The Responsibility of Renewal

Change is not a single political act, but a continuous practice of democratic oversight and accountability.

It appears that Viktor Orbán may soon withdraw from the front line of politics. It is therefore time for us, too, to reflect on what renewal means for us.

Author: Balazs Lang

Looking at the new government, it feels as though a long-desired yet scarcely hoped-for political turn has suddenly become tangible reality. So far, this may sound like an overly enthusiastic production report. What truly matters, however, is this:

With the victory of Hungarians who wanted change, the citizen can finally step out of the passive role of sufferer and, in the spirit of classical republican thought, assume the position of principal.

The appointment of Ruff, or the insistence on Lannert, has shown that we did not cast our popular will into the ballot box once and for all together with our vote.

The direction of the relationship has been reversed: we no longer adapt ourselves to political power; public authority now owes accountability to us. We have grown unaccustomed to this, but at last it is not we who serve them. If we do this well, they will serve us.

All of us. The misled but otherwise blameless Fidesz voters just as much as DK supporters or Two-Tailed Dog Party voters. Yes, from now on we must look after them too, and anyone who did not leave their insults in the ballot box on April 12 does not understand what an extraordinary opportunity this is to build a far more liveable country.

“Salus populi suprema lex esto”, let the welfare of the people be the highest law. This ancient maxim is now not merely a rhetorical ornament, but a standard: a normative foundation to which every public actor must conform.

This condition, however, is neither self-evident nor self-sustaining. It is an exceptional historical moment, one that must not only be celebrated, but consciously preserved and practised. Democratic authorization is not a one-time act, but an ongoing process of control and accountability.

We must demand a better, more liveable, more just civic Hungary, not as an abstract ideal, but as concrete, enforceable public-policy performance.

The responsibility of the new representatives is to ensure, within the framework of the rule of law, first and foremost the institutional conditions for fair and uncompromising accountability, and then, of course, many other things as well.

And this is where the question of personal responsibility arises. If Orbán retains even the slightest moral self-reflection, he will not take up the opportunity to assume his mandate, nor will he offer refuge within the parliamentary group to those who carry the political legacy of the past decade and a half, those who stood with him in immeasurable destruction.

A temporary retreat behind parliamentary immunity is not a solution, only a reprieve. The logic of responsibility, by contrast, points toward open confrontation with the past.

I am convinced that this confrontation cannot be avoided, and that by its own dynamic it will draw others in as well, including some who might otherwise have obtained mandates. And it will be Viktor Orbán himself, the head of the mafia government, who ensures this, because that is how politics works.

This process is the precondition for closing an era. The question is no longer whether change will happen, but whether we are capable of rising to it.

For the citizen’s newly acquired position brings not only rights, but responsibility as well: to exercise it consistently, consciously and without compromise.

Cover photo credit: Balazs Lang

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