MEP Gyöngyösi: Hungary at the crossroad, a groving middle class or communist stagnation?
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MEP Márton Gyöngyösi’s (Non-attached) thoughts via press release:
The heated debate about releasing or freezing EU funds has just unveiled a decades-long problem of Hungarian politics: the lack of independence and initiative. At present, we have two confronting sides staring down each other in Hungary. One wants to subdue to Viktor Orbán in every possible way and follow the dictator’s orders. The other expects EU institutions to save them from Viktor Orbán.
Perhaps it was the arrested development and systemic derailment of Hungary’s middle class that led to the current situation where a significant share of Hungarian politicians and public figures, while busy contemplating about such issues as homeland, democracy or East-West dichotomy, don’t seriously believe they can shape their own future. What they actually argue about is who should be their lord and master that they can accept and follow blindly.
That’s why one side uncritically toes Viktor Orbán’s line, even though this power-hungry maniac has completely isolated our country, risked our security and even our very existence by now.
These people are not bothered by the shortages, the dry petrol stations or even the fact that Hungary’s national bankruptcy is not out of the question unless the EU funds are released within the foreseeable future. Of course, if those EU funds do arrive, they will be the first – in a true North Korean fashion – to kowtow to Orbán for it, forgetting where the money came from.
In the meantime, the other side applies the same Fidesz logic internally, but with a twist: since they don’t have an admirable leader of their own, they now expect the European Union to do the dirty work for them and somehow punish Viktor Orbán. They will keep watching the show from their safe skybox, completely ignoring the fact that the EU was not created to police authoritarian leaders. It is slowly getting the hang of it, though. It’s a shame that we needed a sorely deficient Hungarian political sphere for that to happen.
Primarily, it is a job for us, i.e., the people who feel responsible for Hungary, to demonstrate our civic values not just in words but in deeds, too.
It is supposed to be our job to organize the anti-Fidesz resistance and show a way out of this current situation, but without leading people from one intellectual dependency to the next and without ending up in the same place in thirty years’ time: the Communist stagnation that was the favourite form of existence for hundreds of thousands of people.
I believe the most important task for any Hungarian politician is to do whatever they can to make sure that Hungary finally has an adult society with citizens capable of critical thinking, standing up for themselves and actively working for their own prosperity. If we can achieve that, we will never live in Socialism, hybrid regimes or autocracies again. If we can’t, we will see nothing but history repeating itself over and over, just like it is doing now.
Disclaimer: the sole liability for the opinions stated rests with the author(s). These opinions do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Parliament.
