From Romanian stage, Viktor Orbán blasts Hungary's TISZA government and says EU won't exist in current form by 2051
Speaking at a summer university in Romania, the former Hungarian prime minister accused the TISZA government of authoritarian abuses, comparing Hungary to Venezuela. He predicted that the European Union in its current form will be gone within 25 years.
A speech from opposition
Viktor Orbán took the stage at the Băile Tușnad Summer University on Saturday in an unfamiliar role: opposition leader. For the first time in 16 years he addressed the annual gathering without holding power, roughly three and a half months after Fidesz lost parliamentary elections to the TISZA party of Péter Magyar. What followed was a sweeping condemnation of the new Budapest government, a stark warning about the European Union's shelf life, and a sketch of his new ambition as architect of a "national resistance movement".
Attack on the TISZA government
Orbán accused the TISZA administration of authoritarian drift, citing the investigation of political opponents and a constitutional amendment he said was designed to remove the president. He claimed the new system was created "with the support of Brussels" and compared Hungary to Venezuela, arguing both rely on similar practices to eliminate dissent. The former prime minister charged that for months there has been no economic governance, only image management, and that the population is being misled with promises that "everything will be fine".
For months now there has been no economic governance. There is Facebook governance, there is cinema, films and a "Die enemies!" kind of governance.
Europe's 25-year deadline
Orbán warned that the European Union in its current form will not exist in 25 years. He predicted that Anglo-Saxon domination of world politics and economics will gradually be replaced by an Asia-led international order, and that international organisations must be restructured to survive. He insisted he does not want the European project to disappear, only to see it profoundly transformed. Dismissing Ursula von der Leyen's role as useless, he said he would never accept it and that the post should be abolished.
We must not just take over the Commission, we must occupy Brussels.
He urged politicians from the Patriots for Europe alliance to reshape EU institutions from within and traced the Union's current problems to the mandate of the Jean-Claude Juncker-led Commission that began in 2014.
Why he shunned Parliament
Explaining why he did not take his seat in the Hungarian legislature, Orbán said he doubted the usefulness of "rational discourse" in the current chamber and left that confrontation to a younger generation. Instead, he intends to build a broad national resistance movement, with Fidesz acting not as a traditional party but as an incubation centre and nursery for all who love freedom.
FIDESZ must not behave like a party, but like a service centre, like an incubation centre. It must function like a nursery. FIDESZ must not consolidate itself, but consolidate the organisations and groups of people who love freedom.
Heroes and loyalists
Among the figures of his former government, Orbán singled out ex-foreign minister Péter Szijjártó, calling him "the best foreign minister in Europe" and expressing support for his move to the Chinese company BYD. He also listed János Hajdu, head of the TEK anti-terrorist service, among the "heroes" of his administration, while noting that Hajdu is under investigation in connection with an operation involving funds from an undisclosed source.
