How the left is lying in the European Parliament

István Ujhelyi is waging a campaign in the European Parliament based on distorted, out-of-context quotes from Viktor Orbán. In the wake of the Hungarian and Polish vetoes, the socialist politician is attempting to prove in a letter sent to the entire EP, that the Hungarian PM’s position on rule of law has changed throughout the past five years. In any case, the thoughts extracted from the original Orbán speech merely show the left’s war against rule of law.

Budapest, 2014. április 12. Ujhelyi István, a Magyar Szocialista Párt országgyűlési képviselője, az Országgyűlés alelnöke érkezik a párt választmányának ülésére a párt Jókai utcai székházába Budapesten, 2014. április 12-én. MTI Fotó: Kovács Tamás Fotó: Kovács Tamás Forrás: MTI/Kovács Tamás

After Hungary (and Poland) vetoed the EU’s long-term budget and legislation to deal with the damage from the coronavirus epidemic recently, Hungarian opposition MEPs are deliberately distorting the government’s arguments supporting the veto.

On Tuesday for example, socialist EP István Ujhelyi sent out an email to the entire European Parliament with the subject line “What Fidesz would like to keep quiet about”. He uses 2009 Orbán quotes to refer to the EU’s current state. In the English-language letter, also seen by our paper, the left-wing politician deliberately misrepresents the PM’s May 2009 speech presenting the Fidesz-KDNP coalition’s EP election program.

At the time, Viktor Orbán stated that one of the EU’s weaknesses is its inability to enforce the values that they advocate for. “Fidesz is convinced that the implementations of our common values and principles cannot be subject to consideration” said the Fidesz President in his Budapest speech. He went on to point out that the EU must be endowed with the means to motivate its members to represent and adhere to the EU’s principles.

Fotó: MTI/Kovács Tamás

As Orbán argued then, while a country aspires to become an EU member, they must meet rigorous standards regarding rule of law, democracy, and respect for human and minority rights.

“However, after becoming an EU member—as Hungarian citizens bitterly experienced in fall 2006—there no longer exists such close control over countries. The main reason being that EU institutions are afraid to interfere in domestic affairs of certain governments.” – said Viktor Orbán, obviously referring to the 2006 police brutality during the left-wing government at the time. István Ujhelyi of course, tactfully omitted this quote from his mass-EP-email. When the politician participated in the Garázsviták (Garage debates) organized by Tranzit, he provided an even more glaring instance of this hypocrisy: Ujhelyi again quoted the same lines from 2006 in a totally different context.

The truth of the matter is that in Viktor Orbán’s 2009 “Yes, Hungary can do more!” campaign, he was actually sharply criticizing the police brutality committed in 2006 under the left-wing government—and asking the EU to hold those responsible for these violations of human rights. Contrary to the thinking behind the rule of law mechanism, certain Hungarian politicians continue to philosophize over how these procedures can be delineated and objective while the brutality from 2006 was never even addressed in Brussels. Since the Fidesz government has come to governing power, a new Hungarian issue is conjured in the EU every other day—including the saga of the Article 7 procedure. Judit Varga, Minister of Justice, also drew attention to this contradiction in another Tranzit program this past September.

“The courts were under real political pressure in 2006, but Brussels turned a blind eye” – emphasized the Minister.

The socialist MEP’s campaign of lies in the EP.