Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s capacity to tell an audience one thing with seemingly deep conviction and dramatic rhetorical skill, and then tell another audience the polar opposite, with a straight face and without batting an eye, is singular, surreal and disturbing all at once. The Fidesz government has just launched a rabidly racist campaign with hundreds of billboards, suggesting that immigrants and refugees were a danger to Hungary’s national culture, that they were criminals and terrorists, and that they were trying to steal jobs from Hungarians. Defacing these billboards has effectively turned into a sport among liberal and left-wing activists, while Hungary’s satirical Two-Tailed Dog Party (Kétfarkú Kutyapárt) managed to raise 3 million forints ($11,000) in just seven hours, after it announced that it wanted to launch its own billboard campaign, to counter the government’s racism.
In the shadow of hundreds of government billboards, Mr. Orbán told the Union of Arab Banks, which happens to be holding its International Arab Banking Summit in Budapest, at the Hilton, that countries must not turn inward, but should be open to the world, in order to succeed. The UAB is based in Beirut, but also operates in Egypt, Jordan and Sudan, with the involvement of some 300 financial institutions in the Middle East. The stinging irony of all this is that the conference’s theme is “Financial Inclusion for Social Development and Stability.” Mr. Orbán’s government is hardly known for promoting a sense of social justice and financial inclusion.
In his speech. Mr. Orbán spoke about how Hungary is “an open and friendly country,” which welcomes foreign investors. One cannot say this about every nation, he added. He said that one of the positives about Hungary is that it doesn’t have the sort of ethnic and immigrant “ghettos” that exist in western European countries. But that’s not the only way in which Hungary is different from western Europe. In Hungary, “the culture of respect” still dominates. That cannot be said of much of the western world, where they “no longer respect God, family and nation.”
The prime minister added that Hungarians have a “profound respect” for Islam. “We see Islam as a great structure,” he added, then turning to the words of Pope Francis, who had suggested that Christians should read the Quran for themselves, in order to gain a better understanding of the Islamic faith.
Prime Minister Orbán speaking at the summit organized by the Union of Arab Banks, at the Budapest Hilton. Photo: Szilárd Koszticsák/MTI.
Mr. Orbán suggested that western Europeans were often condescending, because they have an absolutist view of democracy, and think that they need to proselytize about this to other parts of the world. In contrast, Hungary’s government “does not believe that democracy would work well everywhere.”
“Everyone has the right to choose the framework in which he/she wants to live,” added Mr. Orbán, somewhat awkwardly suggesting that people had the right to decide if they did not want to live in a liberal democracy.
Prime Minister Orbán then told the UAB delegates that Hungary’s national currency, the forint, forms part of the backbone of the country’s financial stability, confirming yet again that discussions about joining the euro are off the table.
In concrete terms, Mr. Orbán seems to be encouraging UAB members to invest in Hungarian real estate, noting that prices are still undervalued at the moment, making it a buyer’s market. He also highlighted the energy sector.
Years ago, Hungary’s tourism board used the slogan “open hearts, open minds” to promote travel to the central European country. Mr. Orbán focused on this theme as well, as he enticed investment from the Middle East in the Hungarian economy. The liberal 444.hu new site summarized it the best, when one of the regular contributors, Sarkadizs, noted that while the Orbán government has no time for poor, persecuted migrants, it will do just about anything to attract wealthy foreigners. “The government doesn’t hate immigrants, it just despises the poor,” added Sarkadizs.
And that just about summarizes so many of Mr. Orbán’s domestic policies and statements as well, when it comes to those living on the margins of Hungarian society. In Mr. Orbán’s mind, one must respect power and strength, but must shun weakness.
