The opposition should work to weaken the government by all available legal means, he said. The current government is “against the homeland, unlawful, immoral, dishonest and criminal”, Gyurcsány said.

He said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “a war criminal, without question”, since the murder of hundreds of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine, in early 2022.

“Hungary is cooperating with a war criminal, and what’s more, it does so without reaping any advantages,” he said. Prime Minister “Viktor Orbán has lost his independence… and isn’t a sovereign person but a serf to Russian power,” he said. The country has to oppose such a leader, he added.

One of the most important issues in Hungary is education and schools, Gyurcsány said. The sector needs funds, but also a reform that focuses on “children’s soul, thoughts, personality, curiosity and thirst for knowledge”, he said.

Gyurcsány said of the Roma community in Hungary that “they are right to feel they have been abandoned by everyone”.

An 800,000-strong minority “have been cast aside because they are Roma”, and are facing “terrible” poverty, isolation and discrimination, he said. DK is offering a home to all opponents of the Orbán government, he said.

Commenting on the speech, Fidesz communications director István Hollik said Gyurcsány had clearly “brought the entire dollar left to its knees”.

Leftist parties continue to act against the interests of Hungarians, he said in a video on Facebook. Hungary has but one left wing, and that is led by Gyurcsány, he said.

The speech has also shown that the party has no intention to change its policies.

“They will continue to push their pro-war, pro-sanctions policies, as their foreign financers expect them to do,” he said.