Balázs Orbán, who ran Viktor Orbán’s campaign in Hungary’s earthquake election, has said the defeat will only galvanise the conservative nationalist Fidesz party in Brussels.
Orbán, who is no relation to the outgoing prime minister, will come to Brussels in July to take up a seat as a member of the European Parliament, replacing Pál Szekeres.
“Since we are not in government we have more time to focus on Brussels politics, so we will not disappear – just the opposite,” Orbán told Euractiv. “We will show up more frequently.”
He aims to provide intellectual inspiration and ballast for Fidesz as part of the Patriots for Europe grouping, which the Hungarians founded with France’s National Rally. “I hope that I will be able to play a part in the more intellectual, broader philosophical debates, and I have a big network in Europe – not politicians, but mainly intellectuals, academic think-tank people.”
Orbán was the campaign strategist who made the dangers of the war in Ukraine the central pitch of his party’s bid to extend its 16-year unbroken streak in power. Fidesz attempted to paint Péter Magyar, the Tisza leader, as being in the pocket of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ursula von der Leyen.
Asked if the Ukraine focus was the right move in a country with a history of dominance by Russia, Orbán said: “From a campaign point of view, people obviously decided to accept the offer of the opposition, that’s why we lost.”
But he argued that Ukraine remains “the biggest question” facing Europe. “What is the top priority of the EU? Whether the Europeans should focus on supporting Ukraine by any means or whether they should prioritise their economic interests and the interests of the European citizens,” he said.
Viktor Orbán’s crushing defeat has also threatened the future of the state-backed conservative think-tank, Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), which is also active in Brussels. Magyar has threatened to cut its funding and bring it to heel.
“[It] cannot be nationalised because we are not living in a communist dictatorship”, Balázs Orbán said. “They will try to cause pain for us but I think the conservative movement is strong; we have many ideas so I’m quite optimistic that we will be visible in Brussels.”
Péter Magyar, Hungary’s leader-in-waiting, who defeated Orbán and Fidesz with a crushing victory on 12 April, is in Brussels on Wednesday to try and unlock billions of EU subsidies withheld by the European Commission over rule-of-law concerns.
Orbán told Rapporteur that Magyar was coming to Brussels cap in hand. “He was a Brussels-backed candidate, so now he is making agreements with Brussels. My prediction is they will sign up to the Brussels mainstream … [on migration, LGBT rights and Ukraine], there will be no independent Hungarian foreign policy.”
(bw, ow)
Source:
www.euractiv.com