On Sunday, Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, made oblique analogies between the European Union’s current institutions and the Soviet forces who invaded Hungary during the 1956 revolution.
On the 66th anniversary of that put down the rebellion, Orban predicted that the European Union, which has worked to contain Hungary’s democratic slide, will collapse like the Soviet Union, which broke up more than three decades ago.
His absence from the nation’s capital on one of Hungary’s most significant national festivals coincides with his government coming under increasing pressure as a result of a protracted wave of demonstrations by teachers and students in Hungary.
“Let’s not bother those who fire at Hungary from the heights of Brussels or the shadows. They will eventually arrive where their forerunners did, Orban declared in a speech to a small group of visitors in the small western Hungarian town of Zalaegerszeg, breaking with custom by not speaking in Budapest on the anniversary.
The instructors call for greater pay and working conditions. On Sunday, Budapest was planning another protest.
Illiberal democracy in Hungry
In addition, Orban, whose system of government he refers to as an “illiberal democracy,” faces the possibility of having his EU funds reduced due to his track record on democracy and allegations of corruption.
The Hungarian parliament recently passed new anti-corruption measures to secure some money. However, the nation still runs the prospect of losing billions of euros in funding as a result of perceived violations of democratic procedures, which has recently caused the currency and economy to deteriorate.
“We will still be here when the final conquering empire falls, just as we were when the first one invaded us,” Orban said on Sunday. “We shall resist when we can and bear it when we must. When the opportunity arises, we draw swords, and when oppression lasts for a long time, we resist. Even when we lose, we are still successful, Orban declared.”
1956 revolt of Budapest
The beginning of a nationwide revolt against Soviet repression in 1956 that started in Budapest is commemorated on October 23 with a national holiday.
Students from Hungary organized a rally at the Józef Bem monument to show support for Polish protestors calling for changes to the communist regime during the beginning of the Hungarian Revolution. About 200,000 people assembled in front of the parliament that day in evening to demand the departure of the Soviet army. The eight-meter-tall Joseph Stalin bronze statue was also knocked over by Budapest residents.
Following the successful overthrow of Hungary’s Stalinist leader and the expulsion of Soviet forces from the city, Moscow issued an order to send the Red Army back into Budapest to brutally put down the uprising, which resulted in the deaths of as many as.
The event, which is deeply ingrained in Hungary’s historical consciousness as a struggle for freedom against Russian repression, falls as conflict rages in the neighboring ring country of Ukraine, where Moscow has unlawfully seized four provinces and occupied major portions of the nation.
Hungry’s strong alliance with Russia
Although the nationalist leader finally voted for all sanction packages, Orban, who is largely regarded as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the EU, has fiercely fought against the bloc’s imposition of sanctions on Moscow.
Hungary is the only country in Central and Eastern Europe that has declined to give Ukraine arms or permit their movement across its borders. Orban, though, has proclaimed that Ukraine’s right to territorial integrity is supported by his government and that Moscow’s invasion is “obvious aggression.”
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