László Kövér : A portrait

Here and there I have written quite a bit about László Kövér, but I don't think that my readers could have formed a portrait of the man who is considered by some the eminence grise of Fidesz. Officially he is only the chairman of the party's steering committee (választmány), not a position with high visibility. At the top there is the chairman of the party Viktor Orbán who has four deputy chairmen: Zoltán Pokorni (mayor of a Budapest district), Mihály Varga (the hero of yesterday's blog), Lajos Kósa (mayor of Debrecen), and Mrs. Pelcz, neé Ildikó Gáll (who taught economics). In addition to the chairman and his deputies there is Tibor Navracsics, head of the parliamentary caucus of the party. These people appear in the media far more often than Kövér, whose name in English means "fat." However,the word is that Kövér is the most important advisor of Viktor Orbán in questions of political strategy. I have no way of ascertaining whether or not this is true, but one thing is sure: Kövér and Orbán have known each other for a very long time. Ever since Orbán entered law school in 1983. According to recollections Kövér the upperclassman made quite an impression on Orbán the freshman.

László Kövér was born in Pápa in 1959 into a working class family with a long social democratic tradition. One can learn quite a bit about the family background from an uncle of his, József Kövér, who gave an interview to 168 Óra in 2002. According to József, the whole Kövér family was closely associated first with the social democratic and later the communist party. Grandfather Kövér was a printer and as such belonged to the worker's aristocracy. Grandfather was active in the trade union movement, and in 1936 he joined the MSZDP (Magyar Szociáldemokrata Párt). After the unification of MKP (Magyar Kommunista Párt) and MSZDP in 1948 he joined Rákosi's communist party (MDP). And after the revolution he was ready once again to become a party member in MSZMP. He must have been a fairly important man in the party because he was decorated with the Order for the Socialist Homeland, the highest decoration there was in those days. Uncle József, his brother László (our Kövér's father), and two of his sisters were all party members. The elder László became an independent artisan but apparently decided to give up his business because if he remained in the private sector (in those days he would have been called a maszek, someone who worked in the private sector [magánszektor]) his sons most likely wouldn't have been accepted as students at the university. So he became an employee of the State Water Company as a locksmith. Despite this background young László is virulently anti-communist. The communists were ruinous to the country in the past and, according to him, the so-called communists continue to ruin the country.

It took Kövér a long time to finish his university studies. Exactly seven years. He was a freshman in 1979 and it was in 1986 that he received his law degree. Apparently he wasn't enamored with legal studies; during his university years he also took quite a few courses in history at the Faculty of Arts. Beginning in 1983, the year Orbán entered law school, he became politically active. In his last four years (1984-1988) Kövér was a student counselor in the dormitory. In 1985 he took on another job. The politically active students began a publication called Századvég (Fin-de-siècle); he was a member of its editorial board. (Note that Századvég as a political think tank of Fidesz exists to this day.) In 1986 in addition to all his other activities he briefly worked as an associate researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences that operated under the aegis of the Central Committee of MSZMP. It was a short stint, but later in life it gave him grief. How could this fierce anti-communist work in any capacity for the central committee of the party? In 1987-88 he was the beneficiary of one of the newly established Soros scholarships. It was during this period that the politically active students in the dormitory established Fidesz on March 30, 1988. Kövér presided over the meeting.

In 1987 Kövér got married and in 1988 a son was born named Botond. A year later another boy, Vajk. Four years later Csenge who is apparently a girl. In brief, the children are all saddled with pagan Hungarian names. Vajk was St. Stephen's name before his baptism. Botond was a Hungarian hero who according to legend managed to make a huge hole in the metal gate of Byzantium with his mace. As for Csenge the origin and meaning of this old Hungarian name is unknown. I gather from this preference for Hungarian pagan names that our Kövér was already on the nationalistic side in the late 1980s when he and his party were considered to be ultra liberal.

Kövér has been in the political limelight ever since the late 80s. In 1989 he was considered to be one of the young, important politicians who took part, alongside Viktor Orbán, in the negotiations of the Round Table where the foundations of the new democratic Hungary were hammered out between the opposition parties on the one hand and the representatives of MSZMP on the other. In 1990 he ran successfully for parliament as the representative of the third electoral district of Veszprém County, that is Pápa and environs. Since 1994 he hasn't run as an individual in a district. He has always had a high ranking either on the nationwide list or on the list of Veszprém County. After Fidesz won the elections in 1998 the greatest surprise to me was the appointment of Kövér to the post of minister without portfolio in charge of the national security office. A really second-rate position for such an important Fidesz leader. The obvious question was: why did Fidesz attach so much significance to this office? One ought to keep in mind that at that point the organization still had all the documents relating to the activities of the secret service during the Kádár regime. He didn't stay in this position for long. Two years later, after championing to divide the position of prime minister and party chief, he catapulted into the job of party chaiman, replacing the somewhat reluctant Orbán who wasn't at all sure about the wisdom of the move.

Since then he has been on and off, mostly on, a member of the top brass of Fidesz. He doesn't appear frequently in the media, but when he does it usually means trouble because he is prone to say outrageous things. A lot of political analysts are convinced that a Kövér speech given in the heat of the 2002 campaign was devastating to the Fidesz cause. The gist of his message was that one ought to be upbeat and that the other side doesn't dare to think big, like having the 2012 Olympics in Budapest. Those who are so pessimistic should go down the cellar and hang themselves. It was easy to use this speech against Fidesz, and the other side took advantage of it. Ever since those who are no friends of his call him "the hanging Kövér."

Yesterday, perhaps out of frustration that Dominique Strauss-Kahn is satisfied with the Hungarian government, he vented. Those who don't sympathize with Fidesz claim that a few more appearances by Kövér and Fidesz will lose the elections. Tomorrow I will summarize the most outrageous portions of Kövér's speech and, if I still have time, will translate some comments that were written by readers of the article that appeared in Népszabadság. They are also priceless.

Comments

[dave]

Laszlo is the MSZP's most active asset ... in Fidesz! There will be no problem with the 2010 election, Laci will make sure that the progressive left wins it again.

I don't agree with Eva's opinion on Kover's "frustration". Laci just wanted to help his old comrades in MSZP and he saw that the time is ripe for another of his trademark "opinions".

[Op]

"Progressive left" is an oxymoron in Hungary.

[Ricsi]

So you really went to town with a character assassination on poor 'Mr.Fat' (why was it necessary to translate it ?).
It seems this guy is good at changing sides,just like your Gyurcsány--more proof that their really is little difference between the two main parties these days.

[Eva S. Balogh]

Ricsi: "on poor 'Mr.Fat' (why was it necessary to translate it ?)."

Is this his name or not? It is.

[NWO]

Ricsi is correct. It is hard to find the fundamental differences in economic policy between MSZP and FIDESZ. They talk a different game (FIDESZ is much more keen to play the xenophobe and nationalist card), given one party is in power and the other is not. But on actual policy prescriptions they are disappointingly close together. Here in lies yet one more tragedy for the country.

[Op]

If my name was "Balogh" I would avoid translating names...

[Eva S. Balogh]

Op: "If my name was "Balogh" I would avoid translating names..."

Why? Bal means left. The -g is an old diminutive. Otherwise Balogh was the name of an ancient tribe of Hungarians who arrived in the Carpathian Basin in the tenth century.

[Ricsi]

Éva

No ,it is not his name.His name is Kövér unless he chooses to change it to English.
You do him great disrespect by trying to ridicule him in this way,and destroyed any semblance of integrity in your article.

[Eva S. Balogh]

Ricsi: "His name is Kövér unless he chooses to change it to English. You do him great disrespect by trying to ridicule him in this way,and destroyed any semblance of integrity in your article."

Again, why? Why can't we explain that Kovács means smith, Nagy means big, or Kiss means small? Just because his name means fat? Or because you like Kövér so much that you feel that it is disrespectful to mention the meaning of his name.

[Odin's lost eye]

Professor when you say *** “that Kövér means ‘fat’” *** do you mean ‘corpulent’ (well upholstered) or fat as in lard/margarine/butter? In days gone bye to be called ‘fat’ was a compliment on your prosperity!

[Eva S. Balogh]

Odin: "when you say *** “that Kövér means ‘fat’” *** do you mean ‘corpulent’ (well upholstered) or fat as in lard/margarine/butter? "

The former. Lard in Hungarian is zsír and butter vaj.

[Op]

balog = suta, balkezes, kétbalkezes, etc.

[Ricsi]

Éva,
You already know I have little time for anything to do with Fidesz and its people,I rate them marginally better than that bunch of rats and traitors that you so love.
But my point was that you tried to ridicule the man through his name,not necessary if his actions are as you say,then he makes himself ridiculous without your name translation service.

[Avery]

Laszlo Kover is a typical representative of the current revisionist tendencies in Hundarian politics. This Trianon trauma which still lingers in the Hungarian spirit is much underestimated in the framework of EU politics and is veru dangerous. One can even track ties to nazi philosophy not only in Jobbik politics, but in Fidesz itself, including Kover. Sadly, this country still lives mentally in the 19th century and unless the rest of the Europe recoglizes this, there will be no peace of mind for Central Europeans...

[Eva S. Balogh]

Avery: "Laszlo Kover is a typical representative of the current revisionist tendencies in Hundarian politics."

His latest is pretty terrible. He claims that according to international law Hungary could have attacked Slovakia because by building the Bős-Nagymaros dam Slovakia changed the borders between Slovakia and Hungary.

I often wonder what motivates these irredentist types today. As far as I know his family is from Transdanubia and he has no family connection with people who remained outside of the new Hungarian borders.

[Mutt Damon]

For Pete's sake .. why on earth should we move in to Kassa (Kosice) by tanks?? It's expensive, hard to come by, not to mention the shitty mileage. Just pack the family wagon. You get there in 4 hours. Rent a house, get a job, marry a "to't". There you have it. No shooting required.

[peter litvanyi]

Dear Mutt,
I fully agree. I am from a /partly/ "paloc" family. The only party I respect in that part of Europe /I left behind/ is the "Most/Hid"; not the LMP. Yes, curious "foreigners" have always been very welcome /on both sides of the "border"/. Hungarians, Slovakians or Czechs. Even Austrians or Russians. Jews, my heritage.
The only thing my tribe asks: leave your venom behind. You people's borders have never been our borders. It's true; you can go ahead with the plan in your station wagon and even marry a beautiful "toth" or "paloc" girl/ boy. My Mom was one of those girls sixty years ago. Something to feel proud of for a man. And then you will understand. Guess that's what you meant,no?
Sincerely:
Peter Litvanyi