2019 EP election

Hungarian politics in 2019: elections, drama, controversy

FIDESZ, Orbán, politics, Hungary

The last year of the decade was eventful in terms of Hungarian politics. Scandals broke out, there were two elections, and like any other year, it did not lack drama.

In a month-by-month retrospective article, Kafkadesk reflected on Hungary’s politics in 2019.

The year started with a few demonstrations against 2018’s “slave-law”, but they quickly lost momentum. Then there was the first round of the primary elections, in which over 30,000 people participated, and Gergely Karácsony (Párbeszéd) and Csaba Horváth (MSzP) went head-to-head.

Famous producer Andy Vajna died last January, aged 74. Many politicians and celebs mourned his death.

In the second month of the year, it was announced that Karácsony won against Horváth in the elections with 81 per cent of the votes. Karácsony was also accused by 444 of helping – or not being able to stop – the “parking-mafia” in his district.

Fidesz also announced their initiative to help families with a lot of children this month by giving them tax breaks.

Spring came, and so did a conflict between Fidesz and the European People’s Party because of the propaganda posters attacking Jean-Claude Juncker in Hungary. When the People’s Party’s president, Manfred Weber, came to talk with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the posters were taken down and Fidesz was suspended from the party.

Róbert Puzsér was supported in the mayoral race by both LMP and Jobbik.

The European Parliamentary elections started in April, and people began preparing for the municipal elections as well, which would come in October.

The last month of spring was not uneventful either. The Parliamentary elections had some surprising results, some of which affected Hungary. For Fidesz, it was disappointing, while for Momentum and Democratic Coalition, celebrations were in order. Fidesz only managed to get 14 out of the 21 seats, while Democratic Coalition managed to send four of their people to Brussel, even though they were expecting only one, and Momentum won two seats.

After their poor performance, LMP stopped backing Puzsér in the municipal elections in June, and Jobbik followed their example. Momentum and Democratic Coalition both announced their plans to participate in the second round.

Puzsér announced his withdrawal from the primary and that he would appear on the ballots as an independent candidate in the coming fall.

The primary had a turnout of 70,000 people, with Karácsony winning by 49 per cent.

In July, Orbán made his annual appearance at a festival in Tusványos, Transylvania, and introduced his ideas of “Christian freedom” as well as its opposite, “liberal freedom”.

Judit Varga was made Minister of Justice this month as well.

August was the time to begin campaigning for the municipal elections.

László Köver, the speaker of the Hungarian Parliament, came under fire when he said a “good Hungarian” has four children.

By September, the campaigns of the candidates were well under way. Karácsony made promises, while Tarlós failed to get his messages across, and videos of him yelling at MP Bence Tordai with a megaphone also damaged his public image. In the meantime, Puzsér started attacking his opponents instead of focusing on his plans.

Before the elections could take place, a video was leaked of Zsolt Borkai (Fidesz), the mayor of Győr, as he was participating in an orgy, by a blog, ‘The Devil’s Advocate’. Fidesz’s poor reaction – or the lack of any kind of reaction – probably played a part in the results of the elections that came. Fidesz lost many seats in Budapest’s districts as well as mayoral ones, and so their rule of nine years started to decline.

Borkai resigned the following month, and a new election had to be arranged. The new national stadium was also revealed.

The last month of the year was not scandal-free either. After a notable director’s sexual harassment case broke out, new legislation was shortly introduced, which sparked protests as it would give control to the government and allow them to censor things.

A motion to give unemployed people only emergency healthcare services for free also passed, which led to outrage, as unemployed people already struggle enough financially.

Before the year could end, Vadhajtások felt they needed to leak Zsolt Gréczy’s (Democratic Coalition MP) nudes, and a woman also accused him of harassment, which all led to him resigning.

Hungary’s Trócsányi Commissioner-designate for Neighbourhood and Enlargement portfolio – UPDATE

László Trócsányi, Hungary’s former justice minister, has been selected as the European Union’s Commissioner-designate to lead the Neighbourhood and Enlargement portfolio, the executive arm of the European Union said on Tuesday.

European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen presented her team and the new structure of the next EC in Brussels on Tuesday.

Three Executive Vice-Presidents

Three Executive Vice-Presidents will have a double function. They will be both Vice-President responsible for one of three core topics of the President-elect’s agenda and Commissioners.

Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans (Netherlands) will coordinate the work on the European Green Deal. He will also manage climate action policy, supported by the Directorate-General for Climate Action.

Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager (Denmark) will coordinate our whole agenda on a Europe fit for the digital age and be the Commissioner for Competition, supported by the Directorate-General for Competition.

Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis (Latvia) will coordinate the work on an Economy that Works for People and be the Commissioner for financial services, supported by the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union.

The five other Vice-Presidents are:

Josep Borrell (Spain, current Spanish Foreign Minister): HR/VP-designate, A Stronger Europe in the World;

Věra Jourová (Czech Republic, Commissioner in the Juncker Commission): Values and Transparency;

Margaritis Schinas (Greece, former Member of the European Parliament, long-serving official of the European Commission): Protecting our European Way of Life;

Maroš Šefčovič (Slovakia, Vice-President in the Juncker Commission): Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight;

Dubravka Šuica (Croatia, Member of the European Parliament): Democracy and Demography.

The other Commissioners-designate are as follows

Johannes Hahn (Austria) will be in charge of ‘Budget and Administration’, and will report directly to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. As a long-serving member of the College, he knows about the importance of nurturing a modern administration.

Didier Reynders (Belgium), who trained as a lawyer, is a highly experienced former national Finance Minister, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Minister of Defence. In the new Commission, he will be responsible for ‘Justice’ (including the topic of the rule of law).

Mariya Gabriel (Bulgaria) is a current European Commissioner. She worked with dedication and energy on the digital portfolio, and is now moving on to create new perspectives for the young generation (‘Innovation and Youth’ portfolio).

Stella Kyriakides (Cyprus) is a medical psychologist with many years of experience in the field of social affairs, health and cancer prevention. She will lead the ‘Health’ portfolio.

Kadri Simson (Estonia) is a long-serving member of the Estonian parliament and Minister for Economic Affairs and Infrastructure. She will be in charge of the ‘Energy’ portfolio.

Jutta Urpilainen (Finland) was not only Finance Minister and a long-standing member of the Finnish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee; she has also worked as a special envoy in Ethiopia. She will take over responsibility for ‘International Partnerships’.

Sylvie Goulard (France), former Member of European Parliament, is a dedicated and convinced European. As the ‘Internal Market’ Commissioner, she will lead our work on industrial policy and promote the Digital Single Market. She will also be responsible for the new Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space.

Phil Hogan (Ireland), the incumbent Commissioner for Agriculture, will bring his experience to the new Commission in the ‘Trade’ portfolio.

Paolo Gentiloni (Italy), former Italian Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, will be sharing his vast experience in the ‘Economy’ portfolio.

Virginijus Sinkevičius (Lithuania), Lithuanian Minister for Economy and Innovation, will be responsible for ‘Environment and Oceans’.

Nicolas Schmit (Luxembourg) is bringing his experience from the European Parliament and his service as national Minister for Employment and Labour, and will now be responsible for the ‘Jobs’ portfolio.

Helena Dalli (Malta) has dedicated her political life to equality, serving as Minister for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties, and also as a Minister for European Affairs and Equality. She will lead the ‘Equality’ portfolio.

Janusz Wojciechowski (Poland) was a long-serving Member of the European Parliament in the Agriculture Committee, and is currently a Member of the European Court of Auditors. He will be in charge of the portfolio ‘Agriculture’.

Elisa Ferreira (Portugal) is currently Vice-Governor of Banco de Portugal. She has been a Member of the European Parliament for many years, and was the Portuguese Minister for Planning and Minister for Environment. She will lead the ‘Cohesion and Reforms’ portfolio.

Rovana Plumb (Romania) is a Member of the European Parliament (Vice-President of the Social and Democrats Group), and is a former national Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Minister of Labour, Minister of European Funds, Minister of Education and Minister of Transport. She will be in charge of the ‘Transport’ portfolio.

Janez Lenarčič (Slovenia) is a Slovenian diplomat. He was Secretary of State for European Affairs, and worked closely for several years with the United Nations, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the European Union. He will be in charge of the ‘Crisis Management’ portfolio.

Ylva Johansson (Sweden) is national Minister for Employment but also a former Minister for Schools and Minister for Health and Elderly Care and member of Swedish Parliament. She is also a highly respected expert in the fields of employment, integration, health and welfare. She will lead the ‘Home Affairs’ portfolio.

László Trócsányi (Hungary) is the former Minister of Justice of Hungary. He will lead the ‘Neighbourhood and Enlargement’ portfolio.

The Neighbourhood and Enlargement portfolio has been led by Johannes Hahn.

Trócsányi’s predecessor Tibor Navracsics has been Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport.

The European Parliament must give its consent to the entire College of Commissioners, after hearings of the Commissioners-designate in Parliamentary committees. Once the EP has given its consent, the European Council formally appoints the EC.

UPDATE

Trócsányi said the position would be a great honour both for him for and Hungary. “Enlargement and neighbourhood policy are especially important areas which have an impact on the everyday lives of European citizens,” he said in a statement. “At my hearing in the European Parliament, I will pledge to do everything in my power to fully live up to this important role”, he said, adding he would make use of his experiences in diplomacy and international relations.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán welcomed Trócsányi’s selection, saying the bloc’s enlargement was a “great and beautiful task … and Hungarians like such tasks”. As a seasoned politician who “understands the essence of Europe”, Trócsányi is well suited to help aspiring EU members to “take over European rules, norms and values”, he said. The EU faces a number of challenges, and the integration of the Western Balkans is among the most important for Hungarians, Orbán added.

At a press conference, Von der Leyen said Hungary’s objectives “are clear regarding the integration of the Western Balkans, which are in line with the those of the new European Commission”. The integration of those countries will be a focal point of the new EC’s work, she said.

“I think Hungary is the country that will precisely cooperate accordingly,” she said.

Hungary’s Fidesz-KDNP group in the European Parliament welcomed Von der Leyen’s announcement to designate Trocsanyi to take up “one of the most important commission posts”. Enlargement policy has been one of the most prominent portfolios of the commission for decades, the group said in a statement.

Hungary has been a leading supporter of EU enlargement and Croatia’s accession from the beginning, it said, adding that the integration of the Western Balkans would remain a priority of the Hungarian government.

“We believe that enlargement can bring about a true reunification of Europe,” the group said.

Trócsányi is an internationally recognised professional and his diplomatic experience makes him entirely suitable for one of the most important commission posts, the statement said.

Szeged appeal court reopens Czeglédy case

court antifa case

The appeal court of the southern Hungarian city of Szeged has decided to reopen the case of Csaba Czeglédy, who ran in the European parliamentary election as a candidate for the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK), on charges of major fraud and forgery of public documents.

The original procedure was dropped in May after the National Election Committee upheld his immunity as a candidate in the EP ballot.

The prosecutor’s office appealed that decision.

Czeglédy, a municipal politician in Szombathely, in western Hungary, was arrested in July 2017. He was put in house arrest in December last year, and was released in February. He was indicted for tax fraud to the tune of six billion forints (EUR 18.9m).

In a case handled separately by the court, one employee of Czeglédy’s Human Operator company was sentenced to three years and three months in prison for defrauding the government and using forged public documents.

Another three associates of Czeglédy were also convicted, with two sentences currently in effect.

Has Trócsányi’s nomination to EU commissioner strong footing?

MEP Trócsányi

The nomination of former justice minister László Trócsányi to replace Tibor Navracsics as Hungary’s European Commissioner is strongly founded in terms of his political professionalism and personality, an analyst of the Századvég Foundation said on Wednesday.

Trócsányi may be in a position to contribute to the work of the commission in a way that would “steer the body back to its original mission”,

Petra Halkó of the think-tank told current affairs channel M1.

Meanwhile, Halkó said EC President-elect Ursula von der Leyen’s unprecedented request to achieve gender parity in the commission was a welcome move from a feminist perspective. But, she added,

this should not be a decisive matter when it came to an important political body.

European Union member states have until August 26 to name candidates for commissioner and the EP is expected to vote on them in October.

As we wrote a few days ago, Ursula von der Leyen, president-elect of the European Commission, has made remarks that “give rise to hope”, ruling Fidesz MEP Balázs Hidvéghi told. Read more HERE.

Hungarian parties reactions about EC President Von der Leyen

The “only correct path” for the next president of the European Commission is “to do everything to protect the external borders of the European Union”, Hungarian MEP Tamás Deutsch said in the European parliamentary hearing of Ursula von der Leyen, the candidate for the post, on Tuesday.

Fidesz

The European Union must stop migration through control of the external borders, respect national identities under the EU treaties, and continue subsidies to central and eastern union members at the current level, Deutsch, a deputy of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz, said.

“We expect the new head of the European Commission to appreciate and support efforts by members aimed at protecting the community’s external borders,” he said.

Deutsch said that the EU’s regional and rural development funds, and direct farm subsidies were “investments aimed at regional cohesion” rather than “alms to less developed member states”. The next budget of the EU “should not punish but support central Europe” whose countries are “developing and closing the gap at a higher than average rate”, he insisted.

Momentum

Katalin Cseh, MEP of the Momentum party, called on the EU to “stop overlooking the Hungarian prime minister’s populism”. She insisted that the community should step up against “those working to destroy the EU” and ensure that the EU “is a unified, prosperous and safe community based on (shared) values”.

Jobbik

Jobbik MEP Marton Gyöngyösi said that the candidate’s being interviewed in the EP indicates that the EU “has not learnt from the earlier mistakes” and “fails to take into consideration” the community’s opinion on the spitzenkandidat system.

“European voters are disappointed; they want a more credible, democratic and more transparent EU”, he said.

“Many find Von der Leyen unacceptable as European Commission president candidate,” he added.

Socialists

Socialist MEP István Ujhelyi voiced support for Von der Leyen’s programme on a community site, but added that he disagreed with the way she had been nominated.

Democratic Coalition

DK’s board took the decision in response to the party’s online vote with the majority of over 50,000 respondents asking for Von der Leyen’s support, Zsolt Gréczy told a press conference.

He said the decision also had political grounds, namely the outline Von der Leyen gave about her programme in the EP earlier in the day.

It reflected much of DK’s policies including the concept of a united states of Europe, as well as introducing a uniform European minimum wage and child support scheme, fair taxing of multinational companies and supporting climate protection goals, Gréczy said.

Von der Leyen pledged to urge strict sanctions against national governments that take measures violating the rule of law, he said.

Gréczy welcomed the candidate’s further pledge “to be tough fighting against anyone who wants to weaken or disintegrate Europe.

“This is nothing less but a declaration of war on Hungary’s prime minister and his ruling Fidesz party,” he said.

 

Judiciary employees’ wage hikes may start next year, says news minister

justice minister Judit VArga Hungary

Employees of the judiciary sector may see their wages raised as soon as next year, Judit Varga, who was sworn in as justice minister last week, told public news channel M1 late on Monday.

Varga said Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had voiced support for the wage hikes as current wages in the sector are “humiliatingly low”.

On policy issues, Varga said

she would follow in the footsteps of her predecessor, László Trócsányi, who has gone on to work as an MEP. The ministry is also taking on the task of supporting Hungary’s EU policy, she said.

The EU’s objections to the Hungarian judiciary system are part of a “witch hunt”, and are politically motivated, Varga said. She said she would continue to represent Hungary’s interests in the Article 7 procedure started last year that could eventually strip the country of its voting rights in the bloc.

Regarding the Visegrad Group, Varga said the cooperation among the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia was “incredibly successful”.

“We managed to stop” EPP candidate Manfred Weber and Frans Timmermans, the spitzenkandidat of the Party of European Socialists, from becoming head of the European Commission, she said.

The final candidate German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen’s “past and personality” suggest that she will be more open to the problems specific for central Europe, she said.

On the issue of migration, Varga said the goal was to find a long-term solution respecting all states’ interests.

Interview – Orbán: Hungary’s economy could thrive without EU funding

The government has managed to enforce the declared will of Hungarians who voted in the European Parliament elections by getting people into top European Union posts who respect nations and oppose migration, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a public radio interview on Friday.

Orbán insisted that many of Europe’s problems were linked to leaders in the EU who supported migration.

He said

Socialist candidate Frans Timmermans, “the candidate of [US billionaire George] Soros” had been torpedoed. Meanwhile, the European People’s Party’s Manfred Weber, the prime minister added, would not end up as head of the European Commission because he had spoken “disrespectfully about the citizens of several countries, including Hungary”.

“Westerners and central Europe agreed on German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen,” Orbán added. The Visegrad Group had ranked her third on its list, and there would now be a chance that the commission presidency would make Europe strong while respecting national interests, he said. He also highlighted the economic performance and political stability of the group that “promotes the interests of 63 million people with due weight”.

Orbán said central Europe was backed by Croatia and Romania when it came to nominating top European officials.

Concerning von der Leyen, Orbán said that selecting “a German mother of seven” in itself showed “the winds of change” in Brussels.

He added that it would be premature to celebrate at this stage, however, because the past five years had witnessed “many mistakes in Brussels” concerning terrorism, public security, migration and the economy, which “need to be remedied”.

Answering a question concerning ruling Fidesz MEP Livia Jaroka’s support for opposition Democratic Coalition MEP Klára Dobrev’s candidacy for EP vice president — a gesture unreciprocated by Dobrev — Orbán said “the right is a nationalist force while the left is internationalist” and “standing up for the homeland is a moral obligation on the right, but this is obviously not the case on the left.”

“For the left … harming Hungary is not too high a price to pay for weakening its right wing,” he added.

Concerning the fiscal policy of the EU in the next five years, Orbán said that

Hungary is no longer dependent on EU funding, adding that Hungary’s economy could thrive without those funds. “But, of course, it is easier to succeed if the EU budget also supports Hungary’s goals.”

On another subject Orbán said that the migration pressure on Europe would continue to grow. Europe’s “pro-migration leaders” have so far supported border control measures “aimed at legalising illegal migration”, he insisted. Hungary, on the other hand, seeks to resolve issues around its shrinking population through family support measures, he added.

Orbán insisted that pro-migration politicians owed their support to “aggressive, opaquely funded fake civil organisations” that were in a minority when it came to views on migration. He added that the “international networks behind them, with George Soros as an emblematic figure” wanted to create the idea western Europeans were “welcoming migrants with open arms”. He said such organisations had received large sums from the EU budget. Hungary wants to stop NGOs from accessing EU monies that support such organisations, Orbán said. Funding for such groups should be up to member states, he added.

Concerning the Slovak president’s visit to Budapest, Orbán said that Zuzana Caputova liked, appreciated and respected Hungarians, and she had spoken with respect about Hungarians living in Slovakia. It was also clear that she regarded V4 cooperation as important and she wanted it to endure, Orbán said.

Regarding the 2020 budget on which parliament will vote today, Orbán said the government was intent on not running deficits in the future but ensuring surpluses instead.

With today’s vote, a new era could begin and the country would gradually turn into a lender rather than a borrower, he said. Orbán also underlined that family support had doubled since 2010 and he highlighted measures to provide free textbooks and meals for school children.

On defence spending, the prime minister said that thanks to the country’s “balanced development”, the government would not have to skimp on spending, adding that Hungary must be able to defend itself from two directions at the same time. Everyone, he added, should possess the basic skills to defend their homeland, and this would be an important aspect of young people’s education and this would form a basic part of the national core curriculum.

Secret recording: the Hungarian PM is a member of the pro-Russia European coalition

A secret recording released yesterday showed how a close aide to Italy’s deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini held secret talks to pump Russian oil money to his Northern League party in 2018. Gianluca Savoini also mentioned that there was a forming European pro-Russia coalition preparing to win the 2019 EP elections and the Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán is one of its members.

According to the BuzzFeed, the website that published the audio recording and its transcript, six men sat down for a business meeting on the morning of October 18 last year in Moscow’s iconic Metropol Hotel. Three of them were Russians while the other three were Italians with Gianluca Savoini, a close aide and former spokesman of Italian deputy PM Matteo Salvini described in the Italian media as his Russian sherpa, among them. Buzzfeed says that the six men’s purpose was an oil deal, but their real goal was to undermine liberal democracies and

shape a new, nationalist Europe aligned with Moscow.

They were talking about a covert business deal during which Lukoil or Rosneft would sell oil to Italian ENI with the help of two intermediaries and with a significant discount. Salvini’s party, the Northern League, could spend the amount of the discount approx. Sixty-five million dollars) on winning the 2019 EP elections.

This is, of course, a breach of the Italian electoral law, which bans political parties from accepting large above 100 thousand EUR) foreign donations. Nevertheless, Savoini emphasised that the deal had to be executed as soon as possible since the EP elections approached quickly, so they needed the money.

Savoini stressed during the meeting that

they would like to change Europe

and create a new one that “has to be close to Russia as before because we want to have our sovereignty.” Savoini has listed European allies, as well, in the project. He said in faltering English that “Salvini is the first man that wants to change all Europe. Together with our allies and colleagues and other parties in Europe. Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs in Austria, German Alternative für Deutschland, France Madame Le Pen, and other countries the same, Hungaria with Orban, in Sweden Sverigedemokraterna. We have our allies. We really want

to begin to have a great alliance with these parties that are pro-Russia.”

He added that they “have a lot of enemies. We are in a dangerous situation because our government is attacked from Brussels, from the globalist men — not Trump but the establishment of Obama is very, very strong and inside in Italy too.”

According to Buzzfeed, Salvini — described enthusiastically by the Russians on the tape as the “European Trump” — did not attend the meeting himself, but he was in Moscow at the time. The news outlet was not able to identify the Russian negotiators, but they said twice that they would have to feed details back to the “deputy prime minister,” and explaining they were hoping to get the “green light” from “Mr Pligin” the following week.

The Nothern League leader has vehemently denied ever receiving any foreign money to fund his party, and it is still

unclear whether the deal mentioned above was ever executed.

An Eni spokesperson told BuzzFeed News in an email: “Eni strongly reiterates that [it] in no way took part [in] transactions aimed at financing political parties. Moreover, the described supply operation never took place.”

Nevertheless, the Northern League received 34.5 pc in May’s EU parliamentary elections to become the most popular party in the world’s eighth-largest economy.

As we reported before, the Austrian vice-chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache had to resign his post because of a secretly made video footage on which he talked about how an allegedly Russian businesswoman could buy one of the biggest Austrian magazine for him with which he could win the upcoming parliamentary elections of 2017. During the conversation, he mentions that he would

build a media environment similar to that of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán

and mentions Austrian businessman Heinrich Pecina as an “investor who bought and prepared every Hungarian paper for Orbán in the past 15 years”.

Orbán cabinet voices support for new EU leaders 

Talks are ongoing between Hungary and Norway on the distribution of funds to Hungarian civil groups from the Norwegian government under its Norway Grants scheme, but it is uncertain if an agreement will be reached, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said on Wednesday. The new leaders of the European Union’s institutions should be “granted trust in advance”, he said.

Gergely Gulyás said in response to a question that

negotiations between the two countries had been made more difficult by the Norwegian government’s “insistence on supporting the civil organisations of [US billionaire] George Soros”.

Hungary, however, intends to spend the entirety of the grant on schemes aimed at improving the integration of the Roma community, he said.

In response to a question, Gulyás said he had no knowledge of the US president having been asked to mediate in the talks between the two countries.

Family protection action plan

On the topic of the government’s family protection action plan, Gulyás said the scheme’s implementation was going smoothly. Gulyás noted that the first four of the plan’s seven measures entered into effect on Monday.

The measures are attracting a lot of interest, Gulyás said, adding that

the government expects the number of applications for the various support schemes to reach record levels by the end of the month.

Constitutional amendment proposal

Gulyás was also asked about reports by news portal Index saying that the ruling parties were planning to draft a constitutional amendment proposal that would include a ban on adoption by same-sex couples if Budapest Mayor István Tarlós won re-election in the autumn. Gulyás commented on the reports by saying that “Index has gotten started on the election campaign as a member of [Parbeszed candidate] Gergely Karácsony’s team.” The PM’s Office chief said it was “completely absurd” to try to link the planned constitutional amendment with the municipal elections. He said there were no plans to change the rules around adoption, which currently allow adoption by heterosexual couples only.

Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA)

On another subject, Gulyás said he did not think the move to relocate research institutions of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) to a new body with its own, independent budget chapter violated any European Union laws. He added that he did not expect the EU to launch an infringement procedure against Hungary over the amendment.

Gulyás voices support for new EU leaders 

Gergely Gulyás said the Hungarian government and ruling Fidesz had different positions on several issues than some of the candidates, but “the head of the European Commission should act as guardian of the treaties despite those differences”. It is important that “our goals of stopping migration, protecting Christian culture and ensuring respect for a Europe of nations should not be the targets of attacks”, Gulyás said.

Gulyás insisted that the “cooperation and unity of the Visegrad countries has proved to be solid”. He added that

the V4 cooperation was the strongest such initiative within the EU. “Belonging to one region overrides the V4 prime ministers’ different [European] party affiliations,” he added.

Gulyás also said that neither Frans Timmermans nor Manfred Weber had the ability to promote consensus between member states. “In light of recent developments the spitzenkandidat-system has failed,” Gulyás said. He added that Hungary’s voters had supported Fidesz in the European Parliament “not because Weber was the spitzenkandidat of the European People’s Party but rather in spite of it”. He insisted that Weber had “insulted Hungarian voters” when he said he did not wish to be European Commission president if it was up to Fidesz’s support. As for Timmermans, Gulyás said that the focus of his activities was to “attack Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic” and “make the crudest, insinuating remarks on democratically elected leaders”.

Gulyás said he saw a good chance that Ursula von der Leyen, as commission head, would “mediate fairly between member states” and perform well in the role of guardian of the treaties.

“We don’t have a problem if somebody else has different views on migration, unless they want to force their position on us,” Gulyás said. “We just expect tolerance.”

Fidesz: Work in EP to stop migration continues

EU flag

The work to stop migration continues in the European Parliament according to the will of the Hungarian people, the European parliamentary group of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrats (KDNP) said on Tuesday, after the new body was formed after the may European parliamentary elections.

The 13 MEPs will do their utmost to stop migration, protect the Europe of nations and Christian values, and will propose scrapping the debit card and visa programmes for migrants, the statement said.

“The MEPs of the Hungarian opposition have joined pro-migration forces,” the statement said.

At the first meeting of the new European Parliament after the May EU elections, the Fidesz-KDNP group elected Fidesz MEP Tamas Deutsch as the leader of the delegation and Jozsef Szajer as chairman.

Deutsch: Járóka to be nominated for EP vice-president

The European People’s Party will nominate Lívia Járóka, an MEP of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, as vice-president of the European Parliament, MEP Tamás Deutsch said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Orbán against making ‘Soros man’ European Commission president

The possible nomination of Frans Timmermans for European Commission president could be rejected solely because he is “George Soros’s man”, but the main reason for the Visegrad countries not to support him is because “he is a fighter of ideologies and he is against anyone who has a different view of the world”, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told the V4NA news agency on Monday.

Orbán referred to developments at the recent European Union summit as “thrillerlike”, and insisted that “some European leaders” including Timmermans, spitzenkandidat of the European Socialists and Democrats, and Manfred Weber, that of the European People’s Party, have “decided that the EC should be led by an unfaltering supporter of the NGO network of George Soros and of liberal democracy”.

“They have found a real fighter, Timmermans… who would not tolerate any views different from his own or deviating from liberal democracy,” Orbán insisted.

He warned that “if that group captures the EC president’s chair, they will finance from that position Soros’s NGOs for long years and will try and restructure central European societies especially in terms of migration”. “Several of us” including the EPP, Hungary and the V4 group is working to “stop that process”, he added. He argued that Timmermans, if elected EC president, would “introduce east-west divisions in the EU, causing huge problems”.

The Visegrad countries want an EC president who will promote cooperation and compromises between east and west, Orbán said.

On Sunday, the EPP decided that Timmermans “could in no way be EC president” and that the EPP should delegate somebody to the post, even if that person is other than Weber, Orbán said.

He added that those decisions were not reported in the international press. Since the EPP cannot have two positions, it “will have to choose the EC (president)”, he added.

According to Orbán, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Luxembourg’s MEP Frank Engel voted against those two decisions; “everybody else voted against Merkel”. Merkel “did not accept” the decisions and went on proposing that Weber should be made European Parliament president and Timmermans EC president, in cooperation with the liberals and Socialists, he said. Merkel’s rejecting the EPP’s decisions and “having a completely different scenario” is “grave”, the prime minister said.

Italy, the V4, and other prime ministers, however, “rejected Merkel’s attitude” and “prevented Timmermans from being made EC president”, Orbán said.

“When it turned out that a majority decision cannot be made, the session was suspended; everybody is now waiting and negotiating, waiting for the session to resume tomorrow,” Orbán said.

“I do hope that the EPP group will send us a clear message outlining the post we should fight for; I hope that post will be that of the commission president rather than the European Parliament head,” Orbán said, adding that negotiations into the night would hopefully result in a “compromise which is acceptable both in terms of party politics and geographical location”.

Socialist board suspends former MEP Szanyi’s membership

mep socialists hungary szanyi

The national board of the opposition Socialists has suspended the memberships of Tibor Szanyi, outgoing MEP of the party, and Zoltán Fekete, Socialist leader of Pest county, the party told MTI in a statement on Friday.

According to the statement, the board passed its unanimous decisions in the wake of “remarks and acts” by the two politicians in the opposition’s preselection campaign before the upcoming mayoral election, which it said have harmed the party’s reputation.

Szanyi’s and Fekete’s membership will be suspended until completion of a disciplinary procedure, the statement said.

Szanyi has publicly criticised the Socialist party‘s leadership since the European Parliament election, in which he could not renew his mandate.

A letter written by Fekete was published in the press in February, in which he accused party leaders of sweeping financial irregularities under the carpet.

Karácsony wins opposition preselection for Budapest mayor

Orbán in Brussels: Weber, Timmermans ‘have failed’

orbán brussels interview

Manfred Weber and Frans Timmermans, the lead candidates of the European People’s Party and the European Socialists, “have failed” in their bids to become the next European Commission president, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday, adding that this was “good news” for Hungary because the Hungarian people did not want to see either of them in charge.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels about the first day of the ongoing European Union summit, Orbán said: “We’ve taken important steps forward.”

The prime minister noted that his Fidesz party had won last month’s European Parliament election with 53 percent of the vote.

“This is unparalleled: hardly anyone in Europe has this [level of support],” he said.

Orbán noted that he had pledged to use the mandate given to his party to prevent the EU from choosing leaders who support immigration. He noted that he had also vowed to make sure that the EU would not have a leader who “doesn’t respect Hungary or the central European countries”.

Orbán said he had been successful in keeping these promises because “the Spitzenkandidaten, Mr. Weber and Mr. Timmermans, have fallen.”

“They didn’t meet either of the criteria, so their departure is good news for Hungary,” the prime minister added.

Asked about the possibility that the Visegrád (V4) countries may field an important EU post, Orbán said they stood “a good chance”.

“For every EU position, the V4 has more than two or three candidates,” he said, adding the V4 would punch with its weight in negotiations.

He said V4 has proposals with “specific names” that would be good for Hungary and central Europe as a whole. He added that names “must be handled with care” since the chances of prospective candidates could be compromised by revealing them publicly.

Mid-week, V4 leaders will meet to “make the final negotiations”, Orbán said. On Sunday evening, the V4 will then make proposals in the interests of central Europe.

“We have good candidates; I think they will run.”

Meanwhile, Orbán said Hungary was committed to addressing climate change alongside other countries. “We could [in principle] do this by 2030,” he said, adding that plans to realise climate goals without raising household utility bills existed. In principle, the money was also available, he said, adding that the two aims could be reconciled. But in order to commit to the 2050 target, there would have to be signs of the money being made available. “So let’s start talking about money,” he said.

“If the money is there and if the EU opens up its resources for this, we can upgrade Hungary’s energy network so that families will not have to pay more. We’re open to negotiation,” he said.

Orbán noted a debate on nuclear energy was taking place.

The Hungarian position, he said, was clear: “If we want to reach our climate targets, we need nuclear power.” He added that one or two countries were arguing about this but they were in a minority.

The prime minister said every country had the right to decide on its nuclear power needs. Referring to Hungary’s sole nuclear power plant, he said: “‘Without Paks, there are no low energy bills.”

He said the aim of regulation was to make people better off, not the other way round.

Visegrad Group country citizens back neither Weber nor Timmermans – Survey

EU flag

The majority of citizens of Visegrad Group (V4) countries support neither European Peoples Party lead candidate for the post of European Commission president Manfred Weber nor Socialist candidate Frans Timmermans, according to a Nézőpont poll released on Tuesday.

Fully 80 percent of Czechs, Poles, Hungarians and Slovakians back neither politician and 42 percent expressed a clear preference for the option of an alternative candidate.

Only 11 percent expressed a clear preference for Weber while 9 percent did the same for Timmermans.

Nézőpont said Visegrad Four leaders enjoyed a strong mandate in Brussels, based on the outcome of the EP election. Moreover, none of them were bound to any of the top candidates, it added.

Nézőpont’s survey was conducted between May 27 and June 7 in the Visegrad countries with a total sample of 2,000 people, 500 from each country.

As we wrote on May, Orbán cabinet is not backing either the European People’s Party’s Manfred Weber or the Social Democrats’ Frans Timmermans for the role of European Commission president, read more HERE.

Interview – Orbán: Which European grouping Fidesz belongs to ‘secondary’

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in an interview to public radio on Friday, said that it was a secondary consideration which European grouping Fidesz belonged to in the future.

Orbán said political groupings were in the process of being formed.

“It’s not possible to stay put in one place because then we’d be exposed to changes in European politics,” he said, adding that the ruling party would abide by the Hungarian interest in determining its position on the European political stage.

Fidesz, he said, would have no place in a political family that became pro-immigration and disregarded its Christian roots.

He added that Fidesz would not want to belong to a formation that failed to respect nations or became “hostage to the bureaucrats of Brussels”.

Orbán said an attempt would be made to maintain the European People’s Party as the party of Helmut Kohl.

This grouping would respect nations, place primacy on Christianity and give proper weight to the interests central Europeans.

Further, it would put a premium on creating a potent European economy. Such an EPP would be “good and useful for Hungary”, he added.

Regarding the EPP committee examining the question of the Fidesz party’s place in the grouping, the prime minister said Fidesz and the EPP body were engaged in discussions as equal partners. It would soon emerge whether each side’s goals were compatible, he added.

Visegrad Group

Orbán, referring to Thursday’s Visegrad Group talks, said the V4 states would enforce their own interests when it came to deciding on EU leadership positions. Germany’s trade with the V4 is much larger than with France, so “we’re talking about a decisive group of countries” and “the engine of European growth is currently central Europe”.

The prime minister said a central European leader would have to embody this self-assurance, strength and optimistic outlook at European level, too. He added that any leader from outside central Europe would have to respect central Europe “and not look down on us”.

He said it was too early to talk about specific individuals, but anyone who took part in “attacking any member state” would not receive his support. “A broad list must be submitted,” he said, adding that an agreement may be reached within a week or two.

PM Orbán said that regarding the future of the EU, the positions of Visegrad Group countries did not differ on any substantive matters, adding that he only endorsed documents or people whose aim was to stop migration.

The independence of economic policymaking by member states must be respected, he said. No single economic policy should be forced on divergent countries, he said, adding that Brussels bureaucrats should not be allowed to shape Hungary’s budget or tax system.

“Only Hungarians can say what’s good for Hungary,” Orbán said.

The government can work with its partners as long as Hungary’s interests are served, he added.

Budget

In connection with next year’s budget, Orbán said “the feeling that things are going in the right direction in the country” had a solid basis, referring to “a growing number of jobs, higher wages and an economic performance that inspires hope”.

“What we have achieved so far must be protected,” he said, adding that risks to the economy must be reduced. He said the economies of Hungary’s most important trading partners in western Europe were slowing down, and the government had reacted by designing an economic protection action plan that offered both tax cuts and measures to support growth.

Ship collision

Meanwhile, on the topic of the Danube collision, Orbán said the country had been shaken by the fact that “those who died were our guests”. An agreement with South Korea will be made on a fitting memorial to commemorate the victims, he added.

Read all news about SHIP COLLISION IN BUDAPEST

Orbán cabinet: Next EU agenda must address migration, sovereignty, Christianity

ep election voters

Hungary’s government wants to see the European Union’s strategic agenda for the next five years address national competencies concerning the issue of migration, respect for sovereignty and the protection of Christian culture, the state secretary for international communications and relations said on Thursday.

In last month’s European Parliament election, Hungarians entrusted the ruling alliance with three objectives: to stop illegal immigration, to protect national sovereignty and to protect Christian culture in Europe, Zoltán Kovács told a press conference.

In line with this mandate,

the text of the bloc’s next strategic agenda must include a clause declaring that the EU should ensure the preservation of national competencies when it comes to managing migration,

Kovács said. Hungary’s proposal aims to stop illegal migration, he said, adding that to do so, the EU would have to work together with its neighbouring countries.

Concerning the next objective, Kovács said the EU’s institutional system should respect the sovereignty of the bloc’s member states, arguing that the EU could only be strong if its member states are.

As regards the protection of Europe’s Christian culture, Kovács said:

“Christianity is the foundation of European culture, and, accordingly, it must be ensured that the EU’s strategic document includes the fundamental value of European culture and the protection of Christianity.”

He said the document should also devote special attention to persecuted Christians.

Meanwhile, Kovács was asked about reports that the company of Lőrinc Mészáros, a businessman linked to the Hungarian prime minister, stands to earn 300 billion forints (EUR 931.6m) through the upgrade of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line. Kovács said the project’s contractors had been announced after a public procurement procedure conducted according to EU rules. He said

Hungarian companies involved in the project had not been doled out revenue but had rather won a contract to do a job which they must carry out.

CEE lobbying power stronger after EP elections, says Hungarian FM

hungary globsec foreign minister

Central and eastern Europe’s lobbying power has visibly grown after the European parliamentary elections in May, although “tough debates” are to be expected in the ensuing round of post-election bargaining, the foreign minister said on Friday.

Talking to journalists on the sidelines of the Globsec conference on security policy in Bratislava, Péter Szijjártó noted that the Hungarian and Polish ruling parties had been “awarded the largest domestic support” within the bloc, suggesting that central Europeans “are committed to a strong EU but want a union based on strong member states” and not the “united states of Europe promoted by the mainstream”.

A robust economic performance is also at the root of growing regional influence, Szijjártó said.

“We make reasonable decisions, lower taxes and put the security of our own citizens first”, he said.

The success of the region’s economic policies can be measured by the increasing interest in central and eastern Europe on the part of the world’s fastest growing economies in the Far East, Szijjártó said. South Korean car manufacturers, for example, have brought investments worth some 500 billion forints (EUR 1.5bn) to the country, creating over 3,200 jobs in high value-added positions in R and D, he said.

Three of the five Far Eastern companies producing e-cars in Europe chose Hungary, he said.

The Hungarian government contributes to that trend thanks to low corporate taxes, lower wage costs and research funding, he added.

On Friday, the second day of the Globsec conference, Szijjártó took part in a panel discussion on the political balance of forces after the EP elections, along with Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek and George Ciamba, the Romanian minister for European affairs.

Szijjártó noted that of all the parties running in the elections, Fidesz has garnered the highest ratio of votes, 52 percent. “This has to be respected. No one has the right to question the will of the Hungarian people,” he said.

The most successful parties in the EP elections, after Fidesz, were the Polish Law and Justice party, the Austrian People’s Party and Italy’s Liga, he said.

These parties are not Eurosceptic but they differ from others in their vision of creating a strong Europe as they promote a Europe of strong nation states, Szijjártó said. The European People’s Party has to be ready to cooperate with successful parties from the right of the political spectrum, he said.

“The standpoint of these parties was in minority before the elections. But the EPP cannot separate the election results from the debate over Europe’s future,” he said.

That debate is now subject to “historic challenges”, Szijjártó said, such as migration, climate change and security issues. They have to be addressed in cooperation and in a rational manner, he said.

At the discussion, Szijjártó also expressed support for the EU’s enlargement on the Balkans.

He called for the EU to open all the remaining chapters of accession with Serbia, start the last phase with Montenegro and begin the process with Albania and North Macedonia. The Serbian-Hungarian ties have improved enormously and Serbia guarantees the widest possible rights to its Hungarian minorities, he said.

Orbán cabinet: Fidesz better off in EPP – Die Welt

orbán victory ep election 2019


Prime Minister’s Office chief Gergely Gulyás, in an interview to German conservative daily Die Welt published on Tuesday, said he believed Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party was better off remaining a member of the European People’s Party.

“The EPP, too, would be better off keeping us,” he told the paper.

Commenting on the Hungarian government’s decision to postpone the introduction of public administration courts indefinitely, Gulyás said

Hungary wanted to avoid another showdown with the European Commission over the country’s justice system, pointing out that another dispute could have “negative consequences”.

Asked if the government’s decision on the courts had been made in the interest of Fidesz keeping its EPP membership, Gulyás said this had not been the motivation behind the move, adding, at the same time, that the decision “might make it easier for the EPP to keep us in”.

On the topic of the Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance’s victory in last month’s European Parliament election, Gulyás said the reason why the ruling alliance had achieved such a convincing victory was because Hungary had seen convincing progress. “The people are doing better and that’s what matters most,” Gulyás said.

Asked about Fidesz’s decision to focus its campaign on the issue of migration, he said: “The two go together. Hungarians know what they stand to lose if we don’t stop migration.”

The Hungarian government’s opposition to migration has been clear since 2015, Gulyás said, adding that hopefully those members of the EPP that had disagreed with Fidesz back then have since moved closer to Fidesz’s position on the issue.

He noted that most members of the EPP oppose illegal migration and agree that European Union member states should be free to decide for themselves whether or not they want immigration.

Asked about Hungary’s accession to the euro zone, Gulyás noted that

Hungary made a commitment to adopt the common currency when it joined the EU in 2004.

The only question, he said, was when the currency would be introduced. Economists believe the right time for a member state to adopt the euro is when its gross domestic product reaches 90 percent of the average EU GDP, he said, adding that Hungary could achieve this within ten years.

Concerning EPP spitzenkandidat Manfred Weber, Gulyás said

the CSU politician “didn’t want our support and we will grant him this wish”.

He said the EPP had a slew of experienced politicians who would be willing to head the European Commission.

Commenting on the composition of the next European Parliament, Gulyás said

the “four big winners” of the May 26 election were the Hungarian ruling parties, Poland’s ruling Law and Justice, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s League Party and the Austrian People’s Party (OVP).

He added that there were issues on which “we can cooperate with the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Liberals”, noting that Fidesz had voted with other EP groups in the past, as well.

“But we don’t want permanent cooperation with them and we think there are a number of important groups to the right of the EPP that aren’t at all extremist,” he said.