Orban’s Party Denies Report for Plans on Further Power Grab

(Bloomberg) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government quickly quashed speculation that the illiberal leader is planning a new round of power centralization.

The idea is “totally absurd,” Gergely Gulyas, who runs Orban's chancellery, told reporters in Budapest on Wednesday. The report by the news website Index is “not serious” and is aimed at energizing the oppositions' campaign for the Budapest mayoral race this fall, Fidesz's press office said in an email.

The planned power grab depends on the outcome of municipal elections in October, Index reported, citing unidentified people with knowledge of the plans inside the ruling Fidesz party. It listed amending the constitution, weakening the rights of workers in favor of employers and further measures affecting the judiciary among potential measures.

The government is unlikely to proceed with the overhaul if the opposition retakes Budapest, which ruling party officials consider a realistic scenario, Index said. Losing control of the capital would likely prompt a shake-up in Fidesz's leadership though without affecting Orban's position as head of the party.

Orban has overseen the most extensive consolidation of power in the history of the European Union since his return to power in 2010. The illiberal premier controls most of Hungary's formerly independent institutions as well as the continent's biggest propaganda machine. The EU is currently probing rule-of-law violations in Hungary while Europe's biggest political group suspended Fidesz's membership for undermining democratic standards.

To contact the reporter on this story: Zoltan Simon in Budapest at zsimon@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net, Andras Gergely

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