August 29th, 2017
Commenting on László Botka’s program and strategy, a left-wing pundit fears that the current political system and parties may go down the drain after 2018. A pro-government columnist thinks that Mr Botka is not taken seriously even by left-wing intellectuals.
On Saturday, the MSZP candidate for the post of Prime Minister, László Botka announced a 10-point programme at a party conference in Szeged. In line with his previous statements, Botka said he wants to strengthen ’patriotic and democratic values’. Among others, he proposes higher taxes for wealthy Hungarians, a resolutely pro-EU foreign policy and stifling corruption. Mr Botka again criticised other opposition parties including former PM Gyurcsány for embracing ’third way’ economic policies rather than traditional social democratic values, and ruled out cooperation with the Democratic Coalition in the 2018 Parliamentary election.
Népszava’s Róbert Friss welcomes Mr Botka’s efforts to claim back patriotism and solidarity from the Right. The left-wing columnist thinks that Botka’s turn to classical social democratic values is a good strategy to find a middle ground between the Orbán government’s ‘illiberal democracy’ and neoliberal ideology. Friss, however, doubts that the MSZP can challenge Fidesz in 2018 without cooperating with other left-wing and liberal parties including the Democratic Coalition. Friss speculates that The likely victory of Fidesz may ultimately lead to a complete collapse of the current political system, with both Fidesz and the current opposition parties swept away by a sudden wave of discontent sometime in the future. So it would be absolutely crucial for the Left to defeat the current government in next year’s election, Friss suggests.
In Magyar Idők, György Pilhál thinks that Mr Botka is not even being taken seriously on the Left. The pro-government commentator writes that only 25 of the invited 200 left-leaning intellectuals showed up for Mr Botka’s speech. As for the announced program, Pilhál contends that it is nothing but the usual anti-Orbán fear-mongering plus some left-wing welfare demagoguery.
Tags: 2018, Botka, Democratic Coalition, Gyurcsány, MSZP
