Dutch newspaper drew the middle finger on the Hungarian and Polish flags

On Monday, the Dutch daily business news outlet, Het Financieele Dagblad, published an opinion article on the EU’s financial package, which was negotiated this summer and is still awaiting implementation. According to the author of the Dutch article, Poland and Hungary are threatening to veto the nearly €2,000 billion package because they do not want the rule of law as “they have been violating it for years”.

Magyar Nemzet says that depressing opinions and articles in the Dutch press about Hungary are nothing new, but this time Het Financieele Dagblad might have gone one step over the line. They attached a caricature to their article in which

they depicted the flags of the members of the EU, but with a middle finger on both Hungary’s and Poland’s national flag.

András Kocsis, Hungary’s Ambassador to the Hague, wrote to the editorial office of the newspaper in order to respond to the accusations in the article against Hungary, but the paper refused to publish the ambassador’s response.

The Embassy of Hungary to the Hague, therefore, published the ambassador’s response article. Kocsis writes: “The simplification of the European debate to middle fingers depicted on national flags, such as the illustration” in the “opinion article of 19 October, shows […] a complete lack of understanding” of the situation.

In his article, András Kocsis points out that the source of the conflict between Hungary and other European countries is not truly the rule of law but rather an ideological conflict between liberal and Christian democracy. As he puts it, the Hungarian government is firmly favouring national sovereignty and focuses on the family.

The ambassador also responded to the article on his Twitter account:

Source: Magyarnemzet.hu