Good Advice Is To Be Followed, Not Dismissed!

The declaration in Spanish
Declaration of the Hungarian Europe Society on the resolution of the Hungarian Parliament condemning the report on the situation in Hungary, adopted by the European Parliament at its plenary session
It is a tragicomedy that the ruling majority pushed through a resolution in the Hungarian Parliament criticising the European Union. The awkward provincialism of Fidesz’ answer to the Tavares-report, which was passed by a broad majority in the European Parliament - just like the message of a Hungarian village newspaper almost one-hundred years ago saying “we warn England from this place” -, is at once amusing and disheartening. Since the regime-change, no Hungarian government has turned so blatantly against the European institutions calling to account for the common values, has gone so far in its anti-Europeanism, or has been isolated within the community of democratic countries to such an extent. The recommendations of the European Parliament, which entirely correspond to the assessments of a number of international organisations, should be accepted and implemented as soon as possible, not aggrievedly dismissed as attacks ‘against Hungary’.
The novel, and false, argument that the European Union has changed completely since Hungary’s accession and that, with ‘imperial’ acting, it seeks to put Hungary under ‘tutelage’, is muddled. The directly elected representatives in the European Parliament did not conduct a ‘Stalin-era show trial’ at the plenary session, but use their rights granted by the Treaties, also ratified by the Hungarian Parliament, when investigating the fulfilment of fundamental rights and the situation of the rule of law in a Member State. We would certainly welcome the creation of new institutions at the European level, like the Copenhagen Committee proposed in the Tavares-report, in order to strengthen the political union.

The anti-European rhetoric of the Orbán-government is increasingly fierce and their cooperation with the extreme right is now undisguised. This is demonstrated by the corresponding substance of the ‘anti-colonial’ slogans of the Peace March associated with Fidesz and the banner swung by the Jobbik Member of the European Parliament Krisztina Morvai in Strasbourg. The government’s official communication is a mixture of nationalistic appeals for a ‘freedom fight’, extreme left-wing anti-capitalist slogans, and the preposterous populistic claims that ‘foreign’ politicians, driven by their ‘business interests’, are seeking to block ‘the cut in the energy costs of the households’. The Deputy Prime Minister has in a radio interview already tackled the question of leaving the European Union, an option thus far promoted only by Jobbik. It is increasingly clear that, despite the bellicose announcements defending the country’s political and economic ‘independence’, only the material benefits have so far stopped the Government from fully turning its back on Hungary’s EU membership.
Hungary is in a deep political crisis due to the Orbán-government’s adventurism. Hungary is not equal to the government, or to the Prime Minister! Let Hungarian citizens not be blinded by the propaganda and not become disillusioned with the project of historical significance that is the enlarged - as of 1 July, having 28 Member States -, and democratic European Union!

Budapest, 5 July 2013