The political processes in Hungary are entering a new, dynamic phase after the end of Viktor Orban's long rule. What did Orban leave behind, what is his political legacy, the socio-economic results of his rule and the reasons for the change that has occurred. Are there potential risks to the democratic process in Hungary… Georgi Markov, a former constitutional judge who has lived in Hungary for many years, spoke in front of FACT.
– Mr. Markov, every beginning has an end. How will we remember the era of Viktor Orban in Hungary?
– What can I say? I wrote a book “The Viktor Orban Phenomenon“, with which I toured 22 cities in the country. There was a lot of interest. The pandemic interrupted the tour, but in Hungary my book was published under the title “The Viktor Orbán Phenomenon“ and it was also a great success. What can one say – and today, to this day, he is the only political leader at the moment who has a glorious past as a fighter for democracy back in 1988-1989, and all the others are heirs of democracy. He is the authentic fighter for democracy. The man who on June 16, 1989, entered the world video exchange with a call for the Soviet troops to leave Hungary.
He has been elected as a member of parliament for 36 years. Of these, he has been the Prime Minister of Hungary for 20 years. Now it will more or less happen that he will be the leader of the opposition for 20 years. There is no other person in Hungary who can serve four terms in office, for the simple reason that he governed well.
– What What has Orban achieved in these years?
– He has done fantastic things for the country. I'll start with sports. Orban has built such a sports infrastructure that Sebastian Coe, the head of the World Athletics Federation, who has seen a lot as a former athlete, said he had never seen anywhere else in Europe. He built such an outdoor athletics stadium that hosted the world championships that Sebastian Coe himself took his hat off to.
He built the phenomenal “Duna Arena“, where the world swimming championships will be held for the third time. He built the “Ferenc Puskas“ stadium. It will now, on May 30, host the Champions League final. He built over 50 stadiums for one billion euros – for all Hungarian teams, plus stadiums for Hungarians abroad – in Osijek, in Dunajska Streda, in Slovakia, in Serbia and in Romania.
– There is a lot of talk about Orbán's social policy? What did he do…
– Orbán really made an incredible social policy and this is very important to say. Hungarian pensioners received 13th and 14th pensions. Mothers received great protection. Those who are up to 40 years old and insured, upon the birth of a third child, receive a gift of 33 thousand euros from the state and are exempt from taxes for life.
Mothers with two children are exempt from taxes up to 40 years old, and those with one child - up to 30 years old. It is also very important to say that Viktor Orbán managed to maintain relations with Putin in such a way that Hungarians still pay the cheapest heating and hot water bills to this day.
I pay 40 euros for a 100 square meter apartment, with high ceilings of 4.50 meters - for heating, which does not fall under 20 degrees, gas heating plus gas stove and hot water. This is nowhere in Europe. And more. Orban created a million new jobs during his terms. He brought in “Mercedes“, and they are now expanding their factory. He brought in “Audi“, “BMW“, and the “Suzuki“ factories have expanded.
And now, unfortunately, his successor Peter Magyar will take advantage of this. Now a Chinese BYD factory is being built in Hungary – 300 thousand electric cars will be produced annually. There are 7 billion euros of Chinese investments in batteries in Debrecen, and they have made Hungary the third largest battery producer in the world.
– Orban had serious international support. A friend of Putin and Trump, J.D. Vance came to Hungary before the vote. But it didn't work out in Orban's favor, why…
– J.D. Vance came before the elections. Before him, Marco Rubio came, who said that Orban's victory would be Trump's victory in Hungary. Donald Trump himself posted that if Orban were prime minister, all the economic power of America would be at Hungary's disposal. Orban is a favorite of Trump and Putin because he made conservative policies. Back in 2014, Orban made such policies that he became “Trump before Trump“. But the visits did not help for two reasons.
– What are these reasons?
– First, the Hungarians have spoiled themselves terribly. All these benefits that I talked about, they consider to be something natural. They got used to them. And the young people – under 30, who were born under Orban, do not even know that he made them. They only watch on Facebook. Secondly, something new happened against Orban this time – for the first time in Hungary, such a situation appeared that changed the balance. Orban had no parties or coalitions of parties against him. All the parties had united in 2022 and he defeated them. Now he got against him a digital community, a digital subject. And Orban himself said that for the first time he was facing a digital community. To what extent digital can be real – I cannot say, because there is no way to check it. Digital simply became real.
– How did this new political subject appear?
– A person from his circle is brought in - Peter Magyar, who left Orban, offended by being dropped from the "table". Peter Magyar "snuckled" around Orban, but now he is afraid of him! For many years he "snuckled" as a diplomat and participant in three boards, because he was married to the charming Judit Varga, a former Minister of Justice, with whom he has three boys. Because of this, he was put in three boards and lived perfectly.
When he and Varga broke up, he continued to "snuckled", but when she left the ministerial chair,
Magyar was removed from the boards and went online.
– How was Peter Magyar recognized as an alternative to Orban in Hungary?
– Alexander Soros recognized him, Manfred Weber from the EPP also recognized him and they did not create a party, but dissolved all the parties. This is very important to say. In Hungary, all the parties were dissolved. There is no socialist party, no liberal parties. They all were dissolved and this digital project was created so that votes would not be split, there would be no parties, forums, programs, control and so on. Everyone stands behind one person - with nice sneakers, tight pants, cool haircut, well-built. He travels around the country and on social networks they created this digital image. They drove young people under 30 crazy and they came out like "crazy" to vote. And the turnout was 80%, in which, of course, Orban lost.
– What is the role of the majority vote in Hungary?
– In Hungary, 106 deputies are elected by majority vote. That's where the big battle is. In fact, Orban suffered a fiasco there. And it happened because a small right-wing party, which had been in parliament until now, nominated its own candidates and everywhere split off from Orban's electorate by 5-6%. This was not so fatal in some areas, but in others it was absolutely fatal, because Orban lost about 10 parliamentary seats that were on the line - we're talking about where there was a difference of 1%. So this Magyar made a constitutional majority, but now he's caught in the middle, because he knows the Fidesz kitchen extremely well.
He was a man I saw when Hungarian President Katalin Novak entered - how he always went with dark glasses next to his pretty wife, in the front row to clap so they could see him. But Peter Magyar is afraid of Viktor Orban.
– Could we see political instability in Hungary after Orban's loss and a series of elections, as is happening in our country?
– Now Magyar is afraid of Orban because he is afraid that Orban can take the people out onto the streets. And it must be said that Orban's supporters are the more intelligent and mature part of society. They are not scumbags. So the fear is that Orban will take the people out onto the streets and start overthrowing Magyar. However, this will not happen, because Orban refused to stage a coup in 2006, when he lost. So Magyar will serve out his term. There have never been early elections in Hungary, because the electoral system is such that it creates a stable parliamentary majority. This is the great advantage of the mixed system.
– What do you expect in the longer term?
– Magyar is already scared about 2030, when he will want to run for prime minister again, because then he will face Viktor Orban as the leader of the opposition. And Orban has shown that he is a strong opposition – both among the communists and among the democracy. Then he will be 67 years old and can quite calmly turn to Magyar and tell him: “Hey, brother, what happened? Hungarians don't have a 13th and 14th pension. With me, they did.“ He will turn to the mothers, to the women, to the people – and remind them of what they had. And now Magyar is afraid that Orban will beat him then. And look what they do. Now, a change is being prepared in the Constitution of Hungary, which is specifically anti-Orban.
The goal is to deprive Orban of the right to be prime minister. It is said that the Constitution of Hungary should include that a politician cannot be prime minister for more than two terms. What idiocy!
This is not a presidential institution. This is a political battle over who will govern the country. Each party runs for office because it wants to govern. In my opinion, if they pass this into the Constitution, Hungarians will take to the streets. I can predict the date – October 23, when it will be 70 years since 1956. They will come out to defend the leader who made Hungary a sovereign country within the European Union. Magyar also says that he will follow this policy, but he cannot do it. Because who congratulated him first? Alexander Soros. And who congratulated him second? Hillary Clinton. He will be sitting next to Manfred Weber, the EPP, and Alexander Soros. And I would like to end this way: elections can be won digitally, but you cannot govern digitally.