Concorde Founder Jaksity: Hungary Needs a Moral Reckoning to End Crony Culture

Jaksity’s Call for a National Moral Reckoning

Jaksity György, the founder of respected Hungarian investment firm Concorde, has issued a stark challenge to his country’s business community and wider society: to break free of the “urambátyám” (crony) world that defined the Orbán-era economic system, every citizen and every company must first look inward. In a sweeping interview, the financial veteran argued that without a painful, honest accounting of how many people willingly accepted and even benefited from the system, Hungary risks slipping back into similar patterns of clientelism and moral decay.

The core of his message is not legal accountability—he expects any criminal proceedings to drag on for years—but a moral and professional reckoning. Jaksity, who has long been an outspoken critic of the regime, said he witnessed a business class that almost universally bent to pressure or chased state largesse. “I can barely name a businessman who didn’t bow, whether for glass beads or out of fear,” he noted, adding that this complicity “deeply infected business life.” For him, the country’s future hinges on whether a critical mass of voters and entrepreneurs accept the difficult transition away from the “drug” of subsidised, politically-connected financing.

Jaksity likened Hungary’s decades of subsidised lending and directed state support to an addiction. “This flood of money is like a drug for businesses—the more they receive, the less viable they become,” he said. He proposed a radical cure: abolishing all preferential loans and state subsidies overnight, forcing companies to prove they can survive at normal market interest rates of 5-6 percent. While acknowledging the pain this would cause for businesses built on political connections, he argued that Hungary will not become a competitive capitalist economy until the “cold turkey” is embraced. Alongside this, he stressed that key public services—education and healthcare—need long-overdue investment to turn the country’s productivity and demographic trend around, a process he admitted will take over a decade.

The Complicity of Business and the ‘Drug’ of State Support

The Business Elite’s Moral Reckoning

Jaksity’s critique is as much an indictment of the business establishment as of politicians. By asserting that almost every business figure he knew accepted the rules of the NER game—whether to win contracts or avoid trouble—he forces a debate about collective responsibility. For a nation now attempting a political “regime change,” the reputational risk for high-profile firms that thrived under patronage could become acute. International investors and partners may increasingly scrutinise the ethical track records of local counterparts, a dynamic that could reshape deal-making in the recovery phase.

The Subsidy Trap and the Road to a Real Market Economy

The interview’s most direct economic prescription—instant removal of all preferential credit and state subsidies—is likely impossible to implement without massive disruption. Yet the underlying principle is clear: much of Hungary’s corporate sector has been rendered uncompetitive by years of easy money. Jaksity’s own track record lends weight to his argument. He points out that Concorde last handled a major state mandate over two decades ago, and that the firm’s independence proved a commercial strength. Investors and executives preparing for a post-NER world should model a scenario in which the flow of directed state support dries up sharply, forcing a wave of consolidation and a flight to genuine efficiency. Sectors such as construction, agriculture, and manufacturing—where EU and domestic subsidies have been heavily funnelled—would face the harshest adjustments.

The Median Voter and the Risk of Backsliding

Jaksity warns of a deeper political trap: even without the NER’s propaganda machine, any new government will be tempted to pander to the “median voter” who has grown accustomed to low taxes and state handouts. He suggests that Hungary is psychologically a “child society”—one that surrendered freedom for the promise of welfare—and that escaping this mindset requires both educational reform and a cultural shift towards civic engagement. The new administration’s ability to frame its reforms as improvements in daily life (shorter hospital waits, better schools) rather than just pain will determine whether voters reward it with the patience needed for structural change. If the median voter rejects austerity, the next election could bring back populists, undoing any progress.

What Hungary’s Business Leaders and Investors Must Do Now

The interview offers few step-by-step instructions, but the implications for business leaders and investors are profound:

• For executives of subsidy-dependent firms: Immediately stress-test your business model against a 5-6% interest rate environment and the loss of directed state support. The window to build genuine competitiveness—or to seek a sale to a more efficient operator—may be closing.
• For international investors: Due-diligence must now extend to the ethical provenance of local partners’ revenue. A history of state-linked contracts could become a reputational liability as scrutiny of the crony era intensifies.
• For banks and lenders: Prepare for a likely political push to unwind preferential credit programmes. Early work on restructuring portfolios that rely on subsidised loans will reduce future credit losses.
• For citizens and voters: Jaksity’s call to “clean your own house” means demanding transparency in public spending and supporting the kind of tough, long-term reforms (education, healthcare) that anchor a competitive economy. Without sustained public pressure, any new government will struggle to resist the temptation of renewed populism.