Every year at the same time, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán delivers keynote speeches that his followers eagerly await. One of them is always in February. It contains the balance of the previous year and an introduction to the new political season. On such occasions, Orban usually speaks in a triumphalist manner about previous successes and energetically announces new offensive actions.
This year is different. The Prime Minister's speech is overshadowed by the child abuse scandal. The country's president, Katalin Novak, resigned on February 10, because she signed a pardon for a man who helped cover up child abuse.
Because of that resignation, Orbán began this year's speech on Sunday, February 17 with the following: "The year 2024 could not have started worse." The speech gave the impression of fatigue, was insufficiently inspired and structured. It was one of the weakest speeches since he took office in 2010. Such a speech is not only a sign that Orban has been damaged by the scandal, but also a sign of the general stagnation of his system of government.
In the shadow of the scandal
Not only the president of the country, who is loyal to Orban, had to resign because of the scandal. At the same time, former Minister of Justice Judit Varga, who was the main candidate of Orbán's Fidesz party in the European Parliament elections, retired from politics.
All this happened because Endre K. was pardoned, who was convicted last year for helping his superior, the director of the orphanage, to cover up systematic severe sexual abuse of children in at least one case. The public found out about the pardon by accident, because in the administrative proceedings against the pardoned man, the pardon certificate was placed with other documents for public inspection.
Rarely has the public in Hungary stirred to such an extent. Orbán has made child protection a major theme in his anti-LGBTQ propaganda in previous years. His formula read - homosexuality is the same as pedophilia.
Resignation of Bishop Balog
In the meantime, it is also known that one of Orban's closest associates, Calvinist priest and former Minister of Human Resources Zoltan Balog, personally pleaded with the president of the country for a pardon in that case. Balog has been a bishop since 2021. At first he did not want to resign from the position of president of the Synod of the Hungarian Reformed Church. On the eve of a mass protest rally in Budapest last Friday (February 16), he did resign. The gathering was one of the largest since Orban came to power. Estimates of the number of people gathered range between 50.000 and 150.000 participants.
It wasn't just amazement at the Orbán regime's hypocrisy regarding child protection that brought people to the streets. It was also about Orban's way of acting in crisis situations - he sacrifices loyal collaborators at the moment when he should take responsibility himself. It was also about his arrogant and autocratic way of ruling, about widespread corruption and abuse of power.
Mass demonstrations in Budapest
Sociologist Danijel Mikeč explains the extremely large number of participants in the demonstrations in a country where the majority is mostly politically disinterested in the so-called "influencer activism". He explains that well-known influencers of the Budapest portal Qubit organized demonstrations and mobilized people.
In his speech, Orbán did not react to the protests or the details of the child abuse scandal. He attributed the responsibility for the current situation to the former president of the country, saying that the president represents the unity of the nation, and Novak could no longer tolerate that unity after the public uproar due to the signed pardon. Orban added that her resignation was therefore inevitable.
Right after that, Orban started talking about the great opportunities for Hungary in the renewable energy sector. This was followed by the usual poisonous arrows aimed at the European Union, at "Brussels bureaucrats" and at activists who advocate for the rights of the LGBTQ community - they allegedly want to destroy the traditional Hungarian family model. Orban also repeated his views on the war in Ukraine, saying that the European Union hastily intervened in the conflict between "Slavic brothers", and according to him, Hungary is the only advocate of peace in Europe.
Orban on the defensive
Based on the speech, it is clear that the Hungarian Prime Minister is currently on the defensive and that he is acting without ideas. However, in the long run this scandal could not harm him. The current protests stemmed from moral outrage, the organizers and participants have no political agenda and currently have no intention of organizing into a movement or party.
And the Hungarian opposition parties have little more to offer than moral indignation. The Democratic Coalition Party gathered around former Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Đurčanj invented a derisive name for Orban and his party comrades - "paedophile lovers". They obviously want to use his propaganda weapon against Orban, instead of basing their criticism on humanity and opposing the equating of members of the LGBTQ community with child abusers.
Hungarian lawyer and expert on children's rights, Silvija Đurko, says that the consequences of years of propaganda and the current debate are primarily suffered by children. "It would be important that the concepts of pedophilia and child abuse no longer serve to stigmatize parties in the political arena. It would be good if there was a political will that would be serious when it says that children are our future," concludes Đurko.
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