People are afraid that we will go to war, says the leader of the satirical dog party

/From a special correspondent in Hungary./

“The more often I talk to foreign journalists now, the more I realize that the propaganda of the Orbán regime has an influence on me as well regarding the perception of the war in Ukraine,” Hungarian liberal politician Marietta Le told me after our conversation in Budapest.

In the elections to the European Parliament, he leads the non-parliamentary satirical protest Party of the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog. Satire and extortion from the system are party tools in Hungarian politics.

Even though Marietta Le is clear about her program priorities, when it comes to the party’s position on the war in Ukraine and its solution, she repeatedly says that the party does not have a clear position on this.

In the European elections, the party would like to win three mandates out of 21, which will go to Hungary. Polls suggest that she could get over the five percent mark in the national elections for the first time.

What role do you think humor and satire play in politics? Is it still your main program? How has your party changed since registration began in 2014?

Humor is still part of our program. We always say that we are the fun party and the other parties are just a joke. We take community building and community events seriously, that’s our theme, that’s what we do. But at the same time, we make fun of politics and laugh at how ironic traditional politics is. This is important to us.

I registered that part of your campaign in Szeged was a dog beauty contest.

Yes, I was there. There were lots of beautiful and well-behaved dogs. Unfortunately, my ill-behaved dog was also there and could not participate.

But during the campaign we organize a number of community events: we paint public space, we paint sidewalks that are cracked and potholed and should be repaired, we build shelters at bus stops. We also did humanitarian collections for Ukrainian war refugees.

Marietta Le and “Dog Party”

Is this Hungarian political humor of yours universal? I would say that Czechs like satire and recession, but I’m not sure if they understand how satire can be the program of a political party. I have a bit of a problem with that myself.

That is a good question. I think Hungarians also like to laugh and that laughter and humor help them cope with problems. This makes our party popular because we laugh at things or point out the absurdity of politics or our public life.

Things often happen that you never thought would happen. Two weeks ago we were in Brussels and we went to look at the famous ledge, along which the married Fidesz MEP Josef Sájer ran from a gay sex party in 2020. This is so absurd that you can’t even imagine it. We make fun of it.

Are you now more of a satirical party or a protest party?

It is difficult to define ourselves as a protest party, although some of our voters certainly perceive us as such. Satire is more of a tool for us. It is a tool we use to explain that we are different from traditional political parties.

I have already heard the term Orbán’s system several times during interviews in Budapest. What do you think the term means? Is it a designation for the government or the regime?

I think when people talk about Orbán’s system or regime, they are talking about the capture of the entire state that happened after 2010, when Orbán first won a constitutional majority. The ruling party controls the media, there is a strong control of the economy, power over EU funds and also in many aspects of public life through the media and setting the topics of public discussion.

Do you not regret in retrospect that you did not join the united opposition candidate in the 2022 parliamentary elections? You faced criticism because of this, your solo is said to have helped Viktor Orbán win thanks to a specific electoral system.

Yes, they criticize us for that. But the fact is that the people who support the Dog Party are people who are very disappointed with traditional politics, and even with the opposition parties. This also makes us popular because people are looking for alternative solutions to politics.

Péter Magyar messed with Hungarian politics

The big European topic is the Russian war in Ukraine. What position do you hold? Is it closer to the position of, say, the Czech or Polish government, or that of Orbán? Is the attitude towards Russian aggression in Ukraine also a topic of the campaign for you?

Not even now. Perhaps in the sense that there is a lot of propaganda about the war, which causes Hungarians to worry that we will be involved in the conflict in some way. But that is not true, no one from the opposition says that the Hungarians should go to war.

Of course we want the war to end, but the problem is that Orbán’s government is spreading propaganda about the opposition. I was close to the Hungarian-Ukrainian border, and there even people who otherwise support the opposition believe that there is a threat of Hungary entering the war. I don’t understand how they got there. I see propaganda, disinformation, conspiracies and the Russians behind it. It works for them.

I noticed a big difference in Budapest compared to Prague. In the Czech capital, you can still quite often come across Ukrainian flags – on institutions, but also in the windows of houses. I’ve only seen two in Budapest so far: one in the hallway outside the mayor’s office and the other sprayed on an old wall next to a bar. Why is it?

Hard to say. I am here and I live in an environment where propaganda surrounds me from all sides. In the media, on posters, in public space. I don’t even know when the Ukrainian flags disappeared, I didn’t notice it.

Are you not avoiding the topic of the war in Ukraine in your campaign? Maybe out of fear that it might turn against you?

In the party, we did not discuss the war as our topic. When the war started, we organized aid and collection for refugees here in Budapest at the railway station. That is our position. As long as the war continues, there is a need for humanitarian support for Ukrainians.

But in a war, the attacked party cannot resist humanitarian aid. Are you also in favor of supplying arms to Ukraine? The Czech Republic came up with a big initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine from third countries, and many EU countries have already participated financially. Do you think Hungary should also get involved?

I don’t know, we don’t have a strong position on this issue. Our main position is that we want the war to end, and in this regard the EU must come up with a common solution. We want Hungary to join this joint solution, whatever it may be.

Under what circumstances should peace occur? Is it the return of Ukraine to the borders of 1991? Or should Ukrainians give up Donbas, Crimea?

I know why you are asking this, but we have no position on this within our party. Maybe we will have it, but I can’t say yet.

You have a chance to become an MEP. What would you like to do for Europe in the European Parliament?

We support civic participation. I worked on the first participatory budget of Budapest, so I have experience. We want to introduce something in a similar spirit.

Now we have a project that transfers money from a state subsidy for a political party to a fund from which we support civic initiatives. Instead of paying for billboards and printing flyers, we give money to people to do something for their community. We would like to start a similar thing in the European Parliament. We call it the Robin Hood Funds at work.

We also support the strengthening of direct democracy. Many people ask me why the head of the European Commission is not directly elected.

At your petition stand, you gave me a fake ten-thousand dollar bill with the likeness of George Soros on it. Is Soros still a topic? I did not see him on the election posters of Orbán’s Fidesz this time.

Yes, they replaced him with Ursula von der Leyen. I think the government is trying to make a new enemy out of her. About six months ago, however, they put up other posters on which von der Leyen was with Soros’ son Alex.

What is that crowd of people on the back of that Sokolov banknote?

It says that they are migrants from George Soros who are attacking our country.

A new force invaded the political map this year – ex-Fidesz member Péter Magyar with his Tisza party. According to surveys, it will mainly take away voters from the opposition, including your party. Aren’t you afraid of this new entity? In the polls, he leapfrogged the previous opposition.

It is very popular. I think he did Hungarian politics a service by shaking it up. Thanks to this, people are interested in politics again. Topics like the fight against corruption are on the table again, which is great.

But we differ from Péter Magyar in our political style. He does traditional politics, he is one leader that people follow, he has his party and it is mainly about words. But in our party, something tangible must be done, something for the community, and everything we do is aimed at a longer-term change.

You have support mainly among young people. Do you know the problems of young Hungarians? After all, many of them go abroad, emigrate.

We actually thought about creating a fence around Hungary, which would keep Hungarians inside Hungary so that they would not go abroad for work.

But otherwise you are right, they are leaving because of economic opportunities abroad, many of them also because of the Orbán regime. It bothers them that all the news is influenced by propaganda, but young people are not stupid.

A lot of services are also not working, and education and healthcare are also in a bad state.

I also heard about education and health care at Péter Magyar’s demonstration…

Orbán’s regime changed teachers’ contracts. Another topic is healthcare. Even if health care is free, if people want quality care, they have to pay for private care.

How many MEPs are you aiming for in the elections?

The idea is to have three MPs so we can work as a team, but we’ll see how it turns out in the end.