Viktor Orbán’s “communication staff” is working on “the problem”–the record drop in the government’s popularity. Apparently, the leading politicians of Fidesz are belittling the gravity of the situation, pointing to 2010-2011 when the popularity of the government party was lower than it is now: only 20%. Moreover, there was a time when Gordon Bajnai had a higher ranking than Viktor Orbán, and Fidesz managed to regain its standing within a few months. Surely, with clever communication tricks the situation can be remedied once again. And the best spokesman for the cause is the prime minister himself.
Blikk’s Sztárchat, which I wrote about yesterday, was Orbán’s first attempt to “engage” the people. A day later he gave an interview to Napi Gazdaság and this morning an “extraordinary Friday interview” on Kossuth Rádió (MR1). The contents of the two interviews largely overlap.
Zoltán Lakner, my favorite “political scientist,” summed up Orbán’s message well on Facebook. “He repeated … all those items that are objects of our hilarity or our rage.” The great communication offensive so far is an attempt to explain to the Hungarian people that all the government’s recent decisions are actually good for them.
Let’s start with highway M0, which encircles the capital. The decision to make M0 a toll road is actually a benefit to the Hungarian people at the expense of foreign visitors, he explained. Orbán’s aim is to have the naive citizens of the country think that somehow the only victims of these new tolls will be foreign visitors who, upon entry, will pay a hefty price to be able to use all the toll roads. Hungarians, on the other hand, will be able travel for relatively little money within the borders of the county in which they reside. But what happens if they want to leave the confines of their county? Well, the prime minister did not go into such mundane details. But since he spent so much time on the question of toll roads, I assume that the revenue that is projected to come from this source is desperately needed.
The second topic was the proposed drug tests. The last time we talked about it, the word was that mandatory yearly drug tests for politicians and journalists are clearly unconstitutional and against European Union law and therefore the government will drop the idea. At the same time, we heard, there will be no compulsory drug testing of children, only voluntary testing. Well, it seems that Orbán changed his mind and now insists on mandatory testing of politicians and journalists. This is such an outlandish idea that it was immediately picked up by the Associated Press and this morning was already on the website of ABC television news. The lead sentence is worth quoting: “Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has vowed to make Hungary into a ‘non-liberal’ state as he moves closer to Moscow, now wants mandatory drug testing for journalists and politicians.” Here in one sentence is the core of what people in the West object to: Orbán’s illiberal state and his moving closer to Moscow.
Why, according to the prime minister, is this testing necessary? Because a drug mafia is hard at work in Hungary. So, “the government made the decision that in the next three years we will clean Hungary of the drug mafia. That is what we began now.” To see how minor a problem drug use is in Hungary, I highly recommend the European Monitoring Center’s interactive prevalence maps. Here Orbán is playing on the ignorance of average Hungarians who cannot distinguish between marijuana and cocaine or heroin, even as he implies that journalists critical of his government must be under the influence of drugs. As far as I know, so far only one Hungarian politician was caught snorting cocaine by a hidden camera. Because he happened to be a Fidesz politician, the investigators couldn’t recognize him clearly. Nothing happened to him. We know from past experience that Fidesz politicians can get away with murder but innocent opposition politicians are sometimes dragged into court. If this piece of legislation is passed, it will be an excellent club in the hands of Viktor Orbán against his political opponents. The same will be true of journalists he doesn’t like.
Let’s calm down. The time of serene governance has started.
As for foreign policy, he will “continue the defense of the national interests” because Orbán anticipates attacks against Hungary coming from abroad. Orbán is convinced that behind every international dispute there are blatant economic and financial interests, and therefore “the government continually has to watch and struggle. But at the same time that it wages a battle outside, it has to create tranquility, stability, transparency inside. It has to promote the development of conditions in which the Hungarian people can live serene lives.” There is every expectation that this goal will become a reality because the country has moved in the right direction and soon enough will catch up to the western countries. Next year the government will start “the largest economic development project in Hungary’s history” which will provide “economic security, equanimity, quietude and happiness for Hungary.”
So, let’s see what commenters on 444.hu and vastagbőr.hu had to say in reaction to these lines.
“The era of serene, calm and predictable governance is beginning.” I am already a nervous wreck.
“The era of serene, calm and predictable governance is beginning.” Did they find some experimental drug in Graz?
He has lied until now and he will be lying in the future. This is the only thing that is predictable.
“The era of serene, calm and predictable governance is beginning.” Why, did Viktor lapse into a coma?
Viktor, Viktor, you are stupider than I thought.
The program is: we CONTINUE. The stealing, the robbery, the blackmailing, and this sickeningly tasteless lying.
What kind of serene governing is this idiot talking about? Doesn’t he live in Hungary? He doesn’t realize that people are demonstrating because of the idiotic, stupid policies that irritate people? They should have sent him straight to hell a long time ago.
During the interview Orbán recalled that he said four years ago that he doesn’t want “popular ministers.” What is important is competence. As for the popularity of the government, he will take care of that. Well, I don’t think he has been doing a bang-up job lately.
Hungarian Spectrum 