In its latest analysis, the think tank puts Viktor Orban's speech at the 23rd Kotcse picnic in an international context. Even in the changed European political space, the contest of conflicting visions for the future is at stake in the period ahead. The formation and functioning of the Patriots group is a watershed in this respect," the institute writes.
The conflict between European visions is at stake in the new era
European integration has followed a federalist playbook for decades. Instead of being a community of equal rights, economic stability and peace, the European Union has become an institution that sanctions its member states on ideological grounds, serves external interests and seeks to extend its own powers to the extremes. The federalist vision is based on 'good Europeans' who surrender their own interests, say 'yes' to anything, allow decisions to be made for them and swallow being bypassed on the grounds of the 'unity' of the Union. This vision is also dependent on those condoning and tolerating without objection the often unlawful functioning of the EU institutions and the forced extension of their powers, as well as on those who accept that the European Union is an imperial elite project where citizens must be kept as far away as possible from the decision making process.
But in the June European elections, voters were given the opportunity to express their opinions on the EU decisions made over their heads. In twenty out of the EU's twenty-seven member states, sovereignist or right-wing parties won, campaigning explicitly on the promise of change. According to the expressed will of voters, the time of the unilateral European approach dominating until now is over. The people of Europe want more honest debate and impartial reconciliation of interests in the European Union, because the unparalleled and only way for sovereign nation states to cooperate voluntarily and in a complex manner is to align their interests and positions.
Decades ago, EU integration was about consensus-building, and this is the approach we need to return to.
Europe's challenges: war, migration and competitiveness
"Europe is facing three major challenges", MTI quoted Prime Minister Viktor Orban talking to Italian and international journalists last Friday ahead of the 50th Cernobbio Forum in Iraly. The first challenge is peace and the second is competitiveness, he said, explaining with regard to the latter that the Hungarian EU Presidency aims to create a new EU competitiveness pact, because without it Europe cannot compete with the United States, China, the West or the East. The third challenge is the handling of migration. The PM said that the regulation "imposed on us a year ago" has failed, and that a new regulation must be created. Without new rules, migration will disintegrate the European Union, and this must be prevented.
The two camps, the financial forces representing the current mainstream and the Patriots with the interests of the nations in mind, offer two visions of the future. The European Union's foreign policy threatens to escalate the war, its migration policy threatens European identity and its economic policy threatens to collapse in the long term. The advantage of the financial forces' vision is its high degree of technical sophistication developed over decades, compared to the concept of a national sovereignty-based Europe, which has somewhat lagged behind.
The task of the Patriots political community is to offer a real alternative and to build a sovereignist unity in opposition to the federalist world view.
The EU cannot be strong without strong nations working together
The Patriots' agenda, the challenger to the dominant federalist vision, is therefore not based on the so-called good Europeans, but on those who want change, the real freedom fighters. At its heart is the principle that the European Union cannot be strong without strong individual nations working together. Decades of experience have shown that anyone who speaks out against the European Union's misdirection and rejects Brussels's excesses will have their resources cut off, their media freedom, border protection, administrative structure, internal decision-making, foreign policy and family protection measures questioned, and their democracy and constitutionality will be called into doubt, and their interests dismissed. Therefore, changing attitudes towards the EU institutions and their functioning, demanding the rule of law, and speaking out in favor of democracy can help to counter attacks on the Patriots' vision for the EU. Democracy in the European Union is under threat because, despite the people of Europe voting for change, the former leaders in Brussels want to continue to govern the EU against the will of its citizens. The post-election grand coalition power pact on the distribution of top leadership positions to include the European liberals who collapsed in the elections, but to exclude the victorious pro-sovereignty parties, is a violation of democracy. The cordon sanitaire used to keep out patriotic-minded politicians, despite the political proportions in the new European Parliament, is a gross violation of the rule of law.
The decision-making bodies of the European Parliament can be held to account for defying the EU treaties.
The federalist status quo cannot be upheld
The will and aspirations of the electorate cannot be permanently sidelined, not at the national nor the European level. Just look at the example of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who, in light of the recent terrorist attacks and the election results in Thuringia and Saxony, is now trying to put the issue of migration back on the EU agenda, even though Germany was a strong supporter of the pact adopted in April. In May, 15 interior ministers, led by Denmark, wrote a letter to the European Commission calling on Ursula von der Leyen to implement the Dublin Convention's rules on the expulsion of migrants who enter the EU illegally in the next cycle, while at the same time outsourcing the procedure to the EU's neighbors. The election results show that citizens have a negative view of the European Union's growth prospects, which are fundamentally affected by geopolitical conflicts, fragmentation of supply chains, raw material prices and uncertainties caused by a volatile international economic environment. Issues linked to the competitiveness of Europe and its member states, such as the clash between agriculture and the unbridled green ideology, European industrial policy, free trade and market protection, are all at the heart of the conflict between the agenda of the financial forces and that of the Patriots.
Ursula von der Leyen's presidential program presented in July, does not include any substantive new ideas on the European Commission's direction for the next five years. Meanwhile, controversies over the resurgence of illegal migration and over the EU budget show that the status quo on which the federalist vision of Europe is based can no longer be upheld. And it is up to Patriots for Europe to contrast the interests of citizens, the strength of the nation, common sense and the power of change with the rigid and unrealistic view of the financial forces, functionally devoted to, yet barely capable of defending the status quo.
Voters have inexorable expectations about the future they want, and it is time for the EU to live up to them, the analysis concludes.
Cover photo: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Source: Facebook)
