Referring to the Baile Tuşnad summer camp in Transylvania, Romania - otherwise known as Tusnadfurdo - Magyar said Hungarian taxpayers paid hundreds of millions of forints to organise the camp, and it was a reasonable expectation that real public debates should take place there, adding that he was ready to take part.

"Don't be cowards, invite Hungary’s prime minister!" he declared, expressing hope that Orban had "found his courage" and would meet him for a public debate, possibly at the Transylvanian venue.

Meanwhile, concerning the committee investigating abuses in enforcement, Magyar asked the committee's chairman, Laszlo Toroczkai of the opposition Our Homeland movement, how many enforcement officers were in prison, how many cases of abuse the committee had investigated so far, and what results had this investigative committee produced.

He added that Toroczkai should speak only after achieving any visible results, and if he did not feel up to leading the committee, he should resign his mandate.

Regarding vehicle fuel prices, he turned to Janos Boka, the deputy head of the Fidesz parliamentary group, and asked him where he had been in 2023 when for weeks the price of diesel was 720 forints per litre and the price of petrol was 650 forints per litre.

Boka, he noted, had been a government member at the time but "failed to raise his voice in the interests of Hungarians".

Magyar said the price of petrol and diesel had often been much higher than it is now, and the previous government had done nothing until the election approached.

They had scared people with the threat of petrol costing 1,000 forints per litre and spent billions of forints of Hungarians' money to deceive them, he said.

Regarding the rule of law, Magyar told Boka that he was undertaking to lead a parliamentary group that had called its own compatriots "stink bugs to be trampled on", and Boka, as a former minister, had vigorously supported dismantling democracy and the rule of law in Hungary. Boka, he added, had also prevented Hungarians from receiving the EU funds due to them.

He slammed the Fidesz politician for intending to lead a group that included former transport minister Janos Lazar, who "stole Hungarians' money". "This was a crime," he said, adding that contrary to Lazar's promise during the campaign, he had taken his ministerial salary.

"You lied morning, noon, and night," Magyar declared.

On the topic of public media, the prime minister said everyone knew that the government had scrapped a "North Korean, Nazi-type propaganda machine" that had operated on 160 billion forints of Hungarians' money.

Now, unlike the wasteful operation of the past, public media now operated on a shoestring, while its viewing figures "are through the roof", he insisted.

Regarding the presidential nomination and Judit Polgar's refusal to accept his nomination as president of the republic, Magyar referred to his own role in the affair, saying that before the elections he had warned that mistakes would be made, but making "mistakes and being enthusiastic" was not a disgrace.

The country could have been much happier had the former prime minister not been afraid to admit his mistakes and ask his voters for forgiveness, he said. Admitting a mistake "is not a sign of weakness at all", he added.

At the same time, he expressed his sadness at the "circles belonging to the opposition parties" for the "verbal lynching" they had carried out against "our living national hero, Judit Polgar".

Meanwhile, Tibor T Toro, the Transylvanian founder of Tusvanyos, told local news portal Kronika in an interview that he believed there was a place for both Hungarian government representatives and substantive open debate at the summer camp. The organisers hope that next year, discussions will take place in their presence, he said.

He described this year's Tusvanyos as "unconventional", arguing that the Hungarian general election this past April had "radically reshaped the political landscape", and this impact was felt in the summer university's programme and in ethnic Hungarian politics.

The new situation, he said, had presented the organisers with a "serious challenge", as participants had grown accustomed to the highest-level presence of representatives from the Hungarian government.

"However, under the current political circumstances, this is not happening," Toro said. "Due to the unresolved impact of the landslide political changes in Hungary, representatives of the ruling party will not attend this year's event, although we would have liked to provide them with a forum where a substantive government-opposition debate could have taken place."

MTI Stock Photo

Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881.

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