Latest news with #TiszaParty
Budapest Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Budapest Times
Orbán: We will never support foreign policy that threatens Hungary's survival
The prime minister argued that Ukraine's EU membership would turn the region into a battlefield. 'If we admit Ukraine, we admit the war,' he said. For Hungary, a neighbor to Ukraine, this would bring direct military and economic consequences. 'Many Hungarians would die, our youth would be taken away, and our economy would be in ruins.' He reiterated that the government is not acting out of hostility but out of necessity. While Hungary has offered to help broker peace, its offers have been rejected by Ukrainian leadership. Instead, Brussels has continued to press for full membership, which Prime Minister Orbán called an existential threat. The economic dimension of this debate is equally serious. Hungary would be expected to contribute to a massive financial package for Ukraine—one the prime minister described as astronomical. 'The money they want to send to Ukraine in a single year equals 18 times the total pensions paid in Hungary,' he said. 'We are burning money in Ukraine for no reason,' he added, claiming that only large multinational corporations stand to benefit. Hungarian farmers are especially at risk, he warned. Not only would EU agricultural subsidies be redirected, but unfair competition would also follow. 'It's outrageous that Tisza Party experts called Hungarian farmers 'chimpanzees' just for adapting to the support system,' he said, condemning the insult and defending those who have played by EU rules. 'You simply don't talk about people like that.' Beyond economic and military issues, the prime minister also addressed growing pressure from the EU under the banner of the rule of law. 'The rule of law is nothing but a political cudgel,' he stated, accusing the European Commission of using legal rhetoric to pursue ideological goals. 'It's a political blackmail tool, nothing more.' Cultural tensions were also in the spotlight following the government's decision to ban a controversial Irish band from performing at a major music festival. Prime Minister Orbán said the move was necessary to protect public peace. 'If you come to Hungary, you must respect our laws,' he said. He also pointed to what he described as a growing alignment between artists and liberal politics, particularly in the lead-up to elections. 'Artists and the showbiz world line up behind the liberals. It didn't help in America, and it won't help here,' he said, adding that such campaigns often misjudge public sentiment. 'I think voters don't appreciate it when popular performers try to tell them how to think about life and politics.' In his view, this alignment may ultimately work in favor of the government: 'Politically, it doesn't hurt us. In fact, it may even help.'
Budapest Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Budapest Times
Deputy PM: Tisza Party is an empty vessel bereft of ideas
Zsolt Semjén said the Tisza Party was incapable of saying anything meaningful about any relevant issue. Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén said the opposition Tisza Party is an empty vessel bereft of ideas, and all it can do is hurl hatred and slander at Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. During a podium discussion at the 34th Balvanyosi Summer Free University and Student Camp in Baile Tusnad (Tusnadfurdo) on Thursday, Deputy PM Semjén said the Tisza Party was incapable of saying anything meaningful about any relevant issue. 'They don't have party experts, which is why they're not setting up a shadow government,' he said, adding that Tisza could not name their candidates for Hungary's 106 individual constituencies 'because they don't have 106 people' available as candidates. He said the 2026 general election would be won by parties that win 60 individual electoral districts and do well on national party lists, 'especially if the Hungarians in Transylvania, too, support them'. Commenting on Hungarian-Romanian bilateral relations, he said much closer cooperation should be maintained between the two countries, which would serve the interests of both Hungary and Romania and therefore the interests of Transylvanian Hungarians, too. President of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania, Hunor Kelemen, told the podium discussion that it was a fundamental interest of Transylvanian Hungarians to strengthen bilateral relations and make dialogue permanent. He said he had attended the informal meeting of Orbán and Romanian Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan on Wednesday evening. He added that the two prime ministers had immediately found a common wavelength and had been able to consult about important issues. The nearly two-hour meeting was characterised by mutual respect and sincere dialogue, he said.
Reuters
12-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Hungary's opposition flags 'New Deal' to kickstart stagnating economy
NAGYKANIZSA, Hungary, July 12 (Reuters) - Hungary's opposition leader Peter Magyar said on Saturday his Tisza party will launch a "Hungarian New Deal" to revive the stagnating economy with massive investment and predictable policy if it wins elections next year. Magyar, whose centre-right party has a firm lead over the ruling Fidesz in most opinion polls, poses the biggest political challenge to nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who after 15 years in power finds himself struggling to boost the inflation-hit economy. The risk of steep U.S. tariffs on EU imports also looms large over recovery prospects and Saturday's announcement of 30% tariffs on the EU by President Donald Trump is bad news for the Central European country. Magyar announced his Hungarian New Deal plan to supporters at his party's congress in the western city of Nagykanizsa. "We need economic growth, investments, predictable financial and economic policy in Hungary," Magyar said, adding that Tisza would crack down on corruption and buy back state assets that he said had been stolen over the past 15 years. The main pillars of Tisza's plan will be a major healthcare reform with additional funding of 500 billion forints ($1.5 billion) annually, a large-scale rental flat and home construction programme, a modernisation of state railways using EU and national funds, and investments in energy efficiency for households and in education. Magyar, a former government insider who burst into Hungarian politics last year, again pledged to unlock some 20 billion euros of suspended EU funds that Hungary has not received for years due to clashes between Brussels and Orban over a perceived erosion of democracy and corruption -- accusations that Orban denies. The parliamentary election is set to take place early next year, though no date has been set. In June parliament passed Orban's 2026 election year budget, including steep tax cuts for families, a key demographic group for Fidesz. "People are fed up with this regime. And Tisza is a kind of 'collecting party' which stood behind all this (discontent). People want change," said Edit Piroska Borsi, a retired teacher at the congress. ($1 = 341.6200 forints)
Budapest Times
12-07-2025
- Business
- Budapest Times
Bóka: Péter Magyar's platform is being drafted in Brussels
Minister Bóka said Péter Magyar is helping foreign-funded civil groups to be given free rein to conduct political activities in Hungary. János Bóka, Hungary's EU affairs minister, said on Tuesday that another chapter has been added to opposition Tisza Party leader Péter Magyar's platform in Brussels in the form of the document entitled 'Rule-of-law Recommendations', adding that the document was 'nothing more than a politically-motivated order for Magyar'. In a post on Facebook, Minister Bóka said the aim of the recommendations was for 'foreign-funded so-called civil groups to be given free rein to conduct political activities in Hungary, for which they could receive an unlimited amount of foreign funding in an uncontrolled manner'. The minister said the aim was also for 'foreign-funded media' to receive public funding, and for 'smear campaigns against right-wing politicians and public figures to become an institutionalised practice based on the Polish model'. 'This is not about the protection of the rule of law, but about institutionalised political pressure,' he said. 'Brussels has also drafted Péter Magyar's economic policy programme in advance; these are the European Semester recommendations,' Minister Bóka said He said Brussels wanted to scrap Hungary's regulated utilities price scheme, the interest rate freeze and the mandatory caps on markups. Brussels also wanted Hungary to phase out home creation subsidies, scrap taxes on excessive corporate profits and tax refunds on diesel fuel for farmers, he added. 'The aim is to draft an economic policy that serves Brussels's expectations against the interests of the Hungarian people,' Minister Bóka said. He said Brussels had made it clear that 'Magyar can say whatever he wants in the campaign, but Ukraine has to be admitted to the European Union before 2030', regardless of what the European people may think about this and what consequences this may have for Europe. 'Magyar's platform is being drafted in Brussels,' Minister Bóka said. 'It goes by many names — recommendation, reform, report — but the essence is always the same: they want to control Hungary from Brussels through a puppet government.'
Budapest Times
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Budapest Times
Former Justice Minister Judit Varga had the skills to be prime minister, prime minister says
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said former Justice Minister Judit Varga had the skills to be prime minister. During an interview posted on the YouTube channel of Mandiner on Sunday morning, PM Orbán told the Hotel Lentulai podcast that the appearance of a 'born talent' such as Judit Varga was 'extremely rare' in politics. He highlighted the importance of experience on which to build and said Varga would have needed another four to eight years, but added that she possessed everything required for somebody to take charge of a country and make important decisions. He called Varga 'brilliant' and said what had happened to her was 'painful and infuriating'as well as a 'great waste' for the country. PM Orbán said Varga had 'suffered through' the last year or year and a half in office, wanting to resign on at least three ocassions, saying she couldn't take what was happening at home. 'She held out as long as she could,' he added. PM Orbán said timing was the most important in the tactical part of politics, adding that a governing party required self-discipline and could only deal with the opposition 10-15 percent of the time during a non-campaign period, as Hungary is in now. That ratio will ramp up when preparations for the campaign are made, but that point still lies ahead, he said. 'That is nothing compared to what is to come,' he added. PM Orbán said the debate was not with Peter Magyar or the Tisza Party, but with 'their masters'. He added that the foundational structure of Hungarian politics had been unchanged for decades: 'The question is: Who is your master?' PM Orbán said his was the Hungarian people: 'I belong to the Hungarian people, I serve the Hungarians'. He said that the opposition and their masters had never wanted what was good for Hungarians, rather they had looked abroad to find what the country might need. Foreign powers, who want to influence events in Hungary, always find those kind of people, he added. That is why the debate with the Tisza Party and Peter Magyar continues in Brussels from month to month, he said.
