Polish-Hungarian friendship resurrected in Budapest?

Balázs Hidvéghi, an MEP of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz, told a Hungarian-Polish political forum in Budapest on Friday that the main priority was the strongest possible representation of conservative and Christian values in European politics.

Addressing the event organised by the Center for Fundamental Rights think-tank, Hidvéghi said Brussels had become an “Orwellian world” where “words now mean their own exact opposites”.

He said those who portrayed themselves as liberals and “the representatives of the rule of law” were actually “the biggest opponents of freedom”. Hidvéghi said they actually depicted “a caricature of liberalism” and did not accept opposing views. He said this was illustrated by developments in Poland, with liberals “systematically tearing down” the rule of law since Donald Tusk took office.

Hidvéghi said European conservative forces had to unite and find the political strategy that would help protect their shared values. European parties and groupings, he added, were only a means to an end, and not the goal themselves. Conservative forces therefore did not necessarily have to establish a party at the European level, he said, but instead had to cooperate on issues important to them.

Judit Varga, the head of the Hungarian parliament’s European affairs committee, said Europe could only remain European “if we fight for our values, Christianity, for our families and our national identity”.

Kinga Gál, Fidesz deputy leader and MEP, said a long-term geopolitical situation in which Budapest and Warsaw did not share the same fate and interests was “unfathomable”. She said the freedom of thought and expression were once again under threat in Europe. Hungarians and Poles agree that fundamental changes are needed in Europe’s migration policy, she said, adding that both nations rejected “gender ideology and the LGBTQ lobby”.

Hungarians, Poles alternative to the “Brussels deep state”

Ryszard Czarnecki, an MEP of Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) party, said that the voices of those who wanted to build a Europe of nations, traditional values and a Christian heritage were growing increasingly louder. He said the left was “headed for ruin” and was “amputating the roots of our culture”. He added that there was no alternative to cooperation, adding that Poles strongly supported Hungary’s upcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of this year.

Janusz Kowalski, a representative of Suwerenna Polska in the Sejm, said the new government in Poland was testing the model for “democracy without law”. He said the EU could not become a single state, and had to remain an alliance of sovereign states. Kowalski said the EU was headed for collapse, and it was necessary that it return to its roots.

He thanked the Hungarian government for its establishment of the Sovereignty Protection Office, which he said served as an example for other European countries.

Miklós Szánthó, the head of the Center for Fundamental Rights said Polish-Hungarian friendship was history’s oldest and strongest friendship. Polish-Hungarian cooperation is what gives central Europe its strength, he said, adding that both Eastern and Western major powers were aware of this, and that was why they were attempting to “pit us against each other”.

Szánthó said Poles and Hungarians could demonstrate that there was an alternative to the “Brussels deep state”.

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