Hungary Orban insults political opponents as "bugs"
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called political opponents and critics of his government "bugs". "After today's festive gathering, the big Easter cleaning begins," said the right-wing populist in a speech on Hungarian National Day on March 15 in Budapest. "The bugs have hibernated," he said. "We are liquidating the financial machinery that bought politicians, judges, journalists, pseudo-civil organizations and political activists with corrupt dollars," the right-wing populist added.
15.03.2025, 15:28
SDA
Orban has ruled his country with authoritarian methods for almost 15 years. The freedom of the media and the rule of law are also restricted in the opinion of the EU, which is why it has frozen some of the aid money. The Hungarian is said to have misused some of these funds to enrich oligarchs dependent on him and his own relatives.
Orban describes himself as a "freedom fighter" against whom "Brussels" has allegedly conspired. In his view, critics and opponents in his own country are merely "stooges" of the EU bureaucracy and its alleged backers from the global financial world.
No evidence of "bought" opposition members
The right-wing populist has been under pressure in his own country ever since a serious challenger threw his hat into the ring exactly one year ago. The moderate-conservative Peter Magyar, who comes from Orban's Fidesz party and was married to the former justice minister Judit Varga, founded his own party, which is regularly well ahead of Orban's party in independent opinion polls. The next parliamentary elections will take place in spring 2026.
Orban is becoming increasingly nervous and is threatening even more repression. Calling political opponents and critics "bugs" is an intensification of his tone, which is reminiscent of Nazi jargon. There is no evidence that political or civil society actors and independent media professionals are "bought" by the EU or other Western donors.
A number of civil organizations and media receive funding from state and private institutions in the West. They apply for these in transparent procedures and regularly give an account of their use. This has also been legal under Hungarian law to date.
