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The secret history of the 2018 elections in 84 color pages.
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In response to an opinion piece published in Die Welt, DK, MSZP and Jobbik MEPs, namely Klára Dobrev, Márton Gyöngyösi, Attila Ara-Kovács, Csaba Molnár, Sándor Rónai and István Ujhelyi, responded to the newspaper’s columns. German in a joint journalism. That is, Momentum MEPs did not sign it. As we will see, perhaps not by accident.
The article encourages Union leaders to take tough action against Orbán.
Interestingly, in the left-right team article, the writing they responded to is not the heatstroke of a populist ideologue or his far-right nationalist opponent, but the argumentative journalism of a well-known German-British liberal journalist, Alan Possess. In his article, which is absolutely worth reading, even written in English, Posener argues that
In the current stalemate, the EU should not fight hard with Orban and his Polish comrades, who are vetoing the EU budget, even if it appears to be a victory for the populists who are currently disintegrating the Union.
Posener recalls that in an interview with “subordinate” Hungarian Radio, Orbán said that a “German-led” regulation linking EU subsidies to the rule of law would transform the EU into a “second Soviet Union.” In anti-Soviet times, “anti-Soviet acts” were punished and member states would now be punished for their anti-European acts, the Hungarian prime minister explained.
According to Posener, such a comparison is demagogic and so impossible that the opposite is not true either. But according to the author, Orbán’s opinion is shared by many citizens of the last states of Eastern Europe, and on the other hand, he believes that the statements of some German politicians also reinforce this sentiment. He recalled that the social vice president, Katarina Barley, tweeted that the Union was now taking revenge for treating Hungary and Poland with gloved hands for so long, that FPD Moritz Körner commented that the two countries were now saying goodbye to the European solidarity community. .
At this point, Posener asked: If the Union is really a community based on solidarity, is it good to link solidarity with correct political behavior?
According to Posnener, the Union is a kind of “liberal empire.” According to him, that is why it is time for the empire to act liberally in practice to save itself. According to the author, the Union should strive to achieve what Tony Blair suggested at the time was “a superpower, not a superstate”. For the EU to become a superpower, he believes it must address issues such as overcoming the epidemic, fighting climate change, regulating China with the United States, resolving Russia’s gas dependence, security of the Union’s external borders and the resolution of the refugee problem, creating a common European force and so on.
The most important thesis of the paper is that, according to Posener, it would be a goal in its own right for the EU to embark on an internal struggle in which neither side can swim intact. To do this, he said, he must first withdraw from verbal hardening, especially for the German side. It would also be worth giving up the idea that Hungarians and Poles will give up because they need the money, he writes. According to him, on the one hand, it is not so certain that Hungary needs more money than Greece, Spain or the Italians. On the other hand, he believes that humiliating the economically weaker Member States may not be the practical way to win the hearts of the people. “
Let’s not kid ourselves: this (that is, the compromise solution expected by the author in terms of the required rule of law.) Viktor Orbán and his Polish colleague Mateusz Morawiecki win. But this success will prove futile in the long run, he writes, because Orbán and Morawiecki are on the wrong side of history. Which, according to him, is also demonstrated by the courageous action of Polish women and the defeat of the municipal elections of Fidesz.
According to the liberal author, instead of trying to put pressure on the governments of Warsaw and Budapest through the institutions of Brussels, the German parties should do something completely different. That is, they should support the resistance of civil society in the two countries, which he believes includes establishing a media presence.
Hungarian left-wing opposition MEPs and Jobbik reacted to this article.
They are advocates of tough action arguing with Posener. Your article begins with
“Europe cannot afford a mistake now that could easily lead to the disintegration of the European Union.”
They then place the current debate on the rule of law in historical context, comparing the Hungarian and Polish populists to Hitler and Stalin:
Think here of the failure of the League of Nations, Yalta and its aftermath. On both occasions, the leaders of democratically minded democratic countries had to deal with violent and cunning dictators like Hitler and Stalin. Wilson, Roosevelt and others basically assumed that his opponents would think similarly and as they would themselves. Alan Posener is wrong. “
To leave no doubt about the comparison, the text goes on to say that
“In the person of Orbán, we are once again dealing with a violent and cunning tyrant who uses his political power and EU money to enrich his own family and clientele while breaking democracy and trampling on European values. Orbán is capable of anything to maintain its power. “
Later they explain that “Orbán is not equal to the Hungarian people”, according to them, the parliamentary majority of two thirds of the Prime Minister is also misleading:
“By breaking the freedom of the press, making it impossible for the opposition, and last but not least changing the electoral system to suit one’s own interests, two-thirds of parliamentary seats in Hungary can be won. Elections are no longer free or fair in Hungary. “
They write.
They believe that “the vast majority of Hungarians support Hungary’s membership in the EU and are not behind Orbán’s anti-EU membership, so the author of the opinion piece is wrong.”
Hungarian MEPs who noticed the journalism then openly declared what they expected from the EU:
“During his ten years of reign, Orbán made it clear that he only came from force, and he is not the politician who can be convinced with arguments. (..) The Hungarians do hope that the EU will finally put an end to Orbán’s destructiveness. It is also the existence of Hungary and Europe. “
The end of their writing is almost apocalyptic, as they write that
“If European leaders make the mistake of allowing an intolerant tyrant again, they will become completely unbelievable in the eyes of the European electorate. It may not be in the interest of hundreds of millions of European citizens to finance Orban and his comrades, which It could easily spell the end of the EU. “
The article, as I mentioned, was not signed by Momentum MEPs. According to Anna Donáth, this fact should not be overstated, the liberal MEP told 444 that on the day the article was sent, that is, on Monday, the presidents of the Hungarian opposition parties had already issued a joint reaction on a similar issue. . “We thought it was enough” Donáth said to our paper.
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