Hungarian Conservative

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán held talks with his Romanian counterpart Marcel Ciolacu on Friday, a day before Orbán’s speech at Tusványos. The discussions focused on bilateral relations between the two countries and Romania’s accession to the Schengen Area.

As is the case every year, the speech of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will be the main event of the Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp, commonly known as Tusványos. The speech delivered here has become one of Orbán’s most significant yearly addresses in recent times, offering political guidance with his insights and, in many cases, accurately predicting future geopolitical events.

While political festivals are not unique per se, there is something unique about how the Hungarian right organizes its gatherings. Their continuing success is not due to populist chauvinism, or to making them mere echo chambers. In fact, plenty of world views, including opposition voices highly critical of the Orbán administration, clashed on stage in front of captivated audiences many times this summer.

The prime minister stressed that the Hungarian government needs to be sharp because multinational companies behave like speculators. Food retail chains raise prices even when there is no reason for it, using high energy costs as a pretext. At the same time, their leaders go to Brussels to complain about the Hungarian government and collude with the Brussels bureaucrats, the PM argued.

The PM’s press chief, Bertalan Havasi told MTI that in a letter sent on Saturday, Viktor Orbán expressed his gratitude to Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu for having received him in Bucharest earlier this week, and for having ‘ensured the safety and security of the Tusnádfürdő Free University and making it possible for me to deliver my remarks today in undisturbed and peaceful circumstances.’

The 32nd Tusványos festival, organised under the motto ‘The Time for Peace,’ will offer around five hundred public and cultural events until the end of the week.