaking away from his liberal roots, although it said the opening towards the east is all words but no acts. What the government can show for does not suggest it really wants to counterbalance its dependence from the west, it added.
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