A new era in Hungary? – Viktor Orbán has been the Prime Minister for 10 years – video
Some Hungarians say that he should remain in the chair of the PM for many more decades since his government brought a new golden age for the country. Meanwhile, others say that his administration marks a soft or even a hard dictatorship in Hungary during which his party, Fidesz, tries to dominate not only politics with its 2/3rd majority but also almost all segments of life like the media or the economy. Historians will probably ever argue about the assessment of the ‘Orbán-era’ but, inevitably, they will debate about it even decades later.
Even his opponents acknowledge that Viktor Orbán is not the prime minister of Hungary by accident and his political skills are unique. In Europe, Viktor Orbán is the longest-serving, democratically elected PM following Angela Merkel which is special already in itself since, in Hungary, every government lost the elections after 1990 except for Ferenc Gyurcsány in 2006. Moreover, Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party together with the Christian Democrats
won three consecutive landslide victories on democratic elections
resulting in 2/3rd majority in 2010, 2014 and 2018. Therefore, many think that the period starting on May 29, 2010, marks the beginning of the Orbán-era instead of just a change in the governments leading the country.
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Viktor Orbán was already a PM once between 1998 and 2002, but then he had to work together with two other parties who bound his hands in many issues and could not act that freely as he wanted. After 2010; however, he has been the PM with the support of the Fidesz and the Christian Democrats
but these parties do not oppose his will
in any issues but voted as it was told them.
According to Viktor Orbán, in 2010, the country was in a terrible economic, social etc. state barely evading bankruptcy after the 2008 financial crisis. Based on their communication, the PM not only managed to deal with the severe economic problems but, between 2010 and 2020, he could set Hungary on a growth path. It is an undeniable fact that from 2010 on the Hungarian economy grew but critics say that the reason behind it is not the work of the government but the increase of the world economy. Furthermore, they say that PM Orbán and his administration attracted many foreign investors; however, they created mostly low added value jobs with bad salaries. Therefore,
hundreds of thousands of Hungarians chose to leave the country
and work in Western-Europe for higher wages. Meanwhile, Mr Orbán says that they are just looking for adventure abroad.
Orbán’s governments always fought against people and institutions during the past 10 years. In 2010, they started that with fighting against the International Monetary Fund and the state debt. Later that was modified to the bureaucrats of the European Union (“Brussels”) and, in 2015, migration became the main adversary of the government together with their former supporter, George Soros, who was portrayed in the government-close media as the main organiser of the influx. That remained the primary communication path in the last five years saying that
the Hungarian opposition parties would like to settle down migrants from Africa and Asia in Hungary.
Interestingly, even though Orbán was always fighting against “Brussels”, his administration gained the most money from the European Union (the Cohesion Fund) for different projects thanks to a very effective system they created not to lose any cents. The opposition says that the money the EU gave went to government-close oligarchs in the last ten years. Meanwhile, the government highlights that, firstly, it is not something they have to be thankful for but the money of the Hungarian people which they deserve. Furthermore, they say that they spent it on important infrastructure projects that help Hungary become attractive in the eyes of foreign investors. In contrast, critics say that
the government spends too much money on prestige projects (e.g. stadiums)
instead of the development of the education or the healthcare system.
Historians will probably ever argue about the assessment of the ‘Orbán-era’ but, inevitably, they will debate about it even decades later. Moreover, Viktor Orbán will remain prime minister at least until 2022, and he said before that he plans to stay in his chair until 2030. Today polls show that his parties are way ahead of their opponents so there is a good chance that he will win in 2022 again.
Finally, this is the video the PM posted this May 29 on the 10th anniversary of the new ‘era’:
https://www.facebook.com/298090296092/videos/310808379921262/
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