While the Hungarian economy is under strain – having recently been downgraded to junk by Moody's – the role assigned to Roma, in the words of János Lázár, Hungary’s Minister of Construction and Transport, was to clean toilets. This amounted to a clearly staged public humiliation.
Whether this rhetoric was intended as a political trick to mobilise voters who share Fidesz's worldview, as represented by Mr Lázár, who is seen as Orban's successor within Fidesz, Roma voters will soon have the opportunity to make their response clear at the ballot box.
Accounting for around ten per cent of Hungary's population and living across the country, Roma represent a decisive share of the electorate, with the capacity to influence the country's long-term direction, even as the political system has operated in ways that exclude them from power.
Survey data collected during the 2022 Hungarian parliamentary elections by domestic and international observers show Roma turnout to be consistently high, in some regions exceeding the national average, particularly where voters were directly engaged.
Roma's political capital should not be overlooked. Evidence from neighbouring countries suggests that in last year's Romanian elections, Roma voters played a decisive role in the second round of the presidential vote.
The remarks are meant to put people in their place and to draw on longstanding racist tropes to distract from real accountability, including responsibility for weak growth, fiscal pressure, and declining investor confidence. The reality is that Hungary's economy needs Roma workers, and politicians increasingly need Roma voters.
In Hungary, growth has stalled, public finances are under pressure, and confidence has eroded. In December, Moody's downgraded Budapest's credit rating to junk status, citing concerns over fiscal sustainability and growth prospects. At the same time, employers across key sectors have warned for years that persistent labour shortages, particularly in low- and medium-skilled jobs, are constraining growth.
Unjust exclusion weakens Hungary's economy
Against this wider backdrop, further exclusion is not only unjust, it is economically irrational. Hungary's unemployment rate has hovered around 4.3%-4.6% in 2025-2026, marking a steady increase from record lows. Labour shortages persist, and demographic decline continues due to low birth rates and outward migration, steadily shrinking the working-age population.
For more than a decade, the government has relied on public work schemes that funnel people into low-paid, low-skill, temporary jobs with no meaningful pathway to productivity, skills development, or stable employment. Evidence repeatedly shows that these schemes rarely lead to stable jobs in the open labour market, locking people into cycles of dependency rather than enabling mobility.
This failure is visible in the outcomes. Roma in Hungary face persistently lower employment rates and higher levels of long-term unemployment than the wider population, alongside significantly lower rates of secondary education completion. These gaps are not the result of a lack of willingness to work, but of long-term underinvestment in education and skills reinforced by segregation and limited pathways beyond public work schemes.
Hungary can no longer afford this underinvestment. What is treated as exclusion today is, in fact, one of the country's largest untapped economic assets. Research conducted across Romania, Slovakia, and Bulgaria - three countries with a similar share of Roma population - shows that when Roma have access to education, skills, and employment, they can generate billions in additional economic value, strengthen productivity, and help stabilise public finances.
This reality continues to be ignored by the current government, to the detriment of Hungarian society as a whole. Lázár's statements may be electorally useful for Fidesz in the short term, but they are damaging to Hungary's economy in the long run.
Lázár's remarks reflect more than personal prejudice. They point to a governing logic that has contributed to weakening Hungary’s economy, narrowed its political base, and alienated hundreds of thousands of citizens at a moment when genuine economic inclusion is no longer optional.
People who are told they do not belong still vote, even as high participation has consistently failed to translate into meaningful political representation, and their participation carries real political consequences.
For years, Hungarian politics has rested on a cynical contradiction: Roma votes are mobilised during elections, while Roma interests are sidelined in between. Degrading language lowers expectations and diverts attention from economic mismanagement and democratic erosion.
Hungary cannot rebuild its economy, or its democracy, while treating part of its population as expendable. Roma voters have power, and sooner or later, that power will be felt.
