Change the record, Orbán

Am I the only person in Hungary who’s getting bored with the endless whining rhetoric of the country’s opposition leader? You can of course argue that whining rhetoric is the job – even duty – of any opposition leader, but Victor Orbán seems to take it to the extreme.

It’s of course understandable that Orbán called for the PM’s resignation following his groundbreaking (and rather ineloquent) admission of lying about the county’s economy last year – what opposition leader in his right mind wouldn’t have pounced on such a juicy scandal? But that was last year, and Orbán now needs to get with the times. The Government’s austerity measures introduced at the end of last year already appear to be yielding positive results, if the Governor of the Bank of Hungary – an individual widely respected for his political neutrality – is to be believed.

Rather than making endless calls for Gyurcsany’s resignation and making absurd claims about how Hungary’s aspirations to join the euro would have by now have been a reality under his leadership – Orbán would do far better to get over the fact that he was ousted in 2002, that he’s not coming back as PM for a few years (if at all) and instead concentrate on making his party a little more credible.