Europe

Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: The true values of the EU are right in front of us

European Union Flag

Remarks from Jobbik MEP Márton Gyöngyösi:

While Europe has recently been engaged in endless skirmishes over its values on the stage of world politics, Pope Francis’ decree to recognize the heroic virtues of EU founding father Robert Schuman has almost gone unnoticed. The news was overshadowed by the vivid reports on the boisterous insults and outraged retorts, even though Schuman’s work is the first thing we should look at when we want to talk about European values. We should do so even if he, unfortunately, might not be the most popular figure on either side of the current war trenches. In fact, that’s exactly why we should look to him for inspiration now.

I’m sure we’ve all had that experience when you have been looking all over the place for an important document or other thing while it was lying right in the middle of the dining table. I’ve had that same feeling about Europe recently.

I don’t think we have ever seen so many disputes and political skirmishes regarding the objectives of the European Union and the definition of its values. In the meantime, we have hardly talked about Pope Francis’ decree to recognize the heroic virtues of EU founding father Robert Schuman, which is the first step in a process that may lead to canonisation – provided that Schuman “meets” all the requirements.

We hardly noticed it, even though it should have given us enormous pride and it should have deserved an exclamation mark in the notebooks of all the people who care about Europe – regardless of their political views. Somehow we seem to have forgotten Schuman more and more over the nearly six decades that passed since his death. Of course, his picture is in the history books, we like to keep repeating some of his thoughts or cite them in EU brochures somewhat mechanically, and the intersection in front of the European Commission is also named after him – symbolically. Apart from the usual trains of thought however, we hardly mention him at all.

Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: Digital COVID Certificate is sign of EU togetherness

Robert Schuman’s life was always determined by the fact that he was born on the frontier between France and Germany, with the scenes of the major events in his life being passed from one hand to the other within a few decades, due to the animosity between the two nations.

Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: Europe fell short of being equal to the US and Russia?

He achieved his greatest successes as a post-war French politician with his idea that the two great enemies, France and Germany must be reconciled, and this reconciliation must become the foundation for building a new Europe whose nations could finally live in harmony, safety and liberty.

He started working on the implementation of his plan, in spite of the many grievances people must have been harbouring on all sides just a few years after the cataclysm. Schuman however, as a man of deep Christian faith, decided not to choose the path of grievance politics. That’s why we now live in a Europe that is one of the happiest and safest places in the world, despite all of its faults and shortcomings.

The question is: will we be able to live up to this legacy when we need an Argentinian-born pope to call our attention to something that has always been right in front of our eyes – while politicians spout on about the values Europe should represent? Of course, Schuman’s legacy is hard to live up to.

He envisioned a socially sensitive Europe that relies on Christian values and respects the legacies of its nations.

In contrast, today’s Europe seems to be characterized by two irreconcilable camps facing each other. One side talks about rights and democracy, while constantly forgetting the reason why it was our continent that first gave rise to such values as the respect for human rights, democracy or diversity: because there was a Christian philosophy and a national diversity to serve as the foundation for them. In the meantime, the politicians of the other side keep blaring about defending Christianity and national values – forgetting that Christianity involves the tolerance and respect for others, while our nations will have no future if we fail to cooperate. If we remain disunited, we will fall.

I hope we will recognize our true values in time, especially if they are right in front of our eyes. That’s what I strive for as a member of the European Parliament.

orbán walking
Read also“The Union would step back forty years with Orbán”

EU’s flight ban breached? A small armed Hungarian plane flew to Minsk

Hungary plane Belarus

A Hungarian manufacturer’s plane flew to the boycotted country last week and then spent days in Minsk, even though an unusually severe punitive measure, a pan-European flight ban, was imposed on Belarus for forcing the Ryanair plane to the ground. According to Magnus Aircraft Zrt., the general flight ban does not apply to them.

A Hungarian plane landed on June 16 in the capital of Belarus. According to Flightradar, Magnus Aircraft Zrt.’s HA-XCN small aircraft arrived in Minsk from Debrecen. The two-seater Magnus Fusion spent four days at the airport in the Belarusian capital and then flew back to Jakabszállás on Monday.

The visit of the Hungarian plane was spotted by members of a Facebook group dealing with air traffic. The path of Magnus Fusion was easily recognisable because airspace in Belarus has been almost completely empty since the European Council introduced punitive measures against the country.

As is well known, on 23 May, at the behest of President Alexander Lukashenko, a Ryanair flight between Athens and Vilnius was forced to land in Minsk which in principle would have just flown over the country.

The aim of the order was to allow the Belarusian authorities to arrest opposition journalist and activist Raman Pratasevich on board.

Brussels’ response to the hijacking has essentially stopped air traffic between Europe and Belarus. Since the end of May, EU airports have not received flights from Belarusian airlines, and even Belarusian aircraft are not allowed to fly through the airspace of EU Member States.

As an EU member state, of course, Hungary cannot back out from the unusually severe airspace block. Although a Hungarian state-owned airline no longer exists, the aviation authority, in its flight safety information issued on 4 June, defined the validity of the ban much more broadly.

According to this,

air carriers licensed in Hungary, pilots of Hungarian licensed aircraft, and aircraft with Hungarian registration are also not allowed to enter the airspace of Minsk (Belarus).

Deviations from this instruction are essentially possible only in an emergency, due to unforeseen circumstances.

Our colleagues and our Magnus Fusion Business demonstration aircraft took part in a mission in Belarus,

Regina Tarány reacted to the situation at the request of 24.hu.

The company’s marketing manager added that the current NOTAM, according to the company, only applies to “the ban on flying aircraft engaged in commercial activities,” therefore, the trip was legally acceptable.

Magnus Aircraft has been trying to get a market for its aircraft with surprising pulls recently, after not really being able to boost production.

The company announced in January that an agreement had been reached with the Nigerian Air Force. The first news about the business indicated that the machine, which was lightweight and could be operated at low maintenance costs, would also be used for military purposes. According to Nigerian sources, the planes are planned to be deployed against Boko Haram and other armed organisations, and a local arms factory will be able to equip them for air support and reconnaissance military missions.

The Hungarian aviation authorities have not yet made a substantive comment on the EU airspace boycott and the Magnus route to Minsk.

orbán is shadow
Read alsoHungary faces a vicious circle of corruption?

Hungary faces a vicious circle of corruption?

orbán is shadow

Many fear the consequences of reporting a corruption case, according to the Transparency International (TI) Global Corruption Barometer. However, still, 69 per cent of Hungarians consider government corruption to be a severe problem, and more than half are dissatisfied with the Hungarian government’s response to the phenomenon.

The survey inquired about the views and experiences of more than 40,000 people in the 27 EU Member States about corruption. The Kantar polling company conducted the study; 901 people were interviewed in Hungary. They worked with a representative sample. The time of the survey was October-November 2020, and the European Union supported the survey.

According to 69 per cent of Hungarian respondents, state corruption is a big or very big problem in Hungary; the EU average is around 62 per cent. In the southern and eastern Member States, the proportion of those who consider public corruption to be a major concern is higher.

Forty per cent of Hungarian respondents perceived an increase in corruption in the recent period, while 30 per cent said it remained the same. More than half of the population believes that the government is not addressing the problem in its proper place, according to Péter Martin József, Managing Director of Transparency International Hungary.

According to 45 per cent of Hungarian respondents, the government acted transparently in measures related to the coronavirus epidemic. Thirty-nine per cent said the government was not transparent in this area. According to József Martin, this clearly shows the division of society. He believes that the non-transparent and non-normative management of tourism subsidies, in particular, was highly suspicious of corruption during this period.

A significant trend is that the police are considered less and less corrupt by Hungarians (only 13 per cent found it a significant problem). The trend has been declining for years, and in comparison, MPs and business leaders are still perceived as corrupt by many.

Interestingly, 18 per cent of respondents said they had paid gratitude money, although there could probably be more people than that, and the latency in this area could be high. But this 18 per cent is also a remarkably high figure compared to the EU.

Overall, 17 per cent of respondents said they had offered a bribe, gift, or favour in exchange for a service before. This is well above the EU average (7 per cent).

Regarding the fight against corruption, Transparency basically drew the following conclusions from the survey results:

  • Half of Hungarians do not trust the government.
  • Nearly half of Hungarians are afraid of the possible negative consequences of reporting corruption.
  • More than half of the population feels that the interests of a narrow circle have captured the state.

48% of the respondents think that they should be afraid if they report a case of corruption. This was lower a few years ago. By “capturing” the state, TI means that, according to a significant number of respondents, the

Hungarian government is not primarily driven by the public good, but by the private interests of certain people.

According to the organisation, the results of the survey lead to the conclusion that

A vicious circle of mistrust and corruption has developed in Hungary.

József Martin talked about the fact that it is clear from previous research that many people turn a blind eye to corrupt people on their “own side” while they are much more critical of those who oppose them.

It is also clear from previous surveys that two-thirds of people in Hungary tolerate corruption, i.e. there is a great deal of apathy (indifference, disinterest) towards the topic. With this two-thirds ratio, we have the highest corruption tolerance index in the EU. According to Transparency, public institutions should be more inclusive; they should serve the public good, not private interests.

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Read alsoBREAKING! Hungary to reopen Schengen borders from June 24

Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: Europe fell short of being equal to the US and Russia?

Biden Putin Summit Resize

Remarks from Jobbik MEP Márton Gyöngyösi:

Last week’s most important and most widely covered international political event was perhaps the Geneva meeting of US President Joe Biden and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Although the public interest in the meeting was intense (just think of the embarrassing intermission with the media representatives at the beginning), many questions were still left unanswered, including such an important one as where Europe is.

Realistically, you couldn’t expect any great surprises from Biden and Putin’s Geneva summit, since US-Russia relations had deteriorated so much recently that even the fact of the two heads of state meeting seemed like a significant step forward.

What we saw proved the expectations right: although the sensitive issues were not left unaddressed, the parties demonstrated no willingness whatsoever to resolve these conflicts.

However, we do have some reason to be optimistic about the relations of the two great powers: at least the channels of diplomacy were restored by allowing the previously recalled Russian and the American ambassadors to return to their stations, and the parties also managed to agree on a few issues where some further cooperation can potentially be expected.

Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: What should Europe’s position be about Belarus?

Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: Can corrupted Hungary escape EU judgement?

Consequently, the widely envisioned cold war does not seem to be impending in the near future. Although the media kept an ever more watchful eye on every little gesture of both presidents to try and figure out how a step or a phrase might imply weakness or strength, both Biden and Putin likely had their reasons to return home satisfied.

Putin got yet another confirmation that he is treated as an equal party – something that has been a centuries-long goal of Russian leaders. On the other hand, Biden can tell that he personally voiced his concerns to Moscow with regard to the state of democracy in Russia as well as the cyber-attacks coming from there.

White House and Kremlin experts will certainly keep analyzing the two presidents’ meeting for quite a while.

There will be a lot of speculations as to which period of the era when world politics was completely determined by the competition of these two power centres was the Biden-Putin summit most reminiscent of. As far as we, Europeans are concerned, it means that the EU, despite all its efforts, has not really been able to make progress over the last fifty years in terms of gaining importance at the highest levels. In short: Brussels still does not show next to Washington and Moscow.

And if you think about Josep Borrell’s February performance in Moscow, I believe we have every reason to envy our American friends whose only concern at the moment is whether Biden and his coat were perhaps a bit too funny at the outdoor press conference…

Read alsoJobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: Digital COVID Certificate is sign of EU togetherness

Hungarian Justice Minister: EU became “a platform for ideological disputes”

Day of Hungarian Freedom 1989 1990 Judit Varga Resized

Instead of more Europe, “we want a wiser Europe”, Justice Minister Judit Varga said on Saturday, adding that “to us, unity in diversity means the harmony of sovereign states.”

Addressing a conference marking Hungarian Independence Day, Varga said “we want a Europe where EU law is not used as an ideological weapon and where political frustration does not overpower the principles of the treaties.”

“A series of belated and ill-fated European responses to the challenges of the 21st century have made it clear that integration has lost its response capability, and pragmatic cooperation has turned into a platform for ideological disputes,” she said.

Varga said Europe was ruled by mainstream calling itself “progressive and liberal” which strove for a united states of Europe, “a Europe supporting multiculturalism, welcoming migration and rejecting the traditional family model as well as the continent’s cultural religious heritage.”

Orbán: Next decade to bring epidemics, mass migration

Government to Brussels: “Hungary would not succumb to political blackmail”

Mária Schmidt, government commissioner of the “Free for 30 years” memorial year said at the event that neither the West, nor the European Union had fulfilled the hopes of Hungarians, adding that “we idealised them and set unrealistic expectations of them”.

“By now, we’ve learnt to see them for what they are. We have removed our rose-tinted glasses and now we negotiate with them by representing Hungarian interests,”

Schmidt, who is also the director of the House of Terror Museum, said. “It is a promising development that Hungarian interests increasingly coincide with the interests of our region,” she added.

The event was also addressed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and attended by Speaker of Parliament László Kövér, Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás, Human Resources Minister Miklós Kásler, MPs and foreign ambassadors accredited to Hungary.

European Union Flage
Read alsoMore and more people dissatisfied with EU – what do Hungarians think?

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán talked about the issues of the European Union

Day of Hungarian Freedom 1989 1990 Prime Minister Viktor Orbán Speech Resized

Brussels is creating a European superstate instead of a Europe of nation states, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Saturday, insisting that “national democrats” opposed the makers of empires, who were in turn “opponents of democracy”.

Addressing a conference marking Hungarian Independence Day, Orbán said Europe as a “cultural formation” was “fabulous” and “cannot be copied”. Places attempting to make European culture their own had fallen short, he said. Europe “is eternal”, he added.

But the European Union, Orbán said, was a political body created by countries defending their economic and military interests after the second world war when the US and Soviet Union vied with each other on the continent.

“The EU was created to ensure that Europeans once again decided Europe’s fate,” he said. Today, however, Europe was not actively improving or transforming itself, Orbán said. “It is we who must improve and transform it, and lead it back to its former successful path.”

Orbán said the EU’s economic power was declining, noting that its share of the world’s GDP had shrunk from 25 percent in 2008 to 18 percent in 2019, while its share of industrial output had declined from 22 percent to 15. None of the world’s ten largest financial centres are located within the EU, while he EU filed seven times as many patent applications as China 30 years ago; today China has fourteen times as many as the EU, he said. The prime minister said that whereas the US had increased its military spending by more than 30 percent in the past 30 years, and China ninefold, the EU spending had remained stagnant.

Orbán: Next decade to bring epidemics, mass migration

PM Orbán: Hungary has a 6-8-week advantage in vaccinations in the EU – UPDATED

Orbán said “today is the day of Hungarian freedom, thirty years since we won the Cold War.” Soviets, he added, no longer had the strength or means to unit the socialist camp.  Freedom, he said, didn’t just come about but was won, and communism didn’t just die but was overthrown.

“Today we’re the same as we’ve always been: Europe’s last freedom fighters. The history of Europe did not simply change; we changed it.” Orbán insisted that Europe was in need of “freedom fighters of our own kind”.

Citing Vaclav Klaus, he said the individual, the family and the nation were “under attack” on all fronts, endangering Europe’s future. Meanwhile, one European vice-president had branded Hungary — which he said was fighting for the essence of what made Europe a democracy — as “a sick democracy”, he said.

Brussels, he added, was busy “fighting with itself and the member states, lecturing and threatening them, exerting pressure and imposing fines”. He called this “a self-destructive abuse of power”.

PM Orbán: Hungary bringing jobs back faster than euro-zone countries

On another note, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has also sent greetings to former President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus on the occasion of his 80th birthday, declaring that “another war of independence” was under way in Europe “after 32 long years”.

“This time we’re fighting to protect our Christian-conservative traditions, sovereign nation states and central European identity,” Orbán said in the greeting.

Klaus, he said, had guided his country towards a market economy and had a major role in turning central Europe into the continent’s “economic motor”.

“I’m delighted to have welcomed you to Budapest twice … [and to have] further deepened our friendship,” he said in the letter forwarded to MTI by the PM’s press chief on Saturday.

Orbán called Klaus a “good personal friend” and “a good friend of the whole Hungarian nation”.

European Union Flage
Read alsoMore and more people dissatisfied with EU – what do Hungarians think?

More and more people dissatisfied with EU – what do Hungarians think?

European Union Flage

Problems with vaccine procurement have undermined confidence in the EU institutions, the ECFR survey found. The attitude of Germans and the French is particularly worrying.

Last year, residents of almost all regions of Europe felt that the level of governance in the broadest sense had improved, with the exception of the residents of Hungary and Poland. This may have been because democratic rights and institutions have been significantly weakened in these two countries in response to the pandemic.

A study by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) reports a rather unfavourable public attitude for the future of the continent. According to a survey of 12 Member States, including Hungary, in the spring, faith in the European Union has faltered as a result of the coronavirus epidemic.

Despite the Orbán government’s relentlessly Eurosceptic campaign, those who are distrustful of the EU or whose confidence in the community has been shaken since last year remain in the minority in Hungary, but the opposite has happened in other countries. In six Member States, the majority are already distrustful and losing confidence.

The depth of the crisis of confidence is shown by the fact that most French, Italian, and Spanish citizens said they were disillusioned with both the EU and their domestic political systems, and the majority of Germans believed that the EU was malfunctioning.

These are quite worrying signs for the future of Europe.

Has Germany had enough of the Hungarian government?

The research traces dissatisfaction back to a vaccination program that started slowly and chaotically earlier this year, compounded by the fact that the UK, which has just left the community, has quickly vaccinated its own population. However, the success of the recovery programme may have a positive effect on the perception of the EU – in eight of the 12 Member States, including Hungary, the majority of respondents expect the EU to provide key assistance in recovering from the coronavirus epidemic.

The fact that external shocks have pushed the EU from crisis to crisis over the last decade and a half may play a role in the loss of its prestige.

Between the global financial crisis, the debates over the Greek debt situation, the migration and refugee crisis, the Syrian civil war, issues related to asylum seekers, and the dragged-out process of Brexit, European leaders did not have a breather as the coronavirus epidemic hit the continent a few weeks later.

Government to Brussels: “Hungary would not succumb to political blackmail”

However, in the context of crisis management, decision-makers are making a tangible effort to breathe new life into the Union. In general, there is still a deep commitment to the EU:

in 11 of the 12 countries surveyed, the majority clearly feel that the EU membership was beneficial for their country, with 56 per cent in Hungary sharing this view.

Reopening, increasing vaccination, and economic recovery are expected to improve sentiment everywhere. The ECFR research concludes that European leaders are best placed to regain lost confidence by making the community a significant factor at the international level as well. Hungarians also want the EU to be a value-based community: 27.8 per cent would keep in mind the democratic values, and 26.3 per cent would protect European traditions and values while preserving strong nation-states.

A significant proportion of Hungarians believe that we handled the pandemic much or somewhat better than other countries. Roughly one-third (33.2 per cent) of the public thought that we had a better response to the crisis than the United States.

A survey conducted by Median showed that some Hungarians see the response to the pandemic through rose-tinted glasses: in that survey, 36 per cent of the voting population rated the deplorable Hungarian death statistics as relatively or very good; in the case of pro-government voters, the proportion was 53 per cent.

retirement-old-people-home
Read alsoWill the Hungarian pension ever compare to the EU?

Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: Digital COVID Certificate is sign of EU togetherness

Remarks from Jobbik MEP Márton Gyöngyösi:

The Covid-19 pandemic has posed perhaps unprecedented challenges for the European Union. Let’s be honest, many people were worried if the community was able to rise to the challenge, but if you look at the recent events, you can say that, despite all the bungling, the EU may eventually come out of this crisis stronger. One of the most important signs of recovery is the EU Digital COVID Certificate passed by the European Parliament this week.

I vividly remember how worried we were a year ago reading about the kind of summer we were going to face. The prospects could hardly have been called rosy: the Schengen zone had practically collapsed and European countries, after several decades of free movement, were once again separated by closed borders, resulting in a nearly complete stoppage of international traffic. And, although most member states followed the EU’s recommendations and allowed cross-border traffic for the summer, citizens still had to learn and comply with the widest spectrum of member state regulations. The countries adopted completely arbitrary measures with regard to who they allowed to enter their territories. As autumn was approaching, the situation became even more critical. One after the other, European countries introduced regulations they thought favourable, again on a national basis. Unfortunately, we have seen such examples of excessive measures as a nearly complete exclusion of foreign travels or the quasi banning of other member state citizens from certain countries.

The ideal of European togetherness and community has long seemed so distant as in those months. Furthermore, the European Union appeared to be unable to take control of the situation at first.

In addition, the solution was also hindered by some populist politicians running amok, such as when Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán immediately tried to abuse the situation to sabotage the EU and distance his country from it. Of course, every challenge brings a new opportunity, too. The common recovery fund and, despite its fumbling and errors, the common vaccine procurement project clearly showed Europe had the will and the ability to come out of this crisis stronger.

Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: What did the Brexit teach the EU?

Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: Can corrupted Hungary escape EU judgement?

Symbolically, the European Parliament adopted the concept of the EU Digital Covid Certificate on the same week when the legislative body could finally return to Strasbourg, its official headquarters, after so many long months.

Since the certificate will be available as of 1 July, we can put an end to the time of European countries testing travellers’ patience with their increasingly chaotic restrictions.

Why is the newly adopted Covid certificate so important? This document will be available for everyone. Its release is subject to either an anti-Covid vaccination or a negative PCR test result, or recovery from the disease. Its format is unified and it is accepted by all member states. It is not a travel document, i.e., it cannot be made mandatory for anyone and its holders cannot be subjected to travel restrictions, either. This allows the European vaccine certificate to become a tool that truly helps rather than hinders free movement, the latter of which has repeatedly been raised as a concern by the critics of the concept. Furthermore, contrary to some member state practices that refuse to recognize PCR test results, the Covid certificate will also be available to those who could not or would not be vaccinated for some reason.

After all those long months, Europe, as of July this year, seems to once again become a community where the right to free movement is guaranteed for everyone. Europe has won.

And what happens now to the populists who wanted to use the pandemic to incite anti-EU sentiments? Well, they will soon have to face some tough questions coming from their citizens. For example, Viktor Orbán may as well start to prepare his answers for the questions on the supposed benefit of vaccinating a part of the Hungarian population with Russian and Chinese products that were not approved by the European Medicines Agency and therefore are not accepted by several European countries. This is indeed a burning question because, Covid certificate or not, EU member states are still not required to accept those vaccines.

Hungarian workforce - Passport Travel Luggage
Read alsoEverything you need to know about the EU Covid certificate!

Will the Hungarian pension ever compare to the EU?

retirement-old-people-home

Regarding the sustainability of the current pay-as-you-go pension system, many different issues can be brought up. It is unsustainable; therefore, a point system described at the professional conference of the Hungarian Economic Society would change it so that the age limit and amount of the pension would also depend on the number of children raised by the individual.

The German pension calculation, for example, is based on the system of pension points introduced in 2001, in contrast to the Hungarian one currently in place. After each insurance year, each insured person receives a pension point that reflects their relative earnings in that year. The monthly amount of the pension is determined using the following formula: the number of personal pension points is multiplied by a bonus-malus multiplier, then the current pension value, and then by a multiplier depending on the type of pension.

Regarding the sustainability of the current pay-as-you-go pension system, the rapporteurs of the conference highlighted six different issues, wrote index.hu. They are the following:

  • The system is based on the ability of the next generation to finance the elderly, although the explanation of the creators was that it is based on the ability to pay contributions of the present generation.
  • Pensions are backed by implicit public debt. Although the amount that the state borrows as a loan to pay pensions does not appear in nominal terms, it still exists.
  • In this system, the elements of insurance and solidarity are mixed.
  • Once the state has been put behind the system as a guarantor, there is virtually no reserve behind the system.
  • It assumes a steady increase in the population, although, in theory, a decrease in the population should not be a problem due to an increase in productivity.
  • The system has practically undermined itself, given that it was not financially worthwhile to have a child.

Said József Banyár, a professor at the Corvinus University of Budapest, in his presentation on the topic.

Erzsébet Kovács, who also teaches at Corvinus, described the process with statistics, according to which while the proportion of women of childbearing age decreased spectacularly between 1999 and 2019, the proportion of women over the age of fifty and pensioners increased by about the same ratio. So contributions would have to be significantly increased to cover pensions.

Another serious problem is that the average number of children per family is only increasing in a minimal amount, much less than the required for future stability.

Although the system is based on contributions paid by active workers, it sees the child as a public good, which is a fundamental flaw.

If they consider who contributes to the maintenance of the pension system by giving birth to multiple children, influencing the amount of the allocated pension in proportion, that could be a possible solution that may be attempted in the future. This way, the ultimate financier would be practically the child.

Under the system mentioned before, the pension amount would be calculated by taking account of the number of pensions depending on the number of children raised.

As a consequence of the system, the pensions of the childless would be much lower, or their retirement age would have to be raised. People would pay a certain amount from the moment they start work, and from this, they would finance the period between the normal and the raised retirement age for the childless.

This could potentially prevent the further spread of the “problem group” that makes the current pension system unsustainable.

Hungary terrorist Islam
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Hungary job growth largest in Europe?

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Hungary’s employment rate in the first quarter of 2021 grew the fastest in the European Union, a government official said on Wednesday, adding that this was a sign of the government’s successful crisis management during the pandemic.

Commenting on Eurostat data released on Wednesday, Sándor Bodó, a state secretary of the innovation and technology ministry, said the number of jobholders in Hungary grew by 1.1 percent quarter on quarter from January to March.

Hungary was the only country with a growth rate above one percent in the EU, where overall employment edged down by 0.2 percent, he said.

The government’s measures to protect the economy have helped some 1.6 million people in the past two years, Bodó said. The wage support programme alone has preserved or created some 500,000 jobs, he added.

The government’s revamped workforce support scheme, launched earlier in June, offers 600,000 forints (EUR 1,700) in government support each month for half a year to companies employing people out of jobs for more than a month beforehand, Bodó said.

Self-employed workers in hard-hit sectors are now entitled to one-off aid of 219,000 forints, he added.

Over 4.5 million people are currently employed in Hungary, and the number of jobseekers has fallen by 100,000 compared with the highest numbers last summer, he said.

Read also:

  • Nearly half of Hungarians are ready to retrain to find jobs in fields widely different from their expertise. More HERE!
  • Hungary and Austria believe that setting a minimum wage from Brussels would be ill-advised due to large differences in the level of development between European Union member states. More HERE!
immunity certificate hungary
Read alsoCan employers ask to see COVID-19 Immunity Certificates in Hungary?

Has Germany had enough of the Hungarian government?

MAAS, Heiko; SZIJJÁRTÓ Péter

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas spoke at an ambassadorial conference on Monday about the need to eliminate the possibility of vetoing member states within the European Union. According to others, this clearly referred to Hungary and the Hungarian government.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas spoke about the EU situation in his opening speech at the 19th conference of the ministry he headed on Monday. The German politician did not say so, but he clearly referred to Hungary and the Orbán government, writes 24.hu.

The alliance of liberal democracies needs to be strengthened.

Heiko Maas said it should be noticed when others question this type of governance, for example, by stylising mask or vaccine supplies as competition between Western and Eastern regimes. “Hungary has voted repeatedly alone or with a minority against the general EU position. The Hungarian government has vetoed a statement condemning China for violating Hong Kong liberties. Most recently, Hungary blocked the EU’s position on the Gaza-Israel conflict and opposed EU sanctions against Chinese officials in the Xinjiang case.

Within the European Union, Hungary faced other countries when it decided to condemn Russia and did not join the resolution on the imprisonment of protesters alongside Russian politician Alexei Navalny. Not only within the EU but also at one of the V4 meetings, Hungary defended Russia. According to the Western powers, these are clear signs that the Orbán government wants to work with the Eastern powers rather than with the Union. Heiko Maas said

it would be important to abolish the institution of veto.

The German foreign minister puts it this way, “the community cannot allow those who paralyse our foreign policy to take us hostage.” Under the current rules, one veto vote from the 27 EU Member States is enough to frustrate a common foreign policy position, writes index.hu.

Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: Can corrupted Hungary escape EU judgement?

Laura Codruţa Kövesi Hungary European Public Prosecutor's Office

Remarks from Jobbik MEP Márton Gyöngyösi:

We witnessed a long-awaited event on 1st June: the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) finally began its operation to protect EU monies. One may say it was high time, but we wouldn’t be living in the European Union if there wasn’t yet another twist in the story: Member States were not required to join, and the Orbán government, which had built up a dictatorial regime through tapping into EU funds, refused to participate.

They could hardly have found a more suitable person than Romania’s former chief of anti-corruption prosecution office Laura Codruţa Kövesi to head the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), as she has already proved her capabilities beyond doubt. It must have taken a significant amount of courage for her to combat Romania’s most influential politicians in a sphere that is often euphemistically called “Byzantine” on account of the critically dangerous chains of corruption developing there. Not only did Kövesi combat the people who had caused serious damage to the Romanian state, but she put them behind bars, too, one after the other.

We might as well go as far as to say that if she could stand her ground so courageously in such an environment, the management of the EPPO will almost be like a walk in the park for her.

As a matter of fact, Luxembourg is certainly different from Bucharest, but the challenge is still big. In cooperation with the 22 participating countries, EPPO will have to investigate such crimes in member state territories as money laundering, corruption or tax fraud, provided that the cases affect EU funds. The total value of the cases is very high: according to the known data, such frauds were committed up to the amount of €460 million in 2019 alone, and the sum is expected to rise even higher as the EU’s recovery funds are allocated.

It’s a beautiful challenge but the devil, as usual in the European Union, lies in the details: EU member states were not required to join the EPPO, and five of them did indeed decide to stay out of it. Denmark and Ireland have an opt-out from the area of freedom, security and justice, while Sweden wants to wait until next year to join in the work of the prosecution office. We must note however, that none of these three countries are famous for corruption, and they are not the main net recipients of EU funds, either. It’s more interesting to look at the cases of Poland and Hungary: neither of these countries is planning to join the EPPO at all, but they receive huge sums from the EU.

As far as Poland is concerned, the reason for the rejection is likely political: although the governing Law and Justice Party (PiS) has been widely criticized for its increasingly authoritarian methods over the years, its opposition with the EU bodies is mainly ideological. All-devouring corruption has not been reported in Poland.

In contrast, Hungary’s Orbán regime has been using increasingly blatant dictatorial measures to methodically eliminate its opposition and dismantle independent institutions. Despite the façade of battling Brussels over ideological issues, the truth is that Orbán has built up a fundamentally corrupt regime that he maintains by tapping into the very EU funds he is supposed to invest into the country’s development.

In today’s Hungary, corruption is not a system error, it’s the system itself.

Not only do Orbán’s favourite oligarchs and closest allies keep lining their already bulging pockets with the EU funds, but EU monies have become a sort of currency to pay off the provincial oligarchs who deliver the votes for Fidesz by intimidating and blackmailing the local people – in return, they are allowed to use their region’s development funds for their own purposes. No wonder Orbán doesn’t even consider joining the EPPO.

Of course, the official explanation is that Hungary’s prosecution service is completely sufficient to prevent fraudulent practices. However, if you have just a minimal insight into Hungary, you are well aware that Chief Prosecutor Péter Polt is a former Fidesz member and MP candidate, who is Orbán’s political appointee and therefore doesn’t have the slightest inclination to look into the affairs of his fellow party members. (This system is so much more ingenious than Poland’s model of replacing judges, because the cases dropped in the prosecution phase will never be seen by a judge, so it no longer matters who the judge is – which clearly shows how cunning Fidesz is.)

This way however, regardless how happy we are about Laura Codruţa Kövesi’s appointment and the EPPO in general, we rightfully feel dissatisfied since the biggest thief is allowed to escape justice.

Knowing the history of European integration, it’s easy to understand why it’s so hard to step up against the blatant corruption in Hungary. The EU was basically created on the grounds of its member states’ honesty and good faith. The founding fathers and the institutionalized EU bodies could hardly have expected any country to become a member for the sole purpose of sabotaging the organization politically and shaking it down financially.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Viktor Orbán has been doing. No matter how hard it is, it’s time for us to think about how to stop the politicians like him before it gets too late.

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Foreign minister: Time to open new EU accession chapters with Serbia

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The European Union and Serbia have a mutual interest in the latter joining the bloc, and the time has come to open a new accession chapter, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said on Wednesday.

Meeting Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and Jadranka Joksimovic, the European integration minister, in Belgrade, Szijjártó said the fact that no accession chapter had been opened in the first half of 2021 was “unacceptable”.

“The Serbs are doing well,” he said.

“European Union enlargement is a cornerstone of Hungarian foreign policy,” he said, referring to the importance of “security, peace and development in the Western Balkans”.

“The best and quickest way to achieve these aims is through European integration,” the minister added.

He said that support for enlargement in Brussels tended to be rhetorical rather than pro-active.

European interests such as staunching migration, economic growth and expanding its trading footprint would be served by admitting Serbia to the club, Szijjarto added.

It is likely, he said, that new accession chapters would be opened during the Slovenian presidency as Slovenia was “clearly pro-enlargement”.

The minister pledged Hungary’s full support to the Slovenian EU presidency in its bid to speed up Serbia’s accession process.

Hungary, Serbia gave most successful response to pandemic

Hungary and Serbia have mounted the most successful response in the economy and health care to the coronavirus pandemic and the economies of both countries have remained strong, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Friday.

Szijjártó said after a meeting of the Hungarian-Serbian economic mixed committee in Belgrade that neither Serbia, nor Hungary “viewed the issue of vaccines as an ideological or geopolitical issue but as a tool to save people’s lives”.

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The European Public Prosecutor’s Office to operate without Hungary?

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For the time being, five countries are opting out from joining the work of the prosecutor’s office, including Hungary. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office will be entitled to conduct investigations and prosecutions in the territory of the Member States participating in this cooperation.

The launch of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office is a historic step in the fight for the rule of law, and you can bet I will be smiling behind my mask,

said in her opening speech Laura Codruta Kövesi, the head of the prosecution, who previously headed the Romanian anti-corruption prosecutor’s office.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), an investigative body set up to protect EU funds with the participation of 22 EU Member States, will start its operation on 1 June. This was announced at the organisation’s headquarters in Luxembourg.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for investigating crimes such as money laundering, corruption, and cross-border VAT fraud in the territory of the Member States, insofar as they concern EU funds.

One of the main reasons for launching the prosecution is that, in 2019 alone, Member States reported a fraud of EUR 460 million affecting the EU budget. This amount will now be even more, as the €750 billion EU Recovery Fund will soon be mobilised.

Vera Jourova, the European Commissioner for Values ​​and Transparency, said that the EPPO, together with the EU’s anti-fraud office (OLAF), the EU police (Europol), and prosecutorial cooperation (Eurojust), is a very strong force in defending the single currency.

The EPPO will operate as a fully independent office. At least two European Public Prosecutor delegates per Member State will work closely with the Central Office as National Liaison Officers.

According to the cooperating Member States, the independence of the EPPO is key to its success: the EPPO is not part of the EU institutions, so it cannot receive instructions from either them or the national authorities.

Five EU countries are not currently members of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Denmark and Ireland have a so-called “opt-out” in justice and home affairs, i.e. they are left out of the common rules in these areas. Ireland has the option of an “opt-in”, i.e. a later accession, while Denmark does not. Sweden is not yet a member of the prosecution, but it has indicated that it would be ready to join in 2022.

However, Hungary and Poland appear to be opting out long-term.

Although the Swedes, Danes, and the Irish are not major beneficiaries of the EU budget, i.e. EU funds do not need to be protected in these countries, Hungary and Poland have a significant share of the common coffers. However, Budapest and Warsaw are of the opinion that their own prosecution system is enough to eliminate fraud and corruption cases.

The Hungarian government also argues that, according to the rules, it is conceivable that only foreign prosecutors would act in Hungarian cases, without the knowledge of Hungarian laws and language.

Prosecutor Laura Codruta Kövesi also spoke about this in an interview with Politico. She argued that, although the office’s rules allow delegated prosecutors to help other countries in some cases, it will be virtually impossible for them to act without the knowledge of local procedures and language. The EPPO recently signed a cooperation agreement with the Hungarian Public Prosecutor’s Office to help each other’s work.

It is also a problem that, although Slovenia has delegated a prosecutor to the central body, it has still not designated the two national liaison prosecutors. The tender was declared invalid by the government, as a response to which the Slovenian Minister of Justice resigned, and the Slovenian Attorney General said that the government had only one thing to do: approve the selected prosecutors.

This is not the first time that Prime Minister Janez Jansa has indicated following a different path. He now argues that other countries, as detailed above, do not participate in the work of the EPPO at all. According to many, Jansa, who will head the EU rotating presidency as the Prime Minister of Slovenia, which will hold the EU rotating presidency for the next six months, is testing the European Union while it is voicing serious criticisms of him, for example, for undermining press freedom.

Laura Codruta Kövesi called the Slovenian government’s decision a very bad sign showing a lack of sincere cooperation.

According to her, this puts Slovenia at great risk because it is not possible to defend EU money in Slovenia without Slovenian prosecutors.

“This will influence the activity of EPPO, the efficiency of EPPO,”

she said.

“How we can protect better the European money without having the prosecutors in Slovenia?”

The EPPO already has its first registered case: it comes from Germany while the second one from Italy. The prosecution is expected to handle 3,000 cases a year.

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Spying scandal – U.S. security agency really spied on top European officials?

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The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has used a partnership with Denmark’s foreign intelligence unit to spy on senior officials of neighbouring countries, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to Danish state broadcaster DR.

The findings are the result of an internal investigation in the Danish Defence Intelligence Service from 2015 into NSA’s role in the partnership, DR said, citing nine unnamed sources with access to the investigation.

According to the investigation which covered 2012 and 2014, the NSA used Danish information cables to spy on senior officials in Sweden, Norway, France and Germany, including former German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and former German opposition leader Peer Steinbrück.

Asked for comment on the DR report, a spokesperson for the German chancellery said it only became aware of the allegations when asked about them by journalists, and declined to comment further.

Denmark, a close ally of the United States, hosts several key landing stations for subsea internet cables to and from Sweden, Norway, Germany, Holland and the UK.

The internal investigation in the Danish Defence Intelligence Service was launched in 2014 following concerns about Edward Snowden’s leaks the previous year revealing how the NSA works, according to DR.

In Washington, the NSA did not immediately reply to a request for comment and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Danish Defence Intelligence Service declined to comment.

“It is grotesque that friendly intelligence services are indeed intercepting and spying on top representatives of other countries,” Steinbrueck told German broadcaster ARD. “Politically I consider it a scandal.”

Sweden’s Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist told Swedish SVT broadcaster that he “demanded full information on these things.” Norway’s Defence Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen told broadcaster NRK that “take the allegations seriously.”

A decision in August last year to suspend the head of the Danish Defence Intelligence Service and three other officials from their posts following criticism and accusations of serious wrongdoings from an independent board overseeing the unit, centered around the 2015 investigation, according to DR.

The Danish government said last year it would initiate an investigation into the case based on information from a whistleblower report. That investigation is expected to be concluded later this year.

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Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: What should Europe’s position be about Belarus?

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Remarks from Jobbik MEP Márton Gyöngyösi:

Belarus’ highjacking and force-landing Ryanair’s Athens-Vilnius flight, which allowed Lukashenko’s authorities to arrest opposition activist Raman Pratasevich, has put the European Union in a position where a decision is inevitable. While the EU has been able to keep a convenient distance from the world’s conflicts, foreign policy experts and citizens particularly interested in this area have long been warning us that if we avoid every difficult decision and fail to give a coherent direction to our diplomacy, it will harm the EU. Now we need to give a clear answer to the Belarus situation. But what should this answer be?

The situation of Belarus and the relations with Minsk have caused concerns for European politicians for quite a while.

It’s long been clear that Alexander Lukashenko’s regime could hardly be called democratic, in fact, it is rather an old-fashioned dictatorship that often applies Soviet-like methods.

However, there was a reason why Lukashenko could build up such an anachronistic regime in the EU’s neighbourhood. As a matter of fact, the Belarusian dictator enjoyed quite a beneficial position for a long time in terms of domestic and foreign policy alike, since both Europe and Russia were interested in keeping up relatively good relations with Belarus. The reason lies in the country’s geographical position as well as Lukashenko’s diplomatic maneuvers, the latest example of which was Minsk’s successful action as intermediary during the Eastern Ukraine crisis. Belarus is of utmost importance for Russia both culturally and geopolitically, so Moscow is willing to grant considerable leeway and overlook many things for Lukashenko, which the Belarusian dictator has always capitalized on. As far as the EU was concerned, Lukashenko’s often reluctant support for Moscow and his relative dissidence has always considered as some sort of guarantee that Russia will be “kept at a safe distance” from the western countries.

Collecting the benefits from both sides, Lukashenko was able to successfully turn them into domestic political profit: beginning as early as the 90s, he created a regime that stood out of the post-Soviet region with its stability and (very) relative welfare.

The people of Belarus were quite appreciative of this for a long time and Lukashenko, despite his methods, enjoyed substantial support from the Belarusian society.

However, those days are far gone now, as it is clearly shown by the public unrest going on since last summer. After last year’s fraudulent election victory, Lukashenko has had to face an ever longer and more intensive wave of street protests which, albeit unable to shake his regime at its foundations, have damaged his European connections just enough to make it harder and harder for him to maintain his shuttlecock policy.

Of course, everything is relative: while the Belarusian opposition was celebrated as freedom fighters by the EU’s public and its exiled leaders were received at the highest levels, the Union’s position has actually been quite ambiguous.

Let’s be honest, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and her group hardly got more than some pats on the shoulder and nice words, while Lukashenko, back at home, was using more and more uninhabited and violent methods against the demonstrators.

Why was it allowed to happen? The answer lies in the EU’s long dilemma: how ethical and how dangerous is it to take a firm stance against Lukashenko and his regime? Obviously, any economic sanctions hard enough to dilapidate a regime would first harm the people of Belarus. Lukashenko appears to be completely unwilling to let go of his power, and the more he is isolated in the West, the more he will turn towards Moscow, thus putting the western countries in a geopolitically difficult situation.

The dilemma could have persisted for a long time but the forced landing of the Ryanair flight and the arrest of Belarusian opposition activist Raman Pratesevich put the EU in a position where it cannot avoid giving a response much longer. If this affair is not followed by tough sanctions, Belarus will inevitably repeat this step and continue trampling on the rights of not only its own citizens but those of the European Union, too. Russia might be a partner to this, as it is already predictable based on Moscow’s rejection of flight plans avoiding Belarus.

However, if Europe takes a firm action as German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas suggested and orders truly deep-cutting sanctions against Belarus, it will jeopardize the Belarusian opposition as well as the general public in the country.

After its long hesitation to take a clear value-based stance, Europe now seems to be at a crossroads where it must give a straight answer as to what is more important: standing by its own values, democratic beliefs and their protection even at risk, or accommodating economic and humanitarian considerations at the price of keeping tyrants in power through implicit support?

Just a side note: this issue is more pressing than ever in areas other than neighbourhood policy, too…

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14 people die in a cable car crash in Italy – rescuing still underway

Olaszország Italy Tragedy Disaster Accident Death Rescue Resized

At least 14 people died and a child was seriously injured on Sunday when a cable car linking Italy’s Lake Maggiore with a nearby mountain plunged 20 metres to the ground, local officials and rescuers said.

The Stresa-Mottarone cable car takes tourists and locals from the town on Lake Maggiore, almost 1,400 metres above sea level to the top of the Mottarone mountain in 20 minutes.

“We are devastated, in pain,” Marcella Severino, Stresa’s mayor told broadcaster RAI,

while Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi voiced his condolences to the families of the victims.

The cable car was travelling up the mountain when the cabin fell some 20 metres to the ground and rolled several times down the steep slopes before it was stopped by trees, Severino said.

People hiking nearby heard a loud hiss just before the crash, she said, adding that the accident was believed to have been caused by one of the cables breaking.

Italy’s alpine rescue service said a call had first come just after midday (1000 GMT), adding that the cable car was lying “crumpled” in the woods and two children were taken by helicopter to a paediatric hospital in the nearby city of Turin.

Olaszország Italy Tragedy Disaster Accident Death Rescue Resized
Photo: MTI/AP/Italian police

Severino said that some of the victims had been found trapped inside the car, with others thrown out into the woods.

Coroners had started identifying the victims, who included foreign nationals, she said, without giving further details.

The eldest of the two children taken to hospital, who was believed to be between 9 and 10, died after suffering two cardiac arrests, the hospital said.

Director General Giovanni La Valle said the hospital did not have personal data for the two children and that nobody had been in contact with the hospital for them, indicating that other family members could have been involved in the accident.

The youngest child, estimated to be 5 years old, was conscious upon his arrival at the hospital and spoke Italian. He was undergoing surgery to stabilise multiple fractures.

La Valle said another person, who was previously thought to have been injured, had not in fact been taken to hospital.

The Stresa-Mottarone lift had only recently re-opened following the gradual lifting of coronavirus restrictions.

“It’s a terrible moment for me and for our community and I think also for the whole of Italy. Especially now that we were just beginning to restart (after the pandemic),” Severino said.

The Mottarone peak is popular among tourists because of its panoramic views on Lake Maggiore and its picturesque islands as well as the vista of the surrounding Alps.

The cable car service first opened in August 1970 after almost three years of works to replace a cog railway, its website said.

The dual cable system is split into two sections, just over two kilometres between Stresa and Alpino and another three kilometres between Alpino and Mottarone. It consist of two cars – in alternate directions – with each one carrying up to 40 passengers, it added.

Severino said that important maintenance works, including changing the cables, had been carried out in recent years.

“All of this is hard to believe,” the mayor said.

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Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: What did the Brexit teach the EU?

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Remarks from Jobbik MEP Márton Gyöngyösi:

Although it’s not part of our daily discourse, it’s important to note that European nations came to the EU with quite diverse legacies and historical backgrounds. However, if we can’t talk about different aspects and perspectives, we will unfortunately make an easy target for populists. The case of the United Kingdom is a good example of the serious price you may sometimes have to pay.

The idea of the European community naturally has a different meaning for a millennium-old trade city lying in the continent’s heart than for a citizen of an island country.

It is especially so if this island country is Great Britain whose political moves and views have been characterized by a certain amount of suspicion and reservation in terms of Europe for centuries. No wonder the United Kingdom’s entry into the EU’s predecessor was no walk in the park, either. Although the past decades have seen the Brits assimilating to Europe in many respects (now we can truly see how much), but they have always been able to maintain a sort of isolation.

On the other hand, the world has changed a lot since the UK’s accession in 1973, even if the public discourse or the people might not have fully recognized it. The mistaken belief that Brexit will restore “the things as they were” came with a huge cost.

Most of the political elite probably had no idea what would happen to the UK after the “Leave or stay” referendum of 2016. The government was likely just aiming to pull pro-Brexiters’ teeth by holding a referendum that was supposed to bring victory for the “Stay” side, thus settling the matter for at least a generation. Of course, David Cameron and his advisors had a reason to expect such an outcome, since the EU’s benefits were obvious for them. However, they failed to consider the power that lies in nostalgia, the ignorance of facts and the populist politicians willing to capitalize on both.

Five years into the post-Brexit era, the case seems to be closed for the European Union.

We have severed all ties, Brexit is legally completed, but as far as the United Kingdom is concerned, these years may have just been the beginning of a real chaos, adding to the tremendous challenge London already had to face in terms of tackling the existing problems.

The list of troubles includes such international matters as renegotiating the trade and business agreements with the EU or the recent fishing rights dispute between France and the Channel Islands. These cases clearly show that the United Kingdom was not prepared for Brexit at all. Mind you, a full preparation would have been impossible, because the relations between Great Britain and the continent have grown closer by now than anyone could have expected fifty years ago.

In addition to the above problems affecting the UK’s international affairs, Brexit has clearly brought serious internal problems to the surface in 2021, too.

The most evident one is Northern Ireland, where the relative calm of the recent years have been replaced by renewed tensions between the Catholics and the Protestants. If the United Kingdom wants to make a deal with the EU, they will obviously have to either upset the protocols settling the Irish issue, thus angering the Catholics of Northern Ireland, or start letting go of Northern Ireland together with its loyalist Protestants, thus giving a push to the country’s disintegration as well, not least because of what is going on in Scotland where the voices calling for independence are louder and louder again.

Many Scots feel it’s a blatant slap in the face that they are forced to leave the EU because of the English votes, even though Scotland is mostly in favour of staying in the European Union, just like they voted for staying in the United Kingdom when it came to the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014.

Anyone who thought in 2016 that leaving the EU would bring back the time when the United Kingdom was the world’s No. 1 power must now experience a rude awakening to see that the process might get to the point where the real question is if the United Kingdom can stay together or will fall apart completely.

What can we say about it here in continental Europe? First of all, we can of course hope for the best, which means that Britain will stay on our side as a good neighbour and ally, albeit no Member State any longer.

We can also hope that the Brexit-induced uncertainties are over, and we can start moving closer to each other again to make mutually beneficial deals and develop profitable relations now as two separate entities.

I’m sure that both the British and the European side are in sore need of those.

On the other hand, we need to learn the lessons of Brexit, especially when the leaders of some countries with perhaps historically different attitudes than Western Europe are trying to play the same cards that the pro-Brexit side used five years ago. We must always remember one thing: Europe is us, together. If we fail to take care of each other and do something to stop suicidal politics, we can very quickly destroy everything we built up together. I hope we won’t let that happen.

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