Christmas day ruminations

A left-wing commentator looking back on the past two and a half years claims that the Orbán government has created a severe economic and moral crisis in the country. His pro-government counterpart, on the other hand, accuses the left of pushing the country towards an economic, institutional and moral quagmire.

The Orbán government has not only deepened the economic crisis, but has also created a moral one in this country, Péter Németh in Népszava claims, looking back on the Orbán government’s past two and a half year history. The editor-in-chief of the left-wing daily recalls PM Orbán’s prediction in 2010, according to which the country in 2012 would set out on the path of economic progress. This has not happened, instead Hungary has both economically and morally declined as a result of the government’s attack on democratic institutions, its improvised economic policies, and the battle it is waging against international organizations including the EU and the IMF, Németh believes. He contends that the only beneficiaries of the past two years have been rich families enjoying lavish tax cuts and Fidesz-ally companies securing fat contracts with the state. Németh claims that the government’s only aim was to entrench its power and finds no positive achievements in the past years whatsoever to cherish in his Christmas Day column.

The left-wing elites neglect no avenue, even on Christmas day, in their effort to try and destroy what the Orbán government has achieved, István Stefka, editor-in-chief of Magyar Hírlap writes. Stefka also sees a moral crisis unfolding, but believes that it was created by the previous Socialist governments which piled up public debt, privatized strategic companies and prevented historical retribution for the crimes committed under the pre-1990 Communist rule. The right-wing governments, on the other hand, have been trying to pull back the country from the brink of economic and institutional collapse, Stefka believes. He finds it particularly outrageous that left-wing elites harshly criticize the government for trying to undo past Socialist mistakes in order to help Hungarian families by nationalizing energy providers and cutting utility prices. The hostility and malevolence of the left in its endeavor to get back to power at any price rules out the possibility of truce even on Christmas day, Stefka suggests.

Tags: crisis, opposition, Orbán