Orban Focuses on National Strategy, While Magyar on Personal Ambitions

Last weekend, Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Tisza Party leader Peter Magyar both gave speeches. While PM Orban outlined his strategic vision for the nation, Magyar failed to rise to the occasion. That's what Erik Toth, Research Director at the Center for Fundamental Rights, said, stating that it was a clash between past and future — with Orban representing the future.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivers a speech at the Balvanyos Summer Open University and Student Camp (Tusvanyos) in Transylvania (Photo: MTI/Prime Minister’s Press Office/Zoltan Fischer)

“True to tradition, Viktor Orban’s speech addressed global political dynamics, yet he once again managed to synthesize government-level strategic thinking into clear policy decisions and their rationale,” Erik Toth said, reflecting on the prime minister’s Tusvanyos speech on Saturday. He emphasized that Orban's warning about the potential outbreak of a third world war, and his corresponding national strategic vision, were the most significant elements of the address.

Zsolt Nemeth, Viktor Orban and Laszlo Tokes at Tusvanyos (Photo: Prime Minister's Communications Department/Zoltan Fischer)

The prime minister underscored the importance of maintaining strategic calm and keeping Hungary out of military conflict. He laid out both short- and long-term political goals: in the short term, he confidently set his sights on winning next year’s parliamentary elections - a goal supported by the development of Digital Civic Circles (DPK).

As for long-term objectives, the PM defined the fulfillment of a Hungarian grand strategy: defending national sovereignty, rejecting war, maintaining balanced relations with global powers, avoiding geopolitical bloc formation, and rejecting federalist European integration efforts,

the expert listed.

Toth highlighted that Orban spoke for something, not against something — articulating national principles that the majority of voters tend to support regardless of political affiliation. He also stressed that the PM clearly defined what is at stake in the upcoming election:

Hungary will either have a compliant government that treats national self-determination as a secondary value — consequently one that supports war, Ukraine’s fast-tracked EU accession, the migration pact and gender ideology — or a government that protects Hungarian interests and rejects all of the above,

the analyst explained.

Peter Magyar in Decline

Regarding Peter Magyar’s speech in Szekesfehervar that same weekend, Toth stated that the Tisza Party has entered a period of decline in recent weeks and months.

With his ‘anti-Tusvanyos’ speech, Magyar tried to pull himself out of a politically unfavorable situation — but failed,” Toth said, listing several recent issues weakening Magyar’s position: "the Tseber affair, seen as interference by Ukrainian intelligence; the Ruszin affair, which symbolizes a betrayal of national sovereignty and peace policy; a nation-wide tour drawing little public interest, and the opportunistic approach for political gain in response to storm damage are all recent incidents that have eroded the standing of Peter Magyar and his Tisza Party,

the analyst recalled.

Peter Magyar's speech at rally in Szekesfehervar fell short. (Photo: Gabor Markovics)

Erik Toth pointed out that more people participated — with broader consensus — in the Voks 2025 national opinion consultation than in Tisza’s Voice of the Nation initiative. In his view, this makes it increasingly difficult to maintain the illusion of Tisza's national dominance touted by left-leaning pollsters.

“In Szekesfehervar, Magyar aimed to give direction, but his speech lacked memorable, politically exciting or forward-looking ideas,” Toth observed. "While Magyar called for peace, his key political allies — in both the European Parliament and the European Commission — continue to back Brussels' pro-war agenda,” the research directer noted the contradiction.

He also criticized Tisza’s tacit support for the political deal that kept Ursula von der Leyen in office, a pact struck between the EPP and the Socialists — fully known to Magyar’s party.

Toth pointed to what he described as a troubling character flaw: while Magyar ignored Orban’s peace initiatives and support for the pro-peace Trump administration, he promoted the idea of a "Tisza Government" Diplomacy Academy as a significant policy proposal.

Though Magyar acknowledged the threat of war, he failed to distance himself from Brussels’s pro-war stance. His vague rejection of Ukraine’s fast-track EU membership only put him in an uncomfortable spot, given that:

In a previous Tisza Party consultation, 58% of respondents supported Ukraine’s accession, and that Manfred Weber described the EPP - the party group Tisza is a member of in the European Parliament - as a pro-Ukraine party.

So regardless of what Magyar says, on this issue, he’s boxed in,

Toth pointed out.

Clash of Past and Future

Reflecting on both speeches, the analyst interpreted them as a symbolic clash between past and future — with Orban again representing the future. “Orban thinks in terms of a strategy serving the nation, while the Tisza Party chief in a strategy serving his own personal ambitions.”

Magyar has failed to break free from the intellectual shallowness of his leftist predecessors, echoing the same worn defeatist 'dare to stay small' rhetoric of the past.

Toth added that the Tisza Party chief's speech echoed the aggressive, restless style seen in Peter Marki-Zay, the joint opposition PM candidate, during the 2022 campaign, noting Magyar’s personal attacks and dismissive tone toward the government’s achievements.

Cover Photo: Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivers a speech at the Balvanyos Summer Open University and Student Camp (Tusvanyos) in Transylvania (Photo: MTI/Prime Minister’s Press Office/Zoltan Fischer)