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01-22-2012, 09:41 AM
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Hungarian Mass Demonstration Shows Support for Orban Amid EU Row
By Andras Gergely
Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Hungarians showed support for Prime Minister Viktor Orban with a mass rally as the government faces mounting pressure from the European Union to change laws that halted talks on an international bailout.
Demonstrators marched through the center of Budapest to parliament yesterday in an event organized by Zsolt Bayer, a journalist for the newspaper Magyar Hirlap and a founding member of Orban’s Fidesz party, and others. The Interior Ministry said almost 400,000 people attended, while news website Index estimated the turnout at about 100,000.
Orban is trying to revive bailout negotiations with the bloc and the International Monetary Fund after discussions broke down in December over Orban’s refusal to change laws that the institutions said may weaken monetary-policy independence. Orban offered to change disputed legislation after the EU threatened a lawsuit against Hungary for encroaching on the central bank’s independence and political meddling with the judiciary and the data-protection authority.
“We say yes to Europe but no to what Europe is doing to Hungary and the Hungarian government,” Bayer said in a video message posted on the Internet before the rally. Organizers marching at the front of the crowd carried a banner saying “We won’t become a colony,” a slogan Bayer repeated outside parliament, where politicians didn’t give speeches.
The demonstration was the largest mass event of its kind since Hungary ended communism more than 20 years ago, news website Nol.hu said.
‘Good Atmosphere’
“Such a big crowd hasn’t demonstrated in favor of the government and its policies in living memory,” the Interior Ministry said in an e-mailed statement yesterday, adding that the event was “peaceful” and had a “good atmosphere.”
Hungary has become a test case for the European Commission, which has pledged to use its powers to enforce the 27-nation bloc’s norms.
Orban gained a two-thirds parliamentary majority in the 2010 election which he used to pass a new constitution as the culmination of his so-called ballot-box revolution.
Orban’s governing party, Fidesz, lost support this month as the number of undecided voters swelled, polling agency Szonda Ipsos said on Jan. 13.
Backing for Fidesz among eligible voters fell to 16 percent from 18 percent in December, reaching the lowest since records started in 1998, the Budapest-based pollster Szonda Ipsos said.
The Socialist Party’s support was unchanged at 11 percent, compared with a 1 percentage point decline to 9 percent for the radical nationalist Jobbik, it said. The number of undecided voters rose to 57 percent from 54 percent. Among committed voters, Fidesz remained at 39 percent, the Socialists improved to 26 percent from 24 percent and Jobbik weakened to 22 percent from 24 percent.
The Jan. 3-10 poll of 1,500 Hungarians had a 2.5 percentage point margin of error. The next general elections are scheduled for 2014.
A demonstration on Jan. 2 against Orban’s new constitution attracted tens of thousands of participants.
--Editors: Francis Harris, Balazs Penz
Hungarian Mass Demonstration Shows Support for Orban Amid EU Row
By Andras Gergely
Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Hungarians showed support for Prime Minister Viktor Orban with a mass rally as the government faces mounting pressure from the European Union to change laws that halted talks on an international bailout.
Demonstrators marched through the center of Budapest to parliament yesterday in an event organized by Zsolt Bayer, a journalist for the newspaper Magyar Hirlap and a founding member of Orban’s Fidesz party, and others. The Interior Ministry said almost 400,000 people attended, while news website Index estimated the turnout at about 100,000.
Orban is trying to revive bailout negotiations with the bloc and the International Monetary Fund after discussions broke down in December over Orban’s refusal to change laws that the institutions said may weaken monetary-policy independence. Orban offered to change disputed legislation after the EU threatened a lawsuit against Hungary for encroaching on the central bank’s independence and political meddling with the judiciary and the data-protection authority.
“We say yes to Europe but no to what Europe is doing to Hungary and the Hungarian government,” Bayer said in a video message posted on the Internet before the rally. Organizers marching at the front of the crowd carried a banner saying “We won’t become a colony,” a slogan Bayer repeated outside parliament, where politicians didn’t give speeches.
The demonstration was the largest mass event of its kind since Hungary ended communism more than 20 years ago, news website Nol.hu said.
‘Good Atmosphere’
“Such a big crowd hasn’t demonstrated in favor of the government and its policies in living memory,” the Interior Ministry said in an e-mailed statement yesterday, adding that the event was “peaceful” and had a “good atmosphere.”
Hungary has become a test case for the European Commission, which has pledged to use its powers to enforce the 27-nation bloc’s norms.
Orban gained a two-thirds parliamentary majority in the 2010 election which he used to pass a new constitution as the culmination of his so-called ballot-box revolution.
Orban’s governing party, Fidesz, lost support this month as the number of undecided voters swelled, polling agency Szonda Ipsos said on Jan. 13.
Backing for Fidesz among eligible voters fell to 16 percent from 18 percent in December, reaching the lowest since records started in 1998, the Budapest-based pollster Szonda Ipsos said.
The Socialist Party’s support was unchanged at 11 percent, compared with a 1 percentage point decline to 9 percent for the radical nationalist Jobbik, it said. The number of undecided voters rose to 57 percent from 54 percent. Among committed voters, Fidesz remained at 39 percent, the Socialists improved to 26 percent from 24 percent and Jobbik weakened to 22 percent from 24 percent.
The Jan. 3-10 poll of 1,500 Hungarians had a 2.5 percentage point margin of error. The next general elections are scheduled for 2014.
A demonstration on Jan. 2 against Orban’s new constitution attracted tens of thousands of participants.
--Editors: Francis Harris, Balazs Penz