Orbán’s hold on Hungary: the legal system, German capitalist interests, and flaws of the opposition

“On the Barricades” — s05e04

On this week’s “On the Barricades", hosts Boyan Stanislavski and Maria Cernat are speaking with Emese Szilágyi, a Hungarian human-rights lawyer and Junior Research Fellow of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, to look at Hungary.

In this second instalment we go beneath the rhetorical layer of Orbán’s brand of popular politics to clarify the picture of how he holds on to power and his voters’ support. Despite what western narratives would have us imagine about his cheap ‘populism’, the fact is that Orbán’s has several tools by which he manages to satisfy his voters’ basic needs and keep the standard of living high enough. And he enjoys the backing of, not only the majority of Hungarians, but also indirectly that of the EU, an institution which Orbán’s of course pretends to be highly at odds with. This relationship can be well-understood based on how Orbán’s has attacked labor protections, counter-reformed the tax policy, and offers heavy subsidies to make Hungary ripe for investment and exploitation by German capital.

This extends and broadens the perspective we began with in the last episode of how Orbán casts himself a ‘protector’ of Hungarians via, for example, his non-support for Ukraine or NATO. Or, via his extended use of the emergency measures act, which is just one instance of how he uses the legal system in his favor, having carved out the constitution and rules he will play by. We also return to discuss the other major factor playing into Orbán’s popular support, which is the political shallowness of his opposition and their uselessly limited appeal to morality.