Economy: Orbán: We are a boring parliamentary democracy

What happens when authoritarian leaders in Central Europe are ushered onto a stage and then faced with a presenter who dares to ask real questions? Probably not even the organizer of the Bled Strategic Forum would have thought that the announced event on the future of the European Union and the challenges of the post-coronary virus world would soon turn into an insult and a battle of prime ministers shouting fake news.

The event in Slovenia, to which Viktor Orbán jumped a day before the border closure, was not accidentally named by the Diary to a “neoliberal authoritarian summit”. In addition to the Hungarian Prime Minister, the morning panel was personally attended by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Czech Andrej Babis, Janez Jansa of Slovenia, Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland, Andrej Plenkovic of Croatia and Bulgarian Prime Minister Bojko Borisov, and practically Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister Italian minister and Italian prime minister. IMF) also joined the debate.

However, Conte and Georgieva soon became a minority: Central and Eastern European leaders not only re-evaluated the concept of solidarity, but their speeches also revealed in a matter of time why it was impossible to find a common European solution to the crisis caused. by the corona virus.

Europe is in trouble

The Prime Minister of Slovenia, who will host the event, began by saying that a new balance of power is needed in the post-Brexit and post-Covid-19 period, in which Central Europe can play a new role. Viktor Orbán was even more specific than he was, beginning his first 45-second speech with the dramatic saying that “Europe is in trouble.”

The Hungarian prime minister, who due to the epidemic not only missed the Tusványos but also the Transit festival and his speeches in Köcse, that is, he did not have a big forum in the summer, sees this as the reason why the European Union it has not yet been able to determine a new place in the international economy.

“In Europe, it is difficult for us to understand that, unlike the United States and China, we are not capable of radically changing the rules of the game,” he added. Orbán believed that the reason for this was that there was no common European army and related science-innovation centers that could be engines of technological development.

In response, the IMF director warned that beyond the great common military vision, the principle of equity should not be forgotten, because on the other side of the crisis, poverty, debt and related manifestations await.

“It is a natural reaction for all Member States to hide behind their own borders to be safe, but I think we have already overcome the initial individualism,” said Georgieva, who said that the adoption of the EU rescue package demonstrated just that.

The Italian prime minister also spoke out against nationalist slogans, saying the crisis had just demonstrated the need for a stronger and more cooperative European Union. “When decisions are made by 27 member states, there may, of course, be differences of opinion, but the path must lead in one direction,” Conte said.

Andrei Babis and Aleksandar Vucic, on the other hand, emphasized national independence in their speeches (although Vucic also emphasized the importance of EU membership) and Bojko Borisov blamed Brussels for not being able to establish a uniform protocol on whether or not to use a mask. .

We fight and we fight

The really interesting part of the panel, however, only started after that: British moderator Nik Gowing, a BBC for the veteran presenter asked questions one after another that probably none of the prime ministers would find when interviewing the propaganda media. Thus, for example, Viktor Orbán was asked why Hungary makes it difficult to think about the European Union together and what he thinks about concerns about Hungarian democracy.

In his response, Orbán replied that Hungarian democracy is at least as good as German or Italian and meets European requirements for democracy. And the difficulties do not arise in the capitals of the Member States, but in Brussels.

Concerned about the rule of law, the Hungarian Prime Minister made the usual argument: the EU Treaty clearly states that legal disputes must be resolved in the Court of Justice of the European Union, which they respect to the maximum. He believed that Hungary had handled the crisis relatively well, that the government had made the right decisions, which was also supported by parliament. As it was told:

Hungary is a boring parliamentary democracy.

According to Orbán, the fight for intellectual sovereignty is taking place in Hungary: “we are fighting to enforce our democratic-Christian-conservative conception of democracy in the face of liberal points of view.” We are struggling not only to look at European institutions and policies from a unique perspective and to debate concepts such as family, nation, cultural traditions, religion and migration, he added.

After a while, the Polish prime minister also got tired of the host’s questions and flatly refused to compare them with Lukashenko and the Belarusian dictatorship. Morawiecki pulled out the Hungarian card when he spoke that 80 percent of the media in Poland is in the hands of the opposition and they fight when the police beat up and detain protesters in Western Europe, everyone talks about democracy, but yes there are peaceful demonstrations in Prague, Warsaw or Budapest. There are, they immediately scream a dictatorship.

Vucic also mentioned a double standard and stressed that while they would definitely like to join the EU, they also have their own thoughts. Above all, however, the Czech Prime Minister ran out of patience.

“I don’t know who you are, but your questions are based on fake news, articles from The Guardian and Spiegel,” he attacked the presenter. (It was Nik Gowing, by the way, who announced the death of Princess Diana to BBC viewers and who broadcast from the studio for six hours during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, who also won the channel’s award – one ed.)

“Why are we debating the rule of law here? I am a businessman and a crisis manager, I have won elections several times, we have the best results in the fight against the epidemic. Don’t read fake news, the V4s are very good, thank you very much, “says Babis, who also admitted that she regrets every day having started a political career as a businesswoman.

At the end of the conversation, Viktor Orbán also gave the floor for another minute, who also informed the BBC presenter about what solidarity really means. “Solidarity is a common success, but the question is how to achieve it. They cannot succeed together if they are not alone first, so they must do so first at home, then with others, ”the Prime Minister explained.

Orbán also then taught the British journalist why he could not reach a common position with them. According to him, the participants in the debate are all freedom fighters. Referring to Poland, he spoke of being the only nation where the Soviets could not crush the resistance, and that gave everyone hope.

At that time, however, Nik Gowing warned Orban, in addition to exceeding the time frame, which he had already reported from the region in the 1980s, and had even met in person in the 1980s.

Szijjártó: No one apologized Not only did the first part of the panel generate excitement, in the second discussion of the forum, the foreign ministers, including Péter Szijjártó, responded to what they consider to be the positives of crisis management in their own countries and what they would stand out among the negatives. In the first round, the Hungarian minister praised the defense of the Hungarian government and regional cooperation, and also spoke a word or two about the discipline of the Hungarian people. He believed that because of the latter, it was not necessary to introduce a total curfew in Hungary. However, an interesting discussion started when he had to answer what the Hungarian government could have done better. Szijjártó responded that it is not fair how the international liberal media shouted dictatorship and attacked the measures of the Hungarian government. “I did not understand how some EU politicians have so much time to do this when they also have obligations to their own country,” he said. Furthermore, according to the Hungarian Foreign Minister, when the rights were returned to parliament after 48 days, no one apologized to them.