Left-wing and liberal analysts interpret the Prime Minister’s speech primarily as the opening of the electoral campaign. A pro-government commentator agrees with the Prime Minister that the victory of the Left in the April election would bring Hungary back to globalist pro-Brussels policies and would be devastating for Hungary.
Hungarian press roundup by budapost.eu
Background information: On Saturday in his State of the Nation speech, Prime Minister Orbán called the April election an existential ballot. The opposition, he said, would return former PMs Ferenc Gyurcsány and Gordon Bajnai to power. Prime Minister Orbán accused the previous left-wing and liberal governments of corruption and neglecting the national interest. He went on to claim that since 2010, the Fidesz government has increased welfare and boosted the economy. Prime Minister Orbán also criticized the European Union for embracing globalist ideology and accused it of waging a ‘rule of law jihad’ against Hungary.
In Népszava, Erika Gulyás quotes left-wing and liberal analysts who see the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation address on Saturday as a campaign speech. They all remark that Prime Minister Orbán did not mention opposition frontrunner Márki-Zay by name, choosing to speak instead of former PMs Ferenc Gyurcsány and Gordon Bajnai – a ploy to mobilize his voters ahead of the April election, they suggest.
According to the same analysts, PM Orbán focused on increases in welfare spending for the same reason. They dismiss the Prime Minister’s statements on the necessity of avoiding military confrontation over Ukraine, as an attempt to ‘pose as an important geopolitical actor’.
Magyar Nemzet’s Zsolt Bayer agrees with the Prime Minister that the stakes are extremely high in the April election. The pro-government pundit also believes that if the opposition wins, Ferenc Gyurcsány will return and will try to replace Hungary and its national community with a United States of Europe.
Bayer calls on Fidesz voters to do whatever they can to defeat the opposition parties, including gathering recommendations for candidates of small independent parties to help them get on the ballots.
featured image via MTI/PM’s Press Office/Cher Benkő Vivien