Magyar: There is no second chance

There were two main commemorations held in Budapest on Sunday on the anniversary of the 1848 Hungarian uprising against Habsburg rule. The governing parties' central event featured Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as the main speaker, while the biggest opposition force, the Tisza Party gathered its followers a few hours later at Heroes' Square, where the party's leader gave a speech after a brief program.

Péter Magyar began his address by saying that it rained on this day in 1848, and then spoke about how people living in different parts of the country at the time likely started their day. “Everyone went about their business; no one thought that something would irrevocably change on that day” he said, then described a scene in which, by the end, each of the characters knew that “the time had come. That morning, a miracle swept through the Carpathian Basin,” Magyar said.

“Freedom is the ancient right of every Hungarian,” he continued, adding that no matter where the people he had described came from, they were all Hungarians who wanted to do something for their homeland. According to Magyar, the decision of the ancestors was firm, but national independence must be fought for again and again. Switching to the present day,

Magyar stressed that Hungary is part of the European community and NATO – at this, loud cheers and applause erupted.

“We are not afraid!” Magyar said before repeating a statement he had made in previous speeches: “Nothing lasts forever; even over the course of 150 years, we did not become Turks.” In his view, the Hungarians of 1848 wanted nothing else but to be free. “Freedom goes unnoticed when one has it, but its absence kills,” the president of the Tisza Party said. He believes that in 1848, Hungarians fought for freedom and against censorship, and in his view, this remains the issue today.

According to Magyar, past leaders never wanted Hungarian citizens to be self-aware; they did not want to unite the nation or heal the scars of history. “They wanted subjects who would never talk back,” he said, adding that there are also those who wanted subjects who could be poisoned by foreign multi-national corporations – a reference to the recent scandal around Samsung’s battery factory in Göd.

Magyar said that all should be treated as equal citizens in their homeland, not just the privileged, but every Hungarian person should be a free Hungarian citizen.

"A citizen is someone who has the right not to die prematurely from illness. A citizen is someone who has the right to education; a citizen is someone whom the state, to which they pay taxes, protects from tyrannical politicians, pollution-causing factories, and pedophile monsters" – Magyar said, and then went on to speak about the purpose of paying taxes and how, in his view, “a citizen is someone who won’t let leaders call them insects to be crushed!”

What will a future Tisza Party government look like?

He then spoke about what a future Tisza party government would look like. “The Tisza government, which will be formed in the spring of 2026, will work 24 hours a day, every day of the week on making sure that all Hungarian citizens are equal.” His words were met with thunderous cheers and chanting in Heroes' Square.

Magyar then began listing the Tisza Party's campaign promises. He promised to bring home 8 trillion forints in EU subsidies and said they would impose a wealth tax on billionaires. They will commit to reforming the pension system and will secure funds so those who built the country can afford to buy food and medicine. Seven hundred thousand children will receive back-to-school assistance, hospitals will be modernized and smaller, rural hospitals will receive support. “We will restart the economy,” and will establish an office for recovering national assets from those who have taken them. “We will not be a country without consequences,” he said. He stressed that those who have taken something from the common purse deserve to be punished.

Magyar said they will do away with the "propaganda," will limit the prime minister’s term to two cycles, and added that they will review this possibility of doing this for other positions as well. “No matter what the terrified emperor of Hatvanpuszta might try, we are already united; we have crossed the divides of division,” he said, adding that Hungarians can no longer be divided.

Orbán betrayed the Hungarian people for 30 pieces of silver

According to Magyar, April 12 will mark the beginning of the rise of the Hungarian nation; in his words, “the future is knocking at the door.”

“Viktor Orbán called in agents to prevent the will of the Hungarians from prevailing,” he said. According to Magyar, Orbán betrayed the will of the Hungarian people for 30 pieces of silver, which is a threefold “reproach”. He said that Orbán betrayed the will of the Hungarian people for 30 pieces of silver, which is a threefold “reproach”. On April 12, the Tisza will achieve a victory so great that it will not only be visible from the Moon, “but from the Kremlin as well".

Our victory will be so great that even the Russian agents sent here will hear that it is over. “Tovarishi konyetz, tovarishi konyetz!” (“Comrades, it’s over!” – a Russian phrase which became iconic in Hungary in 1990 to mark the end of the Soviet-backed communist regime and the departure of Soviet troops from the country) Magyar said, with chants of “Russians, go home!” echoing across Heroes’ Square in response. “Viktor Orbán is a traitor. Instead of building up our country, he turned it into the poorest country in the EU,” the Tisza chairman concluded.

The country is in as much trouble now as it was in the time of our ancestors, he said, adding that over the next 28 days, “we must work harder than ever. We must win the election “for the common homeland of all Hungarians.” In his view, those who choose the Tisza Party are opting for a proud, peaceful, European Hungary. He says that those who do not vote for them will not be harmed, nor will they be labelled as traitors. He believes that the hatred will end at 7 p.m. on April 12. He then made a promise to the crowd:

“I, Péter Magyar, swear that I will serve all Hungarians, both those within and those beyond our borders. […] I swear that my country’s new government will do everything in its power to heal the wounds of history.”

The opposition leader then addressed the country’s youth, encouraging them to show the strength that lies within them, as they are the future; “we will rebuild our homeland with you and for you”, he said. In his view, anyone who does not go out to vote on April 12 is “voting for the old emperor and for slavery”. “This country is so much more than what they’ve tried to make it,” he said. In his view, by joining forces, not only can an era be brought to an end, but a more humane, more decent Hungary can be built – one where people aren't just forced to survive, but one where they can thrive in peace.

According to Magyar, those who gathered at Heroes' Square today are writing Hungary’s history, but he believes they "are also responsible for the fate of the next generation.”

“Fight hard, as if there were no second chance”, he said.

He closed by saying that they are standing at the doorstep of victory; all they have to do is cross it. “No more excuses, no holding back, no pacing yourself – just work.” In his view, just like there is no stopping spring, there is no stopping the Tisza Party, there is no stopping change, and there is no stopping the country’s youth.

When he concluded his speech, all of the Tisza Party’s candidates in the April parliamentary elections joined him on stage.