Let us start with a riddle: what is the difference between the Hungarian ruling party Fidesz, and the ruling parties of Germany, France, Spain or Austria? The fact that the Fidesz-KDNP party alliance not only governs in its own country, but according to opinion polls, it can begin preparations to the June 2024 European Parliament elections as the most popular political force. The above list does not include Italy or Poland as those countries already have right-wing governments. In the most important countries of the EU, a conservative turn has either already taken place in the past years, or there is a good chance that it will happen soon: this is expected, for example, ahead of the snap elections in July in Spain. The political right has also achieved good results in Greece, Finland and Sweden.
The EP elections have a serious stake: Europe itself. Can we stop its decline, its devaluation in world politics, can we put an end to the rampant EU corruption?
Can the Europe of sovereign nations be restored against the will of the European Commission that behaves as a tiger with the member states with its stealthy extensions of powers, but acts as a chicken when it comes to standing up to US foreign policy? Will our civilization, based on Judeo-Christian culture, including the difference between men and women, survive in the Europe of the 2020s? Next year’s elections will decide about these and other things, and the foundations are being laid now by the political players.
According to the whispering propaganda, which will only get louder as the campaign progresses, PM Orban is preparing Hungary for leaving the EU, following the British example. This would, however, violate foreign policy, national economy and social interests, especially since the overwhelming majority of Hungarians support the country’s EU membership despite our many battles with the EU. The government also has a pro-EU policy in terms of the membership, but it is EU-critical regarding the day-to-day management by Brussels.
We believe that the world is not black and white, we can shape the processes with proper determination, and we are not fated to suffer the daily abuse of Mother Europe as we were of Father Moscow.
All that is needed to see this is some nuance of thought on the part of the Democratic Coalition (DK) party and other opposition circles, many of whose members grew up during Janos Kadar’s Socialist regime. When our teachers shouted in the schoolyard in 1980: 'Pioneer team no. 241, attention!', we stood at attention. But today, in the supposedly democratic Europe, we reserve the right to dissent, even if it is disliked by Ursula von der Leyen, Manfred Weber, Guy Verhofstadt, the US ambassador in Budapest (who for some reason also kibitzes on European affairs), or media personality Zoltan Herczeg, who is under house arrest.
The 2024 campaign will be dominated by the issues that have already defined our relationship with Brussels. These are the EU funds withheld from our country for political reasons, politically charged debates on the rule of law leading nowhere, democracy, corruption - one can start to put these words in quotation marks, even though they once had meaning. Other topics include migration, gender ideology that erodes families and the war - or peace - in Ukraine. If Judit Varga, the outgoing justice minister, leads Fidesz-KDNP's 2023 EP campaign, a politician who is well versed in all these issues will be at the forefront. As of now, there is no question that Fidesz will win this EP election, as it has won all the others so far. The question is whether its EU allies will also make a breakthrough - there are positive signs for that.
