European Parliament Plagued by Democracy Deficit, MEP Says

"It is a failure of the European Parliament as an institution that members of the third largest group, Patriots for Europe, have been blocked by the leftists from gaining positions at the head of committees. The offenders must be held accountable," MEP Gyorgy Holvenyi responded to Magyar Nemzet's question, adding that it is furthermore an institutional systemic failure of the European Union. The Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) politician also pointed out that war and peace will be the most defining issue in the EP in the term ahead.

MEP Gyorgy Holvenyi of Hungary's Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) at the European Parliament in Brussels on July 24, 2024 (Photo: MTI/Tamas Purger)

You are the Patriots for Europe group policy director and spokesperson in the European Parliament's Committee on Development. This is very familiar territory for you. What are your expectations regarding the job?

The Committee on Development deals with development policy outside Europe. This will be my eighth year working in this area, and it is clear that this committee covers key areas for European security. The issue of migration is closely linked to an effective development policy. A significant reduction in migration pressure and a slowing of migration processes can only be achieved through a more effective development policy than in recent years. The basis for this is improving security in a given country, region or locality. We are not just saying security in the military sense, but we also mean access to life, to education and to health. To put it even more simply: where there is no security, in the sense I just mentioned, life essentially stops. And people are not concerned with living, but with surviving. This situation must be prevented in collaboration with the leaders and churches of the country. It is a hundred times cheaper to implement local forms of cooperation than to finance the consequences of mass migration. I would like to highlight the role of education. Decades of experience have shown that this is the greatest challenge. Education tailored to the 21st century is lacking in much of Africa.

How were you affected when, at the inaugural meeting of the Committee on Development, the Left blocked your vice chairmanship, which, according to customary law of parliament, would have rightfully been yours as a member of the Patriots for Europe group?

It didn't affect me on a personal level. But I am outraged that MEPs from the third largest political group in the European Parliament are not being given the positions they are legally entitled to because the left-wing majority disagrees with them on political issues. I consider this to be a life-threatening practice from the perspective of European democracy. The Patriots for Europe group immediately set to hard work to put an end to this matter and initiate legal process to resolve the situation.

In this sense, what has happened is not a failure on my part or that of our group, but a failure of the European Parliament as an institution.

Committee positions are allocated on the basis of a previously developed and agreed system that reflects the composition of the European Parliament as a result of elections. This has been violated in our case, and the offenders must be held to account.

How does it feel to sit among the Patriots for Europe after decades of work in the European People's Party (EPP)?

It was confidence in my political community and in the prime minister that led me to join the Patriots for Europe. The advantage of working within the European People's Party was that it is a family of parties with decades of established methods and institutional practices. But at the same time, the ideological fault lines have made me feel for some time that this was not going to work. In the Patriots group, I see an opportunity to achieve a real balance between the member states and the European Union as an institutional system.

It is increasingly clear that a supranational world is being built that goes against the will of European citizens.

For me, the Patriots for Europe is a counterweight to this push. We have the opportunity, as the third largest political group in the EP, to work for a normal and citizen-friendly Europe based on cooperation between member states.

So it was easy to leave the EPP?

Although there are only a few Christian Democrat colleagues still there today, I wouldn't say leaving was easy because of the personal connections. Politically, however, the situation was not tenable. Long processes led to the separation. I am convinced that the KDNP had gone as far as it could there. No compromise solution was found, but it was not up to us.

What are your expectations as an MEP in the coming years ?

We are battling a democracy deficit. This process is extremely dangerous, because after a while people will ask, and rightly so, what's the use of having a European Parliament?

I am convinced the European Parliament is a very good institutional opportunity because it provides a framework where European nations can work together for a broader European common good. What will be a determining factor in the work of the next period is the question of war and peace. This is about the security and future of Europe.

National and European sovereignty are at risk and must be strengthened. Both the United States and Russia have a strong interest in increasing their influence in Europe. The next period will be about how to deal with this situation in a meaningful way and how to increase Europe's geopolitical weight.

Cover photo: MEP Gyorgy Holvenyi of Hungary's Christian Democratic People's Party at the European Parliament in Brussels on July 24, 2024 (Photo: MTI/Tamas Purger)