Slovak PM’s remark on Orbán prompts foreign ministry response
Tamás Menczer, the foreign ministry’s state secretary for bilateral relations, has responded to acting Slovak Prime Minister Lajos Ódor’s remark that the Hungarian prime minister was “mostly alone with his views”.
“Many would like to be as alone as [Prime Minister] Viktor Orbán“, he said on Sunday in a Facebook post.
Menczer said that with due respect to Ódor, it should be noted that Orbán had been a politician in the frontline for more than thirty years and prime minister for the 18th year. Orbán has won with two-thirds majority support four times in a row, he added. Millions of Hungarians stand behind him, not to mention his non-Hungarian supporters, Menczer said.
Orbán has been right in connection with all international crises, which is the reason why his significance in international politics is much greater than what Hungary’s size would justify, he said.
Ódor: Orbán is alone with his views, his position is not too comfortable
The antecedent of the story is that Lajos Ódor, the acting Prime Minister of Slovakia, took part in a discussion at the festival Atmosféra at the invitation of the Slovak newspaper Denník N, where he also spoke about Viktor Orbán, 24.hu noticed the report of the Slovak news portal Napunk.
Ódor said that although the heads of state and government talk to Orbán at EU summits, he is alone in his views, so his “position is not very comfortable”.
The Slovak Prime Minister also commented on the part of his Hungarian counterpart’s speech in Baile Tusnad, in which he spoke about Slovakia as a “breakaway” part of the country.
“I see this as folklore, which he says to keep his voters at operating temperature. He usually says these things where he goes. I don’t think it should be taken to an extreme level of seriousness, but we have an election campaign, so it resonates ten times as much as if it had been said last year. I see this as a political statement, which is not very fortunate for us, and not very fortunate for the Hungarian minority in Slovakia. Whose interest is it for the majority or other nationalities to look askance at us? This was the atmosphere here under Mečiar or Slota, but fortunately we have got rid of it. I don’t see any problems between nationalities in Slovakia and it would be a pity to reopen these issues,” Ódor was quoted as saying by 24.hu.
Victor won a 65% majority of votes. 15% of voters are foreign nationals holding duel passports, with one being Hungarian and the other being from unknown countries, they do not reside here. The U.S. has questioned the validity of these “voters” and the ruling party cried. Victor controls most of the media and obviously all of the billboards. Victor recently said that Slovakia was a “breakaway” terrirtory of the old Hungary. Just the facts. Who should be calling who into their offices?
Well Orban does have something in common with Vladimir Putin as they both have won four elections is a row.