Europeans in Hungary marked by fear and “superstar” who threatens Orban – News

The elections for the European Parliament are scheduled for June 9 in Hungary (the same date as in Portugal) and these days large political posters can already be seen in Budapest with the image of the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, sitting in an armchair together with Órban’s opponents characterized as waiters, who read “humble servants of Brussels” on issues such as “migration, gender and war”.

Created by the national-conservative party Fidesz, which has been in power in Hungary for 14 years, the cartels bring together Órban’s ‘rivals’ such as the popular leader of the new Respect and Freedom party (TISZA), Péter Magyar, the former socialist prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, socialist MEP Klára Dobrev and the mayor of Budapest elected by the Greens Gergely Karácsony.

But despite Péter Magyar being a recent name on these posters, none of the topics covered are surprising to association officials, including the coordinator of the Háttér project (representative of LGBT people in Hungary), who almost resignedly admits to Lusa in Budapest that “the government has used these posters as a communication trick to create unrealistic fears and say that they will save the population”.

For Vivien Vadasi, legal consultant at the Hungarian Association for Migrants Menedék, these large posters, which contrast with the small posters of opposition parties, only aim to create “white noise” among the population, who nowadays “no longer care”.

In the Hungarian conservative wing, these types of messages are not seen as anti-democratic, but rather “a sovereignist approach” to “the demands of the European Union”, says the executive director of the College Mathias Corvinus in Brussels, Frank Füredi.

Former communist and now democratic populist, Frank Füredi argues that “people did not ask for mass migration or the integration of gender identity in politics”.

The Secretary of State for International Communication, Zoltán Kovács, also says in an interview with Lusa that the only issues at stake are “rules that have to be followed” for regular migration, sex change only after the age of 18 and a focus on peace instead of war.

This is not the view of researcher Zsuzsanna Szelenyi, who began her career as a member of the Fidesz party and left it when Órban assumed leadership. Speaking to Lusa in Budapest, the analyst describes this as “very unpleasant government propaganda” in which “millions of taxpayers’ euros” are spent to ensure “dominance” of political posters, pay pro-government influencers and limit access to opposition in the media space.

Even though Fidesz spreads the idea that Hungary is “a pro-family country”, particularly in other posters placed at Budapest airport, it is certain that, for researcher Bulcsú Hunyadi from the Political Capital Institute, the “image of the government of protecting children has been affected” by the recent scandal related to a pardon in a pedophilia case.

“The government uses opposition politicians and non-governmental organizations to fuel the anti-gender and anti-LGBT agenda, but then it fails”, compares Bulcsú Hunyadi, speaking in a context of “icing on the cake” for the emergence of “a superstar”, Péter Magyar.

Bulcsú Hunyadi describes his rise as an “exception in recent Hungarian political history, in which someone manages to have so much support and mobilize so many people in a short space of time”, especially someone who “was part of the regime’s inner circles”.

At a time when TISZA is expected to be the second most voted force, behind Fidesz, Péter Magyar says in an interview with Lusa that “people are fed up with this political elite”.

“That’s why my party and I are so popular and the popularity is growing more and more, because people are fed up with these guys and would like to have a completely new political system in Hungary”, says Péter Magyar.

Opposition parties interviewed by Lusa recognize that this popularity is causing the “fight for survival” of other parties, as Gábor Harangozó, from the socialist MSZP, tells Lusa.

The MEP and president of the center-right Jobbik party, Márton Gyöngyösi, confirms that “all opposition parties are in difficulties”.

Márton Tompos, vice-president of the liberal Momentum, also admits that Péter Magyar is “taking half of the [seus] voters” for being “insanely popular”, while János Árgyelán, from the far-right party Our Homeland, estimates a reduction of between 2% and 3% of his voters for this “new messiah”.

For the LMP Greens, Örs Tetlák speaks of a “symptom of the frustration and disillusionment of hundreds of thousands of Hungarian voters”, but says that Péter Magyar “does not say anything new” and is “an opportunist”.

If Ágnes Vadai, from the socialist DK, devalues ​​and speaks of a “temporary phenomenon”, Marietta Le from the satirical Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party states that her party is more dedicated to citizenship and not popular action.