{"id":32115,"date":"2021-03-16T08:03:33","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T08:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev2.atlatszo.exot.hu\/?p=32115"},"modified":"2021-03-16T08:03:33","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T08:03:33","slug":"marriage-of-convenience-sweetened-with-millions-how-fidesz-persuaded-the-largest-hungarian-party-in-transylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev2.atlatszo.exot.hu\/en\/english\/marriage-of-convenience-sweetened-with-millions-how-fidesz-persuaded-the-largest-hungarian-party-in-transylvania\/","title":{"rendered":"Marriage of convenience sweetened with millions \u2013 how Fidesz persuaded the largest Hungarian party in Transylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"

At first Fidesz attempted to bleed to death the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Transylvania (DAHR). After they realized that DAHR cannot be replaced, they forced the party into a loyalty competition. The once freezing relationship between Fidesz and the DAHR evolved to close cooperation, allowing the Hungarian government unprecedented influence in Transylvania. Meanwhile, the opposition of DAHR that was once a \u201cstrategic partner\u201d of Fidesz became a \u201ctraitor of the nation\u201d.<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot simply look away from L\u00e1szl\u00f3 K\u00f6v\u00e9r\u2019s politically irresponsible raid in Transylvania\u201d \u2013 stated Hunor Kelemen, president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians (DAHR) in July 2012, after the Fidesz politician had campaigned for the Hungarian Civic Party in Romania (political opponent of DAHR).<\/p>\n

Eight years later, during the Parliament election campaign in November 2020, scrolling through the DAHR campaign videos on Facebook, it is not easy to decide whether it\u2019s Fidesz or DAHR politicians we see campaigning.<\/p>\n

As the election day was closing in, Facebook posts increasingly showcased members of the Hungarian government and the investments achieved with the help of the Hungarian government, while the issues connected to Bucharest were gradually pushed to the background.<\/p>\n

How has the relationship between the two parties evolve from the initial \u201ecold war\u201d to these days, when it seems completely natural that phone messages from Hungarian foreign minister P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 are urging Hungarians to vote for DAHR?<\/p>\n

How has it come to be normal by now that one of the foundations of the DAHR actively helps Hungarians from Romania register for the Hungarian parliamentary elections, and leading DAHR politicians publicly back up Fidesz in the campaign?<\/p>\n

What does it mean that the NGOs in the backyard of the DAHR have received in recent years Hungarian public funds for largely the same amount as the Romanian governmental funding for the Hungarian minority of Romania?<\/p>\n

The 1,2 million Hungarian minority living in Transylvania is by far the largest community living outside the borders of Hungary, with a complex institutional system.<\/p>\n

This article offers an overview of the relationship of the largest political party of the community, DAHR with the Hungarian governing parties from 2010, the inauguration of the second Orb\u00e1n\u00a0 government, to December 2020, when the new C\u00ee\u021bu government was formed with the participation of the DAHR.<\/p>\n

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What are we talking about precisely?<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

When I\u2019m speaking about the relations between the Hungarian governing party and the DAHR (henceforth simplified to Fidesz-DAHR relations), I mean primarily the relations, decisions and public communication of Viktor Orb\u00e1n and high officials of the Hungarian government in areas of national politics on the one hand, and leading politicians of the DAHR on the other hand.<\/p>\n

It is clear to me that the material presented here is by far not the full picture of the matter. This is due to a particular feature of Hungarian national politics: in addition to the leading politicians, many other political and business actors give declarations, seek and build partnerships more or less independently, and initiate projects with various Hungarian politicians from Romania, non-governmental organisations, businessmen and churches.<\/p>\n

Some of the relations between leading Fidesz politicians and Hungarian public figures from Romania go back a long way, even as early as the 1980s. The presentation of several decades-long careers, complicated and often burdened relationships and disputes extends well beyond the scope of this article, so these will only be referred to briefly if relevant for the topic.<\/p>\n

I will not present the geopolitical context and the Hungarian and Romanian political contexts due to lack of space. I will only mention the political events in Hungary or Romania or the Hungarian political stage in Romania insofar as they are relevant for the Fidesz-DAHR relationship.<\/p>\n

The participation of the DAHR in the C\u00ee\u021bu-government will likely influence the Fidesz-DAHR relationship. But since this is a relatively recent development, I will not endeavour into prophecies.<\/p>\n

It also needs further research to reveal how the Romanian model of minority accommodation and the negotiation position of the DAHR in Bucharest was influenced by the expansion of Hungarian national politics, the ever growing Hungarian funding, and the Fidesz-DAHR relationship which became stronger by the year.<\/p>\n

The effect of national politics on an individual level greatly defines the political options of the DAHR as well. The nation is being, or has already been institutionalised into a virtual community by procedures like the simplified naturalization and the like. However, I will not dwell on these at too much length either.<\/p>\n

The conceptual framework of my interpretation of the events is defined by the works and lectures on national politics of N\u00e1ndor B\u00e1rdi, Levente Salat, Tibor Tor\u00f3, Istv\u00e1n Gerg\u0151 Sz\u00e9kely and Tam\u00e1s Kiss.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Press reviews completed with background interviews<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

This article builds on the press review on the abovementioned period based on the chronology of Frigyes Udvardy and the archive of the MTI (Hungarian Press Agency). The advantage of these sources is that the press reports accurately mirror the events and declarations of the given period.<\/p>\n

Their disadvantage, however, is that they mostly focus on leading politicians and events readily accessible to a wide audience and rarely on what happened behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

For instance, the reports published at the time only allowed for guesses about the atmosphere on Viktor Orb\u00e1n and Hunor Kelemen\u2019s first private meeting in July 2011 at B\u0103ile Tu\u0219nad\/Tusn\u00e1df\u00fcrd\u0151 (in the future, we will refer to both Romanian and Hungarian versions of Transylvanian geographical names \u2013 editor\u2019s note). We have nothing more than speculations on how politicians from both parties were conveying messages during the \u201ccold war\u201d period.<\/p>\n

My interviews with active or retired politicians of the DAHR, or officials, journalists or social scientists who have inside knowledge about the political relations and system of funding also yielded uneven results.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s full information blackout. Even those working inside the system are told only the essential information needed for their jobs.\u201d \u2013 explained one of my sources, who used to be employed by a foundation close to the DAHR.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Very few people have access to the entire picture, on the things said at the private meetings, or the background of certain events. I have asked for interviews from some of the leading DAHR politicians \u2013 DAHR president Hunor Kelemen and his chief of staff, Zolt\u00e1n Nagy among others. With a few exceptions, my letters of request have not been answered. I was still able to conduct about a dozen interviews \u2013 most of my sources requested anonimity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cShall we kick the DAHR apart?\u201d<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cYou have to understand, I can\u2019t make national politics here in the Carpathian basin without the DAHR\u201d \u2013 Viktor Orb\u00e1n used to say in private meetings in the 1990s. However, the president of Fidesz did not necessarily had in mind the close cooperation that has formed in recent years between the Hungarian government and the DAHR.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1998, when Viktor Orb\u00e1n came to Tusv\u00e1nyos (a summer camp\/university in Transylvania in B\u0103ile Tu\u0219nad\/Tusn\u00e1df\u00fcrd\u0151 known to be a meeting point to people interested in politics and Hungarian minority issues, later used by Viktor Orb\u00e1n as a platform to promote his illiberal ideas) for the first time as Prime Minister, he asked in a private meeting: shall we kick the DAHR apart? Should we start investing into an alternative DAHR or not? We told him back then that there was no need for that, but instead we needed to strengthen the opposition within the DAHR\u201d \u2013 recalled a politician who was a member of the Reform Group, once the inner opposition of the DAHR.<\/p>\n

Although during the first Orb\u00e1n government the relations with the DAHR then under the presidency of B\u00e9la Mark\u00f3 were normalised, there were tensions and frictions on a daily basis. The relationship between a hot headed Viktor Orb\u00e1n, always two steps forward, and a level headed B\u00e9la Mark\u00f3 (the president of the DAHR at that time) who always consulted with everyone is best documented by the debate around the foundation of the Sapientia private university.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Why nobody consulted Mark\u00f3?<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cIn 1999, Viktor Orb\u00e1n \u2013 on his way to Tusv\u00e1nyos \u2013 meets B\u00e9la Mark\u00f3 at the airport in Marosv\u00e1s\u00e1rhely\/T\u00e2rgu Mure\u0219. During the approximately ten minutes long meeting Mark\u00f3 says that DAHR managed to change the law of education and although there is no possibility of a Hungarian university financed by the Romanian state, nothing stands in the way of founding a private university.<\/p>\n

At a dinner in Tusv\u00e1nyos, the topic of a private university with Hungarian funding comes up. Viktor Orb\u00e1n goes home, then in August there comes the government decree about the foundation of the university, with a yearly funding frame of 2 billion forints. Mark\u00f3 is outraged by the news, why didn\u2019t anybody ask him? The Fidesz raises its eyebrows and can\u2019t figure out what\u2019s going on\u201d \u2013 recalls one of our sources.<\/p>\n

B\u00e9la Mark\u00f3 confirmed, and also gave further details about this. Mark\u00f3 said that the idea of an elite postgradual university came up in 1998, during a discussion with Viktor Orb\u00e1n, and he thought that was a good idea. They agreed that they will develop the idea in the future.<\/p>\n

In 1999, there was indeed a meeting with Viktor Orb\u00e1n on the Marosv\u00e1s\u00e1rhely\/T\u00e2rgu Mure\u0219 airport. They travelled together into the city, where Orb\u00e1n had to meet Romanian PM Vasile Radu. \u201eYes, on the way from the airport, we talked about a private university that could be established with the help of the Hungarian government (this was different from the original idea of a small, elite postgradual university. We were talking about a broader educational spectrum) \u2013 explained Mark\u00f3.<\/p>\n

According to the former DAHR president, they had disagreements on two points: according to the Hungarian government, the university would have faculties in Kolozsv\u00e1r\/Cluj-Napoca and Cs\u00edkszereda\/Miercurea Ciuc, and not also in T\u00e2rgu Mure\u0219\/Marosv\u00e1s\u00e1rhely. The other debate was about the study programs: initially, they only offered complementary programs (programs that did not exist in Hungarian language at other state universities). \u201cFor me, this was a very important principle. At first, they kept themselves to this principle, but later they did not\u201d \u2013 said B\u00e9la Mark\u00f3.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s little we know why B\u00e9la Mark\u00f3 and Orb\u00e1n\u2019s relationship has deteriorated in time. A frequently mentioned story claims that the final break was caused by the fact that after the first turn of the 2002 Parliamentary elections in Hungary, when it wasn\u2019t yet very clear who the winner was, Mark\u00f3 hurried to congratulate Medgyessy, the socialists\u2019 candidate for prime minister.<\/p>\n

Since Viktor Orb\u00e1n considered the DAHR to be on his side, he thought it was betrayal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I go out before the frontline and the enemy shoots at me, I\u2019m prepared for that. But when they shoot at my back from my own camp, I cannot defend myself from it\u201d \u2013 Orb\u00e1n said once in Tusv\u00e1nyos.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another source recalls that Orb\u00e1n stated once: no one had ever offended him as much as B\u00e9la Mark\u00f3 did. But he did not say then what this offence was.<\/p>\n

\u201eAfter elections, it is a custom to congratulate the winner. I said something like I congratulate the parties that were elected into the Parliament, especially MSZP, (the socialist party) that got the most votes. But I did not mention any names, and said that we should wait for the second round\u201d \u2013 remembered Mark\u00f3 B\u00e9la. The former politician said that Fidesz tried to influence DAHR with various methods many times, including decisions regarding its cadre policy. \u201eThey soon found out that their wishes are not granted, and from that point, we had ups and downs in our relationship, despite the fact that we met the leaders of Fidesz often\u201d \u2013 Mark\u00f3 said.<\/p>\n

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From left to right: L\u00e1szl\u00f3 T\u0151k\u00e9s, president of the Hungarian National Council of Transylvania, Zsolt Semj\u00e9n Hungarian deputy prime minister and B\u00e9la Mark\u00f3 DAHR-president in the summer of 2010 in Kolozsv\u00e1r\/Cluj. Photo: Z\u00e1gon Szentes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Why should you relate the same way to those who love you and those who don\u2019t?<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The then president of the DAHR formulated the principle of equal distance \u2013 or equal closeness \u2013 meaning that the DAHR must maintain good relations in both Bucharest and Budapest and with both rightist and lefties parties. However, this does not mean subordination, the DAHR takes all its decisions autonomously, in accordance with its own interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cEqual closeness is stupid. Why should you relate the same way to those who love you and those who don\u2019t?\u201d \u2013 thinks one of our sources, a politician of the DAHR, who also adds that it never happened after the fall of Fidesz in 2002 that Hungarian politicians from Slovakia or Serbia would visit Gyurcs\u00e1ny and not pay their respects in the Fidesz headquarters located in the Lendvay Street. Our source claims that Mark\u00f3 never made this gesture towards Orb\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t remember a principle about visiting courteously everybody when we go to Hungary. We had discussions with the people we had business with, and it was natural we had more business with the government. But we maintained the relations with the opposition as well, this is not only natural, but also useful\u201d \u2013 explained Mark\u00f3 B\u00e9la.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Whatever happened, following Senator Attila Verest\u00f3y who was the first to be blacklisted in the Fidesz, B\u00e9la Mark\u00f3 was also added to this list after 2002. So it became clear already during the socialist government that as long as Mark\u00f3 is the president of the DAHR, the relationship of the Alliance and the Fidesz would always be tensioned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What does Mark\u00f3 think? Ask Hunor Kelemen!<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Mark\u00f3\u2019s carefully singled out successor, Hunor Kelemen, whose image was minutiously constructed in the second part of the 2000s, did not have an easy job. The Fidesz saw him for a long time merely as a poor imitation of Mark\u00f3.<\/p>\n

In addition to their physical resemblance, this view also had its foundation in the fact that Kelemen very carefully tried in this period to always say exactly what the DAHR president said. \u201cIf you wanted to know what Mark\u00f3 thinks about one thing or another, you had to talk to Hunor Kelemen.\u201d \u2013 a DAHR politician remarked ironically.<\/p>\n

Another interviewee reported that Orb\u00e1n \u201ctalked mockingly, contemptuously (about Hunor Kelemen) if his name came up. Zsolt N\u00e9meth (a high ranking Fidesz politician with very good relationships in Transylvania) had to warn him that soon Kelemen could be the boss in Transylvania.\u201d Kelemen only became interesting for the Fidesz and Viktor Orb\u00e1n after his election, before that he had no relations with Orb\u00e1n, and the Fidesz also didn\u2019t seek contact.<\/p>\n

\"Olosz
Gergely Olosz (left) together with Viktor Orb\u00e1n. Photo: nol.hu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The big change came in February 2011, at the DAHR congress in Oradea\/Nagyv\u00e1rad. Three candidates competed for the presidency of the DAHR: Hunor Kelemen with the most chances, the liberal-minded P\u00e9ter Eckstein-Kov\u00e1cs and Zsolt Semj\u00e9n\u2019s protegee, Gergely Olosz.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Olosz, the total mistake<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cOlosz was a total mistake. We told Viktor Orb\u00e1n and Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semj\u00e9n not to invest in Geri, because he is corrupt, incompetent, and stands no chance.\u201d \u2013 recalled our source.<\/p>\n

Semj\u00e9n, who had know Gergely Olosz since childhood as he attended the Benedictine high school at Pannonhalma, rejected the warning of the Transylvanian politicians saying that his protegee was denigrated by the Sekler politicians of the DAHR, S\u00e1ndor Tam\u00e1s and \u00c1rp\u00e1d Antal, and that in reality it was precisely the other way round, Tam\u00e1s and Antal were corrupt.<\/p>\n

This episode highlights one of Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s weaknesses: he takes important decisions without really researching the problem, and he is inclined to blindly follow the advice of people in his entourage.<\/p>\n

And it is a strange irony of fate that Gergely Olosz, sentenced for three years of prison with execution for traffic of influence, is now hiding in Hungary, and his protector, Zsolt Semj\u00e9n, is a frequent guest of S\u00e1ndor Tam\u00e1s and \u00c1rp\u00e1d Antal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Nasty and offensive speech at the congress<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Back to the congress in Oradea\/Nagyv\u00e1rad: Ildik\u00f3 Pelczn\u00e9 G\u00e1ll, who brought the message of the Fidesz to the congress, quite openly threatened the participants preparing for the election of the DAHR\u00a0 president. The vice-president of the Fidesz said that a political organisation can get tired too, just like the human organism: they may become sluggish and sickly. \u201cYou have reached this level today \u2013 she said. \u2013 If you vote for change today, we will offer you a helping hand in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n