Paks crisis cost less and finished early – Magyar takes a swipe at Orbán’s record

The head of government explained that there had been several days this summer when Hungary simultaneously faced multiple crises and challenges that a state should have been preparing for over the course of decades. He listed an unprecedented drought, a heat dome, record heat, severe water shortages, record-low water levels on the Danube, and an energy crisis of historic proportions.

He recalled that while the extreme heat meant electricity demand was higher than ever before, the country’s most important power plant was losing ever more of its generating capacity due to the extraordinary heat and the receding Danube. There was a moment, he added, when the Paks nuclear power plant was producing just 230 megawatts instead of its nominal 2,000 megawatts.

Péter Magyar said there are moments in the life of a country when it becomes clear how the state is structured, how much its institutions are worth, how much the preparedness and work of its professionals count, how much a government’s capacity for decision-making is worth, and it also becomes clear “how much we can count on one another.”

He pointed out that when Hungarian people and companies were asked to voluntarily reduce and reschedule their electricity consumption during the critical hours, they did so.

He touched on the fact that, during this time, a struggle was underway at Paks “for every centimetre of the Danube’s water level,” with specialists measuring the river around the clock and the government holding an away session in Paks.

He stated that the government did what a government’s job is in a crisis situation: once specialists say what is needed, the government decides and secures the resources, money, tools, personnel, and legal conditions required for implementation — and then lets those whose task it is get on with the work.

He stressed that the work carried out to raise the Danube’s water level in the interest of operating the Paks power plant in the summer of 2026 “has, for the first time in several decades, progressed faster and will cost less” than planned. Péter Magyar, commenting on the work, emphasised: “it did not fall behind schedule, it did not end up costing three times as much, as everything does under the Orbán governments — instead it became faster and cheaper.”

He stressed that the successful management of the crisis was not the success of the prime minister, a minister, the government, or the Tisza Party, but the shared success of Hungary and every Hungarian — the engineers, the soldiers, the water management professionals, the energy specialists, the companies, the workers, the families, the people. What the government had to contribute to their achievement was to make immediate decisions when needed and to ensure the funding and resources, he pointed out.

He summed it up by saying that “this summer there were two Hungaries”: one worked, the other talked; one Hungary sought solutions, the other sought scapegoats; one Hungary was on the Danube, the other was holidaying at the seaside.

One Hungary asked what still needed to be done to protect their homeland; the other asked how political capital could be made from it, said Péter Magyar, noting that a politician’s responsibility does not end when they go into opposition — and especially does not end after 16 years in government.

He stated that there is nothing wrong with taking a holiday in itself — everyone needs rest, opposition politicians and the former prime minister included. The question is what they do when their country is facing a crisis unlike anything seen before, he said.

He continued: Viktor Orbán led the country for 16 years, for nearly six thousand days. The state of the water management system, the problems with the cooling water system and pumps at Paks, and the vulnerability of the energy system did not develop over a hundred days — nor were the missed investments missed over a hundred days.

He objected that when the consequences of these problems hit the country all at once, they received scaremongering and fake news from those who had governed for 16 years.

The Prime Minister said he is not interested in what kind of boat Viktor Orbán is vacationing on or what beer he drinks — what interests him is where the leaders of the parliamentary parties were and what they did when the Hungarian people needed them.

After 16 years, perhaps it is precisely the former prime minister and the former governing parties who should help reveal what investments were delayed and what professional warnings were received, he said.

Péter Magyar added that in the autumn they will submit the new climate law and new water management regulations to the National Assembly, review the condition and protection of critical infrastructure as well as the reserve systems, and expand them if necessary. They will also review the investments that should have been launched years ago, and investigate why they were not.

The Prime Minister said the entire country is grateful to those who took part in the works at Paks. At that moment, members of the Tisza faction in the chamber rose to their feet and applauded.

According to Péter Magyar, what the country can take away from this crisis is the knowledge that it was capable of resolving it, as well as the lesson that such a situation must never catch it unprepared again. He stressed that the economy is increasingly dependent on a stable energy supply, and a responsible state must be ready for this.

“We solved it together, jointly,” he said, adding that when trouble arose, the country could count on its people — the country remained functional, people did not turn against one another, they worked, helped, adapted, and found solutions.

Péter Magyar closed his address by saying that Hungary had stood its ground, and that when trouble came again, it would stand its ground then too, because they are building a functioning, responsible, strong, and humane country that prepares itself for hardships.

Artificial intelligence was used for the translation of parts of the original Hungarian text.