Tempest in a teapot or more? The case of Göd

Göd, a town of 23,000 inhabitants situated between Vác and Budapest, has been in the news for months. In October 2019, at the municipal elections, Csaba Balogh, a Momentum candidate, became the mayor. His impressive win was due to the population’s dissatisfaction with the local Fidesz administration’s far too accommodating attitude toward Samsung SDI’s EV battery plant in town. They were unhappy about the already existing plant, but when they heard about the planned further enlargement of the Samsung facilities, public outcry was translated into the resounding defeat of Fidesz in Göd.

Those were the happy days. After the election: “Thank you, Göd!”

The town’s opposition to the enlargement of the battery plant, now supported by a new local administration that promised to defend local interests, became a source of anxiety for the Orbán government, which wanted smooth sailing for the South Korean company, which, with its expansion, would be the third largest investor in the country. Therefore, on April 17, 2020, Viktor Orbán issued Government Decree 135/2020 (IV.17.) “about necessary measures in the interest of the stability of the national economy,” which, according to the decree, can be achieved by creating “special economic zones” in areas that the government deems to be of national importance, especially areas with large factories.

In these special zones, factories that are situated in municipalities would no longer pay business taxes to the town or city in which they are located, but to the Fidesz-dominated county administrations. Naturally, the site of the Samsung plant was declared to be one of these special zones. With this decree, Göd was deprived of one-third of its annual revenue. Moreover, the likely troublesome town administration would no longer have any say in negotiations with Samsung.

Soon it became evident that the members of the new coalition of Momentum, DK, LMP, and Jobbik don’t see eye to eye on how to handle the situation created by Government Decree 135/2020 (IV.17.). Csaba Balogh is, it seems, an idealistic young man without much political experience. As far as I could ascertain at the time, he needed guidance, which I don’t think he received.

The town of Göd has a monthly publication Gödi Körkép (Panorama from Göd), which hasn’t appeared since May. But in that issue, the new mayor wrote a short article titled “Evaluation and Anticipation,” in which he admitted that even after nine months in office “I still can’t claim that I’m really an expert, but the intensity of the environmental issues, our vulnerability to the government, and the attention of the media have given me serious training.” Without much political experience, Balogh, with Momentum behind him, turned to the Constitutional Court. He also asked for an investigation by the European Commission because he considered the decree illegal. Having put out these feelers, he found himself embroiled in a delicate legal and political situation, and he could show practically nothing for his effort.

While battling the government and the courts, Balogh also had troubles at home. The opposition coalition fell apart. Gábor Híves, a Jobbik member of the Göd town council, claimed that Balogh is “unqualified for the job. He is too young, inexperienced, unseasoned.” Híves insisted that the unfortunate situation that developed between the mayor and those council members who voted twice to suspend his activities has nothing to do with political rivalry. The personal traits of the mayor created the tension that developed in Göd’s town hall.

A blogger who seems to be watching events in and around Göd described Csaba Balogh as a “most likely very decent man who is pleasantly naïve” but who is doing little to improve the city’s infrastructure and has been unable to come to any understanding with the Samsung management. Meanwhile the eight-member coalition behind Balogh lost five of its members, leaving only Csaba Balogh, his wife (also Momentum), and the only Párbeszéd member of the town council. As an answer to the council’s suspension of his activities, the mayor fired two of his deputies.

The situation in Göd, which has become a national issue in the last few days, is widely interpreted as a bad omen for the likelihood of a functioning coalition of opposition parties at the next national election. Those voters who have been convinced that opposition politicians will never be able to govern together and therefore the reelection of Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz is inevitable can now point to the sorry state of affairs in Göd. I wouldn’t go that far, but what’s going on in Göd is a bonanza for Fidesz, especially since the central leaderships of both the Demokratikus Koalíció and Momentum have managed to further damage their parties’ reputations in the process.

Let’s start with the Demokratikus Koalíció. Sándor Rónai, one of DK’s four members of the European Parliament, produced an audio recording of a brief conversation which, he claimed, was proof that Csaba Balogh had offered one of the deputy jobs to György Pintér, a Fidesz member of the council. Without discussing the matter with anyone in the party, Rónai released the clip as proof of Balogh’s betrayal. A day later, Momentum came out with a somewhat longer tape which put the isolated sentence in context. The additional sentence included three names as possible deputies, including Pintér in the first instance, but Balogh expressed his hope that his companions would not choose him. And so, Momentum accuses Rónai of deception while Rónai claims that the additional information doesn’t alter the fact that Balogh was ready to name a Fidesz member of the council as his deputy.

In Rónai, we have another political novice who, instead of talking to the more seasoned members of his party or getting in touch with Momentum to discuss the issue, jumped the gun and released a misleading tape. But Momentum hasn’t handled the affair well either. Anna Donáth accused DK of being the creator of fake news. “What has just happened is unworthy of DK…. This case shows something about DK and the possible future alliance that no one can be proud of. We should grow up to the task.”

The argument then escalated to a higher level, between the two party chairmen, András Fekete-Győr and Ferenc Gyurcsány. Fekete-Győr, standing in front of a road sign for Balatonőszöd, the place where Gyurcsány delivered his notorious speech in 2006, said: “One of the conditions for opposition cooperation is that WE DO NOT MANIPULATE sound recordings in order to discredit decent people. And if we manipulated and we did that from the headquarters of the Democratic Coalition, we should rethink our role as soon as possible, not only in terms of opposition cooperation but also in terms of a radical renewal of Hungarian political culture.” Since Fekete-Győr was obviously at Lake Balaton, Gyurcsány invited him for lunch in Kötcse, which the Momentum chairman didn’t accept. Instead they met halfway in Tihany, where Gyurcsány promised Fekete-Győr that he would try his best to reconcile the recalcitrant DK members of the Göd council. Gyurcsány, who according to common wisdom is a second Orbán without whom nothing can happen in the Demokratikus Koalíció, failed miserably. Instead of convincing the three DK members of the Göd town council to cooperate with the mayor, they turned their backs on the party and, without further ado, quit the Demokratikus Koalíció. So much for the all-powerful Ferenc Gyurcsány.

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On the Connecticut front, here is some information from our utility company: “The historic damage from the storm inflicted on our state cannot be overstated as it was greater than both Super Storm Sandy and Hurricane Irene. Our restoration included responding to 2,000 blocked roads, 2,500 broken poles, 1,100 damaged transformers, 10,000 trees to clear, and more than 500 miles of downed or damaged wire.”

August 12, 2020