It is one of the most crucial questions of our time how a given government handles the seemingly unstoppable spread of the novel coronavirus. Everybody seems to believe that they know better what a government is supposed to do in such unprecedented situations. The Hungarian left-wing is no exception.

What proved to be the best reaction to the virus – if we look at the numbers – is what the Hungarian government lead by Viktor Orban decided to do among others, and this reaction is a steady consistency combined with patience. This is what can save lives in his opinion. In his latest interview, he said, “we have to comply with the rules” in order to survive this.

Let us just take a look at what happens with the countries that wanted to have a bubbly Christmas instead of having the strength, take a deep breath, and protect their nation – as Orban referred to it. What he meant was making sacrifices for the future and taking actions that work in the long run. One example of this is Portugal. Before Christmas, they reopened the country for four days, and now – no surprise – the numbers are in the stars. They have stirred the wheel left and right for months, and now they ended up in a devastating state in need of the german army, the Bundeswehr to send help: without external assistance, they would be completely helpless.

As opposed to Portugal’s once convenient and popular decision, Orban made the hard choice of not lifting the restrictions – for which he received hot and cold – and the numbers are either steady or lowering in his country. It is a fact – regardless of one’s political views -, that in the countries that had restricted and lifted bans repeatedly, the data shows a great rise in case and death numbers.

Just this Friday, Orban said in an interview that vaccination is the solution, and there will be no tougher restrictions since we have started vaccinating.

The vaccinating process is a difficult question in the EU. Although the Commission has managed to make good deals on vaccines, in Orban’s opinion they have failed to understand that vaccination is a time-sensitive issue, which must be dealt with considering the time in the first place. “The problem is not the construction of business that the EU provided, it is time”.

The Hungarian PM also mentioned that the European Commission is too slow to approve vaccines against COVID-19, he said

“I do not trust Brussel’s inspections any more than what Hungarian experts can provide” – said Orban.

The importance of vaccination is unquestionable when it comes to lifting the bans in most government's opinion. This is something Orban and other leading politicians agree on, regardless of them disagreeing on other issues.

- and to save manpower and small businesses.

Hungary has vaccinated more of its population than the big decision-makers of the EU, like Germany, France, Austria, and of course, Portugal, but the list could go on.

The Hungarian opposition’s demands are endless and unreasonable, but they are still yet to provide any possible ideas even close to a solution to a problem that is not even of political origin. They collectively and consistently fail to acknowledge anything – such as lowering numbers in statistics – that would prove Orban’s government right, but keep pushing impossible demands such as the government providing everything to everybody free and anywhere, quite frankly they wish to see the governing party bringing down the stars from the skies for free, and of course, immediately.

The left-wing politicians overdemand during a pandemic that should rather make them allies of the government and the people to get through this difficult time than them pointing fingers at every step of the way without offering a better alternative.

Orban’s government is actually trying to fix what the previous leftist government had taken away, starting with raising medical staff’s salaries and reinstating the additional 13th-month pension to the elderly. To that, Orban noted Friday morning, that he has to look in two directions, „cleaning up the mess that the leftist government made 10 years ago, and also prepare for the future”.

– he said.