Deputy PM Semjén: All Tisza party can do is hurl hatred and slander at PM Orbán

The opposition Tisza Party is an empty vessel bereft of ideas, and all it can do is hurl hatred and slander at Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Zsolt Semjén, the deputy PM, said during a podium discussion at the 34th Bálványosi Summer Free University and Student Camp in Baile Tusnad (Tusnádfürdő) on Thursday.

Semjén said the Tisza Party was incapable of saying anything meaningful about any relevant issue. “They don’t have party experts, which is why they’re not setting up a shadow government,” he said, adding that Tisza could not name their candidates for Hungary’s 106 individual constituencies “because they don’t have 106 people” available as candidates.

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He said the 2026 general election would be won by parties that win 60 individual electoral districts and do well on national party lists, “especially if the Hungarians in Transylvania, too, support them”.

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Commenting on Hungarian-Romanian bilateral relations, he said much closer cooperation should be maintained between the two countries, which would serve the interest of both Hungary and Romania and therefore the interests of Transylvanian Hungarians, too.

President of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania Hunor Kelemen told the podium discussion that it was a fundamental interest of Transylvanian Hungarians to strengthen bilateral relations and make dialogue permanent.

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He said he had attended the informal meeting of Orbán and Romanian Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan on Wednesday evening. He added that the two prime ministers had immediately found a common wavelength and had been able to consult about important issues. The nearly two-hour meeting was characterised by mutual respect and sincere dialogue, he said.