2014年经济学人 匈牙利 维克托陷入冲突（在线收听）

Hungary

Viktor goes to war

The Hungarian leader squabbles with some in his party and with America

THE new year has not started well for Viktor Orban, Hungary's pugnacious prime minister. Support for his ruling right-wing Fidesz party is sliding. A recent poll by Median showed a drop from 38% to 26%, representing a loss of some 900,000 voters. Mr Orban's personal popularity plummeted by 16 percentage points. Other pollsters find similar results.

The immediate cause for the discontent was a planned internet tax, which was hastily withdrawn after a demonstration in late October brought tens of thousands of protesters onto the streets of Budapest. Yet instead of placating angry Hungarians, the government's retreat—the first of any significance since its most recent landslide election victory in April 2014—seems to have galvanised them. Their growing anger has deep roots.

Stories about the luxuries and fancy properties enjoyed by some government ministers and their friends, even as poverty is rising, are causing fissures within Fidesz. Zoltan Pokorni, a former party president and education minister, who is now a district mayor in Budapest, called for an end to the “flamboyant lifestyles” of government members and “leading politicians”. Mr Pokorni was slapped down by Janos Lazar, Mr Orban's chief of staff, but his remark was given wide publicity.

Concern is also growing within Fidesz that a row with the Americans may develop into a full-blown diplomatic crisis. Six Hungarian officials have been banned from entering the United States on suspicions of corruption, a highly unusual sanction against a NATO ally. The United States is refusing to name them, citing privacy. However, Ildiko Vida, the head of the tax authority, has admitted to being on the list, and she strongly denies any wrongdoing. Encouraged by Mr Orban, she is suing Andre Goodfriend, the American chargé d'affaires in Budapest, for defamation. The lawsuit is unlikely to go anywhere, since Mr Goodfriend has diplomatic immunity.

The holiday offered a chance for tempers to cool and for revisions to Hungary's foreign policy. A turn towards Moscow has backfired after the Ukraine crisis and the collapse of the rouble. Hungarian officials have told Western ambassadors that a much-vaunted “eastern opening” has failed to bring as much foreign trade and investment as they hoped. President Vladimir Putin's cancellation of the South Stream pipeline project, backed by Hungary, was a blow to its energy strategy.

Yet instead of patching up relations with the Americans, Mr Orban and his ministers have launched an attack. He dismissed the claims of corruption as a “cover story” for American attempts to increase influence in the region. The United States was interfering in the domestic political affairs of central European countries, he added. The driving factors were the conflict in Ukraine and the negotiations between the European Union and the Americans over free trade. “They want to draw us into a conflict, which can only have a bad outcome for us.” America was just conveying concerns about democracy and the rule of law to the Hungarian government, retorted a State Department spokesman.

Aggressive claims about America's behaviour have now been made by Mr Lazar, by Antal Rogan, Fidesz's parliamentary leader and by Peter Szijjarto, the foreign minister, all of whom have given interviews to pro-government media. Mr Szijjarto told Magyar Nemzet that “external and internal” powers wanted to “destabilise” Hungary. The rift with America dates back to the passing of a controversial media law, says Zoltan Kovacs, a government spokesman. “There is a visible and tangible dislike of the US administration towards us since 2011.” Such sentiments may play well with Fidesz's base, but they are unlikely to expand it.