New book presents PM Orbán as an epoch-making politician and metaphysical thinker

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán understands the importance of a clear direction for governing, Istvan Stumpf, the government commissioner in charge of the reform of Hungary’s higher education system and a former constitutional court judge, said at an online presentation of a book looking back on Orbán’s last ten years in office on Wednesday.

Written by political scientist Gábor G. Fodor and published by the Public Foundation for Research on Central and Eastern European History and Society, the book, entitled “The Orbán Rule”, provides insight into the prime minister’s philosophy, Stumpf said.

Though there have been many books published on the prime minister, “this one is special because it was written by an actual member of the Orbán team,” he added.

Tamás Deutsch, the head of the Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance’s European Parliamentary delegation, said in a video message that the book would give readers a better understanding of Hungary’s past 30 years and of the importance of the past decade.

Orbán is a defining politician of his era, and even “those who aren’t fans of him” acknowledge his accomplishments, Deutsch said.

Addressing a panel discussion, author G. Fodor lauded Orbán’s courage to establish “a model of his own”. The right wing led by Orbán governs by using Hungary’s strengths to its advantage, he said.

Mária Schmidt, a historian who heads the 21st Century Institute, said it spoke to Orbán’s courage that he had recognised that the Western civilisation “which we wanted to catch up with” before Hungary’s change of regime “no longer works, and there’s nothing to copy from it anymore”.

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Source: MTI