Listening to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s sharp turn in rhetoric in recent days and weeks, one could gain the impression that he is shedding the vestiges of democratic forbearance. Ever since US President Donald Trump — Orban’s “comrade in arms,” as he put it — returned to the White House in January, the Hungarian head of government has been attacking critics with unknown harshness, and issuing unprecedented threats.
Last week, Orban held his annual State of the Nation address, in which he takes stock of the past year and announces plans for the upcoming one. These speeches are usually dotted with several pointed remarks that elicit the occasional laugh from the audience.
This year, his address contained such rhetorical bombshells as referring to the neighboring state of Ukraine as a “territory” that would serve as a “buffer zone” between Russia and NATO member states.
He also hinted at banning the LGBTQ+ parade Budapest Pride and amending the constitution to say that a person is either a man or a woman — effectively ending any trans or queer representation.
This year’s State of the Nation could mark a similar turning point as Orban’s infamous 2014 address in Romania’s Baile Tusnad, when he promised to transform Hungary into an “illiberal state.” In short, Orban’s speech gave the impression that he was planning harsh repressions against critics, after finding that the state until now had been too tolerant toward any kind of detractor.
Shortly after, the independent Hungarian news portal Telex, otherwise moderate in its choice of words, ran the headline, “Orban unleashed,” and the weekly magazine HVG spoke of Orban’s “unprecedented radicalization.”
Meanwhile, Orban has lashed out at his opponents, mostly journalists and nongovernmental organizations, calling them “traitors,” and “pseudo-civil” agents and accusing them of corruption and abuse of power.
Entry bans and denaturalization?
It’s unclear which concrete steps Orban’s administration would take against critics. In his address, the prime minister announced that, “we must urgently create the constitutional and legal conditions, so that we do not have to sit idly by as pseudo-civil public organizations serve foreign interests and organize political actions before our eyes.”
The country’s leading daily Magyar Nemzet, widely considered Orban’s unofficial mouthpiece, reported recently that Hungary’s government was planning to expel critics from the country. Since then, the country has been speculating over whether Orban’s critics might be exiled from Hungary, or banned from entering.
Orban has only added fuel to the fire by announcing he would pass a Hungarian version of the Magnitsky Act — a US law designed to impose sanctions, such as travel bans, on individuals suspected to be involved in human rights abuses.
Tackling supposed foreign interference
Other potential measures could include expanding the mandate of the so-called Sovereignty Protection Office (SPO), which was established in 2024 to investigate supposed violations of Hungarian sovereignty by “foreign interference.”
The office does not have executive power, but it does serve well as a propaganda instrument, for example, by branding investigative journalists uncovering corruption affairs as “foreign agents.”
In a similar vein, Orban’s administration has also taken aim at the US development agency USAID, releasing statements accusing the organization of attempting to “topple” governments like his.
Why now?
One possible reason for Orban’s recent sweeping attacks against any checks on his power could be a new documentary released on YouTube. Just weeks ago, a team of investigative journalists that call themselves Direkt36 released the film The Dynasty, documenting the stellar rise of Orban’s family members and a close circle of the richest Hungarian elites.
The film suggests that none of this would have been possible without Orban intervening in judicial and governmental systems. Within three weeks, the documentary reached over 3 million views.
Evidently, there is growing discontent in Hungary over what is perceived as Orban’s system of corruption, as can be seen in the increasing support for the newly founded Respect and Freedom (TISZA) party. In polls, the party, which is led by political renegade Peter Magyar, routinely ranks equally as high, if not higher, than Orban’s Fidesz party.
Discontent has even gone so far that, last Saturday, for the first time in the country’s young history, judges took to the streets of Budapest to demonstrate for a free judiciary.
‘Cleansing wind’
Should power change hands in Hungary, Orban, his family, and many others who have profited from the regime might face court cases and even prison sentences for corruption charges, among other things. To prevent this, election laws, already bent in favor of the ruling Fidesz party, are likely to be updated.
Already, the climate in Hungary is historically repressive, with many citizens afraid to publicly voice their opinions. But unlike Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungary’s prime minister apparently does not yet see the need to jail political opponents. Perhaps, that’s because he sees an ally in the White House, whose own attacks against federal agencies Orban has praised as a “cleansing wind.”
This article was translated from German.
