Hungarian opposition: Biden presidency ‘end to populism’

The opposition Socialist and Democratic Coalition (DK) parties see the presidency of Joe Biden, starting on Wednesday, as one putting an end to populist policy making in the United States. Hungary’s green LMP party has welcomed US President-elect Joe Biden’s pledge to rejoin the Paris climate accord.

DK

DK greeted Biden in a statement on the occasion of his inauguration, scheduled for later on Wednesday, and said that his presidency “marks a victory of temperance, gravity, readiness for dialogue and compromise, democratic institutions and respect for tradition over nationalist populism and violent government” in the US.

The statement also voiced DK’s hope that under the new US administration confidence between the US and the European Union would be restored.

Socialists

Socialist co-leader Ágnes Kunhalmi said in a statement sent to MTI that

Biden’s taking over at the helm gave rise to hopes that “democracy is again able to defy authoritarian, populist political trends open to the far right”.

She warned, however, that the incoming leaders would have “no easy job” because “though (Donald) Trump has failed, trumpism is still there”.

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LMP

“The United States of America is embarking on a new era and LMP, Hungary’s green party, hopes that the same will happen in Hungary in 2022,”

the party’s co-leaders said in a statement in which they congratulated Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their coming inauguration.

Erzsebet Schmuck and Máte Kanász-Nagy said Washington’s move to rejoin the agreement was one of the most important executive orders Biden plans to sign during his first days in office. “This move is highly significant for the entire world,” they said.

The co-leaders said

Biden’s pledge was a testament that the US was prepared to take on an active role in the fight to tackle climate change and preserve biological diversity.

“And this tells LMP that it is on the right path when it centres its vision on green ideas,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, they criticised the Fidesz-led government for implementing changes in higher education studies in agriculture “which will likely result in environmentally friendly, modern farming practices disappearing from university curricula”.

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Source: MTI