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Hungarian Elections Are Not Only About Hungary

English Pages, 7. 4. 2026

As a long-term friend of Hungary and – and this should be stressed – a personal friend, colleague, and supporter of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, I will be very nervous on Sunday, especially in the evening, waiting for the results of the Hungarian Parliamentary elections.

Many things are at stake – in Hungary, in its neighbouring countries, and in Europe in general. The elections will, I believe, confirm the very unique path of Hungarian political developments, will give Prime Minister Orbán another chance to continue his leadership, will guarantee Hungarian independence, and will reaffirm the special way of organizing Hungarian society, which has been realized in the last decades.

It will not be easy to win the elections again after 16 years of leading the country. Prime Minister Orbán will have to overcome not only the domestic opposition, but also foreign enemies who have been extensively and aggressively interfering in the Hungarian affairs for a long time. Their composition is very diverse, but their efforts are united by the European Union’s goal to submit under control the last EU member country, which tries to pursue an independent policy, which dares formulate its own sovereign ideas, which does not want to lose its nation state, and which does not want to accept being ruled from the outside.

There are many Europeans who actively oppose the European political unification orchestrated from Brussels, but there is no other country, which would do that as an EU member state. Especially in this respect, the Hungarian elections are not only about Hungary. If the opponents of Europe of nation-states, of Europe of independent countries, of Europe of “Vaterländer” succeed in winning the Hungarian elections, we will all lose. We in the neighbouring countries of Hungary, we in Central- and Eastern Europe, we in the former communist countries, who – thanks to our special experience – have very different views on the ways and forms of European cooperation than those who did not have this experience. The “old” EU countries don’t see this so clearly, which can be proven by their underestimation of the negative and undemocratic European developments in the last decades.

I believe not only in Viktor Orbán, but also in the wisdom and rationality of Hungarian people, in the demos of Hungary, in the proud Hungarians who demonstrated their commitment to their own historical country so visibly in 1848-49 and in 1956, as well as in many other moments. Hungarians don’t want to be lost in the European liberal democratic goulash.

Their victory will be a victory for all European democrats who are in favour of friendly and voluntary cooperation among European member states, but who oppose involuntary political unification of our continent.

Václav Klaus, 7. 4. 2026