It is almost inevitable that, at appropriate intervals, a government publication or television station has a long interview with László Kövér, the president of the Hungarian parliament. It is also inevitable that the interview will turn out to be scandalous. The public reaction to these interviews is a normally a dismissive shrug: “Well, you know, the man is not quite normal.”
Some political observers see Kövér’s position in the Fidesz hierarchy as perfect for a person who, in Viktor Orbán’s opinion, is temperamentally ill suited for a sensitive position but who, because of his important role in the history of Fidesz, was made “the super of the house,” in Hungarian “the master of the house,” where he can feel important and treat the opposition like dirt, but basically not do much harm. Others think that he is a voice for what Orbán believes but could never say himself.
In either case, the position suits his imperial tendencies. And fortunately for the Hungarian government, his outrageous messages don’t get much traction outside of Hungary. But I wouldn’t underestimate the influence of László Kövér on the people around him. That influence was especially pronounced during the early years of Fidesz. All of the reminiscences that were published in the last 30 years agree that Kövér’s influence on Orbán, and even on István Stumpf, who as a teaching assistant was put in charge of the college which gave home to 64 law students, was substantial. He was almost four years older than Orbán, entering law school in 1979, while Orbán arrived in Budapest as a first-year law student only in 1982.
Those who knew him in those years describe him as a rough, paranoid, loud man, full of prejudices, who was nonetheless seen as being destined to be the leader of the group and who thus left an imprint on the future of the party. For example, we shouldn’t forget that the speech Viktor Orbán delivered at the reburial of Imre Nagy on June 16, 1989 was in large part László Kövér’s work. For example, the most objectionable part of the speech, at least in my estimation, about the sixth empty coffin being their generation’s future, was Kövér’s addition to the speech. The early Fidesz leaders were not interested in the past but were instead focused on their role in Hungary’s future.
Unlike Viktor Orbán who, I’m sure, has been madly trying to come up with some kind of solution to the incredible economic problems the country is facing, Kövér has been locked up with too much time on his hands. Hence, he gave two interviews in the last two days, one more objectionable than the other.
The first was a television interview with Zsolt Bayer on Hír TV, which was a follow-up to his shameful role in the interruption of Tímea Szabó’s speech in parliament on the shortage of masks, rubber gloves, and other necessary protective clothing in Hungary when millions of these necessary items are being sent abroad. As I indicated in my earlier article on the incident, I’m almost 100% sure that it was László Kövér who orchestrated the scene, which was meant to show Szabó’s lack of empathy with fellow Hungarians across the border.
So, let’s see what Kövér had to say on the subject. He admitted that he is unhappy being stuck at home. While in the past he dreaded chairing the parliamentary sessions on Mondays because of all the opposition speeches before the agenda, he never thought that he would wake up on a Monday morning thinking that “it was wonderful to go into the House to join the many patients there.” He quickly added that not all MPs need medical care. It was hard to miss that Kövér was speaking about the opposition members, who need special psychiatric care. It also became clear soon enough what the president of the Hungarian parliament thinks of women when Bayer asked him “how he can in sound mind endure speeches by Tímea Szabó.” Kövér readily admitted that he looks “on these members with pity, especially those with a personal number starting with 2.”
Let me explain. A 1974 law assigned everybody a “personal number” (személyi szám). The personal numbers of men began with 1 and women with 2. Actually, Kövér is behind the times, because since 2000 the numbers changed to 3 and 4. Kövér obviously thinks so little of women that he doesn’t even call them “women,” as Pesti Bulvár noted. By way of a historical footnote, it is telling that in the early days Fidesz was known to be a boys’ club. In an interview with László Kéri published in 1994, Viktor Orbán said that, in the large dormitory in which he lived in his first year of law school, he already knew everybody because they had served together in the army. “There were a few who managed to avoid the army. We didn’t think much of them. And, of course, the girls.”
But this misogynist interview paled in comparison to the one that appeared in András Bencsik’s Demokrata, a far-right government organ.
First, it is a verbal attack against the European Union, which is compared to the Third Reich: “As if the globalist leaders sitting in the bunker in Brussels no longer believed in victory. They realized that their tactics have failed and are slowing taking up a defensive posture, yet in desperation are continuing their fight. They are waiting for the Wunderwaffe, which is Article 7 at the moment.”
His other topic is the hated opposition. “The opposition is not part of the Hungarian nation, but a comprador outfit of the world elite. In this sense, they are not different from Mátyás Rákosi and Ernő Gerő. The only difference is that the latter returned from Moscow, while the former arrived in their Hungarian posts after experience and service overseas in Uganda and Afghanistan.” Let’s clear up the meaning of comprador. He/she is “a native-born agent in China and certain other Asian countries formerly employed by a foreign business to serve as a collaborator in commercial transactions.” In brief, the Hungarian opposition en bloc are foreign agents in the pay of the world elite, by which Kövér means Jews. This interpretation is reinforced by his reference to Rákosi and Gerő.
Moreover, to make the story complete, he turned to George Soros, who made his fortune by ruining entire societies. Here is the important passage: “It should be noted that, if we were to name the most disgusting feature of capitalism, speculation would probably first come to mind. A speculator is a person who, without work, performance, or creation of value, preys on the value produced by others. The best example of this sort is George Soros, for whom it is not enough to rob countries and societies to become one of the richest people in the world; it is not enough to illegally influence international institutions. He also poses as a great humanitarian.”
It is hard to say at the moment which elements of this interview will give rise to the greatest indignation: the exclusion of the opposition from the nation, the comparison of the European Union to the Third Reich, or the description of the opposition as a group of foreign agents in the pay of the international Jewry.
The well-known blog “Örülünk Vincent?” already has its verdict. (I left out a couple of obscenities from the text.) “László Kövér declared that I am not a part of the Hungarian nation. Your ancestors excluded me from the Hungarian nation in 1938 when I wasn’t even alive. Then, they robbed us and killed my family. Yes, you are little fascists, anti-Semites, even psychopaths. No, I’m not a part of your Hungarian nation and I don’t ever want to be part of it. I want to be a member of my little Hungarian nation, dear president of the parliament, that you have nothing to do with.”