Orbán’s political director explains what “orbánism” means

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “governs in the interest of the Hungarian people rather than to favour Eurocrats,” Balázs Orbán, the PM’s political director, said in an interview with Le Figaro, published on Saturday.

While the media tends to use the word orbánism, “for Hungary it is sovereignist and patriotic policy,” the official said. “We believe in traditional values such as the family, nation, and order, but we also adapt to challenges of the 21st century,” he added. “We believe that the nation is a framework in which we can cope with the greatest challenges of our time,” he said.

Answering a question about a changing world order, Orbán said, “in this more and more polarised world, Hungary will not join any bloc automatically. Rather than applying the logic of commitment, the government will turn towards both the East and the West independently, in line with the country’s interests,” adding that “it is not neutrality but sovereign foreign policy based on openness, balance, and pragmatism.”

Meanwhile, the political director said that the prime minister’s use of the term illiberal democracy back in 2014 could have been seen as “scandalous” at the time,” but by now it has proven to be a prophecy.” Illiberal democracy, he said, was “a balance between the will of the majority and protection for the freedom of the individual … a system in which authority comes from the people rather than from the liberal elite, from government agencies or elected officials.”