Kati's space

English as a Second Language Playground
21

1.An interview with Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary

GEORGES GOBET/AFP/GETTY IMAGES - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the European Parliament in January.
Text Size PrintE-mailReprints
By Lally Weymouth, Published: April 6

Budapest

Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary, was once a leftist freedom fighter against the Soviets. But in 1994, he took a turn to the right and never looked back. As head of the Fidesz party, he has governed since 2010 with a two-thirds majority in the parliament. Last week, in his first interview with an American journalist, he tried to explain to The Washington Post’s Lally Weymouth why his critics are wrong in claiming that he is creating an autocratic, centralized state. Excerpts:

Your president, Pál Schmitt, resigned this week [amid charges that he plagiarized his doctoral dissertation].

The [president is] . . . a friend and a great hero in Hungarian sport history. It is his own decision, and the only thing we can do is respect it.

I understood that the prime minister had the power and the president was more or less a figurehead.

The point is that power is regulated by the constitution. The first thesis of the constitution is that nobody can exercise power by himself.

Your party has a two-thirds majority in parliament. That’s absolute power.

Even with two-thirds majority, the caucus cannot do anything.

They have passed more than 368 bills since the 2010 election.

They can pass whatever regulation they would like to do so if it is not against the constitution.

Since you came to power, the constitution has been completely rewritten.

We are very proud of that because that was our mission. Hungary was the only Central European country that was not able to create a new constitution after the collapse of the communist regime.

You were at the Round Table [talks in Hungary] where the constitution was rewritten in 1989.

When we rewrote the constitution, we said this is an interim constitution.

But the entire constitution was rewritten, and you had a big role in that.

Unfortunately, not enough. I was involved in the reconstruction of the constitution, but the communists were there as well.

Your critics say you rushed the constitution through last year without consulting the opposition.

That is factually false. There was a commission created by the parliament. It invited all the parties represented in the parliament — even the opposition — to be part of that process.

Isn’t it fair to say the outcome of the legislation has been to concentrate all power in your hands?

The constitution by itself does not make it possible to concentrate any kind of power.

You created a new judicial authority, the National Judicial Office, which the Venice Commission [of the Council of Europe] has attacked because it has too much power. Moreover, the commission also criticized recent legislation which says that judges are now forced to retire at 62 instead of 70.

The general age limit for any kind of job is 62.

That’s not true. People who work at universities here are allowed to teach until 70.

That’s a point, whether we should reduce that age or not. I am not against it, but there are a lot of opponents from the professors. But basically the average age to retire is 62.

22

Why did you decide there should be a board to control the media? You appoint the head of the media board, and parliament appoints every member of the board. And members stay in power for nine years and cannot be replaced unless there is a two-thirds vote in the parliament.

Everybody agreed that the previous media regulation system collapsed. It was the responsibility for the new parliament to create a system that works. Until the last election, international observers like you admired the Hungarian system because two-thirds majority means consensus. Now that we have a two-thirds majority, it is an accusation.

I think that is unfair. I would say outside observers are worried about the way your country seems to be going and that there seems to be no representation of anything except your point of view. The head of the Media Council is a Fidesz party member and a friend of yours. The head of the National Judicial Office is a friend of yours.

Let’s separate the two issues. The Media Council members are elected by the parliament.

But they are all from your party.

That is not true. In the previous system, delegates were based on party background. Therefore we decided not to have party representation, and only those persons could be members of the council who are supported by the parliament.

Isn’t the head of the Media Council, Annamária Szalai, a member of Fidesz?

Yes, she is. She was a member of our caucus. What is the problem with that?

Why would you have a party person deciding who should receive radio frequencies? Why would a party person go into the state television station and say —

It is a council. It doesn’t run any television.

But it gives out licenses.

The media in Hungary is 90 percent private.

But you have a big state television station.

We have a small state television station, but we also have enormous private ones. At least 75 percent of the Hungarian media is foreign-owned. So go to the owners and ask them why they are not ready to provide proper media freedom.

I met Antonia Meszaros, who was fired from state TV after she interviewed you.

I would not like to defend any individual decision of any organization that is not known to me.

What about [opposition station] Klub Radio? What happened to their frequency? Why did you threaten to take it away?

As far as I know, it was a political discussion in Hungary. They lost a bid.

But there were conditions for Klub Radio to get the license — they had to increase music programming to 50 percent of programming and diminish news programming. And so you gave the tender offer to someone else.

The license ran out, and then there was a bid for it, as there is for all frequencies. If there is any kind of feeling that their interest is not respected, they can go to court, and they have done so. And they won.

But is the government acting in an even-handed fashion toward those in the print media that oppose the government? The government gives out advertising to the print media.

The government owns some companies — like an electric company or an oil company — and they run advertising. Try to imagine Hungary as at least as democratic a country as the United States.

23

3

You cannot put your people at the head of every authority and say it’s as democratic as the United States.

That is not true. The first constitutional court judge nominated by the new parliament was a previous MP of the Socialist Party, which is in opposition now. The vice chairman of the national accounting office is a previous MP of the Socialist Party. The budgetary council, which is one of the most powerful institutions in this country, has three members — two members are from the left. How is it you say all institutions are run by us?

What about the International Monetary Fund loan discussions — are you willing to satisfy the IMF’s conditions?

We don’t know what the conditions are.

Yes, you do. They are very upset about your treatment of the central bank.

They said they need an opinion from the European Union that the regulation of the national bank is fine. They asked me to do certain things, and we have done so. We had a plan to unify the national bank and the state financial authority office. The European Union disagreed about that, and therefore we decided not to unite them.

You have given [central bank] Governor Andras Simor a really hard time. He seems like a distinguished civil servant. What’s wrong with him?

Distinguished depends on your taste, but he is a good servant. He stays. Nobody would like to push him out. It’s impossible.

It sends quite a signal when you cut someone’s salary by 75 percent.

Hungary is a poor country. We decided that regardless of what kind of office you have, if you are a public servant, you have a salary cap for everybody of 2 million forints, which is 6,000 euro [about $7,800] per month.

Didn’t you want to put your own person in to run the central bank?

Unfortunately, the Hungarian constitutional system is not able to accept who I admire.

You created a Monetary Council, which sets interest rates and is made up of five Fidesz members.

The Monetary Council members are elected by the parliament. I would be surprised if any of them were members of the Fidesz.

You nominated a personal friend to be the head of the National Judicial Office.

She graduated from the same university and was active in the same anti-communist student movement that I was. She became a judge, and I became a politician.

The NJO head can only be replaced by a two-thirds majority in the parliament, which is difficult to achieve. The Venice Commission said the NJO head “has powers too great to enumerate. She determines the numbers of judges, appoints the presidents of courts, assigns cases — that leads to concern.”

We agreed how to modify it.

How do you think the relationship with the United States is going?

We are strategic allies. We belong to the same defense community. The Hungarian people voted for NATO membership. We are active in the joint actions of NATO.

Such as Afghanistan and Libya?

As far as I know, American [officials] respect the Hungarian achievements. Delegations from the United States that visit me say they are happy for the cooperation in terms of security, so I think we have good relations. And you have American businessmen here in Hungary.

24

4
Why did you change the name of Roosevelt Square?

One corner is the academy, which was created by the person who the square is now named after. The two main buildings are [now] named after the person who is called the greatest Hungarian because of the building of the country. . . . We have just set up a Ronald Reagan statue in Freedom Square, and a George [H.W.] Bush statue will be erected soon here in Budapest.

Why did you reduce the number of churches that could exist here from 300 to 32?

We haven’t reduced the number of churches.

Yes, you have. There is another Venice Commission report on churches.

If you would like to have a religious community in Hungary, you can do so — no limitation. The freedom is absolute. It’s about who gets state money and who does not. If somebody would like to get a subsidy from the government, they must fulfill certain criteria. In Hungary, a high number of communities registered themselves as churches, but they were not. They did so just for the money.

They can’t all be illegitimate.

No, we said if you want to get taxpayers’ money, just come and register yourself. But the number of churches here in Hungary is higher than in Austria or Slovakia.

How can you deregister more than 200 churches?

Now 30 are registered.

Originally there were only 16 recognized.

More than 95 percent of the believers are represented by the registered churches.

With the redistricting and the creation of jobs for people who will be in office for nine-year terms, won’t you stay in power for a long time?

There will be an election in Hungary in 2014. Sometimes I win, and sometimes I lose.

But the opposition isn’t in strong shape, and you plan to run again.

Is it my job to help them become stronger? When we established our party in 1988, it was established for national independence and freedom.

You were much more liberal then. When did you move so sharply to the right? Hungary is a secular country, but the constitution now says that this is a Christian country and that life begins at conception.

Life starts at conception and must be protected from the first moment. That was done by the constitutional court 15 years ago. What we have done is that the constitutional court decision is written now in the constitution.

What about homosexuals?

In Hungary, if homosexuals would like to live together, they can do so under the civil code. But what we call marriage is exclusively for one man and one woman. We are a Christian country. That’s a historical fact.

What about the abuse of the Roma [the gypsies] in the countryside?

When I came into power, Hungary was in trouble because we had paramilitary organizations. I banned them.

They have postings on Facebook.

Facebook is an important point because the anti-gypsy and anti-Jewish platform is coming from America.

I have asked for help from the U.S. government to shut down the servers, which in Hungary create a lot of trouble for the gypsies. They are Web pages — not Facebook. That is the only radical, organized platform for racist appeals.

Why did you put stress taxes on four sectors, which are mostly foreign-owned: banking, telecom, retail and energy?

Because we have a crisis. In 2010, Hungary was in worse shape than Greece. In order to get out of this crisis, we initiated crisis taxation because we need income.

Don’t these taxes dry up foreign investment?

We are flourishing. Just two days ago, I opened a Mercedes factory that will produce 1 percent of GDP next year.

Doesn’t starting your own state telecom company and putting a tax on foreign telecoms send a signal to other businesses that you might do the same to their companies?

Hey, come on. The German telecom [is] more than 30 percent owned by the German state.

Who is going to be the next president? Didn’t you say it would be someone to the right of you?

Is there anybody to the right of me? I am always accused of being a bloody rightist person.

25

The answers are full of cynicism.

26

Hello Bez,

Yesterday night to my indignation of our PM cynic answers I dared to reply to the interview. I know that I cry over the spilled milk. But will you please to correct my comment.

Many thanks:
Kati

27

March 23rd, 2012
Venice Commission urges Hungary to delegate Judicial Office head powers
BY MTI
According to the Venice Commission, an advisory body to the Council of Europe (CoE), it would be preferable if powers exercised solely by the head of Hungary’s newly established National Judicial Office were delegated to a pluralistic body, the Commission’s executive secretary told reporters in Brussels on Thursday, on arrival from a visit in Budapest.

Thomas Markert accompanied CoE’s Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland, who on Wednesday discussed with Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Justice Minister Tibor Navracsics opinions the Hungarian government asked from the Venice Commission on contested new laws. Those include laws on courts and judges under a judicial reform, and the church and media laws.

Speaking to reporters before briefing EU officials about the Budapest talks, Markert said that the Hungarian partners had told Jagland about amendments planned to be submitted to the law on courts and judges in response to the Venice Commission’s concerns regarding the independence of judges. He said the Commission welcomes the amendments, a detailed draft of which has not been made available yet.

In connection with planned changes the Hungarian government outlined on Wednesday on the status of the National Judicial Office’s head, Markert said those include narrowing competences only to a little degree, while extending a slight parliamentary control over performance.

The Venice Commission would prefer to see competences currently assigned solely to the head of the Judicial Office be delegated to a pluralistic body composed of not only judges but representatives of civil groups, Markert said.

He said that the Venice Commission was expected to issue opinions on other Hungarian legislation including laws on the top court, the prosecution system, and family and minority protection.

Topics
PUBLIC FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
Share

Comments
The All Hungary Media Group is firmly committed to freedom of expression and therefore applies a mostly “hands off” approach to comment moderation. Comments left by readers represent their own views and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of the staff, editors or owner of the All Hungary Media Group, who nonetheless reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic or which moderators consider to constitute “hate speech.” Also note that in order to prevent spam we generally close entries off to comments several days after publication.

28

Comments:

27 Comments

Really says:
March 23, 2012 at 9:57 am
Hey, Viktor! You asked for it. LOL.

You says:
March 25, 2012 at 1:30 pm
Viktor Orbi is archetypal far right demagogue and populist usingHorthy’s fascist ideology. Hungary will end up worse than Greece, soon.

Leto Muad’dib says:
March 25, 2012 at 2:01 pm
“We will not be a colony”.

Aloof says:
March 25, 2012 at 6:20 pm
You’re right. Hungary will not be a colony because OV & and crew are going to default. It’s perfectly in line with all his political rhetoric. He doesn’t see it at all like political suicide, he sees it as political manslaughter.

[b]He’s not only going to walk away from all foreign debt he’s going to throw the middle finger at it. It’s the only way he sees to re-set the economic meter to zero. Unlike Greece, Hungary is already half way there because they don’t have to leave the eurozone and return to their currency. It’s funny how absolute failure works out sometimes.

It also basically serves as a form of political protest.
The current system of international finance through which ordinary and generally poor people (throw in the evaporating middle class here) are held to ransom by a system designed by and for a wealthy elite (throw in the US and EU here) is not only insane, but also incredibly unjust. This is OV style “democracy.” That will be the pitch.

He couldn’t care less what that means for the EU/IMF and the US to boot. (For the EU it can be severe and he knows it). Because of his chronic vindictive arrogant behavior, I’ll wager he’ll savor it. He’s too far down the road on his egomaniac tour. No turning back now.

He’ll just issue new debt-free money rather than borrowing the artificial interest bearing debt that banks create.

It’s a big gamble but I for one believe OV has the balls to apply and is committed to. He gets to shed the burden of EU interference into applying his nationalistic
/autocratic constitutional policies. Actually, it’s the only way he can. No more worries about corruption either.

He’s absolutely banking on that between 1824-2004 a survey of countries that actually did default the “pain” rarely lasted more than 2 years. But a closer look at those countries reveal that they had a lot more to offer, especially in natural resources, than Hungary does. Default is different for every country and only time would tell what it would mean for Hungary.

The biggest threat by far for hungarians is that in both his administrations so far he has surrounded himself with economic idiots who couldn’t manage their way out of a paper bag. I don’t know if that’s their fault or his because it’s apparent he wants nobody in his administration smarter than him. The ghost of Gyurcsany still haunts him with nightmares.

The 2 major reasons he is buying as much time as possible are, if the markets will respond by EU D-day and the longer he can drag things out brings him closer to the 2014 elections.

I guess for Hungarians it’s better to be poor under Viktor than people they don’t even know.
[/b]
Leto Muad’dib says:
March 25, 2012 at 6:37 pm
“because OV & and crew are going to default.”

Indeed, there isn’t really any other way out. See my post the other day about handling this debt burden your postcommie friends put on the country in 8 years: Debt ratio from 53% to 82%.
But it’ll be a negotiated default under much more favourable conditions than what Greece is having now and it will happen when Portugal and Italy would go. Because they will, have no doubt about that at all. And the US would have very, very serious financial problems soon, too. Just look at the trends.

Leto Muad’dib says:
March 26, 2012 at 3:18 am
[b]This is what I wrote in that post:

“As far as the “economic plan” is concerned, to paraphrase a classic secret speech from you-know-who: There is not much choice. There is not, because the postcommmie bastards have fucked it up. Not a little but a lot.

These are the possible options for handling such a debt burden:

1/ Inflation. It doesn’t work because the debt is overwhelmingly nominated in foreign currencies.
2/ Rapid growth. It’s nearly impossible while the main export markets, the euro zone is in such a crisis.
3/ Austerity. It doesn’t work because it simply causes a downward spiral, it decreases growth, tax income, etc. This is the EU/IMF deal.
4/ Partial, arranged default when the next panic (starting in the US again) would set in. This is going to happen and it’ll done similarly to what they have been doing about the forex mortgages, that is the fixed conversion rate. The burden will be mainly on foreign banks and MNCs as it should be. It’ll be still much better for them what is going to happen in Portugal and then in Italy and Spain. “
[/b]
Leto Muad’dib says:
March 25, 2012 at 6:41 pm
[b]“The current system of international finance through which ordinary and generally poor people are held to ransom by a system designed by and for a wealthy elite is not only insane, but also incredibly unjust.”

Do you disagree perhaps? Look at your own country.
[/b]
Leto Muad’dib says:
March 25, 2012 at 6:48 pm
Oops, I missed including the link:

[b]-Distribution of wealth - Wikipedia

It’s rather insane indeed.[/b]

Paul says:
March 25, 2012 at 6:36 pm
Agree…completely….thanks!!..best comment ever on this site in my opinion. I mean let’s draw some conclusions.

Paul says:
March 25, 2012 at 6:50 pm
@Aloof
I mean…of course

Aloof says:
March 25, 2012 at 6:45 pm
I don’t have ANY commie or post commie friends. Neighbors? Tons… friends… zip.

Aloof says:
March 25, 2012 at 6:47 pm
My own country is far worse.

Leto Muad’dib says:
March 25, 2012 at 6:59 pm
Good we agree at least on that. Perhaps you’ve taken me “anti-American” when I’m actually not at all.
Ron Paul for President!

29

Comments
Aloof says:
March 25, 2012 at 7:10 pm
Even Ron Paul can’t save my country now. Put a couple fingers in the dike, maybe. The only thing that can save my country are Americans themselves. One day they’re going to give the middle finger and just take it back. Our 2nd amendment will come in real handy then.

Leto Muad’dib says:
March 25, 2012 at 7:18 pm
“Even Ron Paul can’t save my country now. ”

[b]No disagreement here again. (BTW, I was joking only about RP because, even though there are MANY things I completely agree to what he says, I’m no ‘minimal state’-libertarian.)

“The only thing that can save my country are Americans themselves.”

That’s true. But it won’t happen. Life is not a Hollywood story. There are awfully nasty things ahead.
[/b]
Paul says:
March 25, 2012 at 7:20 pm
Sorry to interupt your happy conversation…Obama is doing fine considering the circumstances.

Leto Muad’dib says:
March 25, 2012 at 7:32 pm
What does he do fine?

I’ve found a cool site for you:
-http://usdebt.kleptocracy.us/

Aloof says:
March 25, 2012 at 7:35 pm
Well frankly since you’ve never been to America, lived there, went to school there, served in it’s miltary, bought a couple of homes there, got married there, raised a family there, partied there… I don’t think you have a clue what Americans would or could do, no offense. Americans only come together and rise up together either when threatened or when their backs are put up against the wall. The wall isn’t as far away as you think. All the internal arguments and BS goes out the window and we do adapt and overcome.

Aloof says:
March 25, 2012 at 7:40 pm
@Paul,

Political Correctness is one of the most major issues, if not the most major issue and disease in my country and Obama is its Kracken. We need another Teddy Roosevelt not Obama.

Leto Muad’dib says:
March 25, 2012 at 7:56 pm
“Political Correctness is one of the most major issues, if not the most major issue and disease in my country”

[b]Well, in the end it’ll turn out we’d agree in quite a few things.

Though I haven’t been over that side of the pond, I still met quite a few Americans here in Europe and I spoke to Hungarians who spent years there (or they actually live there). So I’ve got a clue about what you mean but I just don’t believe in Hollywood fairy tales. And this, that is the American people putting an end to the financial-economic-social insanity, sounds exactly like that.
[/b]

30

Comments:

Paul says:
March 25, 2012 at 8:10 pm
“I guess for Hungarians it’s better to be poor under Viktor than people they don’t even know.”

Anyway…it is called politics.hu
Would appreciate it if you would reply to Aloof’s excellent analysis.

Leto Muad’dib says:
March 25, 2012 at 8:40 pm
I have. See my post at March 25, 2012 at 6:37 pm. What are you missing from my response?

Leto Muad’dib says:
March 25, 2012 at 9:23 pm
Ah, yet another thing: What I called “financial-economic-social insanity” above, which spread all over the world primarily from the US, is very relevant to Hungarian politics as well and that’s not an issue like Obama’s birth certificate.

Curious George says:
March 25, 2012 at 10:22 pm
@Leto – that’s partly true in that it is relevant. However, Hungary’s financial-social-economic problems did not originate from the US situation. You screwed up without any external ‘help’.

Leto Muad’dib says:
March 25, 2012 at 11:02 pm
I didn’t mean that Hungary’s financial-social-economic problems originate directly from the US situation. What I said this was the international environment where we screwed up.
(Though that’s not the point here and it’s side-tracking but let me still say I disagree the screw-up was without any external help. That’s simply not true, just like that’s not true for, say, Greece either.)

Allof says:
March 26, 2012 at 8:19 am
The “financial-economic-social insanity” was perpetrated primariy by unregulated investment banking with no oversight giving credit to anyone who walked through the door all based on liberal globalism. In Europe it was compounded by borrowing money to pay for unsustainable socialism.

[b]The two entities that common people put their trust in to best serve them, politicians and banks, betrayed that trust with greed. Globalist liberalism and privatization has no allegiance to any particular country. Politicians failed their respective countries by failing to address it and instead used it as a tool themselves to get rich.

It has/had gotten so bad that the bankers have rendered politics and politicians virtually irrelevant because the number 1 priority in any country for every politician is their economy. So fiscally unsustainable “growth, growth, growth” based on credit financed borrowed money ran out of control. Private companies, especially large corporations, with no allegiance to anyone but shareholders and the bottom line exploited and continue to exploit common people everywhere and the politcians still continue to let it happen. Private corporations also continue to squirrel away money in places where respective governments can’t rightly get at it. (That crap needs to end too.) So instead of responsible controlled growth we’re at controlled defaults.

Put the blame where it belongs, politicians and bankers who miserably failed all of us. I firmly believe that those people in any country and any companies and any bamks that were responsible for it should be hunted down and share the pain. Of course that won’t happen.
[/b]
Leto Muad’dib says:
March 26, 2012 at 2:33 pm
“unregulated investment banking ” has been only one of the symptoms and the name of the disease is “liberal globalism” indeed.
Actually there’s nothing here to dispute for me, sorry.

31

Will Hungary Be The Next Iceland? PM Orban: “Hungarians Will Not Live As Foreigners Dictate”
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/16/2012 10:41 -0400

Budget Deficit European Union Germany Greece Hungary Iceland International Monetary Fund Reality

When it comes to being a NWO debt slave, one can accept their fate demurely and bent over, like a conditionally habituated dog electroshocked into perpetual submission just as the banker elites like it, with threats that the world would end the second one dared to change the status quo (see Greece), or one can do something about being a debt slave. Like Iceland. And then rapidly proceed to be the best performing economy in Europe. And reading some of the latest news out of Hungary, which has to count its lucky stars is not stuck in the inflexible nightmare that is the mercantilist Eurocurrency union, gives us hope that we may soon witness the next sovereign rebellion against the banker yoke. The WSJ reports: "Hungary’s premier fired a new broadside in the country’s running battle of wills with the European Union, saying that Hungarians should be free to make their own laws without interference from Brussels. Speaking to a large crowd of supporters celebrating the anniversary of a 19th-century Hungarian revolt against Austrian rule, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said: “Hungarians will not live as foreigners dictate.” This has promptly generated the anticipated response from European unelected dictator Barroso, who minutes ago said that Hungary’s Orban doesn’t get democracy. Oh, we think he does. What he doesn’t seem to get, or like, is existence in a banker-governed technocratic, klepto-fascist state, in which the peasantry is merely an intermediary vessel for asset confiscation by insolvent banks. Like Greece… which however already is the butt of all jokes of personal submission to a foreign oppressor, so there is no dignity in kicking a dog that is down.

Why is Orban angry with the EU?

Mr. Orban’s sharp words came amid tensions between Budapest and the EU, which is pressuring Hungary to change laws on its central bank, judiciary and data privacy that the group says violate its rules.

EU ministers also voted this week to suspend development funds for Hungary next year unless the country adopts new measures to trim its budget deficit. Hungary insists the country is on track to meet its EU-mandated targets.

The European Commission for Democracy through Law, a legal advisory panel better known as the Venice Commission is expected to issue Friday an opinion on the independence of the judiciary under Hungary’s new constitution.
What is ironic, is that even this potentially faux statement of defiance, is peanuts compared to how the people really think. Does anyone wonder why the death of “democratic” Europe would be a referendum? Simple - the people are sick of living in the feudal middle ages, only this time instead of a lord, the person in charge is a CEO of a local insolvent bank…d

About a mile from Mr. Orban’s rally in front of the country’s neo-Gothic parliament building, an opposition protest drew tens of thousands of Hungarians angry with Mr. Orban and his Fidesz party’s legislative agenda.

The demonstration was organized by the group One Million for the Hungarian Freedom of the Press, commonly known as Milla. Speakers called on the government to guarantee media freedom and observe EU norms.

Mr. Orban’s government wants “complete political and economic control,” said Andras Magyar, a 61-year-old pensioner who joined the protest. “I’m very unhappy about the injustice now, the development of a dictatorial system.”

32

Continuation:

Mr. Orban and his supporters dismiss criticism of the new constitution, which they say protects Hungarian values while complying with EU standards.

“We are going to protect the constitution, which is our security for the future,” Mr. Orban said Thursday, to applause. He said Hungary doesn’t need the “unsolicited assistance of foreigners wanting to guide our hands.”

Mr. Orban’s speech offered no detailed, direct comments on the points of contention between Budapest and Brussels. But he did allude to central bank independence, which the EU and IMF have said must be insured before they will start talks on a precautionary loan Hungary wants.
Naturally, Europe merely wants every impression of defiance squashed: after all Germany hasn’t funded all those current account deficits with €550+ billion in money it was never again see via the Buba just so these slaves can go ahead and revolt.

The EU is insisting, among other things, that Hungary change the oath of office for central bankers to reflect their role as part of an EU-wide central-bank system.

Mr. Orban’s speech captured a sense of national grievance shared by many Hungarians unhappy that the prosperity they aspired to when they joined the EU has been smothered by a mountain of household and public debt.
As for the best summary of how Hungary feels right now?

One person in the crowd held a sign reading: “Colonization: 1956 Soviet Tanks, 2012 Western Banks.”
The only question remaining: how much longer will the status quo dangle the carrot of a “solvent” welfare socialist state when at this point everyone knows Europe, and the entire developed world is broke. Curious how pensions will fare when reality comes crashing down? Why take a look at the 80% haircut in the Greek pension system. And then consider that Greece has a first mover advantage. The sad truth is that very soon several hundred million European, and Americans, will realize that the social safety net everyone had taken for granted, and thanks to which nobody dared to revolt, has been long-plundered.

What then?

33

mail.google.com/mail/?tab=wm#in … 011c051c82

According to the Ponta cabinet, the measures are included in a plan to cut public expenditures, a plan through which the Executive seeks to save RON 1.86 bln this year.

During yesterday’s meeting the government decided to no longer allow public institutions, autonomous agencies and state-owned companies to sign consultancy services and legal assistance contracts if they already have their own qualified personnel and to force them to cut their expenditures on personnel and travels abroad by 30 per cent. The same interdiction was placed when it comes to local authorities signing internal public audit service contracts offered by physical persons. “These are expenditures we criticized while we were in the opposition and we don’t want to continue after we’ve come to power,” Premier Victor Ponta stated after the government meeting that marked his first month in office. He pointed out that this was not a honeymoon, being “a bitterer month.” The government was invested by Parliament on May 7. In his turn, Finance Minister and BNR First Deputy Governor Florian Georgescu pointed out that lowering protocol expenditures and expenditures on trips abroad could permit a RON 60 M cut in public expenditures. Florin Georgescu categorically denied the possibility that the EUR might reach the RON 5 threshold. “The Greek crisis resulted in investors pulling their money out in order to place them where they believe they are safer. The RON however is faring better than other regional currencies because the bases of the Romanian economy are better,” Georgescu stated. The Finance Minister reiterated the statement that BNR Governor Mugur Isarescu made yesterday, statement according to which BNR could defend the RON 5/EUR threshold if the depreciation continues. Georgescu added that he remains optimistic about this year’s economic growth even though the European press is talking about recession.

At the same time, the government ordinance adopted yesterday also stipulates that ministers, delegated ministers, the government’s secretary general, secretaries of state, undersecretaries of state, mayors, deputy mayors, the presidents and vice presidents of county councils, local council members as well as high officials can be accompanied by only two persons at most during trips abroad. The delegations of ministries, of the government’s general secretariat, of public institutions subordinated to the government or to ministries, of local administration institutions and public authorities can only consist of two persons at most too. All these measures were included in a plan to cut public expenditures, a plan through which the government stakes on saving RON 1.86 bln this year.

Extra guarantees for “first house”

Also yesterday, the government approved the Finance Ministry’s initiative to hike by EUR 200 M the ceiling of guarantees available for the “First House” programme, a ceiling that will be tapped only by the banks that have already exhausted the sums earmarked in the last stage but want to continue offering loans by covering 50 per cent of the risk. The document shows that financiers have the obligation of notifying the National Fund for Guaranteeing Loans for Small and Medium Enterprises (FNGCIMM) and the Finance Ministry about their intention to tap into the ceiling for 2012 at least 30 days before the date on which they estimate they will offer the guarantees up to the limit of the reusable ceiling established through previously signed protocols.

Correcting clawback tax law

The government also adopted an ordinance on modifying and completing the framework-contract concerning the conditions of offering medical care. Premier Victor Ponta stated that this is an attempt to correct “what was erroneously legislated and implemented in the case of the famous clawback tax.” “This continues to be one of our top priorities. On the other hand we have an already adopted legislation, demanded and basically assumed in all of our negotiations with international financial institutions. This tax is fundamentally stipulated in the area of revenues for the health fund. On the other hand norms that are difficult to implement in practice have been adopted and we want to have a cooperative attitude towards pharmaceutical drug producers in order to make sure these drugs continue to be at the disposal of hospitals and of the sick,” Ponta stated.

Talks in vienna on natural gas price liberalization

Premier Victor Ponta announced that he will pay an official visit to Austria on June 18 and will use the opportunity to discuss with the representatives of Austrian natural gas and oil companies that have investments in Romania, the talks set to touch on the timetable of liberalizing the price of natural gas too. He pointed out that this timetable has to be discussed with natural gas companies too. “In the following period, together with the Finance Ministry, we will fulfill what we set out to do in the agreement with the IMF and the EC, taking into account however other obligations too, as well as an infringement procedure vis-à-vis Romania’s interlink with Bulgaria and Hungary and the possibility of exporting Romanian natural gas,” Ponta stated.

Kover: I see no impediment to achieving autonomy in Transylvania
Posted: 06 Jun 2012 11:47 AM PDT
The Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament stated that Romania has the right to expel an EU citizen if he breaks the law but considers that he did not break the law in the past nor does he plan to do so in the future.

Kover Laszlo, the Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament, stated on Tuesday evening during a press conference in Targu Mures that he sees “no impediment” to achieving autonomy in Transylvania, where 1.5 million Hungarians are living, stating that this is a reality in other European countries too. “In Transylvania there should first of all be a fight for autonomy and only then should there be talk of support. If we look at several countries that have various forms of autonomy – Sweden, Finland, Spain, possibly Belgium – we have to admit that it’s a reality, I don’t see any impediment to achieving it,” Kover said, being quoted by Mediafax. He added that Hungarians in Serbia “have achieved the most” when it comes to autonomy and the country did not fall apart because of that.The Hungarian Parliament Speaker said yesterday, while at Odorheiu Secuiesc, that he ‘was hurt by the spirit of distrust’ felt from some of the incumbent Romanian government members, but considers that such an attitude is determined by the fact that the current cabinet ‘is disturbed probably’ with the good relations between Hungary and the former executive. Asked for his comments on Premier Victor Ponta’s statements according to which the Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry can declare him “personae non gratae” if he breaks the law, Kover stated that he did not break the country’s laws in the past nor does he plan to do so in the future. “I consider that the expression used, that of irresponsible behavior, has a political connotation, but I want to behave appropriately nonetheless. But we have to admit that everything I do and say can’t always be on the Prime Minister’s liking,” the Hungarian official stated. Asked whether Romania and Bulgaria are on the threshold of a diplomatic row following the recent row surrounding the reburial of Hungarian poet Nyiro Jozsef, Kover stated that “there certainly is” a discussion between the Hungarian Parliament and the Romanian Head of Government. According to him, a country’s government can express its disapproval but he can guarantee that Nyiro Jozsef’s reburial will respect Romanian law. Asked about the ‘Der Spiegel’ article in which the Hungarian government is accused of seeking to rehabilitate Horthyism in Hungary, Kover stated that Nyiro Jozsef’s reburial was meant to be “a gesture of reverence towards his literary art” and he did not even suspect that there will be “difficulties.” The Prime Minister asked Ioan Rus and Andrei Marga to not hesitate to propose measures against Kover in case he violates “any national or European rule.” “At the same time, I ask you all to show that we are more rational and better diplomats and not to allow ourselves to be provoked,” the Head of Government added. “If I want to build a statue to Louis of Anjou, do you think I want to rehabilitate feudalism? (…) If we make a gesture of reverence towards Nyiro’s literary art that doesn’t mean we want to praise his political blunders. Romanian literature too has persons like Mircea Eliade, who has a member of the Iron Guard,” Kover pointed out.Also in Odorheiu Secuiesc, the state secretary with the Hungarian foreign ministry Zsolt Nemeth said: “we are witnessing unilateral decisions taken by the Bucharest government, decisions that influence the Magyar minority’s interests,” politics.hu informs, quoted by realitatea.net. Nemeth accused PM Ponta for failing to initiate talks with his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban during the latter’s last week’s visit to Bucharest, as – in his opinion – the Romanian executive should have initiated the talks.

Ponta: Provocations like the ones in Kover case have long-term target

Premier Victor Ponta asked the Internal and External Affairs Ministers yesterday to maintain a firm position towards Laszlo Kover, pointing out at the same time that the Hungarian official’s actions have a long-term goal but that Romanian authorities are “smarter” and will not fall for provocations. “We have to defend our national interests, things that concern our identity and presence in Europe,” Ponta stated at the start of the government meeting. On Tuesday evening the Prime Minister stated that Kover’s arrival in Romania in order to campaign for an extremist party is reprehensible but that he nevertheless hopes he will at least respect the law “because he seems to have trampled over the norms of good neighborliness.”

“I don’t want to create a conflict over the irresponsibility of a single person, even though that person is an important official and even though it is obvious that his recent activity has absolutely nothing to do with good relations between two neighboring countries, nor with the fact that we’re living in the EU,” Ponta pointed out.On the other hand, PNL President Crin Antonescu stated that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban would like for Hungarians living in Romania to lose their representation in Parliament, that being the reason behind his encouragement for UDMR’s competitors (PCM and PPTM – editor’s note). Antonescu gave the example of Slovakia, a country in which such a strategy worked, and added that Romanian parties should do everything possible in order to block this end-goal, being of the opinion that “UDMR is the party that represented ethnic Hungarians in a reasonable relation with other Romanian parties.” In his opinion, President Traian Basescu should have come out with a statement following his talks with the Hungarian Prime Minister at the end of last week, considering the “injury” caused to the Romanian state’s interests.

The substratum of Kover’s visit to Transylvania

Laszlo Kover is one of the founding members of FIDESZ, Hungary’s ruling party. Kover represents the far-right faction of FIDESZ, his vision and discourse placing him close to the far-right party Jobbik. According to Hungarian Spectrum, a blog quoted by HotNews, Kover is seen as one of Premier Viktor Orban’s close advisors from within FIDESZ, a kind of “eminence grise when it comes to political strategy.” The Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament supported the establishment of the Civic Magyar Party (PCM) whose honorary president he is, having close relation with PCM leader Sasz Jeno.Kover’s visit to Romania and his involvement in the elections campaign takes place against the backdrop of FIDESZ’s collapse in opinion polls and the rise of socialists, the aforementioned source adds. Moreover, this year’s elections represent a first for the Hungarian community in Romania, UDMR facing the competition of two other parties: Sasz Jeno’s PCM and Laszlo Tokes’s PPMT (Magyar People’s Party in Transylvania – editor’s note). PCM and PPMT are both backed by FIDESZ, but each by different factions of the Hungarian party. HotNews journalists also claim that the purpose of such an aggressive involvement in Romania’s elections campaign is “a long-term goal” in view of the 2014 elections in Hungary. By offering ethnic Hungarians the Hungarian citizenship FIDESZ is hoping to win the votes of Hungarians living outside Hungary and thus to extend its electoral pool. Until now, according to April 2012 data, 250,000 ethnic Hungarians from Romania have asked for the Hungarian citizenship. 175,000 have already obtained it. In the short run, FIDESZ’s involvement in the Romanian elections campaign seeks to weaken UDMR.

34

This was the first reaction of the Romanian Nine O’clock.ro
nineoclock.ro/bucharest-reje … -reburial/

Bucharest rejects Hungary’s criticism over Nyiro Jozsef’s reburial
POLITICS | ALINA.GRIGORAS | MAY 28TH, 2012 AT 9:00 PM

Prime-Minister, PSD say criticism is unacceptable and of electoral nature.
Romanian officials have called the statements by Hungarian Parliament Speaker Laszlo Kover on the cancellation of the reinhuming of Hungarian writer Nyiro Jozsef unacceptable and provocative. After the Hungarian official had said, on Sunday, in Odorheiu Secuiesc, that ‘the unfriendly, uncivilised and barbaric behaviour of the new Romanian Government, refusing to Nyiro the possibility of resting in his home land, had been extremely surprising’, and that ‘there had been a true hunting party for the urn with his ashes’, Prime Minister Victor Ponta (photo) said such opinions could be supported in Budapest, but not Romania. ‘The Romanian authorities have reacted in a calm manner, with caution but also firmly. After all, we cannot have everybody kicking over the traces on Romania’s territory and bring honours to someone who is officially recognised as a man of anti-Romanian, anti-Semitic and pro-fascist attitudes and actions. Therefore, the words addressed by the Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament are unacceptable and I think he could say such things in Budapest, not in Romania,’ Mediafax quotes Ponta as having said yesterday.The PM said he and Hungarian PM Viktor Orban would meet in Bucharest at the end of the week and stressed that such extremist provocations during an election campaign, meant to help an extremist political party, are against the law, order and good relations between two European countries. ‘We have prevented – and we did the right thing, too – an event that had been confiscated by extremist political forces, be it the Civic Hungarian Party or – you could see the Jobbik leader was also present – or a far-right party from Hungary. The involvement of senior officials (…) in this purely electoral and purely provocative manifestation is simply unacceptable,’ Ponta also said. At the same time, the head of the Executive will ask the Harghita Prefecture to see if the local council’s decision to name streets after Jozsef Nyiro did not break the Romanian law prohibiting the recognition or honouring of people involved in fascist or anti-Semitic action. ‘Following the PM’s request, all the local council’s decisions through which schools and streets in the county had been named after Nyiro Jozsef will be checked,’ Harghita Prefect Cristina Augusta Urzica said. In Odorheiu Secuiesc, where the house where the writer lived during his stay in the locality, there is a street called Nyiro Jozsef. In the county there are also three schools named after him. PSD Honorary President Ion Iliescu on his part said the statements made by the Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament, Laszlo Kover, were a provocation, because the subject was the inhumation of a person with pro-fascist feelings. ‘These are provocations and it’s a regrettable thing that the Hungarian authorities allow themselves to be drawn into something like that, as long as this is all about someone well-known for his pro-fascist, revisionist views. So this whole reinhuming thing was a provocation and it’s regrettable that the Hungarian officials support something like that,’ Iliescu said. PSD Secretary General Liviu Dragnea yesterday said the critical statements made by the Hungarian officials about the Romanian Government were inadmissible and the reinhuming of Nyiro Jozsef was part of the election campaign of Hungarian political parties. A reaction to the reinhuming scandal also comes from the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, Radu Ioanid, director with the International Records Division of the museum having told HotNews that ‘the attempted ceremonial inhumation of Jozsef Nyiro is part of a broader and relatively recent series of rehabilitation attempts in Hungary concerning other , some of whom being convicted for war crimes, even Miklos Horthy.’ Ioanid also says Nyiro ‘belonged to the virulently pro-Nazi faction of Hungarian fascism with which he also fled Hungary.’

35

Der Spiegel about the Hungarian events:
spiegel.de/politik/ausland/u … 35958.html

This article was the first which disapproved of the present Hungarian situation. It was good that one day earlier I wrote that I wrote, nobody can say that I was influenced by a paper.

36

quotes:

From Luiza’s letter to me.

My answer:

And really today I can write this word: AWESOME (07-06-2012;9:34)

37

Good morning, Kati.

Take from me a bit of this Irish rain, share with me the sadness of the world.
No, I’m jocking. Give me from yours a piece of optimism and wisdom.

With love,
Luiza

38

Dear Luiza,

As you see dear Luiza, we are not have reason to be optimist. Yesterday I was listening to a very clever journalist from Austria- and what he had said,- didn’t give lot of optimism us.
Now we are cleaning and rearranging our flat. I don’t know whether I said to you that we had to repaint my husband’s atelier because the paint come off the walls and this was like a ‘white’ silicosis. For his lungs it was a poison, so we must have it painted. (Is it correct grammatically?) I made lot of things alone but small work to do remained and he has just joking that everything becomes a big work. He was right.
Now I go to finish cooking.

Love:
Kati

39

Dear Luiza,

This is the new one from D/W

dw.de/dw/article/0,15991580,00.html

This is due to our government. and not to the Hungarian who (I hope!!!) won’t elect them in 2014.

It is a horror.

Bye:
Kati

40

The Economist 9th June 2012

Hungary’s ailing economy
Sickness on the Danube
The worst performer in central Europe
Jun 9th 2012 | BUDAPEST | from the print edition

THE report card for the Hungarian government, which is halfway through its four-year term, makes grim reading. Unemployment is nudging 12% and inflation is close to 6%. The economy is the weakest in the region: GDP contracted in the year to the first quarter of 2012 (see chart). Investors are nervous, pushing ten-year bond yields up to 9%.

Viktor Orban, the prime minister, had pledged to create a million jobs by 2020. Perhaps 50,000 have been conjured up, but many are in workfare programmes that force claimants to dig ditches and clear fields or lose their benefits. Fidesz, the ruling right-wing party, is getting desperate. It churns out grandiose plans and, when they do not work, dreams up new taxes. After a levy on unhealthy food the government is now taxing telephone calls.

In this section
Angela Merkel, swimming instructor
Autocrats together
Recalled to life
Maxi boots and mini controversies
»Sickness on the Danube
Massacre at Uludere
Latvian lessons
Reprints
Related topics
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Viktor Orban
Hungarian politics
Politics
European politics
Eight years of Socialist sloth and corruption left Fidesz with a mess that has been made much worse by the euro crisis. But the excuses are wearing thin. Fidesz’s budget plans were based on “wildly optimistic” assumptions, says Tamas Boros, of Policy Solutions, a think-tank. After months of arguments over the status of the central bank the government still has not begun formal talks with the IMF. Hungary needs $15 billion to roll over its foreign debt. Parliament this week delayed a vote on amendments to the central-bank law after the European Central Bank said the changes did not go far enough. The markets’ reaction was swift: the forint plunged to more than 300 to the euro.

There is some good news. The European Union has lifted its threat to suspend €500m ($625m) of regional-fund money, after the budget-deficit forecast for 2012 was revised to 2.5% of GDP. Exports are healthy. But failure to do a deal with the IMF leaves Hungary dangerously exposed to outside events such as a bank crash in Spain or a disorderly Greek exit from the euro. The parlous state of the economy has political as well as financial roots. Investors are spooked by retrospective taxes, argues Peter Duronelly, of Budapest Fund Management. The government needs to reset its economic policy, he says. Yet the signs point to more of the same: a bigger, more interventionist state, a deluge of new laws, continued unpredictability.

Mr Orban promised to sweep away corrupt Socialist-era networks. But one lot of Magyar oligarchs has been replaced by another, who are allies of Fidesz. Corruption is now institutionalised, say watchdogs. And hardliners are ramming through their cultural agenda. Miklos Horthy, Hungary’s wartime leader and an ally of Hitler, is now celebrated with statues and a renamed square. Three far-right writers will be brought back to the school curriculum this autumn. Relations with Romania soured after a farcical attempt to rebury one, Jozsef Nyiro, in his home town.

Hate speech and xenophobia are on the rise. Agnes Vadai, a left-wing MP, was howled down by right-wing and far-right opponents when she protested in parliament against the rehabilitation of Horthy. Fidesz MPs gutted a bill to set up a parliamentary committee against racism. According to a recent survey, almost half of young Hungarians plan to emigrate. Hungary’s race away from modernity is fuelling an exodus by those it needs most.