LONDON — Viktor Orbán’s man in the Hungarian Parliament admits that the country’s democracy may have suffered during the former prime minister’s leadership.
In his first major interview since becoming leader of the parliamentary opposition, János Bóka told the Brussels Playbook Week Ender podcast that he believes “some of the criticism related to democratic backsliding had some merit, and we have been also ready to work [with the new government] on these issues.”
“This is not the same as saying that we are responsible for democratic backsliding,” said Bóka, who leads the 52 lawmakers from Orbán’s Fidesz party in the chamber.
The European Union is expected to release over €10 billion of post-pandemic recovery funds to Hungary as the country meets next week’s deadline for strengthening anti-corruption measures. The European Commission froze the money following multiple allegations of eroding the rule of law during the Orbán era. For four years running, Transparency International labeled Hungary the most corrupt country in the bloc.
Péter Magyar — whose Tisza party won a landslide victory in the the country’s general election in April, ending Orbán’s sixteen-year hold on power — has worked with EU institutions to unlock the €10 billion.
Bóka supports implementing some new regulations to release the funds — a major shift from his party’s Orbán-era stance. He also says he is in favor of the government’s efforts to restore the “competence of the constitutional court, which is one of the cornerstones of a rule of law system in modern European societies.”
However, he condemned some of the other constitutional reforms recently passed by the Magyar administration, including the replacement of the Hungary’s president and restricting serving MPs to three terms in office, which would prevent half of Fidesz’s lawmakers from standing for reelection.
He accused the Tisza government of “abusing their mandate” in overstepping “constitutional boundaries” and argued that “they are conducting an extremely forceful hate propaganda.”
European institutions “still don’t know the new prime minister’s real political intentions, and they don’t know him as a politician and as a person,” the opposition leader claimed, but accepted that there would be a long period of grace for Magyar’s government.
Bóka was elected to lead Fidesz on 21 July, having previously served as the EU affairs minister in the Orbán government. He symbolizes a new era for the party as it drops in polls and scrambles to regroup after the election defeat, which has seen its top representatives walk out.
Former Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó now works for Chinese EV giant BYD, and former Construction and Transport Minister János Lázár announced on Aug. 20 that he would quit politics altogether. Both were considered potential Orbán successors.
Orbán himself refused to take his seat in the new Parliament and remains president of Fidesz away from the political frontline. Bóka said the former prime minister is still the “center of gravity in our political movement and will be essential to our restructuring.”
The new party chief says he will seek to overturn Péter Magyar government’s two-term limit on current and former prime ministers, which prevents Viktor Orbán from standing for office.
Bóka admits this would require a two-thirds majority at the next election: “If there is a new constitutional majority, these rules can be changed just like they have been changed now, and this could open new political possibilities … I believe this would be an important element in the political ticket that we are running.”
Orbán has come back from defeat before, having served as prime minister twice in his long career, and he could succeed again, according to Bóka. “I don’t think Hungarians have become any less intelligent than they have been in the past to elect their leader. I don’t see any reason why he should be legally disqualified from running.”
