BUDAPEST Corruption penetrates everywhere. Prime minister Viktor Orbán and the administration of his Fidesz party, however, is also openly authoritarian.
An estimated tenth of Hungarians have moved abroad since Orban came to power in 2010. That means about a million people from a country of less than ten million inhabitants.
Fidesz has no intention of luring them back. On the contrary, it has continued to silence the opposition. Donald Trump ruled the United States by polarizing the nation, Orbán is doing the same in Hungary in an even more pointed and deliberate manner.
Before last spring’s parliamentary elections, not a single election debate was shown on television. The centre-left opposition got a total of five minutes of screen time, and that too in one morning broadcast.
The opposition is not seen in the main news broadcasts of Hungarian television.
In political news, only representatives of Fidesz, or the Hungarian Citizens’ Union, and its allied Christian Democrats speak. Thanks to the qualified majority, this coalition has almost unlimited decision-making power in the country’s parliament.
As a rule, those who left Hungary are able to nail: doctors, teachers and other highly educated people.
Security guards called school police have been hired in Budapest schools in case the children run riot. There are no longer enough ordinary adults to supervise schools.
The rest of the teachers have also gone on strike in recent weeks. There is a shortage of teachers in Hungary, and the minimum wage does not attract young people to the field.
The state administration has money to hire professional guards for 12-year-olds, but not to buy pencils for schoolchildren.
The Fidesz-Christian Democrats’ solution to the problem is in private Christian schools.
What about those who can’t afford to put their children in them? Or those for whom the “Christian world of values” is an ideological problem?
It’s your problem, comes the answer.
Such cruel selfishness characterizes all the activities of the current Hungarian administration.
Like Trump, Orbán has placed his own family members and acquaintances in key positions in the country’s economy.
The country’s mainstream media only publishes what Orbán wants. So, for example, last week’s long queues at gas stations were only visible in international media, alternative publications and YouTube. Hungary is in blackout.
The gas shortage that surprised the entire country is an indication of Hungary’s dangerous dependence on Russia. The interruptions in Russian deliveries coincided with technical problems at the Hungarian energy company MOL’s oil refinery.
The problems became so big that the government had to break its election promise, which was Price ceiling of HUF 480, or about EUR 1.20 (you switch to another service) for a liter of gasoline.
The price rose overnight to 1.70 euros per liter. Thanks to the price cap, people from neighboring countries used to come to Hungary to refuel, but nowadays Hungarians go on gas trips across the border.
Inflation is officially at 24 percent, but when it comes to gasoline and food, it is up to 50 percent. The readings are high in a European comparison.
Orbán’s government has shifted the blame for inflation to the EU as well.
The “Brussels sanctions are destroying Hungary” advertising campaign, which can be seen everywhere on the streets of the capital, is a populist policy typical of the government, which is not based on facts.
The threat of EU sanctions and the support dispute between it and Hungary have nothing to do with the gas shortage. Hungary buys oil and natural gas regardless of EU requirements Vladimir Putin from Russia.
Still, the Hungarian government requires the EU to come to the rescue. For many supporters of Fidesz, the European Union seems to be just a cash machine, from which there are no counter-obligations for the subsidies withdrawn.
Read also: The huge EU loan package planned for Ukraine is moving forward – Hungary getting concessions
MP from Fidesz Nacsa Lörinc promised in an interview with that the parliament will take up Finland’s NATO ratification at the beginning of next year.
According to Lörinc, the parliament has been in a hurry to pass legislation in order to meet Brussels’ support requirements.
Political observers have a different opinion: The government has already approved Finland’s NATO membership and Fidesz has a definite majority in the parliament. The decisive vote is a far-fetched affair and could have been held at any time with a few hours’ notice.
The experts consider it clear that the reason is Orbán’s scheming.
In addition to Russia, Orbán is in regular contact with Turkey. He considers Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO ratification as a possible lever in case negotiations on EU subsidies reach a dead end.
It is possible that Hungary will start milking in the evening with NATO as well. The trickery so far has already left a bad taste, and Hungary doesn’t see that it has anything to lose.
The waiting period gives Finland the opportunity to think about what kind of NATO partner our related nation will become.
Listen to the episode of the Uutispodcast below, where NATO correspondent Mika Hentunen tells how Hungary is blocking Finland’s NATO membership and playing into Putin’s pocket.
Read more:
Hungary’s economy and EU relations are in a downward spiral, which may bode badly for Finland’s NATO membership
Orbán’s inner circle has made huge fortunes with EU subsidies, according to the researcher, corruption is at the core of Hungarian society.
Analysis: NATO does not want Finland without Sweden