Gyurcsány: ‘I see a country in decline’

Written by Rainer Ackermann

‘While the Titanic sinks, the captain orders drinks and music.’ With these words, Ferenc Gyurcsány characterised the Prime Minister’s speech from the previous day in his own ‘State of the Nation Address’.

‘After 15 years of Orbán’s government, we see an exhausted country in decline,’ said the DK leader and former prime minister, who labelled his successor a political gangster. In Gyurcsány’s opinion, Orbán has neither a plan nor the strength or interest to fight for a better life for the masses of Hungarians. He cited numerous examples such as impoverished pensioners and inflation, in which Hungary is the ‘European champion’.

The left-wing liberal commented on the prime minister’s de facto ban on Pride: ‘Anyone who fights against free love is not protecting their homeland, but at best their own degenerate soul.’ As if the damage caused by the government was not enough, large companies and banks were making people’s everyday lives even more difficult, said Gyurcsány, referring to the bank that demanded repayment of a subsidised baby boom loan from the widowed husband after a tragic death. There must be an end to playing the powerful off against the little people instead of standing up to the powerful on the side of ordinary people. The DK chairman called for the complete dismantling of the mafia-like debt collection system of bailiffs, strict regulation of banks and a reduction in charges for public utilities such as electricity and water.

In foreign policy, Mr Gyurcsány accused Mr Orbán of aligning himself with the world’s worst heads of state and government. He insulted US President Donald Trump, who could also drag Hungary into the abyss with his ‘irresponsible actions’. He said that abandoning Ukraine was in fact a betrayal of the country and of Europe as a whole. The ‘robber barons’ Orbán and Trump had formed an alliance with the richest men and companies in the world.