Ferenc Gelencsér: “Orbán is Definitely Putin's Henchman”

Leader of the Hungarian opposition party on why head of the Hungarian government portrays Ukraine as an enemy

Viktor Orbán’s government has done everything to ensure that Ukrainians perceive Hungary if not as an enemy, then certainly not as a friendly state. But the Hungarians are not only Orbán who uses the Ukrainian tragedy as an instrument of pressure on Ukraine and a means of blackmailing the European Union. There is another Hungary. The one that supports Ukraine and Ukrainians during Russian aggression. The one that helps refugees and sends generators to Ukrainian cities.

The other day, a group of Hungarian deputies headed by the leader of the Momentum parliamentary party Ferenc Gelencsér visited Kyiv.

ZN.UA spoke with Mr. Gelencsér, a politician who represents this “other” Hungary, on why Viktor Orbán is not interested in normalizing relations between Kyiv and Budapest, how the leader of the ruling Fidesz party manipulates Hungarian society and European officials.

“Mr. Ferenc, although Hungary votes for EU sanctions against Russia and provides humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Viktor Orbán’s government does not allow either the transit of weapons to our country or the training of Ukrainian military personnel on the Hungarian territory. From time to time, Budapest threatens to block the allocation of EU financial aid to Kyiv, and some statements by Hungarian government officials correspond to pro-Russian narratives. So, what is Hungary for Ukraine? A friend or an enemy? An ally or a henchman of Putin?”

“Unfortunately, Hungary is a Trojan horse of Russia and China in the EU and NATO. I find this unacceptable, and I very much regret that Hungary has come to this. Our Momentum party considers every neighboring country as a partner, as an ally. That is why we support Ukraine’s European progress. And we came to Kyiv to demonstrate that Hungarians and Hungary are not synonymous with Orbán.

Hungary and Hungarians are clearly friends of Ukraine and Orbán is clearly a Putin’s henchman. Since the ruling coalition controls most of the media and spends huge amounts of money on propaganda, it basically sets the agenda in the information space of my country. There was a time when the narratives of Russia Today were rebroadcast in the Hungarian mass media, when opinions were expressed, that Ukraine was not even a state.

But despite this, the Hungarian society is a society of solidarity. And when Ukrainian refugees arrived in Hungary, many people and public organizations helped them since many of us remember 1956.

It is crucial to understand that in Hungary, foreign policy is primarily a domestic policy. If the country has economic difficulties and the state leadership is incompetent, then, in this case, it is easiest to find an external enemy and direct the focus of public dissatisfaction on them. Just like in Türkiye, where inflation reached 80 per cent, Erdoğan pulled the Kurdish card. And now in Hungary, when the EU subsidies are frozen, they are starting to look for culprits. In fact, in Hungary, escalation plays the role of consolidation.”

“So is Orbán portraying Ukraine as an enemy?”

“Orbán can unconditionally make an enemy of anyone and anything if it is in his interests, be it refugees, Brussels, Soros, investors in private pension funds, or private entrepreneurs on a single tax... And now, Ukraine and the Ukrainian government have become enemies. Orbán’s main interest is to shift the focus from the government’s mistakes to the imaginary external enemy. This is what he is doing now.”

“Ukrainian laws on education, language and national minorities are a source of irritation in Budapest and are currently key issues in Ukraine-Hungary relations: the Orbán government considers the laws discriminatory against Hungarians living in Zakarpattia, while Ukrainian authorities say they wish to help them integrate into Ukrainian society. And recently, one of the Hungarian diplomats called it an “atrocity” that Hungarian flags were removed from the Ukrainian government buildings in Zakarpattia. How can Kyiv and Budapest find common ground and get out of the crisis in bilateral relations? Is this even possible under Orbán’s government?”

“I do not see the possibility of normalizing relations between Ukraine and Hungary because Viktor Orbán is not interested in their normalization. I’ll reiterate that under the current Hungarian government, escalation is the way to consolidate Hungarian society. And what is happening today in the Mukacheve Raion in Zakarpattia is not in the interests of Ukraine, Ukrainians, and Zakarpathian Hungarians. This is the interest of Russia and the Hungarian government which is trying to ensure that Hungarian society does not feel solidarity with Ukraine and Ukrainians.

Meanwhile, Momentum does not consider the adopted laws on education, languages, ​​and national minorities to be satisfactory.

We believe that it is very important that ethnic Hungarians, regardless of which countries they live in — Ukraine, Serbia, Romania, Slovakia — should speak the language of the titular nation. This will help them in life to get better education and have a better position in the labor market. Still, it is also important that the mastering of the language of the titular nation by the Hungarian-speaking citizens of Ukraine does not take place by force. The fact that the teaching of the Ukrainian language for foreign-speaking nationalities is assumed to be the teaching of the mother tongue and not as the state language leads to natural human resistance to any coercion.”

“So, in your opinion, these laws are discriminatory?”

“I will put it like this: I have concerns regarding them. Pertaining to the latest law on national minorities, we have sent our comments to the Embassy of Ukraine in Budapest. But in my opinion, with the accession of Ukraine to the European Union, the problems will be leveled because the legislation of Ukraine must be synchronized with the European legislation.

You mentioned the case when the Hungarian flags were taken down. It is very important to understand that the flags that hung on institutions in Zakarpattia Oblast were not state but national. Without being the official flag of Hungary, they represent not the Hungarian state but the Hungarian culture. I know that the actions of Ukrainian authorities are not directed against Hungarians, but they provide Orbán’s government a reason to fuel chauvinistic sentiments in Hungarian society.

Eventually, I believe we have more things uniting than dividing us. Zakarpathian Hungarians are also fighting on the frontlines because Ukraine is their homeland. A few days ago, we spoke with a Hungarian who formulated this question perfectly: “I am a Hungarian, my native language is Hungarian, and I have lived in Ukraine all my life. Ukraine is my motherland.” And I think that these words are the quintessence, the core of this issue. Because you can only be loyal to one homeland.”

“Orbán’s government occasionally vetoes EU decisions on allocating both macro-financial and military aid to Ukraine. What is this position of Orbán and his government connected with? Is this a policy of blackmail in order to receive multibillion subsidies from the EU and preferences from Russia?”

“Orbán always acts where he has less opposition. And he always goes to the end, to the wall, as we say. Of course, it is not in the interests of NATO and the EU for Hungary to drift towards the East. Orbán understands this and manipulates it. Very often we hear in the media outlets that if money from the EU does not come, then Hungary has to take a loan in the East. But in reality, the policy of open doors to the East did not bring any profit. This is used solely to maintain the image of Hungary’s independence.

In my opinion, the difference between the previous decade and the current situation is that Angela Merkel is not on the scene. Because German industry is to a large extent present on the Hungarian market and German industry needed cheap labor. That is why Merkel always pulled Orbán out of trouble. But Merkel is no longer Chancellor. And European officials eventually realized that they were being made fools of. Therefore, the EU began to use the same weapon that Orbán used against the European Union.”

“Orbán and members of his government often call for a revision of EU sanctions against Russia and oppose the inclusion of Russian oligarchs in the sanctions lists. What do you think this is due to? Do Russians have any compromising information on Orbán? Is the Hungarian prime minister trying to get preferences for his country in this way?”

“Although there is no unequivocal evidence, accusations are often heard that Viktor Orbán could have been an informer in the eighties. The Ministry of the Interior of Hungary destroyed a lot of internal documentation during the transformation in the early nineties. But there are people who believe that the originals of these documents are kept in the archives of Russia, and many are inclined to think that these files are the leverage of Moscow’s influence on Orbán. Of course, this cannot be unequivocally stated but such a course of events would explain a lot. Because if these suspicions about Orbán as an informer are proven, it would mean the end of his career.”

“What do you think of these suspicions?”

“I am inclined to believe that this may be true.

Coming back to your question about the government’s policy on easing sanctions against Russia, as I said, Hungary’s foreign policy is domestic policy. Orbán has for years repeated that we are waging a war of liberation against Brussels and says that EU sanctions against Russia are the cause of all Hungary’s economic woes, and claims that he is fighting against those sanctions that harm the Hungarian economy. Orbán gives the impression that he is the person who can defend the interests and dignity of Hungarians and Hungary. But this is just an illusion.”

“So, who is Hungary’s ally? Judging by the actions of Orbán’s government, these are not EU and NATO countries but Iran, Russia, Türkiye, China...”

“Three quarters of Hungarian society is very strongly pro-European. And despite the fact that Orbán sometimes tries to raise the question of “do we need to be a member of the EU and NATO?” I do not think that these questions will actually ever be discussed because the society is too devoted to the membership of their country in the EU and NATO. But the person who is loyal only to himself has no allies.”

“Looking at how Viktor Orbán manipulates the Hungarian society, one might think that he will head the government for a long time. What is the reason for his popularity within the Hungarians? Is it only the ability to consolidate the Hungarian society against a conditional external enemy?”

“Between 2012 and 2019, there was a powerful economic environment in Europe. Although EU funds ended up in the pockets of structures close to Fidesz, many Hungarians felt that they were living relatively better than in the previous period. In particular, because Orbán's government simply spent the part of the EU subsidies that should have been invested in the future and development of the country, on pre-election populist measures: pension increases were announced, and the thirteenth pension was allocated to social strata of the population.

However, this bubble burst.

Today, the currency is depreciating, and inflation already exceeds 24 per cent. Since April 2022, when the last parliamentary elections were held, Fidesz’s electoral base has decreased by one million people. The problem is that this million has not yet become opposition-minded, it simply does not support the ruling party. Fidesz has managed to establish the opinion in society that the opposition is simply incapable of governing the country. But now, when we are faced with real economic difficulties and problems, it turns out that Fidesz itself is incapable of ruling the country. After all, when people go to vote, they always make a decision considering their pockets, their wallets. Therefore, we, the opposition, have a chance to win.”

Read this article in russian and Ukrainian.