The Hungarian Ministry of abroad Affairs submitted a announcement to the D.A. on August 25 on suspicion of fraud erstwhile buying nearly 17,000 respirators for 300 billion forints, or about $964 million, from the time of Viktor Orbán's government. Minister Anita Orbán speaks of 130 000 recovered files and equipment that the state could not actually use. For Poland it is simply a informing that crisis purchases require hard control.
Notification after audit of the MFA
The Hungarian Ministry of abroad Affairs referred the case of pandemic purchases of respirators to the prosecutor's office. By Reuters It is almost 17,000 devices purchased in 2020 for 300 billion forints, or about $964 million. Minister Anita Orbán reported that the announcement is based on 88 gigabytes of data and 130 1000 recovered files.
It's not just an accounting malfunction. This is simply a question of a state which, at the minute of fear and a real wellness threat, could have been treated as money to service political and business intermediaries. If the D.A. confirms suspicions, Hungary will be billed for a model of governance in which loyalty to the arrangement is more crucial than controlling citizens' money.
Respirators beyond strategy capabilities
According to Associated Press, ministry talks about possible fraud, breach of trust duties and another crimes. The case concerns purchases from March and April 2020 erstwhile Viktor Orbán's government brought in respirators from China. Even then, critics indicated that the state was buying more equipment than it could actually run with the number of doctors, intensive care nurses and beds available.
That's the point of the problem. The respirator does not treat itself if there are no staff, procedures and place in the ward. A country that buys devices in panic without a real-world account does not build security. He's building a cost warehouse. According to the current MFA, most of the 2020 respirators are inactive to be in storage, and the cost of storing unused equipment has gone into millions of dollars.
Mediators and Chinese direction
The Hungarian thread is peculiarly sensitive, due to the fact that pandemic buying was conducted by the Ministry of abroad Affairs, not just the classical wellness administration. Péter Szijártó was liable for close relations with China for erstwhile governments and supervised both the acquisition of respirators and the introduction of Sinopharm vaccines. The later career of the erstwhile minister in the Chinese company BYD only tightened up questions about the boundaries between politics, economy and the state interest.
Older organisation arrangements Transparency global Hungary They showed that the fleet of over 17,000 devices cost Hungarian taxpayers over 300 billion forints, and part of the transaction passed through intermediary companies. Investigative service Direkt36 As early as 2020, he wrote that Hungary paid highly expensively for Chinese equipment against another EU countries.
In the Polish debate on Hungary, it is besides easy to fall into a camp of uncritical praise or thoughtless contempt. DN wrote earlier that Viktor Orbán may lose powerWhen the opposition took over the initiative. present it is clear that political change in Budapest besides means trying to settle old power mechanisms.
Lesson for the Right
For years, Fidesz has portrayed himself as a defender of sovereignty, borders and national interest. In many disputes with Brussels, he was right in principle: the national state cannot be an administrative branch of EU ideologists. But sovereignty without integrity inside the state rots from the inside. National business isn't about your slowness anymore.
Therefore, the substance of respirators is painful for the right too. If the formation talks about the nation, family, safety and state cause, it must have clean hands with public money. Otherwise, it gives ammunition to those who want to bring all policy of sovereignty to corruption, provincialism and private interests.
It is not about accepting the narratives of liberal elites who frequently treat the accounts selectively. It's about your standard. The right, which wants to be more than a method of acquiring positions, must separate loyalty to the nation from loyalty to the cameramates. That's the difference.
Rate besides for Poland
For Poland, the proposal is simple. Crisis, pandemic, war, migratory force or abrupt military buying do not bear the work of control. On the contrary, then control is the most important, due to the fact that decisions go fast, the amounts rise, and the public hears the argument: safety has no price.
But safety has a bill. He is paid by families, employees and entrepreneurs. If the state spends billions, the citizen has the right to know who got the contract, who was the middleman, how much money he made, and whether the equipment truly serves people. A tough nation country does not fear specified questions. They're only afraid of a camera that mistook power for its wealth.
The Hungarian D.A.'s just going to analyse the notice. The presumption of innocence applies. However, the political lesson already exists: sovereignty requires institutions that can defender their own money as hard as they can defender the borders and competences of the state.
Source: WP News, Reuters, Associated Press, Transparency global Hungary, Direkt36.
Source: WP News
