Hungary is making a mockery of ‘EU values’. It’s time to kick it out

Hungary is making a mockery of ‘EU values’. It’s time to kick it out

Owen Jones
It’s time for the European Union to kick Hungary out. There it is, a member state, casually flouting basic democratic norms and human rights, swiftly evolving into an authoritarian nightmare, with absolutely no meaningful consequences.

Consider the latest act in Hungary’s slide towards what its prime minister Viktor Orbán boasts is an “illiberal democracy”. The country’s parliament has not just passed a law making claims for asylum almost impossible: the very act of helping migrants and refugees has been criminalised. Furthermore, a 25% tax has been slapped on funding for NGOs that “support immigration”: in practice, that means having anything positive to say about immigration.

In the same week, the musical Billy Elliot was cancelled in Budapest after a vicious homophobic campaign by the pro-government press, including the claim in one government-linked newspaper that it could “transform Hungarian boys into homosexuals”.

In its war on democracy, the Orbán government has launched a bitter campaign against George Soros that is littered with antisemitic tropes. His Open Society Foundations network is leaving Budapest because of what it calls “an increasingly repressive political and legal environment”. Another target of the government is Budapest’s Central European University, seen as a focal point for anti-Orbán sentiment, which says legal and political pressure may drive it out of the country. The state media promotes pro-government propaganda and smears the opposition; pro-government media is buying up independent publications; media outlets that are opposed to or critical of Orbán are under growing pressure.

And yet – as Michael Ignatieff, president of the Central European University – puts it, this is happening with the “collusion and compliance” of the EU. Orbán’s Fidesz party remains a member of the European People’s party – the grouping of the EU’s centre-right parties – which, when it met in Warsaw earlier this month, failed to even reprimand Hungary. The EPP leader, Manfred Weber – an ally of Angela Merkel – has even leapt to Orbán’s defence.

At the very least, article 7 of the Lisbon treaty – which demands “all EU countries respect the values of the EU” – should be activated, with the suspension of Hungary’s voting rights and other sanctions. This demand has already been made by the European parliament’s civil liberties committee, which lists 12 breaches ranging from the weakening of the judiciary to restrictions on free speech.

But Hungary, along with increasingly authoritarian Poland, is making an utter mockery of the EU’s stated commitment to democracy and human rights. In 2016 Luxembourg’s foreign minister called for Hungary to be expelled from the EU because of its treatment of refugees. He was right. Yes, the EU is buffeted by multiple crises, from Brexit to the assumption of power of a Eurosceptic Italian government. But its acceptance of its own member states succumbing to authoritarianism may prove its greatest existential threat of all.

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/22/hungary-eu-values-refugees-viktor-orban

Jones was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England and grew up in Stockport, Greater Manchester,[3] and briefly in Falkirk, Scotland.[4] His father was a local authority worker and trade union shop steward,[5] and his mother (Ruth Aylett) was then an IT lecturer at the Salford University.[5] He describes himself as a "fourth-generation socialist"; his grandfather was involved with the Communist Party and his parents met as members of the Trotskyist Militant group.

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Jones, no doubt, speaks no Hungarian, and he is just the sort of person to whom you want to turn for assessments about a country devastated by decades of totalitarian socialism and the communist party.

Leave it to NED, the chief Russia-Trump conspiracy theory hallucinator, to find the least reliable opinion on a subject.

You should be just as critical of favorable right wing articles as you are with critical right wing articles.

Oh, and yet another boohoo TDS accusation.

Anyone who denies the far right, racist turn of Hungary is either ignorant of what is going on there or a liar. Those are the only two options.

How about David Frum and Andras Pethos?

The Risks to Freedom in Hungary

The country’s independent media has largely been stifled. One of its remaining voices explains what it’s like to try to hold an aspiring strongman to account.


Hungary is a nato ally, a member nation of the European Union, a signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights—and also, since 2010, an increasingly authoritarian and illiberal state. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has politicized the country’s court, central bank, and media. On April 8, Orbán and his Fidesz party face the voters. Fidesz has recently suffered losses in local elections. Orbán has responded by running an inflammatory national campaign attributing complaints against his rule to the Hungarian-born financier, George Soros—a campaign whose anti-Semitic messaging has become more and more overt as the vote nears.


One of the last remaining independent media organizations in Hungary is Direkt36. Non-state television and radio have been purchased by political allies of Orbán; print media have been brought to heel by aggressive use of government advertising money to reward and punish. I talked in March to the head of Direkt36, Andras Petho, about the risks to freedom in Hungary—and the prospects for holding Orbán to account. A condensed and edited transcript of our conversation, conducted via Google Document, follows:

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/04/hungary-elections-orban/557294/

sailordeac said:

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Jones, no doubt, speaks no Hungarian, and he is just the sort of person to whom you want to turn for assessments about a country devastated by decades of totalitarian socialism and the communist party.

Leave it to NED, the chief Russia-Trump conspiracy theory hallucinator, to find the least reliable opinion on a subject.

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Also curious to get your thoughts on whether Hungary should leave the EU.

Newenglanddeac said:

Also curious to get your thoughts on whether Hungary should leave the EU.

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Of course not. But the EU needs new, more accountable leadership and reform, as it's failures with Brexit and the migrant crisis reveal.

Newenglanddeac said:

How about David Frum and Andras Pethos?

The Risks to Freedom in Hungary

The country’s independent media has largely been stifled. One of its remaining voices explains what it’s like to try to hold an aspiring strongman to account.


Hungary is a nato ally, a member nation of the European Union, a signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights—and also, since 2010, an increasingly authoritarian and illiberal state. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has politicized the country’s court, central bank, and media. On April 8, Orbán and his Fidesz party face the voters. Fidesz has recently suffered losses in local elections. Orbán has responded by running an inflammatory national campaign attributing complaints against his rule to the Hungarian-born financier, George Soros—a campaign whose anti-Semitic messaging has become more and more overt as the vote nears.


One of the last remaining independent media organizations in Hungary is Direkt36. Non-state television and radio have been purchased by political allies of Orbán; print media have been brought to heel by aggressive use of government advertising money to reward and punish. I talked in March to the head of Direkt36, Andras Petho, about the risks to freedom in Hungary—and the prospects for holding Orbán to account. A condensed and edited transcript of our conversation, conducted via Google Document, follows:

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/04/hungary-elections-orban/557294/

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this is a better piece than the worse than useless leftist polemics by the ignorant and prejudiced Owen Jones

I don't want to critique the opinions expressed in the Petho interview word for word but if you have a question about any of them in particualr, I'll try to give you my view

it represents a view, an often flawed one that has repeatedly been repudiated by the vast majority of Hungary's population, but some points by Petho are fair, others not so mu

your legal guardian/caretaker needs to limit your internet privileges

Democracy is under assault in Hungary. America's voice is crucial

(CNN) — If there is one painful lesson that we have learned in the 100 years since the end of World War I, it is that democracy's friends on both sides of the Atlantic must speak up when it is under assault. That is why we are today joining with a bipartisan group of more than 60 eminent American leaders to warn that the Hungarian government is about to hit another milestone in its move away from democracy -- by ejecting a leading university from its capital. And we are calling for a tough American response.

The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, seems set on evicting from his country the renowned Central European University (CEU), a joint American and Hungarian institution of higher education. He has denied CEU the certification it needs to continue to operate and, unless the Hungarian government relents by December 1, CEU will be forced to relocate to Vienna. While chances of a deal are slim, Michael Ignatieff, the president and Rector of CEU said, "Even at this late hour, we are still seeking a solution that allows us to remain in Budapest..."

CEU was founded after the end of the Cold War, when Europeans and Americans came up with the idea for an "international university that would help facilitate the transition from dictatorship to democracy in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union," according to its website.
...

Orban claims to be fed up with CEU's liberal ideology. He has been outspoken about his determination to tear down liberal democracy. "The new state that we are building is an illiberal state, a non-liberal state," Orban said.

...

There's more, though. It seems clear that Orban has also been motivated by the fact that his foil, George Soros, helped to found CEU. In seeking re-election last spring, Orban needed an enemy, and so he used Soros as his bogeyman in a campaign redolent of anti-Semitism. And after Orban won, he vowed "moral, political and legal revenge."" against his enemies, with Soros, who he sneeringly called "Uncle George," and CEU prominent among them.

To its credit, the Trump administration has not gone along with this. It has followed its new policy of "principled engagement" by reaching out to Hungary as an ally, while signaling that CEU was an important priority. Ignatieff, in a press release, thanked the US Ambassador to Hungary David Cornstein as well as the Department of State, Congress, the Governor of New York, and the New York State Education Department for their vigorous efforts to secure an agreement certifying CEU for continued operation in Hungary. The #IStandWithCEU hashtag is even on the embassy website.

Full: https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/11/11/op...isen-gedmin/index.html?r=https://www.cnn.com/

America is no longer a world leader and it's sad.

Took less than 2 years. Congratulations.

Axios:

Moving monuments around the world

If you want to get a sense of where the political winds are blowing, take a look at the monuments that are going up, and coming down.

Three examples:

1. Nagy, no more. Just a few months ago, on a visit to Budapest, Axios Managing Editor David Nather snapped a photo next to a statue of Imre Nagy, who led an anti-Soviet uprising in 1956.

That statue is now gone. It's being moved to a less central location.
Why? A hint, from BBC: "In recent years [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orbán has forged closer ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer who has restored Soviet-era symbols and who regrets the collapse of the USSR."
2. Constitutional offense. A "Constitution Defense" monuments in Bangkok commemorating the defeat of a pro-monarchy rebellion in 1933 was removed in the middle of the night two weeks ago. It's not an isolated case.

Flashback: "In April 2017, a small plaque commemorating the 1932 revolution that ended absolute monarchy ... was replaced with one lauding the monarchy," per the Nation.
Background, from the Economist: "The current king, Maha Vajiralongkorn, has been on the throne for two years. He has unnerved his 69m subjects from the start," with his lavish lifestyle and accumulation of power. In Thailand, which is run by a military junta, it's a criminal offense to question the king.
3. Standing (much) taller. Last October, India unveiled the world's largest statue, celebrating an independence hero.

Gandhi? Nehru? Nope. The statue is of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, whom the Economist notes "fits better with the muscular nationalism of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party than more famous heroes of independence ... who stood for wishy-washy virtues such as peace and tolerance."
It just so happens that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's primary rival in this spring's general election is Rahul Gandhi. He doesn't just have the Gandhi name — he's former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's great-grandson.

Bonus: What I'm reading

Speaking of Orban ... For an illuminating look at his rise, ambitions and political skill, check out Elisabeth Zerofsky's profile in this week's New Yorker.

One paragraph that stuck with me:

"Orban thrives on conflict, and those around him say that, having consolidated power in Hungary, he is now a bit bored. 'He thinks he could have been much more powerful if he were from a bigger country,' András Petho, a senior editor at the independent Hungarian news outlet Direkt36, told me. 'He likes maneuvering among the big powers.'"

Newenglanddeac said:

Bonus: What I'm reading

Speaking of Orban ... For an illuminating look at his rise, ambitions and political skill, check out Elisabeth Zerofsky's profile in this week's New Yorker.

One paragraph that stuck with me:

"Orban thrives on conflict, and those around him say that, having consolidated power in Hungary, he is now a bit bored. 'He thinks he could have been much more powerful if he were from a bigger country,' András Petho, a senior editor at the independent Hungarian news outlet Direkt36, told me. 'He likes maneuvering among the big powers.'"

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And, like most tinhorn small-power dictators, "playing with the big boys" will probably get him squashed if he's not careful. No doubt Putin views him as little more than a useful tool who can be discarded the moment he ceases to be useful.

AsesinoDeTortugas said:

America is no longer a world leader and it's sad.

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I would offer a friendly amendment that the US is no longer the leader of the free world. I think it was the BBC that gave that title over to Merkel a year or so ago. Now she has her own problems, as does Macron. I believe we've entered a rather dark period.

Hungary is so desperate for kids that mothers of four won’t need to pay income tax

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has built his political brand on saying “no” to immigration.

But his stalwart resistance — when combined with an exodus of young workers and low birthrates — has created a demographic nightmare. Hungary’s population is shrinking, a trend that poses long-term risks for the economy. It has also caused short-term political trouble for Orban, who has had to enact unpopular labor laws to try to wring more hours from a declining workforce.

Rather than rethink his immigration policies, the prime minister on Sunday doubled down on his preferred solution: Hungarian women need to have more babies.

Full: https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...4eea99d5e24_story.html?utm_term=.a04cec3d8445

Hungary’s “coronavirus coup,” explained

What’s happened in Hungary over the past few weeks is a case study of how the pandemic threatens democracy. It’s also a warning for the US.

Two weeks ago, Hungary stunned the world. Using coronavirus as a pretext, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán pushed through a law that suspends elections and gives him the authority to rule by decree indefinitely — making him, at least temporarily, a dictator.

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https://www.vox.com/policy-and-poli...navirus-covid-19-hungary-orban-trump-populism

Man, I have so many thoughts.

I spent much of 2018-19 working in Hungary (had a consulting contract with a Daimler subsidiary, and the largest Mercedes factory in the world is in Kecskemet, Hungary - so I was following the supply chain up and down from the factory cities in the Tatras in Slovakia down to Hungary (places like Mor, Mezolak, etc) and then finally to the €2B Kecskemet facility where a new Mercedes leaves the line ever 3.5 minutes. I had spent a fair bit of time in Hungary before, but only the big cities like Gyor and Budapest. This was weeks at a time in smaller factory towns, a very different experience for sure.

I met a lot of lovely people, ate a bunch of great food, enjoyed the work, etc. I also met and saw more openly white supremacist / nazi clothes, signage and people than I have in all of the rest of my life combined, times 50. Since many of these town only had 1 real hotel, all the traveling Mercedes staff ended up after work in the same places, etc. With the Germans at night over a few beers it was a constant topic of conversation of "holy shit I cannot believe what I saw". It's one thing to read about the state that Fidesz has created, it's a whole different thing to be dropped right into the middle of it.

Last summer my niece came to visit during her summer break. She's 21, in university in the US. We figured we'd take the RailJet from Vienna to Budapest, see something different and enjoy a great European city in the summer (and if you're 21, Budapest is pretty fucking awesome). My wife has only been over the border a few times, and not in recent years - so the really nasty turn was something she hadn't experienced the same as me. Once we crossed the Austrian border and stopped in Gyor, a guy got on the train in a sleeveless shirt and a shaved head and sat down right across from us. He was wearing a T-Shirt that is from a notorious Hungarian "fashion" brand of white supremacist / nationalist clothing and had a giant grim reaper tattoo'd on one arm full length. On the other arm was a full length tattoo, in uniform, of a soldier of the 25th Waffen Grenadier Division including a totenkopf and runes. It was the "full SS", if you know what I mean.

In Austria, public display of that kind of tattoo is illegal. We were on an Austrian train, and I went to the conductor and said I had an issue with the guy sitting across from us due to his public display of nazi signage. Conductor told me there was nothing he could because we were now in Hungary and the police wouldn't enforce anything. So yeah, welcome to Europe my 21 year old niece. Nazis just out and about and proud.

Saddest thing? Slovakia is so much wealthier than Hungary. You can just feel it, the factory towns in both are world's apart. Hungary is really in a bad place right now, Fidesz is driving out the younger population and rotting the country from the inside out.