‘Evil is eating away at Western democracies,’ says Hungarian PM Orban

Viktor Orban has claimed that “evil is gnawing at Western democracies” during his annual press conference in Budapest.

The Hungarian Prime Minister was speaking following Colorado’s decision to declare Donald Trump ineligible for the US presidency, alongside moves by Poland’s leader to take a state TV channel off the air.

“We see strange things today, let’s say in the democratic Western world,” Orban said.

“We have to be attentive because there is a large Western democracy where, if I understand correctly, they want to block a presidential candidate by placing legal obstacles in his path,” Hungary’s PM said, referring to his ally Trump.

The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday declared the former US president ineligible for office because of his actions during the Capitol insurrection, sending shockwaves through American politics. 

“I see another country, just as important, where a party with significant parliamentary representation is placed under surveillance,” continued Orban, visibly alluding to the German far-right AfD party.

“I see a third country where the takeover of television was done by police force,” he also claimed. 

This comment was about Poland, where the new pro-European Union government has begun to wrestle control of the country’s state media from the previous Conservative rulers. 

“An evil is eating away at the organisation of Western democracies,” the Hungarian Prime Minister said. 

He added: “If all this happened in Hungary, perhaps NATO troops would have already intervened, which also raises the problem of double standards.”

Orban has faced regular criticism from Brussels and international organisations for his authoritarian drift. The Commission has also frozen €21 billion of funds intended for Hungary due to the worsening rule of law situation.

Several independent Hungarian members of the media were excluded from Orban’s press conference.

In September 2022, the European Parliament estimated that this Central European country was no longer a true democracy, but a “hybrid regime of electoral autocracy”, while the counter-powers were gradually brought into line.