About seven years ago, a right-wing newspaper wrote in an article that I might have been the killer of my ex-wife’s mother, even though the killers were already behind bars. A few years later, another right-wing newspaper accused me of keeping lovers, and that the Republican Guard (responsible for the protection of high ranked dignitaries) helped to cover it all up. To make the story more believable, they even showed pictures of the alleged apartment. Allegations of my son, who, apparently, stole from a supermarket, are not even worth mentioning. This type of character assassination is very characteristic of the prime minister. Whenever he feels threatened, he goes on the offensive. It transpired that his former college friend, Lajos Simicska, is president of Közgép, the company, which receives billions of state subsidies. It transpired that Viktor Orbán’s house is twice as big as it stands in his expenses files. It transpired that it is Orbán’s cronies who get every piece of land, and not the farmers who need them. And, it also transpired that the prime minister, who campaigned with radical tax cuts, is about to raise taxes on an unprecedented scale. The prime minister is cornered, hence the attempts of character assassination and the continual search for a scapegoat. But, this is not at all surprising when the deputy prime minister openly admitted that it was his task to annihilate me. And now, there is this upheaval surrounding my dissertation. There were two copies, but the university, whose responsibility it would have been to preserve them, did not do so. One copy is missing; the second was discarded by the university. Be that as it may, it is certainly not my duty to keep a record of official university documents. Of course, this was not enough for the right-wing press. They went after the case sensing blood. All they managed to discover was that the title and the topic of my dissertation matched those of my brother-in-law’s. I chose to write on the subject of viticulture because I had a great number of materials at hand. I don’t know if I used my brother-in-law’s manuscripts, but, if I did, I would like to believe that I named my source properly. But, just to make it clear: my dissertation was not a university diploma. Today, we are living in the world of character assassinations, showcase trials and insinuations. They are on the menu whenever the prime minister and Fidesz feel threatened. Following their logic, and watching where Hungary is heading to, we can expect more intimidation and baseless attacks.
Ferenc Gyurcsány; Facebook/gyurcsanyblog; April 29. 2012.