Every year supporters of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán eagerly await his keynote speeches. In each of them, Orbán takes stock of the previous year, marking at the same time the beginning of the new political period. More often than not, Orbán likes to extol past successes and belligerently announce his new aggressive goals.

But this year things are completely different. Because Orbán’s much-anticipated speech was overshadowed by the scandal that rocked Hungary in the past few days: on February 10, President Katalin Novak resigned after it was revealed that she had pardoned a man convicted of covering up a case of sexual abuse of minors.

“2024 could not have started worse,” Orban said in a speech last Saturday (17 February). The prime minister’s speech was similar, somewhat tiresome, without particular inspiration and structure – one of the “weakest” speeches he has delivered since 2010, when he took office. And this is not solely due to the recent scandal, but is also an indication of the more general stagnation that has come to Orbán’s system.

In the shadow of the abuse scandal

The abuse scandal and angry public backlash not only led to the resignation of Novak, but also former Justice Minister Judith Varga, previously the leading candidate of Fidesz, Orban’s party, in the European elections.

Endre K., the man who was pardoned, had been convicted of helping his superior, an orphanage director, on at least one occasion to cover up serious, systematic sexual abuse of children. When Andre K. filed an appeal, he saw the light of day and was pardoned by President Novak – somewhat fortuitously, because the pardon certificate was attached to the documents related to his case.

The public outcry reached unprecedented proportions by Hungarian standards. Because Orbán had put child protection at the heart of the government’s propaganda against the LGBTI community – emphasizing that homosexuality is tantamount to child abuse.

The resignation of Bishop Balog

It was also revealed in the interim that one of Orbán’s most trusted men, Calvinist cleric and former Minister of Human Resources Zoltan Balog had persuaded the president to pardon Endre K. Bishop Balog initially refused to resign as president of the Hungarian Synod Reformed Church. Finally, under pressure and a large protest demonstration that took place in Budapest a few days ago, Balog resigned. The demonstration was one of the largest anti-government rallies since Orban became prime minister – 50,000 to 150,000 people reportedly took to the streets of Budapest.

The demonstration was not only about the abuse scandal, but also about Orbán’s tactic of sacrificing loyal employees for scandals for which he should take responsibility, his centralized and authoritarian way of governing and above all the corruption and abuse of power that exists in his system.

Mass demonstration in Budapest

The unusually high number of protesters in a country where the majority is rather indifferent to politics is a peculiar phenomenon. Political scientist Daniel Mikes attributes this to “influencer activism.” “The most famous Hungarian social media influencers” were the ones who left the online world for a while and organized a real demonstration by mobilizing a lot of people.

In his speech, Orbán did not mention either the demonstration or details of the abuse scandal. He contented himself with blaming the former president – ​​giving a brief explanation: her office embodied the unity of the nation, which even Novak could no longer maintain. That is why her resignation was inevitable.

Orbán then suddenly changed the subject and began to explain the opportunities that open up for Hungary if the country invests a lot of money in renewable energy. Then it was the turn of the usual attacks against the EU, “Brussels bureaucrats”, and “LGBTQI activists”, who want to destroy Hungary’s traditional family model. Orban even repeated his narrative of the Russian invasion of Ukraine by blaming the E.U. and underlining that Hungary is the only country that seeks peace in Europe.

Orban on the defensive

In his speech it becomes clear that the Hungarian Prime Minister is in a defensive position. In the long run, however, the recent scandal probably won’t cause him much damage. The mass demonstrations that are taking place now are due to the moral outrage of the participants – and the organizers of the mobilizations have no political agenda, nor the intention to organize a movement or a party.

The existing opposition parties also have nothing more to bear. Former prime minister Ferenc Giorcani’s Democratic Coalition labels Orbán and his party members as “favoring pedophiles” – apparently seeking to fight the prime minister with his own weapons, rather than making substantive criticism based on humanitarian values ​​against Orbán’s practice of equating LGBTI people with child abusers.

For the lawyer Silvia Gyurko, who specializes in children’s rights, the victims of the long-standing propaganda and current debates are primarily the children themselves. “It would be important not to use child abuse and pedophilia as a means to stigmatize the opponent in the political arena,” Gyurko told DW. “It would be good if there was a political will that would really believe that children are our future.”