A newly announced billboard campaign is raising concerns that the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, is once again using antisemitic tropes to further his political goals at home.
For years, the Hungarian leader promoted the idea that shadowy global forces were conspiring to meddle in Hungary’s politics, prompting criticism that he was using antisemitic narratives to distract from the country’s challenges.
In 2019, a controversial Hungarian government-funded campaign took aim at the Hungarian-American businessman George Soros and then-European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, prompting the commission to accuse Budapest of promoting a conspiracy theory.
Now, Orbán appears to be returning to the theme.
Hungary’s government on Friday unveiled a billboard campaign showing Ursula von der Leyen, president of the commission, and Alex Soros, George Soros’ son and the current chair of the Open Society Foundations, with the slogan: “Let’s not dance to their tune”.
The billboards are part of a so-called national consultation “on the defence of our sovereignty”, which includes a questionnaire that the Hungarian government will mail to each citizen on issues such as EU support for Ukraine.
The new campaign has renewed worries that the Hungarian government is promoting antisemitic narratives.
“Orbán tried to undermine Juncker by linking him to Soros, now he’s trying to do that with Soros’ son and von der Leyen,” said Attila Ara-Kovács, a member of the European parliament from Hungary’s opposition Democratic Coalition party.
“The European Commission led by von der Leyen is too soft” on Orbán, the parliamentarian said, adding that the Hungarian government’s behaviour was “antisemitic and anti-EU”.
The campaign could mark a turning point in the Hungarian government’s relationship with Brussels.
For months, Orbán’s government has negotiated with the European Commission with the aim of unfreezing billions of euros earmarked for Hungary that the EU had suspended overrule of law concerns.
A senior Hungarian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said on Saturday that the new campaign was a sign that the government had given up on trying to access the funds.
The billboard campaign comes at a time when there are also concerns about government plans for a new “sovereignty” bill, which could put more pressure on independent voices within the country.
“To the extent that this bill may seek to criminalise and or intimidate independent civil society and media organisations, that is very dangerous, and I hope that’s not the path that Hungary chooses to go down,” the US ambassador in Budapest, David Pressman, said earlier this week.
The Hungarian government, which in the past has insisted that it opposes all forms of antisemitism, did not respond to a request for comment.
But at a time when Jewish communities across Europe are increasingly concerned about antisemitism, the new billboard has not gone unnoticed.
“Soros has long been a lightning rod for antisemitic conspiracies,” said Ali Bricman, the director of EU affairs at B’nai B’rith International, in a social media post.
“Jewish control, secret agendas – the same narratives peddled increasingly since Oct 7 on the other side of the pol spectrum,” she said.
“We must call it out each time,” she added.
