Former PM Candidate Accuses Govt Of Intimidating Critics

  • 13 Apr 2018 10:34 AM
  • Hungary Matters
Former PM Candidate Accuses Govt Of Intimidating Critics
No matter the size of Fidesz’s mandate, the ruling party is not authorised to intimidate citizens, Gergely Karácsony, former PM candidate of the Socialist-Párbeszéd alliance, said in reaction to business weekly Figyelő’s list of people whom it called “George Soros’s mercenaries”.

Figyelő “has stupidly listed citizens who do their jobs as members of civil groups, aren’t the enemies of anyone, except maybe poverty, corruption and riding roughshod over democracy”, Karácsony told a news conference.

He said anyone who saw such people as enemies proved that their real enemy was the “the desire of citizens to make the country better”.

Karácsony said that in the run-up to Hungary’s general election, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had threatened the people and political parties who wanted change and had “talked about the 2,000 enemies of the Orbán regime”.

He said the Socialist-Párbeszéd alliance would use any political means it could to “put an end to the politics of intimidation”. The former PM candidate called it a “strange twist of history” that the list had been published in a magazine owned by Mária Schmidt, director of the House of Terror Museum.

That museum was established to present the horrors of the 20th century so nobody in Hungary should ever again have to be afraid of being on a government list, Karácsony said.

MTI Photo: Koszticsák Szilárd

  • How does this content make you feel?

XpatLoop Media Partner

Hungary Matters

Launched in January 2014, this newsletter published on week days covers 'everything you need to know about what’s going on in Hungary and beyond', according to its publisher the state media agency MTI.

Explore More Reports

  • 'Absurd': Charges Proposed Against Budapest Mayor

    'Absurd': Charges Proposed Against Budapest Mayor

    • 12 Dec 2025 8:03 AM

    An investigation into the Budapest Pride march in June has concluded with a recommendation to raise charges, Mayor Gergely Karácsony said on Thursday, adding that he is accused of violating the right of assembly.

  • Budapest Crisis: Lifeline Loan or Power Grab?

    Budapest Crisis: Lifeline Loan or Power Grab?

    • 11 Dec 2025 6:17 AM

    The government's aid loan programme is a "safety belt" for Budapest to ensure that the city remains functional, its employees get paid, and "nobody pockets the money owed to them", Alexandra Szentkirályi, the group leader of the ruling parties in the city assembly, said on Facebook on Monday.

  • Updated: 'Budapest Will Not Kneel', Says Mayor to Gov't

    Updated: 'Budapest Will Not Kneel', Says Mayor to Gov't

    • 4 Dec 2025 12:00 PM

    At a "Budapest Pride March 2.0" rally outside the Carmelite Monastery, the prime minister's office, Gergely Karacsony, the mayor of Budapest, vowed the city would "not kneel", as he handed the City Assembly's resolution on its "real financial crisis" to a government representative.

  • Budget Crisis Threatens Budapest’s Public Services, City Hall Rejects Insolvency Ultimatum

    Budget Crisis Threatens Budapest’s Public Services, City Hall Rejects Insolvency Ultimatum

    • 2 Dec 2025 6:15 AM

    The financial stability of Budapest is currently at the centre of a fierce political standoff between the City Assembly and the national government. The dispute intensified this week after Mayor Gergely Karácsony and the city administration rejected a government proposal to declare the capital insolvent, an act the government had framed as a prerequisite for offering financial aid.