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Constitutional lawyer Péter Tölgyessy began his presentation with a long introduction, the development of the Western rule of law and the presentation of Eastern power and social organization, and then he arrived in Hungary in almost 10 minutes.
He said that Hungarians exist on the edge of the West, we are the easternmost part of the West. Hungary was a large and rich kingdom, the elite constantly traveled to Western Europe, where they were dazzled by the cathedrals, but he remembered that in Buda he could live a week with the money he spent on having lunch in Rome.
The backwardness of the country could be caught by the Turks, under Maria Teresa the Hungarians realized how far away they were. It was then that the idea arose that it was the task of the country to reach the center of the West.
At the bottom of the country is this desire.
The country took off, achieved great results in the era of dualism, then declined. Many times, bad luck swept through, for example, that the country entered the Soviet zone after the Second World War. Finland and the Spanish were also overtaken by Hungary between the two world wars, but after these two countries entered the non-Soviet zone, they successfully caught up.
And we went in and shut up. In 1989, we were further from the West than ever.
In 89, there seemed to be a great opportunity here to return to being a true Western country, to reach the same place as other former peripheral countries. The desire of 30-40 years finally did not catch up.
What happened in the history of Hungary is typical.
The world has also changed a lot, the possibility of catching up quickly has “left Europe”, accompanied by Hungarian problems: suddenly a cold civil war confronted democracy, where it was more important for the two sides to overcome the other than to do the same. necessary changes.
But it must be seen that the region as a whole has failed to catch up, and the central countries of the West are also suffering a serious crisis, the extent of which can be said in hindsight.
The 2008 crisis was marked by a change of era, followed by a change of political era in 15-16.
The most important economic change, according to Tölgyessy, is that, although Western societies used to be centered, the middle class was the strongest: 80 percent of the people were located there and 90 percent of the young people lived better than their parents, today 60 percent are the same or worse. live with them.
The ground began to slip from the democracy that was pulling down the middle
Tölgyessy said. Politics has also become polarized, not just at home but elsewhere, citing the United States and Britain as examples. What happened to us met with two things: the crisis in the Western world and the fact that we have failed for the last 30 years.
Here he addressed Viktor Orbán: Tölgyessy doesn’t really believe the leftist interpretations that a man aspiring to power would have uncontrollably acquired and hijacked the country.
Something happened that happened all over the world, only with us the special political talent seized the opportunity.
Our solution has a lot of oriental roughness, but at the same time Hungary is one of the trendsetting countries; just think of Horthy, Imre Nagy and 1989. Hungary fits deeply into the political trend,
Orbán has become a global politician, his international importance can only be attributed to Öcsi Puskás. In the most educated part of the world, everyone knows his name, and this has happened to few Hungarians.
Back to the starting point and the wishes of the East
Tölgyessy also spoke of Hungary having the opportunity to return to the West with the rule of law, which in turn brought failure and a polarized structure in the first period.
The average Hungarian lived in such a way that the structure of the legal system was a matter for the elites, it did not really protect the little man. A multitude of oriental desires remained in the town, demanding the paternalistic state to make the “truth of content”.
The crucial difference between East and West, on the other hand, is that the latter rule of law offers legal security, clear rules of the game, but success does not depend on the rules, but on the players. Compared to soccer, it’s not because they make a team’s champion bigger that they make the opponent’s goal bigger, but because they send a better team onto the field.
János Kádár’s Hungarian experience is that the secret to success is breaking the rules. Both the little man and the elite are trying to stand up to it, but the state would not have operated its system properly either, it used a unique application of the law. Throughout the Kádár era, the law was a servant and instrument of policy. We would have tried to get rid of this, but the Hungarian state under the rule of law, which was being rebuilt during regime change, was viewed by the general public as a matter for the elites, Tölgyessy repeated.
The second regime change
Before Orbán’s “second regime change”, a major international survey in 2009 found that capitalism, the rule of law and the political economy of change were the least accepted by Hungarians, with even worse results than Ukrainians.
In the election, the 89th Consensus parties, which laid the groundwork for a new regime change, were sunk by the public, the MSZP was cut in half, and for the most part the existing denial parties rose above the Fidesz and Jobbik and the LMP to a greater extent.
Fidesz, and then possibly right-wing at the time, Jobbik received 69.4 percent altogether, and the opposition party voted 95 percent of Fidesz’s proposals in the first year, adding at most what needs to be done. with more vigor.
Viktor Orbán began to describe the regime change in 1989 as increasingly confusing times, announcing a new regime change in the face of the West. This did not legally mean that an avalanche of rules would change. There have been few structural changes to the new Orbán Constitution, with only three significant changes: the new Constitutional Court judgment, the reduction by two-thirds of economic and social affairs (which had little impact on the Fidesz governments), and the abolition of the judiciary.
In addition to these, there were many small but one-way changes.
However, what had a reverse effect is that Fidesz built a pyramid of power. This also happens in other countries, in fact, if there is a government majority in a country, this mechanism starts immediately.
Good Hungarians and personal legislation
As is often the case in countries that have failed to catch up, the new government no longer derived its legitimacy from Western models but from the representation of national interests.
Consequently, the cause of failure must be sought in foreigners, and Hungarians are the most decent people in the world who do everything possible to succeed. All people are happy to hear this.
Foreigners and those who betray the country are, therefore, responsible. This is the principle of external legitimacy, and the principle of political explanation is that goods should be regrouped for decent Hungarians. In the first step, this meant a reassignment to the Fidesz elite. Viktor Orbán’s most important political experience was that if there is no new political elite, politics cannot be different from what emerged from the continuity of the 1980s. That is why a new political, economic, media and cultural elite was also needed. Orbán’s first task was to achieve it.
Privatization cannot be resumed, it cannot be “confiscated”, personal legislation can bring the “good guys” back to the starting position, while the “bad guys” can be left at a disadvantage. According to Tölgyessy, this element is best captured with excise duties. There, almost broken down by company, it was broken down that the one we love pays less taxes, the one that doesn’t, more.
If there is a classic violation of the rule of law, it is personalized legislation when the law is an instrument of policy.
According to Tölgyessy, this is the decisive grievance. The constitutional lawyer also spoke of the Orbán government applying significant austerity in the first period, withdrawing $ 1.4 billion from large benefit systems, but leading the country out of the debt trap. It has achieved what leftist governments have failed in 40 years: the cycle of overspending on austerity is over.
Between 2014 and 19, the economy achieved quite excellent results. Although economic growth was 2.5% between 2004 and 2009 and 25% for Slovaks, it was 27% in the country and 22% for Slovaks in the mentioned period.
While we lagged significantly behind Western growth during the final period of leftist governments, there was a significant recovery between 2014-19.
Meanwhile, Orbán’s attitude has also changed, with a growing sense of the benefits of growth, he has also accepted foreign capital as a significant player, this is also true in trade, from which he does not even think of evicting them, according to Tölgyessy .
It is no coincidence that a German magazine wrote before the 2018 elections that 90 percent of German businessmen would vote for Fidesz because they were very satisfied with Fidesz’s policy and found the opposition so inadequate.
Turning to the rescuer
Tölgyessy went back to an earlier idea: a story of the kind that happened in the country. When the Western structure was first introduced, it generated political turmoil and competition, polarization and economic problems in which the community did not feel well and turned to a strong leader, the savior. The same thing happened in Napoleon’s time, he first spoke of the Western Twilight, which reappears here and again.
Viktor Orbán bases his government largely on this.
He also returned to the idea of seeing a violation of the rule of law in personalized legislation and the instrumental use of rights. Critics of the Orbán system want to capture the end result, even though it is actually legal to achieve the end result.
He cited as an example the case of Origo, which was created by Matáv at a time when Hungarian content was also on the Internet. The newspaper fell into German hands and privatization seemed obvious. The tender was announced, it was also correct, and then the best offer was taken by a company close to the government. The irregularity is difficult to capture, although it can be asked that the company close to the government had money at home, but it already goes beyond that logic, Tölgyessy said.
Critics on the left call for a left-wing value judgment on the Fidesz government; This can also be seen in the EP reports, where a deep left value judgment conflicts with normal criticism of the rule of law. These are inseparable, and Orbán has reason to tell some that they are not so true or that they are not at all.
In fact, there are two opposing cultural structures, one western and one eastern, making it very difficult to understand the specific problems. The sanctions against the country are interpreted by many to mean that the Orbán government will finally receive the punishment it deserves after what it has done, but it is more complicated than that. The process, which will be nothing or much less than planned, was not designed properly from the start, says Tölgyessy, referring to the rule of law system.
If a legally designated body, the court, legally determines that corruption has occurred, that property has been stolen, it is a legitimate punishment if twice the stolen money is returned. That’s a good understanding, ee, how much would be the punishment for Origo? Tölgyessy asked. How can a non-monetary problem be approached in this way? That would be an amazing debate, that’s not the way to go about sanctions, he says.
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