Hungarian Politics

[Tamas]

Also I am genuinely wondering how long the protest -if maintained- can remain peaceful.

After the first couple of nights they became quite cheerful affairs with marching and yelling creative slogans, ending usually with an improvised street party.

However, after about 15 years of steady escalation and seeking of enemies, the governing part just can't stop: they have had a rhetoric regarding these protests that implies a call for violence from their supporters, really.

Most notably Orban himself was talking about "honest humble Christian people" having "itchy palms" (a Hungarian expression for when you are eager to start a brawl) because of these demonstrators, and this line has been repeating from other prominents, and their press.

During the gathering of signatures for the anti-Olympics referendum there were several incidents of pro-government people hitting activists, just today a socialist activist, a 22 years old girl, gathering signatures for something for her party, was hit in the chest by somebody.

It's incredible. Even when things would just probably peter out if left ignored, they just can't help themselves: they are eager to try and escalate. In this case, to actually rile up civilians into physical violence against each other.

[The Larch]

Let's see if it's not too little, too late. Apparently there are also calls to kick Fidesz out of the European People's Party group in the European Parliament.

EU takes legal action against Hungary over Soros-backed university

Notice sent to Viktor Orbán's government over law that could force closure of institution founded by US billionaire


The EU has launched the first stage of legal action against Hungary over its treatment of a leading university which claims it is the victim of a government campaign to shut it down.

A letter of formal notice has been sent to Viktor Orbán's rightwing government, asking Budapest to present an explanation for an alleged breach of EU law in relation to the Central European University (CEU), founded by George Soros.

The move came on the same day as the Hungarian prime minister was due to address the European parliament during a debate on Hungary's approach to higher education and NGOs, setting the scene for a fresh clash between the country and the EU.

Brussels and Budapest have been at loggerheads over migration quotas and the detention of refugees in camps ringed with barbed wire on the Hungarian border.

The Hungarian government introduced tough measures in April for foreign-registered universities, in a move that has been attacked by CEU as one of the most serious assaults on academic freedom since the end of the second world war.

Under the legislation, those working at the CEU will in future require work permits, which the institution says will limit its ability to hire staff. The government has also demanded that the university open a wing in in the US and no longer teach US-accredited courses.

After a meeting of the EU's 28 commissioners, Valdis Dombrovskis, a European commission vice-president, said the first step of an infringement procedure would be taken on the grounds that the government was seeking to unlawfully breach a higher education institution's right to exist and operate as a service.

[Zanza]

This is why Orban will never leave the EU, no matter how much he postures about it. All the big employers are foreign multinationals and they are all integrated into the international supply chains. Especially noticable is that like half of the Hungarian provinces have automotive parts manufacturers or in the case of Mercedes an automotive OEM as biggest employer. That only works due to EU membership.

[Valmy]

When is Orban going to move on all these evil globalist Jew-funded corporations making wage slaves of good Hungarians Tamas?

[Tamas]

When is Orban going to move on all these evil globalist Jew-funded corporations making wage slaves of good Hungarians Tamas?

Orban will stay in the EU until they keep paying tribute to him. Sorry, I mean paying the development grants that are spent on pointless vanity projects that are easy to steal extreme amounts of money out of.
Then off we (well, them!) go to the Eastern Bloc again.

[Zanza]

When is Orban going to move on all these evil globalist Jew-funded corporations making wage slaves of good Hungarians Tamas?

Orban will stay in the EU until they keep paying tribute to him. Sorry, I mean paying the development grants that are spent on pointless vanity projects that are easy to steal extreme amounts of money out of.
Then off we (well, them!) go to the Eastern Bloc again.

Those automotive factories will close fast without EU single market. No point in keeping them in Hungary without that. Car plants need major reinvestments every 5-7 years anyway, so they can move out quite quickly after the winds change.

[Tamas]

When is Orban going to move on all these evil globalist Jew-funded corporations making wage slaves of good Hungarians Tamas?

Orban will stay in the EU until they keep paying tribute to him. Sorry, I mean paying the development grants that are spent on pointless vanity projects that are easy to steal extreme amounts of money out of.
Then off we (well, them!) go to the Eastern Bloc again.

Those automotive factories will close fast without EU single market. No point in keeping them in Hungary without that. Car plants need major reinvestments every 5-7 years anyway, so they can move out quite quickly after the winds change.

Worst case scenario they will receive compensation for the tariffs in the form of subsidies.

Besides, Fidesz has kind of  iven up all notion of actually governing. There are no apparent intentions to fix broken systems like health care, not even in terms of lip service given to them. They have been busy with 2 things:
-Massive projects like hoping for the Olympics, the swimming world cup (right now costing about 6 times as much as original plans and they are not done), and the new nuclear power plant.
-Gradual tear down of checks and balances and Russification of the political system. This is getting very close to completion

Anyone dares to critique any of these, become labelled as Soros-funded people who are working on getting more migrants into the country.

Worryingly, the 3rd consistent point for them has been, for several years now, an almost ridiculously warm attitude toward Russia. Nowadays it has gotten so bad that the state news agency main source seems to be its Russian counterpart.

There seems to be a trajectory here, and I am quite convinced it will throw the country out of the EU within 10-15 years. Yes it will lead to eventual economic ruin but that will not effect the maffia the party has built, and they do not concern themselves with anybody else.

[Zanza]

No one gives a fuck for tariffs. That's easy to calculate and handle.
It's the non-tariff barriers for trade that the single market removes that makes it so attractive. Not that e.g. the Brexiteers would understand that.

[celedhring]

You need to be making money in order to steal from it. I guess they expect the Russians to write the bribe checks.

[Admiral Yi]

You need to be making money in order to steal from it. I guess they expect the Russians to write the bribe checks.

"Kleptocracy works great until you run out of other people's money."

[Zanza]

Those checks will bounce. The oil age is quickly coming to an end.

[Tamas]

The other factor is the EU itself having enough of Orban, even if I can't see them ever taking action. Orban will not relinquish power. He would rather lead the country out of the EU no matter the consequences.

I am also sure he will not officially lose an election again. If they get less votes they will cheat. His reign will end with either a palace coup (extremely unlikely unless he is like 80 and senile or something), or an uprising.

He, his family, and his henchmen has stolen incredible amounts of money. For them losing power isn't about sitting in opposition benches for a few years, but going to prison. They will not just stand up and succumb to that for the ridiculous reason of receiving less votes on some election.

[Valmy]

Well hopefully they and Maduro will be hanging out together in Saudi Arabia soon.

[Archy]

Orban got apparently a slap on the wrist from the European parliament and got told he was a naughty boy. Apparently some of the parties of his parties fraction even supported the notion. As far as I can see this is mostly hot air though

[Tamas]

Orban got apparently a slap on the wrist from the European parliament and got told he was a naughty boy. Apparently some of the parties of his parties fraction even supported the notion. As far as I can see this is mostly hot air though

It is the first step in removing voting rights (and funds) from Hungary. But there are like 9 steps. This was just a decision to propose the proposal of a proposal, basically, which will have to go through all levels of power.