The Prime Minister caused some surprise when he chose not to specify his government’s eagerly awaited economic reforms, but simply prepared the ground for them. Orbán might not only leave the bad news for others but also tries hard to divert the attention from the most delicate issues. With careful design, Orbán has chances to succeed with the reform, but still, this spring seems to be the most challenging period for his party’s honeymoon with the voters since he took office.

State of the Nation speeches have become established parts of the Hungarian political culture in the last 13 years. It was Prime Minister Viktor Orbán who introduced this institution and made most of the work throughout the years to set the frame of what can be expected from a season opening address. These speeches were never meant to be concrete policy guidelines for the upcoming months and were rather characterized by some general statements on the Fidesz vision for the country. Since Orbán decided to evaluate the political situation in Hungary, he mostly opted for motivating his voting base with combative language and catchy metaphors instead of trying to reach out to new target groups or to please analysts.

Policy Solutions' analysis on PM Orbán's State of the Nation speeches can be downloaded from here.