Viktor Orbán MP
Orbán in 2022
Prime Minister of Hungary
Incumbent
Assumed office 29 May 2010
President	László Sólyom Pál Schmitt László Kövér (acting) János Áder Katalin Novák
Deputy	Tibor Navracsics Sándor Pintér Zsolt Semjén Mihály Varga
Preceded by	Gordon Bajnai
In office 6 July 1998 – 27 May 2002
President	Árpád Göncz Ferenc Mádl
Preceded by	Gyula Horn
Succeeded by	Péter Medgyessy
President of the Fidesz
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 May 2003
Preceded by	János Áder
In office 18 April 1993 – 29 January 2000
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	László Kövér
Member of the National Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 May 1990
Personal details
Born	Viktor Mihály Orbán (1963-05-31) 31 May 1963 Székesfehérvár, Hungary
Political party	Fidesz (since 1988)
Spouse	Anikó Lévai ​ (m. 1986)​
Children	5, including Gáspár
Parents	Erzsébet Sípos Győző Bálint Orbán
Residence(s)	Carmelite Monastery of Buda 5. Cinege út, Budapest
Alma mater	Eötvös Loránd University (JD) Pembroke College, Oxford
Profession	Politician lawyer
Signature
Website	Viktor Orbán website

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Viktor Mihály Orbán^[1] (Hungarian: [ˈviktor ˈorbaːn] ^ⓘ; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian lawyer and politician who has been Prime Minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has presided over Fidesz since 1993, with a break between 2000 and 2003.

Orbán studied law at Eötvös Loránd University before entering politics in the wake of the Revolutions of 1989. He headed the reformist student movement and became nationally known after giving a speech in 1989 in which he openly demanded that Soviet troops leave the country. After the end of communism in Hungary in 1989 and the country's transition to multiparty democracy the following year, he was elected to the National Assembly and led Fidesz's parliamentary caucus until 1993.

During Orbán's first term as prime minister, from 1998 to 2002 with him as the head of a conservative coalition government, inflation and the fiscal deficit shrank and Hungary joined NATO. Orbán was the Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2010. In 2010, Orbán was again elected prime minister. Central issues during Orbán's second premiership include controversial constitutional and legislative reforms, in particular the 2013 amendments to the Constitution of Hungary, as well as the European migrant crisis, the lex CEU, and the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary. He was reelected in 2014, 2018, and 2022. On 29 November 2020, he became the country's longest-serving prime minister.^[2]

Starting with the Second Orbán Government in 2010, during his uninterrupted stay in power, Orbán has curtailed press freedom, weakened judicial independence, and undermined multiparty democracy, amounting to democratic backsliding during Orbán's tenure.^[3][4][5] Orbán's harsh criticism of the policies favored by the European Union while accepting their money and funneling it to his allies and family have also led to accusations that his government is a kleptocracy.^[6] His government has also been characterized as an autocracy.^[7]

Orbán defends his policies as "illiberal Christian democracy".^[8][9] As a result, Fidesz was suspended from the European People's Party from March 2019;^[10] in March 2021, Fidesz left the EPP over a dispute over new rule-of-law language in the latter's bylaws.^[11] In a July 2022 speech, Orbán criticized the miscegenation of European and non-European races, saying: "We [Hungarians] are not a mixed race and we do not want to become a mixed race."^[12][13] Two days later in Vienna, he clarified that he was talking about cultures and not about race.^[14] His tenure has seen Hungary's government shift towards what he has called "illiberal democracy", while simultaneously promoting Euroscepticism and opposition to liberal democracy and establishment of closer ties with China and Russia.^[15][16][17]

Early life

Orbán was born on 31 May 1963 in Székesfehérvár into a rural middle-class family as the eldest son of the agronomist, mechanical engineer and later construction businessman Győző Orbán (born 1940)^[18] and the special educator and speech therapist, Erzsébet Sípos (born 1944).^[19] He has two younger brothers, both businessmen, Győző Jr. (born 1965) and Áron (born 1977). His paternal grandfather, Mihály Orbán, a former docker and a war veteran, farmed and worked as a veterinary assistant in Alcsútdoboz in Fejér County, where Orbán first grew up. The family moved in 1973 to the neighbouring Felcsút, where Orbán's father was head of the machinery department at the local farm collective.^[20] Orbán attended school there and in Vértesacsa.^[21][22] His parents and his grandfather completed further education as adults and pursued their careers within the framework of economic liberalisation under the Kádár regime.^[23] In 1977, the family moved to Székesfehérvár, where Orbán had secured a place at the prestigious Blanka Teleki grammar school.^[24] In his first two years at the school, he served as local secretary of the Hungarian Young Communist League (KISZ), membership of which was mandatory in order to matriculate to a university,^[25][26] and of which his father was a patron.^[27]

During his high school years, Orbán developed an interest in football, and befriended his future political associate Lajos Simicska.^[24] After graduating in 1981, he completed his military service alongside Simicska. He was jailed several times for indiscipline, which included a failure to appear for duty during the 1982 FIFA World Cup and striking a non-commissioned officer during a personal altercation.^[28] His time in the army also coincided with the declaration of martial law in Poland in December 1981, which his friend Simicska criticised;^[28] Orbán recalled expecting to be mobilised to invade Poland.^[29] He would later state that military service had shifted his political views radically from the previous position of a "naive and devoted supporter" of the Communist regime.^[26] However, a state security report from May 1982, when his father was working on an engineering contract in Libya, still described him as "loyal to our social system".^[27][30]

Next, in 1983, Orbán went to study law at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. He joined an English-model residential college for law students from outside the capital, Jogász Társadalomtudományi Szakkollégium (Lawyers' Special College of Social Sciences), established in 1983 by the young lecturer István Stumpf under the protection of the latter's father-in-law, the minister of the interior István Horváth.^[31][32] Members of this college, which would be named after István Bibó in May 1989,^[32] were permitted to explore social sciences beyond the socialist canon and the "new" field of "bourgeois" political science in particular.^[33][34][35] It was there that Orbán met Gábor Fodor and László Kövér.^[33][36] He became chairman of the executive committee of the college's sixty students in 1984.^[36] He went on a series of trips to Poland with his classmates and lecturer Tamás Fellegi in 1984–1985 and again in 1987, during the third pastoral visit of John Paul II. Their Polish contacts all along were Małgorzata Tarasiewicz and Adam Jagusiak, members-to-be of the anti-Communist student movement Freedom and Peace from 1985.^[37] Orbán submitted his Master's thesis on the Polish Solidarity movement, based on interviews with its leaders, in 1986.^[29][38] In August 1986, shortly before Orbán's wedding with Dr Anikó Lévai in Szolnok in September of that year, a police source reported him to belong to an organisation whose members were lecturing in the USA or West Germany as "the country's expected future leaders" and receiving Western support, while also being privy to top-level government decisions through minister Horváth and enjoying full protection of the Budapest police (BRFK). The minister was expected to personally intervene to clear Orbán in particular of any sedition charges.^[27][30] After obtaining the higher degree of Juris Doctor^[39] in 1987,^[40][41] Orbán lived in Szolnok for two years, commuting to his job in Budapest as a sociologist at the Management Training Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.^[42] In November 1987, Orbán welcomed a group of 150 delegates from 17 countries to a two-day seminar on the Perestroika, conscientious objection and the prospects for a pan-European democratic movement, held at the Lawyers' Special College of Social Sciences with the backing of the European Network for East–West Dialogue.^[35]

In September 1989, Orbán took up a research fellowship at Pembroke College, Oxford, funded by the Soros Foundation which had employed him part-time since April 1988.^[43] He began work on the concept of civil society in European political thought under the guidance of Zbigniew Pełczyński.^[22][44] During this time, he unsuccessfully contested the Fidesz leadership elections in Budapest, which he lost to Fodor. In January 1990, he abandoned his project at Oxford and returned to Hungary with his family to run for a seat in Hungary's first post-communist parliament.^[45]

Early career (1988–1998)

Orbán and Gábor Fodor at the Szárszó meeting of 1993

On 30 March 1988, at the Lawyers' Special College of Social Sciences, Orbán – alongside Stumpf, Fodor, Kövér and 32 other students and activists – founded the Alliance of Young Democrats (Fiatal Demokraták Szövetsége, FIDESZ), a liberal-nationalist youth movement conceived as an overt political challenge to the Hungarian Young Communist League, whose members were banned from participation.^[46][47] The college journal Századvég (End of the Century), established with Orbán's help and funded by George Soros since 1985, now became the press organ of Fidesz.^{[48][38][49][36]}

On 16 June 1989, Orbán gave a speech in Heroes' Square, Budapest, on the occasion of the reburial of Imre Nagy and other national martyrs of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. In his speech, he demanded free elections and the withdrawal of Soviet troops. The speech brought him to national prominence and announced the existence of Fidesz to the wider public.^[50] In the summer of 1989, he took part in the opposition round table talks, representing Fidesz alongside László Kövér.^[51] Fidesz became a political party in October 1989.^[52]

Orbán in 1997 as leader of the opposition

On returning home from Oxford, he secured the first spot on the Fidesz candidate list ahead of Fodor and was elected Member of Parliament from Pest County at the April 1990 election.^[53] He was appointed leader of the Fidesz's parliamentary group, in this capacity until May 1993.^[54]

On 18 April 1993, Orbán became the first president of Fidesz, replacing the national board that had served as a collective leadership since its founding. Under his leadership, Fidesz gradually transformed from a radical liberal student organization to a center-right people's party.^[55]

The conservative turn caused a severe split in the membership. Several members left the party, including Péter Molnár, Gábor Fodor and Zsuzsanna Szelényi. Fodor and others later joined the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ), initially a strong ally of Fidesz, but later a political opponent.^[56]

During the 1994 parliamentary election, Fidesz barely reached the 5% threshold.^[57] Orbán became MP from his party's Fejér County Regional List.^[54] He was chairman of the Committee on European Integration Affairs between 1994 and 1998.^[54] He was also a member of the Immunity, Incompatibility and Credentials Committee for a short time in 1995.^[54] Under his presidency, Fidesz adopted "Hungarian Civic Party" (Magyar Polgári Párt) to its shortened name in 1995. His party gradually became dominant in the right-wing of the political spectrum, while the former ruling conservative Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) had lost much of its support.^[57] From April 1996, Orbán was chairman of the Hungarian National Committee of the New Atlantic Initiative (NAI).^[58]

In September 1992, Orbán was elected vice chairman of the Liberal International.^[59] In November 2000, however, Fidesz left the Liberal International and joined the European People's Party (EPP). During the time, Orbán worked hard to unite the center-right liberal conservative parties in Hungary. At the EPP's Congress in Estoril in October 2002, he was elected vice-president, an office he held until 2012.^[60]

First premiership (1998–2002)

In 1998, Orbán formed a coalition with the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) and the Independent Smallholders' Party (FKGP). The coalition won the 1998 parliamentary elections with 42% of the national vote.^[60] Orbán became the second youngest prime minister of Hungary at the age of 35 (after András Hegedüs)^[61] and the first post-Cold War head of government in both eastern and central Europe who had not previously been a member of a communist party during the Soviet-era.^[7]

The new government immediately launched a radical reform of state administration, reorganizing ministries and creating a superministry for the economy. In addition, the boards of the social security funds and centralized social security payments were dismissed. Following the German model, Orbán strengthened the prime minister's office and named a new minister to oversee the work of his cabinet.

Orbán with Tamás Deutsch in 2000

In February, the government decided that plenary sessions of the Hungarian Parliament would be held only every third week.^[62] Opposition parties strongly opposed the change,^[63][64][65] arguing that it would reduce parliament's legislative efficiency and ability to supervise the government.^[66] In March, the government also tried to replace the National Assembly rule that requires a two-thirds majority vote with one of a simple majority, but the Constitutional Court ruled this unconstitutional.^[67]

Two of Orbán's state secretaries in the prime minister's office had to resign in May, due to their implication in a bribery scandal involving the American military manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corporation. Before bids on a major jet-fighter contract, the two secretaries, along with 32 other deputies of Orbán's party, had sent a letter to two US senators to lobby for the appointment of a Budapest-based Lockheed manager to be the US ambassador to Hungary.^[68] On 31 August, the head of the Tax Office also resigned after protracted criticism by the opposition on his earlier, allegedly suspicious, business dealings. The government was also involved in a lengthy dispute with Budapest City Council the national government's decision in late 1998 to cancel two major urban projects: the construction of a new national theatre^[69] and of the fourth subway line.

Relations between the Fidesz-led coalition government and the opposition worsened in the National Assembly, where the two seemed to have abandoned all attempts at consensus-seeking politics. The government pushed to swiftly replace the heads of key institutions (such as the Hungarian National Bank chairman, the Budapest City Chief Prosecutor and the Hungarian Radio) with partisan figures. Although the opposition resisted, for example by delaying their appointing of members of the supervising boards, the government ran the institutions without the stipulated number of directors. In a similar vein, Orbán failed to show up for question time in parliament for periods of up to 10 months. His statements, such as "The parliament works without opposition too...", also contributed to the image of arrogant and aggressive governance.^[70]

A later report in March by the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists criticized the Hungarian government for improper political influence in the media, as the country's public service broadcaster teetered close to bankruptcy.^[71] Numerous political scandals during 2001 led to a de facto, if not actual, breakup of the coalition that held power in Budapest. A bribery scandal in February triggered a wave of allegations and several prosecutions against the Independent Smallholders' Party. The affair resulted in the ousting of József Torgyán from both the FKGP presidency and the top post in the Ministry of Agriculture. The FKGP disintegrated and more than a dozen of its MPs joined the government faction.^[72]

Economy

Orbán's economic policy was aimed at cutting taxes and social insurance contributions, while reducing inflation and unemployment. Among the new government's first measures was to abolish university tuition fees and reintroduce universal maternity benefits. The government announced its intention to continue the Socialist–Liberal stabilization program and pledged to narrow the budget deficit, which had grown to 4.5% of GDP.^[73] The previous Socialist government had almost completed the privatization of government-run industries and had launched a comprehensive pension reform. However, the Socialists had avoided two major socioeconomic issues: reform of health care and agriculture; these remained to be tackled by Orbán's government.

Economic successes included a drop in inflation from 15% in 1998 to 7.8% in 2001. Annual GDP growth rates were fairly steady under Orbán's tenure, ranging from 3.8% to 5.2%. The fiscal deficit fell from 3.9% in 1999 to 3.4% in 2001 and the ratio of the national debt decreased to 54% of GDP.^[73] Under the Orbán cabinet, there were realistic hopes that Hungary would be able to join the Eurozone by 2009. However, negotiations for entry into the European Union slowed in the fall of 1999, after the EU included six more countries (in addition to the original six) in the accession discussions. Orbán repeatedly criticized the EU for its delay.

Mikuláš Dzurinda, Orbán and Günter Verheugen during the opening of the Mária Valéria Bridge across the Danube, connecting the Slovak town of Štúrovo with Esztergom, in Hungary, in November 2001

Foreign policy

In March 1999, after Russian objections were overruled, Hungary joined NATO along with the Czech Republic and Poland.^[74] The Hungarian membership to NATO demanded its involvement in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's Kosovo crisis and modernization of its army. NATO membership also dealt a blow to the economy because of a trade embargo imposed on Yugoslavia.^[75]

Hungary attracted international media attention in 1999 for passing the "status law" concerning estimated three-million ethnic Hungarian minorities in neighbouring Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia and Ukraine. The law aimed to provide education, health benefits and employment rights to members of those minorities, and was said to heal the negative effects of the disastrous 1920 Trianon Treaty.^[76]

Governments in neighbouring states, particularly Romania, claimed to be insulted by the law, which they saw as interference in their domestic affairs. Proponents of the status law countered that several of the countries criticizing the law themselves had similar constructs to provide benefits for their own minorities. Romania acquiesced after amendments following a December 2001 agreement between Orbán and Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Năstase;^[77] Slovakia accepted the law after further concessions made by the new government after the 2002 elections.^[78]

Orbán with George W. Bush at the White House in 2001

Leader of the Opposition (2002–2010)

The level of public support for political parties generally stagnated, even with general elections coming in 2002. Fidesz and the main opposition Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) ran neck and neck in the opinion polls for most of the year, both attracting about 26% of the electorate. According to a September 2001 poll by the Gallup organization, however, support for a joint Fidesz – Hungarian Democratic Forum party list would run up to 33% of the voters, with the Socialists drawing 28% and other opposition parties 3% each.^[79]

Meanwhile, public support for the FKGP plunged from 14% in 1998 to 1% in 2001. As many as 40% of the voters remained undecided, however. Although the Socialists had picked their candidate for prime minister—former finance minister Péter Medgyessy—the opposition largely remained unable to increase its political support. The dark horse of the election was the radical nationalist Hungarian Justice and Life Party (MIÉP), with its leader, István Csurka's radical rhetoric. MIÉP could not be ruled out as the key to a new term for Orbán and his party should they be forced into a coalition after the 2002 elections.

The elections of 2002 were the most heated Hungary had experienced in more than a decade, and an unprecedented cultural-political division formed in the country. In the event, Orbán's group lost the April parliamentary elections to the opposition Hungarian Socialist Party, which set up a coalition with its longtime ally, the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats. Turnout was a record-high 70.5%. Beyond these parties, only deputies of the Hungarian Democratic Forum made it into the National Assembly. The populist Independent Smallholders' Party and the right Hungarian Justice and Life Party lost all their seats. Thus, the number of political parties in the new assembly was reduced from six to four.^[80]

MIÉP challenged the government's legitimacy, demanded a recount, complained of election fraud, and generally kept the country in election mode until the October municipal elections. The socialist-controlled Central Elections Committee ruled that a recount was unnecessary, a position supported by observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, whose only substantive criticism of the election conduct was that the state television carried a consistent bias in favour of Fidesz.^[81]

Orbán received the Freedom Award of the American Enterprise Institute and the New Atlantic Initiative (2001), the Polak Award (2001), the Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit (2001), the "Förderpreis Soziale Marktwirtschaft" (Price for the Social Market Economy, 2002) and the Mérite Européen prize (2004). In April 2004, he received the Papal Grand Cross of the Order of St. Gregory the Great.

In the 2004 European Parliament election, the ruling Hungarian Socialist Party was heavily defeated by the opposition conservative Fidesz. Fidesz gained 47.4% of the vote and 12 of Hungary's 24 seats.^[82][83]

Orbán and Hans-Gert Pöttering in 2006

Orbán and Romanian President Traian Băsescu in 2008

Orbán was the Fidesz candidate for the parliamentary election in 2006. Fidesz and its new-old candidate failed again to gain a majority in this election, which initially put Orbán's future political career as the leader of Fidesz in question.^[84] However, after fighting with the Socialist-Liberal coalition, Orbán's position resolidified, and he was elected president of Fidesz for yet another term in May 2007.^[85]

On 17 September 2006, an audio recording surfaced from a closed-door Hungarian Socialist Party meeting, which was held on 26 May 2006, in which Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány gave an obscenity-laden speech. The leak ignited mass protests. On 1 November, Orbán and his party announced their plans to stage several large-scale demonstrations across Hungary on the anniversary of the Soviet suppression of the 1956 Revolution. The events were intended to serve as a memorial to the victims of the Soviet invasion and a protest against police brutality during the 23 October unrest in Budapest. Planned events included a candlelight vigil march across Budapest. However, the demonstrations were small and petered out by the end of the year.^[86] A new round of demonstrations expected in the spring of 2007 did not materialize.

On 1 October 2006, Fidesz won the municipal elections, which counterbalanced the MSZP-led government's power to some extent. Fidesz won 15 of 23 mayoralties in Hungary's largest cities—although it narrowly lost Budapest to the Liberal Party—and majorities in 18 of 20 regional assemblies.^[87][88]

On 9 March 2008, a national referendum took place on revoking government reforms which introduced doctor fees per visit and medical fees paid per number of days spent in hospital as well as tuition fees in higher education. Fidesz initiated the referendum against the ruling MSZP.^[89][90] The procedure for the referendum started on 23 October 2006, when Orbán announced they would hand in seven questions to the National Electorate Office, three of which (on abolishing copayments, daily fees and college tuition fees) were officially approved on 17 December 2007 and called on 24 January 2008. The referendum passed, a significant victory for Fidesz.^[91]

In the 2009 European Parliament election, Fidesz won by a large margin, garnering 56.36% of votes and 14 of Hungary's 22 seats.^[92]

Second premiership (2010–present)

Orbán at a press conference following the meeting of leaders of the Visegrád Group, Germany and France on 6 March 2013

"Hungarians won't live according to the commands of foreign powers", Orbán told the crowd at Kossuth square on 15 March 2012

In the 2010 parliamentary elections, Orbán's party won 52.73% of the popular vote but received a 68% majority of parliamentary seats due to the design of the post-communist electoral system.^{[93]: 139 [94]} A two-third parliamentary majority is enough to change the constitution and in 2011 Orbán's government drafted a new constitution behind closed doors, debated it for only nine days in the parliament and passed it on a party line.^{[95]: 52 [96][97][98][99]} Orbán would go on to amend the constitution twelve times in his first year in office.^[95]: 52 Among other changes, it includes support for traditional values, nationalism, references to Christianity, and a controversial electoral reform, which decreased the number of seats in the Parliament of Hungary from 386 to 199.^[100][101] The new constitution entered into force on 1 January 2012 and was later amended further.

Orbán held a now famous speech in July 2014 in Băile Tușnad, a remote village in Romania, at the Bálványos Free Summer University and Student Camp.^[102] In his speech he articulated his vision of forging an illiberal democracy in Hungary and described the Western 2007–2008 financial crisis as a paradigm shift of the international order, comparable with the two world wars and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Orbán described his current mission: "while breaking with the [liberal] dogmas and ideologies that have been adopted by the West and keeping ourselves independent from them, we are trying to find the form of community organisation, the new Hungarian state, which is capable of making our community competitive in the great global race for decades to come."^[102]

Orbán also garnered controversy for proposing an "internet tax", and for his perceived corruption.^[103] His second premiership saw numerous protests against his government, including one in Budapest in November 2014 against the proposed "internet tax".^[104]

Orbán's government implemented a flat tax on personal income set at 16%.^[105] Orbán has called his government "pragmatic", citing restrictions on early retirement in the police force and military, making welfare more transparent, and a central banking law that "gives Hungary more independence from the European Central Bank".^[106]

After the 2014 parliamentary election, Fidesz won a majority, garnering 133 of the 199 seats in the National Assembly.^[107] While he won a large majority, he garnered 44.54% of the national vote, down from 52.73% in 2010.

During the 2015 European migrant crisis, Orbán ordered the erection of the Hungary–Serbia barrier to block entry of illegal immigrants so that Hungary could register all the migrants arriving from Serbia, which is the country's responsibility under the Dublin Regulation, a European Union law.^[108] Under Orbán, Hungary took numerous actions to combat illegal immigration and reduce refugee levels.^[109] In May 2020, the European Court of Justice ruled against Hungary's policy of migrant transit zones, which Orbán subsequently abolished while also tightening the country's asylum rules.^[110]

In the 2018 Hungarian parliamentary election, the Fidesz–KDNP alliance was victorious and preserved its two-thirds majority, with Orbán remaining prime minister. Orbán and Fidesz campaigned primarily on the issues of immigration and foreign meddling, and the election outcome was seen as a victory for right-wing populism in Europe.^{[111][112][113]}

Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jarosław Kaczyński with Orbán on 22 September 2017

On 30 March 2020, the Hungarian parliament voted 137 to 53 in favor of passing legislation that would create a state of emergency without a time limit, grant the prime minister the ability to rule by decree, suspend by-elections, and introduce the possibility of prison sentences for spreading fake news and sanctions for leaving quarantine.^{[114][115][116]} Two and a half months later, on 16 June 2020, the Hungarian parliament passed a bill that ended the state of emergency effective 19 June.^[117] However, on the same day the parliament passed a new law removing the requirement of parliamentary approval for future "medical" states of emergencies, allowing the government to declare them by decree.^[118][119]

In 2021, the parliament transferred control of 11 state universities to foundations led by allies of Orbán.^[120][121] The Mathias Corvinus Collegium, a residential college, received an influx of government funds and assets equal to about 1% of Hungary's gross domestic product, reportedly as part of a mission to train future conservative intellectuals.^[122]

Due to a combination of unfavourable conditions, which involved soaring demand of natural gas, its diminished supply from Russia and Norway to the European markets, and less power generation by renewable energy sources such as wind, water and solar energy, Europe faced steep increases in energy prices in 2021. In October 2021, Orbán blamed a record-breaking surge in energy prices on the European Commission's Green Deal plans.^[123]

Russian President Vladimir Putin with Viktor Orbán in the Kremlin on 1 February 2022

In the 2022 parliamentary election, Fidesz won a majority, garnering 135 of the 199 seats in the National Assembly. While Orbán's close ties with Moscow raised concerns, core Fidesz voters were persuaded that mending ties with the EU might also lead Hungary into war. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe dispatched a full-scale monitoring mission for the election.^[124] Orbán declared victory on Sunday night, with partial results showing his Fidesz party leading the vote by a wide margin. Addressing his supporters after the partial results, Orbán said: "We won a victory so big that you can see it from the moon, and you can certainly see it from Brussels."^[4] Opposition leader Péter Márki-Zay admitted defeat shortly after Orbán's speech.^[125]

Foreign policy

In July 2018, Orbán travelled to Turkey to attend the inauguration ceremony of re-elected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.^[154] In October 2018, Orbán said after talks with President Erdoğan in Budapest that "A stable Turkish government and a stable Turkey are a precondition for Hungary not to be endangered in any way due to overland migration."^[155]

In June 2019, Orbán met Myanmar's State Counsellor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. They discussed bilateral ties and illegal migration.^[156][157]

China

Main article: China–Hungary relations

Orbán has maintained close ties with China throughout his tenure, and his administration is generally seen as China's closest ally in the EU.^[158] Hungary joined China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2015,^[159] while in April 2019, Orbán attended a BRI forum in Beijing,^[160] where he met the Chinese leader Xi Jinping.^[161] He spearheaded plans to open a Fudan University campus in Budapest, which led to pushback in Hungary.^[162] He met with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo member and top diplomat Wang Yi in Budapest on 20 February 2023; he afterwards backed the peace plan released Wang Yi concerning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.^[163]

Russia and Ukraine

Main articles: Hungary–Russia relations and Hungary–Ukraine relations

Orbán questioned Nord Stream II, a new Russia–Germany natural gas pipeline. He said he wants to hear a "reasonable argument why South Stream was bad and Nord Stream is not".^[164] "South Stream" refers to the Balkan pipeline cancelled by Russia in December 2014 after obstacles from the EU.^[165]

Since 2017, Hungary's relations with Ukraine rapidly deteriorated over the issue of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine.^[166] Orbán and his cabinet ministers repeatedly criticized Ukraine's 2017 education law, which makes Ukrainian the only language of education in state schools,^[167][168] and threatened to block further Ukraine's EU and NATO integration until it is modified or repealed.^[169] (The language law was amended in December 2023 in favor of official languages of the European Union, including Hungarian.^[170])

Orbán has displayed an ambivalent attitude towards Russia and Vladimir Putin, especially following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.^[171][172] He has described the war as "clear aggression" by Russia, saying a sovereign Ukraine is needed "to stop Russia posing a threat to the security of Europe".^{[173][174][175]} Conversely, he has criticised the European Union for "prolonging the war" in Ukraine by sanctioning Russia and sending weapons and money to Ukraine instead of encouraging a negotiated peace, and has been accused of blocking aid to Ukraine.^{[176][177][178]}

Amidst the 2021-2022 Ukraine crisis, Orbán was the first EU leader to meet with Vladimir Putin in Moscow in a visit he called "a peacekeeping mission".^[179] They also discussed Russian gas exports to Hungary.^[125] On 2 March, as Russia had already launched an invasion of Ukraine, Orbán decided to welcome Ukrainian refugees to Hungary, and will support the Ukrainian membership to the European Union.^[125] Initially, Orbán condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and said Hungary would not veto EU sanctions against Russia.^[180] However, Orbán rejected sanctions on Russian energy, due to Hungary's excessive dependency (85%) on Russian fossil fuels.^[181] In late March 2022, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky singled out Orban for his lack of support for Ukraine.^[182] In June, Zelensky thanked Orbán for supporting Ukraine's sovereignty and for giving asylum to Ukrainians.^[183]

On 27 February 2023, Viktor Orbán said that Hungary supports the Chinese peace plan in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, despite opposition by Western leaders. Beijing's 12-point statement that criticised unilateral sanctions, would reduce strategic risks associated with nuclear weapons in Central and Eastern Europe, according to the statement.^[184]

Hungary's accession to the Organization of Turkic States

See also: Hungarian Turanism

Viktor Orbán during the 7th Summit of Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States in Baku, in 2019

Since 2014, Hungary has had observer status at the General Assembly of Turkic-speaking States, and in 2017 it submitted an application for accession to the International Turkic Academy. During the 6th Summit of Turkic Council, Orbán said that Hungary is seeking even closer cooperation with the Turkic Council.^[185] In 2018, Hungary obtained observer status in the council.^[186] In 2021, Orbán mentioned that the Hungarian and Turkic peoples share a historical and cultural heritage "reaching back many long centuries". He also pointed out that the Hungarian people are "proud of this heritage", and "were also proud when their opponents in Europe mocked them as barbarian Huns and Attila's people".^[187] In 2023, during his visit to Kazakhstan, Orbán said that Hungarians come to Kazakhstan "with great pleasure" because the two nations are connected by "millennial common roots".^[188]

Israel and Hamas

The Hungarian government expressed support for Israel in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. On 13 October, Orbán stated "Israel has the right to defend itself" and "we will not allow sympathy rallies supporting terrorist organisations".^[189] On 22 October, Fidesz parliamentary leader Máté Kocsis announced that the party will introduce a manifesto before the parliament condemning Hamas terrorism.^[190]

Nationalistic views

In his 2018 speech at the meeting of the Association of Cities with County Rights, Orbán said "We must state that we do not want to be diverse and do not want to be mixed: we do not want our own colour, traditions and national culture to be mixed with those of others. We do not want this. We do not want that at all. We do not want to be a diverse country."^[191][192]

In February 2020, Orbán was interviewed by Christopher DeMuth at the National Conservatism Conference in Rome.^[193]

In his 2021 speech, Orbán said "The challenge with Bosnia is how to integrate a country with 2 million Muslims." Bosnian leaders responded by calling for Orbán's visit to Sarajevo to be cancelled. The head of the country's Islamic Community, Husein Kavazović, characterized his statement as "xenophobic and racist".^[194][195]

In May 2022, Orbán promoted the Great Replacement conspiracy theory in a speech.^[196]

In July 2022, Orbán – repeating the thesis of Jean Raspail^[197][198] – spoke in Romania against the "mixing" of European and non-European races, adding "We [Hungarians] are not a mixed race and we do not want to become a mixed race."^{[199][200][201][202]} In Vienna two days later, he clarified that he was talking about cultures and not about race.^[14]

Opposition to immigration, support for higher birth rates

As stated by The Guardian, the "Hungarian government doubled family spending between 2010 and 2019", intending to achieve "a lasting turn in demographic processes by 2030". Orbán has espoused an anti-immigration platform, and has also advocated for increased investment into "Family First". Orbán has disregarded the European Union's attempts to promote integration as a key solution to population distribution problems in Europe. He has also supported investments into countering the country's low birth rates. Orbán has tapped into the "great replacement theory" which emulates a nativist approach to rejecting foreign immigration out of fear of replacement by immigrants. He has stated that "If Europe is not going to be populated by Europeans in the future and we take this as given, then we are speaking about an exchange of populations, to replace the population of Europeans with others." The Guardian stated that "This year the Hungarian government introduced a 10 million forint (£27,000) interest-free loan for families, which does not have to be paid back if the couple has three children."^[203]

Orbán and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in December 2021

In July 2020, Orbán expressed that he still expects arguments over linking of disbursement of funds of the European Union to rule-of-law criteria but remarked in a state radio interview that they "didn't win the war, we (they) won an important battle".^[204] In August 2020, Orbán whilst speaking at an event to inaugurate a monument commemorating the Treaty of Trianon, said Central European nations should come together to preserve their Christian roots as western Europe experiments with same-sex families, immigration and atheism.^[205]

Despite the anti-immigration rhetoric from Orbán, Hungary increased the immigration of foreign workers into the country as of 2019 to address a labor shortage.^{[206][207][208]}

Views, public image, international influence

Orbán with José Manuel Barroso and Stavros Lambrinidis in January 2011

Orbán's blend of soft Euroscepticism, populism,^{[209][210][211]} and national conservatism has seen him compared to politicians and political parties as diverse as Jarosław Kaczyński's Law and Justice, Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia, Matteo Salvini's League, Marine Le Pen's National Rally, Donald Trump,^[212] Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Vladimir Putin.^[213] Orbán has sought to make Hungary an "ideological center for ... an international conservative movement".^[214]

According to Politico, Orbán's political philosophy "echoes the resentments of what were once the peasant and working classes" by promoting an "uncompromising defense of national sovereignty and a transparent distrust of Europe's ruling establishments".^[212] Orbán frequently emphasizes the importance of Christianity, although he and the overwhelming majority of Hungarians do not attend church regularly.^[215] His authoritarian appeal to "global conservatives" has been summarized by Lauren Stokes as: "I alone can save you from the ravages of Islamization and totalitarian progressivism -- and in the face of all that, who has time for checks and balances and rules?".^[215]

Orbán had a close relationship with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, having known him for decades. He is described as "one of Mr Netanyahu's closest allies in Europe".^[216] Orbán received personal advice on economic reforms from Netanyahu, while the latter was Finance Minister of Israel (2003–2005).^[217] In February 2019, Netanyahu thanked Orbán for "deciding to extend the embassy of Hungary in Israel to Jerusalem".^[218]

Orbán is seen as having laid out his political views most concretely in a widely cited 2014 public address at Băile Tușnad (known in Hungary as the Tusnádfürdői beszéd, or "Tusnádfürdő speech"). In the address, Orbán repudiated the classical liberal theory of the state as a free association of atomistic individuals, arguing for the use of the state as the means of organizing, invigorating, or even constructing the national community. Although this kind of state respects traditionally liberal concepts like civic rights, it is properly called "illiberal" because it views the community, and not the individual, as the basic political unit.^[102] In practice, Orbán claimed, such a state should promote national self-sufficiency, national sovereignty, familialism, full employment and the preservation of cultural heritage.^[102]

Orbán and Angela Merkel, Congress of the European People's Party in Madrid on 21 October 2015

Orbán with Vladimir Putin in February 2016

Orbán's second and third premierships have been the subject of significant international controversy, and reception of his political views is mixed. The 2011 constitutional changes enacted under his leadership were, in particular, accused of centralizing legislative and executive power, curbing civil liberties, restricting freedom of speech, and weakening the Constitutional Court and judiciary.^[94] For these reasons, critics have described him as an "irredentist",^[219] a "right-wing populist",^[220] an "authoritarian",^[221] "far-right",^[222] a "fascist",^[223] "autocratic",^[224] a "Putinist",^[225] a "strongman",^[226] and a "dictator".^[227]

The European migrant crisis, coupled with continued Islamist terrorism in the European Union, have popularized Orbán's nationalist, protectionist policies among European conservative leaders. "Once ostracized" by Europe's political elite, writes Politico, Orbán "is now the talisman of Europe's mainstream right".^[212] As other Visegrád Group leaders, Orbán opposes any compulsory EU long-term quota on redistribution of migrants.^[228]

He wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: "Europe's response is madness. We must acknowledge that the European Union's misguided immigration policy is responsible for this situation."^[229] He also demanded an official EU list of "safe countries" to which migrants can be returned.^[230] According to Orbán, Turkey should be considered a safe third country.^[231]

As mentioned above, Orbán has promoted the Great Replacement conspiracy theory. In a 2018 speech, he stated: "I think there are many people who would like to see the end of Christian Europe, and they believe that if they replace its cultural subsoil, if they bring in millions of people from new ethnic groups which are not rooted in Christian culture, then they will transform Europe according to their conception."^[232]

During a press conference in January 2019, Orbán praised Brazil's then president Jair Bolsonaro, saying that currently "the most apt definition of modern Christian democracy can be found in Brazil, not in Europe".^[233]

In support of Orbán and his ideas, a think tank called the Danube Institute was established in 2013, funded by the Batthyány Foundation, which in turn is "funded entirely by the Hungarian government".^[136] Batthyány "sponsors international conferences and three periodicals, all in English: European Conservative, Hungarian Review, and Hungarian Conservative". In 2020, the institute began hosting fellows.^[136]

Orbán with Mike Pompeo in Budapest in February 2019

In the United States

Orbán often attacked the administrations of presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, particularly for their supposed pro-immigration policies. Some analysts argue that Orban's attacks on the US are largely political theater for his domestic voters.^[16]

In January 2022, Donald Trump endorsed Orbán in the 2022 Hungarian parliamentary election, saying in a statement that he "truly loves his Country and wants safety for his people", and praising his hard-line immigration policies.^[234][235] Donald Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, once called Orbán "Trump before Trump".^[192]

In August 2021, Tucker Carlson hosted some episodes of his show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, from Budapest, praising Orbán as the one elected leader "on the face of the earth, ... who publicly identifies as a Western-style conservative". He also conducted a fifteen-minute interview with Orbán, which was widely criticized for its fawning nature and lack of challenging questions.^[136]

In May 2022 the Conservative Political Action Conference, the "flagship conference" of American conservatism,^[215] held a satellite event in Budapest.^[236] In Florida, a law regulating sex education in schools, sometimes called the "Don’t Say Gay" law, resembles a similar Hungarian law passed in 2021 and was, according to governor Ron DeSantis's press secretary, inspired by it.^[136]

In August 2022, Orbán was the opening speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas.^[237]

Personal life

Orbán and his wife, Anikó Lévai, in 2016

Orbán married jurist Anikó Lévai in 1986, they have five children.^[298] Their eldest daughter, Ráhel, is married to entrepreneur Tiborcz István, whose company, Elios, was accused of receiving unfair advantages when winning public tenders.^[299] (see Elios case) Orbán's son, Gáspár, is a retired footballer, who played for Ferenc Puskás Football Academy in 2014.^[300] Gáspár is also one of the founders of a religious community called Felház.^[301] Orbán has three younger daughters (Sára, Róza, Flóra) and three granddaughters (Ráhel's children Aliz and Anna Adél; Sára's daughter Johanna).

Orbán is a member of the Calvinist-oriented Hungarian Reformed Church, while his wife and their five children were raised Catholic.^[302] His son Gáspár Orbán converted in 2014 to the Faith Church, a Pentecostal denomination, and is currently a minister who had heard from God and witnessed miraculous healings.^[303]

See also

• First Orbán Government
• Second Orbán Government
• Third Orbán Government
• Fourth Orbán Government
• Fifth Orbán Government
• Orbanomics
• List of prime ministers of Hungary by tenure

References

Bibliography

• Bell, Imogen (2003). Central and South-Eastern Europe 2004. Routledge. ISBN 978-1857431865.
• Debreczeni, József (2002), Orbán Viktor (in Hungarian), Budapest: Osiris
• Fabry, Adam (2019). "Neoliberalism, crisis and authoritarian–ethnicist reaction: The ascendancy of the Orbán regime". Competition & Change. 23 (2): 165–191. doi:10.1177/1024529418813834. S2CID 158640642.
• Kenney, Padraic (2002). A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe 1989. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05028-7.
• Lendvai, Paul (2017). Orbán: Hungary's Strongman. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0190874865.
• Martens, Wilfried (2009). Europe: I Struggle, I Overcome. Springer. ISBN 978-3540892885.
• Metz, Rudolf, and Daniel Oross. "Strong Personalities’ Impact on Hungarian Party Politics: Viktor Orbán and Gábor Vona." in Party Leaders in Eastern Europe (Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2020) pp. 145–170. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-32025-6_7
• Rydliński, Bartosz. "Viktor Orbán–First among Illiberals? Hungarian and Polish Steps towards Populist Democracy." Online Journal Modelling the New Europe 26 (2018): 95–107. online
• Szikra D. "Democracy and welfare in hard times: the social policy of the Orban Government in Hungary between 2010 and 2014" Journal of European Social Policy (2014) 24(5): 486–500.
• Szilágyi, Anna, and András Bozóki. "Playing it again in post-communism: the revolutionary rhetoric of Viktor Orbán in Hungary." Advances in the History of Rhetoric 18.sup1 (2015): S153–S166. online
• Toomey, Michael (2018). "History, nationalism and democracy: myth and narrative in Viktor Orbán's 'illiberal Hungary'". New Perspectives. Interdisciplinary Journal of Central & East European Politics and International Relations. 26 (1): 87–108. doi:10.1177/2336825X1802600110.

Further reading

• Hollós, János – Kondor, Katalin: Szerda reggel – Rádiós beszélgetések Orbán Viktor miniszterelnökkel, 1998. szeptember – 2000. December; ISBN 963-9337-32-3
• Hollós, János – Kondor, Katalin: Szerda reggel – Rádiós beszélgetések Orbán Viktor miniszterelnökkel, 2001–2002; ISBN 963-9337-61-7
• A történelem főutcáján – Magyarország 1998–2002, Orbán Viktor miniszterelnök beszédei és beszédrészletei, Magyar Egyetemi Kiadó; ISBN 963-8638-31-1
• 20 év – Beszédek, írások, interjúk, 1986–2006, Heti Válasz Kiadó, ISBN 963-9461-22-9
• Egy az ország. Helikon Könyvkiadó, Budapest, 2007. (translated into Polish as Ojczyzna jest jedna in 2009).
• Rengéshullámok. Helikon Könyvkiadó, Budapest, 2010.
• Janke, Igor: Hajrá, magyarok! – Az Orbán Viktor-sztori egy lengyel újságíró szemével Rézbong Kiadó, 2013. (English: Igor Janke: Forward! – The Story of Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, German: Viktor Orbán: Ein Stürmer in der Politik).

External links

• Official website
• News from the BBC (2002)
• Hungarian PM puts football first – BBC
• Orbán in 1989 – YouTube (in Hungarian)