Viktor Orbán’s defeat, Jean-Claude Juncker’s victory

Something new and remarkable happened in the last few months. Due to a “creative reading” of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament seized the initiative and managed to have its own candidate, Jean-Claude Juncker, be the likely president of the European Commission. With this act the European Parliament brought the process of electing the Commission president out into the open. Instead of 28 prime ministers bargaining over the nominee behind closed doors and the Parliament meekly voting for their choice, Juncker’s name has been bandied about  in every EU country, including Hungary. Thus, the European Union came a little closer to its citizens. All this was due to British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was dead set against Juncker because he found him too much of a “federalist.” After a month of debate the decision has been made. Juncker’s appointment is practically assured since both the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (A&D), the two largest parties in the European Parliament, support Juncker.

The clear loser in this fight is David Cameron, who in the opinion of The Guardian suffered a humiliating defeat. The New York Times wasn’t more charitable. It called the 26:2 vote in favor of Juncker a “humbling defeat.” Neither newspaper mentioned the name of Viktor Orbán, the sole ally of David Cameron who went down with him. Although I doubt that Viktor Orbán can sink much farther in the eyes of the other European politicians.

The Hungarian right-wing press was in ecstasy when Hungary’s strong man flexed his muscles and delivered a speech in the European Council in which he announced his opposition to Juncker. He was suddenly seen as an important player in European affairs who will make a real impact on the future of Europe. Perhaps the funniest manifestation of this admiration was the cover of Heti Válasz with the words: “The strong man of Europe: Three years ago they would have removed him, today they cannot bypass him.”

An article appeared today in the same paper which tried to convince its readers that there will be no unpleasant consequences of Viktor Orbán’s opposition to Juncker. Perhaps Juncker will be magnanimous, but I somehow doubt that Juncker will be as forgiving as José Manuel Barroso was when it came to the games the Orbán government played with the European Union.

Viktor Orbán announced that he was going to vote against Juncker because he “promised [his] voters to stop Juncker.” Of course, nothing of the sort ever happened. In neither the national nor the EP election was Juncker’s name ever mentioned. But lying seems to come naturally to the “strong man of Europe.”

When Angela Merkel finally made it clear that she is standing by her party’s choice, Hungarian newspapers foresaw a great defeat for Orbán. It was also not wasted on the Hungarian public, at least not on those who bother to follow the news, that Orbán was unceremoniously left out of the meeting organized by Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish prime minister, to discuss Juncker’s nomination.

Although it was becoming increasingly apparent that Viktor Orbán was going down, he is not the kind of man who retreats or tones down his rhetoric. On every possible occasion he kept repeating how Hungary rejects any “sneaky” changes to the EU treaty and how he is going to vote against Juncker regardless of what happens. I assume that one reason for Orbán’s decision to pursue this road was domestic: his core voters applaud his fearless stance against the Brussels bureaucrats in defense of the nation. The other reason, at least originally, was his fear that Juncker would not be a pushover.

So, now that it is all over but the shouting, how does Orbán explain himself? He naturally stands by the correctness of his decision: Hungary had to give a “forceful signal that it does not accept the curtailment of national competences.” Yes, the final score was 26:2 but it matters not. He would have voted against Juncker even if he had been the only one to cast a negative vote.

At the press conference after the meeting Orbán talked about his “other accomplishments” during the negotiations. He claimed that his suggestion to lower payroll taxes found universal approval in the Council. His “radical” suggestion to lower energy prices, on the other hand, as he admitted, garnered only a few supporters.

Viktor Orbán and David Cameron after the meeting of the European Council / Reuters

It doesn’t matter how Orbán tries to explain away this defeat, it remains a defeat. One reason Viktor Orbán’s violations of  EP laws were tolerated until now was that the EPP caucus, where Fidesz MEPs sit, badly needed the large Hungarian contingent. But now, for Juncker’s election at least, EPP does not need the Hungarians because they have the support of the S&D. As for all the speculation about Fidesz MEPs leaving EPP and moving over to the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, where the British Conservatives gather, I discard it as a possibility. Fidesz has a much better chance to make a difference in the European Parliament as a member of the EPP caucus.

One of my favorite journalists who writes excellent opinion pieces under the pseudonym of Elek Tokfalvi (the Hungarian mirror translation of Alexis de Tocqueville) with his usual wonderful sense of humor entitled his piece in HVG  about the Juncker victory “We will be a colony of Luxembourg.” Poor Viktor Orbán. He’s stuck with a “federalist” at the helm of the European Commission who actually expects member states to obey EU laws.

A new Hungarian government and a new interim foreign minister

Right after the election, the media began the usual guesswork on the composition of Viktor Orbán’s new government. Most of the speculation turned out to be wrong,  but four days after the election it looked pretty certain that Miklós Szócska, undersecretary in charge of health care, Rózsa Hoffmann, undersecretary in charge of education, and János Martonyi, foreign minister, would leave the government. The media also learned early on that Tibor Navracsics will move from the Ministry of Administration and Justice to the Foreign Ministry. Otherwise, at least on the ministerial level, very few changes were made. With the exception of Mrs. László Németh at the head of the Ministry of National Development and János Martonyi, all other ministers remained part of the team.

First, perhaps I should say a few words about the odd structure of Viktor Orbán’s government. While in opposition, Orbán harshly criticized expenditures he found superfluous. If it depended on him, all ministers would have used ten-year-old cars with 500,000 km on them. He promised a frugal government. In order to demonstrate that frugality, he got it into his head that his new government will be the smallest of all Hungarian governments since 1848. So, he created only eight ministries, as Lajos Batthyány did on March 23, 1848. But the world has changed a bit since, and it was apparent from the very beginning that a lot of tinkering would be necessary to create a functioning government with only eight ministries. Mega-ministries were created, the largest and most unmanageable being the Ministry of Human Resources that was supposed to deal with education, health care, sports, and culture.

The new arrangement did not result in the desired frugality. On the contrary, the reorganization entailed additional expenses. Moreover, although there might have been only eight ministers, the number of undersecretaries who actually functioned as ministers multiplied. In the past, there were twelve or fourteen ministries and each had two undersecretaries: one who was a kind of deputy minister who could represent the minister in parliament and answer questions from the floor and the other, the administrative undersecretary who was allegedly in charge of running the ministry itself. Thus if there were fourteen ministries the number of undersecretaries would be 28. Now with eight ministries we have 48!

At one point Viktor Orbán quipped that one will hardly notice that a new government has been formed because so few changes will be made. Actually, this is pretty much the case. There is only one personnel change on the ministerial level: in place of Mrs. László Németh, Orbán picked Miklós Seszták. More about him in a forthcoming post.

Moving Tibor Navracsics to the Foreign Ministry is a strange decision, especially since it was already decided that in six months he is leaving for Brussels to be one of the 28 commissioners. The current Hungarian commissioner, László Andor, was appointed by the socialist-liberal government in 2009. With the formation of the new European Commission, Orbán at last has the opportunity to appoint his own man. When Navracsics goes to Brussels, Péter Szijjártó will replace him as foreign minister. Péter Szijjártó has already moved from the Prime Minister’s Office to the Foreign Ministry, where he is considered to be Navracsics’s temporary deputy. And by the way, the ministry was renamed the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Affairs.

There were plenty of rumors to the effect that Viktor Orbán wasn’t entirely satisfied with Navracsics, who apparently did not agree with some of his decisions. Journalists learned that he rarely spoke at cabinet meetings, but his face registered his bemusement or disagreement. Politicians who fall out of favor are often sent out to pasture in Brussels.

In today’s Népszabadság there is a long interview with Navracsics. It is hard to tell how honest Navracsics is in this interview, but he claims that he is happy with his new post because he has always been interested in foreign affairs. I find it hard to imagine that anyone can be happy with a six-month stint holding the position for someone else, especially for Péter Szijjártó. After all, Navracsics in civilian life was a university professor of some standing, and I can’t imagine that he considers this young man suitable for the job. And now he is forced to make him his deputy and later hand over the job he most likely wouldn’t mind having himself.

Tibor Navracsics, interim foreign minister / Photo Miklós Teknős, Népszabadság

His task as foreign minister is “to carry out the foreign policy of the Hungarian government … which is headed by Viktor Orbán.” Specifically, he stressed that “the opening to the East does not mean the closing to the West, just as Prime Minister Orbán says.” In brief, the “peacock dance” will continue in the next six months, not that I expected anything else. There might, however, be a slight change in the delivery of the messages, especially since Navracsics is well versed in political philosophy. He knows, for example, that all that talk of Viktor Orbán about the “decline of the West” is “a century-old idea that turns up from time to time.” Here he sounds like a man who doesn’t take Orbán’s ideas terribly seriously. He also stressed that with cooperation one can achieve more than with confrontation, but added that “cooperation is not equal to friendship.” Some of his incredibly aggressive encounters with Commissioner Viviane Reding are striking counterexamples of this principle of cooperation.

Navracsics is quite capable of contradicting himself. For example, in one sentence he claims that in the last ten years Hungary was not able to make its “European policy really successful.” He added that “one must take size into consideration … therefore we cannot have such ambitions as Germany or even Poland.” But when the journalist reminded him that Viktor Orbán is acting like the prime minister of a great power, he quickly retreated, saying that “he can certainly do that because after all our weight in the European Council is the same as all others.”

He showed himself to be open toward the opposition when he emphasized that “we are the members of the same political class as the opposition parties.” When it was pointed out to him that he himself in the election campaign claimed that Fidesz alone represents national interests in Europe, naturally he couldn’t deny it, but he said that he does not want to open “that chapter again.” Now, after the election, “the two sides should take a deep breath and begin a new kind of cooperation.” (The few comments to this interview called Navracsics a liar.)

Tibor Navracsics is heading to Brussels. There he is supposed to represent the interests of the European Union, but clearly he will be there to represent the interests of Viktor Orbán. He will have to hone his obfuscation skills even more finely to appear acceptable to his colleagues in the Commission.

How to renovate a science lab in Hungary using EU money

A few weeks ago HEC Paris (École des hautes études commerciales de Paris) launched its first “Massive Online Open Course” entitled “Understanding Europe: Why It Matters and What It Can Offer You.” The professor, Alberto Alemanno, is a young, enthusiastic Italian who recounts all the wonderful things the European Union can offer to its citizens. Indeed, the list is impressive. But anyone who is at all familiar with “reality on the ground,” let’s say in Hungary, knows how all those good intentions can be abused. Take the case of a small town in Hungary that received a relatively small grant from the convergence money the country gets from Brussels.

The readers of Hungarian Spectrum have already encountered the hero of our story. On May 1, 2013 I gave an optimistic title to that day’s post: “Greed might be the undoing of Viktor Orbán and his regime.” In it I wrote about two possible corruption cases. One was the allocation of tobacconist concessions in the town of Szekszárd, the county seat of Tolna County. The other was possible fraud in Lajos Simicska’s Közgép, the company that received about 75% of all government contracts financed by Brussels. Of course, I was naive. Although the case of Szekszárd was absolutely clear cut, there were no consequences of the revelations. As for the second case, I guessed wrong: the suspension of EU funds had nothing to do with Közgép.

The hero in Szekszárd was Ákos Hadházy, a veterinarian who had served on the city council representing Fidesz. It was he who discovered that the Fidesz mayor and his colleagues had the list of applicants for tobacconist concessions in Szekszárd and singlehandedly decided the winners: friends and relatives, and people who sympathized with Fidesz. I detailed Hadházy’s struggle with his conscience that eventually led him to HVG, which published the story.

Hadházy subsequently left Fidesz but decided to remain in politics. He eventually settled for LMP and today is representing this party on the Szekszárd city council. Our veterinarian continues to keep his eyes and ears open, looking for possible corruption. He even started a blog, szekszardihetkoznapok.blog.hu. It was here that he published his latest findings about the fate of monies received from the European Union.

The Béla I Gymnasium needed a new chemistry-physics lab. This project involved tearing down a wall between two smaller classrooms to make the new lab 155 m². They also created a room for equipment, laid linoleum down on the floors, and supplied the desks with gas pipes, electricity, and water. The cost was 157 million forints or €518,811.74. As Hadházy rightly pointed out, from that amount of money one can build a nice new house.

The science lab at Béla I Gymnasium, Szekszárd on opening day

Here is a list of the items that money was spent on. The town paid €21,000 for advice on writing the grant application. Another €6,000 was spent on “planning and technical supervision.” €59,000 went for IKT (információs és kommunikációs technológiák) which included 2 intelligent blackboards, 2 simple blackboards, voting software for 40, a projector, and 4 laptops. Hadházy checked the prices of these pieces of equipment and found that one could buy them for half the price. The town also needed a feasibility study, costing €16,524. Hadházy had difficulty interpreting the item “creation of pedagogical and professional concepts,” which was €21,500. After all, the experiments the students have to conduct can be found in the textbooks; one does not have to develop new concepts for them.

But we are nowhere close to the end of the list. €66,000 was spent on a “multimedia presentation package.” That involved the performance and description of 100 experiments and their representation on videos.  Another €66,000 was needed for “digital material” on chemistry, biology, physics. Almost €66,000  was spent on paper, telephone, and dues. A hefty €51,000 was spent on software that helps allocate space for the different classes in the lab. The project management team received €66,000. And finally €53,000 was spent on outreach, marketing, and the opening day. At the opening there were several speakers, including Rózsa Hoffmann and the local head of the Klebersberg Intézet. There were couple of open house days for students where modest refreshments–coffee, soft drinks, biscuits–were served. Hadházy points out that these kinds of projects are underway throughout the country and the waste is staggering.

As HVG noted in a follow-up article, this particular Szekszárd project by itself is small potatoes; it is just one of 52 projects currently in progress. The entire cost of these projects is borne by the European Union. As one of the Fidesz members of the Szekszárd city council indignantly told Hadházy when he complained about the exorbitant cost, nothing terrible happened here because after all “it did not cost Szekszárd a penny.”

Since then the lawyers of LMP decided that the Szekszárd case warrants further investigation. So, LMP asked János Lázár to look into the case. A strange person to ask for help. After all, it is János Lázár who is responsible for the dispersion of EU grants, and surely it is his staff who oversees the projects. So, if they don’t find it excessive to spend €418,811.74 s on a very ordinary looking science lab then surely they will not investigate either this case or any of the many similar ones. As for the beneficiaries of these contracts, the city fathers, mostly affiliated with Fidesz, choose the winners. Out of the fourteen-member council there are only five opposition members (two LMP, two MSZP, and one Jobbik). The majority makes sure that their friends and acquaintances receive the inflated contracts.

I don’t know what happens in Brussels. Does anyone there find these figures excessive or do they just hand the money over without asking any questions? Perhaps they should take a more serious look at what is happening to the money they so generously give to their poorer neighbors.

“Coup from above”? Anti-federalist forces in the European Council

Anyone who took Magyar Nemzet seriously would think that Viktor Orbán is not only the strongman of Hungary but also of Europe. A great statesman who is jealously guarding the rule of law in the European Union. According to Magyar Nemzet, Jean-Claude Juncker’s bid for the presidency of the European Commission is down the drain. On the other hand, several commentators (for example Julian Priestley, the former secretary-general of the European Parliament) think it likely that in the final analysis Juncker will be in charge of the European Union for the next five years. We can, however, expect a protracted political fight between the European Council and the European Parliament.

The issue, as far as I can see, brings into focus two vitally important issues: first, the supremacy of the elected European parliament vs. the heads of member states and, second, the very future of the European Union itself.

This is the first time that the European Parliament has an important role to play in the elections and the choice of candidates for president. The leading members of the European Parliament wanted to democratize the election process and run a campaign with the names and pictures of the candidates (commonly known as “Spitzenkandidaten”) heading the party lists. In early March the European People’s Party chose Jean-Claude Juncker, former prime minister of Luxembourg, as their man while Martin Schulz was chosen by the socialists. Since as the result of the election the EPP will again be the largest party in the European Parliament, the assumption in parliament is that it will be Juncker who will lead the Union. All the party leaders of the European Parliament stand behind his candidacy.

Enter the European Council, composed of the twenty-eight heads of the member states. The president of the Council is Herman Van Rompuy. Last night these people gathered to discuss the results of the election, and it turned out that there was at least four countries that opposed Juncker’s nomination: Great Britain, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Hungary. Viktor Orbán announced immediately after the election results became known that Hungary cannot support Junker’s presidency. Hungarian sources claim that the real instigator of the anti-Juncker move was not Orbán but either David Cameron, prime minister of Great Britain, or Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany. My hunch is that it was Cameron who was most opposed to Juncker, who is known as a “federalist.” Cameron believes in a union of nation states. During the meeting Merkel, as is her wont, sat on the fence, not committing herself one way or the other. The only agreement to come out of the meeting was that the president of the European Council will negotiate with leading members of the European Parliament and the heads of states about the future president of the EU.

So, on one level the fight that is developing is between the federalists and the “states rights” advocates, while on another it is a struggle between the European Council and the European Parliament. An Austrian paper called the move coming from the European Council a “coup from above.” The coup may not succeed. As EuroActiv reported, Van Rompuy after the meeting said that this first discussion had been “useful,” which is a diplomatic euphemism for inconclusive. However, he also made it clear that he would not embark on a collision course with the European Parliament. According to a source who seemed to have been present at the meeting, Merkel apparently announced that “she is still supportive of the Spitzenkandidaten system and of Juncker,” but made no strong statements to discipline the dissidents. On the Council doorstep Merkel declared: “Jean-Claude Juncker is our Spitzenkandidat.”

Jean-Claude Juncker and Viktor Orbán are great friends here

Leading members of the European Parliament are outraged, including Joseph Daul, leader of the EPP group, who told Die Welt after Viktor Orbán announced his intention to pick another candidate that one simply cannot pull a new candidate out of the hat. Hannes Swoboda, leader of the Socialist and Democrats group, tweeted that it  is “absurd that Juncker has our backing to start negotiations but is blocked in the European Council by his own EPP family!” Julian Priestley expressed the opinion of many that “only if the negotiations between the European parties and the parliament fail does it become conceivable that the European Council might have to reach out for a candidate outside the election process. But they have every incentive to succeed, because what’s at stake is bringing the direction of the EU within the parliamentary system.”  And let me add that in my opinion it is essential that the anti-federalist forces are defeated on this issue and that a man is elected who wants “a more perfect union.” The British Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party (Ukip), said of Juncker, “there is nobody more fanatical about building the United States of Europe.” That certainly does not make Juncker a friend of David Cameron and Viktor Orbán.

What is happening at the present in the European Parliament is a “grand coalition between right and left which is taking shape, with the aim of isolating the Eurosceptics.” Not only does Schulz support Juncker, but the leader of the third largest group, Guy Verhofstadt of the liberals, also wants to join them. He emphasized that for the election of the next president they need “a stable majority, that means more than 400 seats. Otherwise it will depend on the backing of parties such as those of Mr. Orbán or Mr. Berlusconi.”

There is at least one Hungarian commentator, Gyula Hegyi, who claims  in his article “Juncker-Orbán 2:0” that Cameron and Orbán lost this match. Hegyi used to be a socialist MEP, but in the last five years he has been working for László Andor, commissioner for employment, social affairs, and inclusion. In his interpretation it is true that at the Tuesday night meeting no decision was reached, but those present admitted that the results of the election must be taken into consideration. They also took cognizance of the fact that Juncker is unanimously supported in the European Parliament. So, as far as Hegyi is concerned, it is a done deal. Juncker will be the candidate and will likely be elected by a large majority.

My feeling is that Hegyi and Priestley are right, but given the business practices of the European Union, it will most likely take a whole month, until the very last minute, to agree on the candidacy of Jean-Claude Juncker.