What would Hungarian parties like to do in the European Parliament? – part 2

Photo: www.facebook.com/EuropeanParliament

Hungarians as a whole are referred to in the European press as if they wanted to destroy the European Union. However, of course, there are several parties with different thoughts about shaping the future of the EU. Government parties see May 26 as an opportunity to take control over the European Commission and Parliament while opposition parties regard it as an important milestone in defeating government parties in the local elections this fall. We collected for you the most important messages of the Hungarian parties for the next EU term. Part 2.

If you happen to have missed the first part of our analysis, click HERE and read what the Hungarian Socialists (MSZP), the Democratic Coalition (DK) or the Momentum Movement (MM) would like to stand for in the next session.

Governing parties Fidesz and Christian Democrats (KDNP)

2014 result: 1,193,991 votes, 51.48 pc, 12 seats

Politico.eu prognosis for 2019: 55.08 pc, 14 seats

As it was during the parliamentary elections of 2018 resulting in the landslide victory for the governing parties (which is expected again), Fidesz-KDNP

concentrates on stopping immigration towards Europe

and communicates that this issue is the most important one on May 26. Therefore, they do not talk about, for example, environmental protection, the changing of the distribution of EU funds or helping the autonomy movements of the ethnic minorities like the Hungarians living in the Carpathian Basin – which are significant points in the programs of other Hungarian parties.

Regarding their vision of the future of Europe, they support a Europe of nations. This, according to them, means weaker Brussels, no more steps towards a tighter integration and instead of taking common measures to stop migration, they believe that each country has to protect itself as Hungary did in 2015. PM Orbán’s party, Fidesz, and their ally, the Hungarian Christian-Democrats (KDNP) think that immigration is

organised by US billionaire philanthropist George Soros

who wants to create a multicultural Europe, destroy its nations and the Christian faith. Therefore, Soros bought the loyalty of some top European Commission (EC) and Parliament (EP) officials like EC head Jean-Claude Juncker or ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt who the Hungarian government attacked hard in the last few months.

In fact, Fidesz candidates did not take part in any debates organised before the EP elections (like THIS one) and did not publish a detailed program only an outline containing seven points. According to that, they would like the EU to stop issuing prepaid debit cards and “migrant visas” to migrants. Neither should they give any more money to organisations linked to US financier George Soros. Instead, these groups should pay for member states’ border protection measures. Further, no one should face discrimination for identifying as Christian, and

EU institutions should have anti-migration leaders.

As we reported before, Fidesz decided to “voluntarily suspend its participation” in the activities of the European People’s Party (EPP) “for the time being” on March 20. The leaders of the ruling party have been emphasising since then that they would like to remain part of the biggest European party, but only if it stays clear from identifying fully with a pro-migration policy. In this regard, it is not good news that on May 6, PM Orbán announced that he withdrew support for current EPP parliamentary group leader and aspiring European Commission president Manfred Weber.

Furthermore, it is quite telling that no EPP politicians showed up in Hungary to campaign for Fidesz. Instead,

populist leaders came

like Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini and former Austrian vice-chancellor Heinz Christian Strache, who resigned after a video emerged of him offering state contracts to a woman claiming to be a rich Russian in exchange for support in the 2017 election campaign.

Jobbik – Movement for a Better Hungary

2014 result: 340,287 votes, 14.67 pc, 3 seats

Politico.eu prognosis for 2019: 9.53 pc, 2 seats

Jobbik which was once considered a far-right, nationalist Hungarian party changed a lot in the previous years. As the second most popular party in Hungary, many say that they changed places with Fidesz by

Jobbik moving into the moderate centre

while Fidesz becoming the new Hungarian far-right party. Anyway, Jobbik has a programme which would like to reform the European Union and create a kind of confederation where some issues would remain regulated by the states while others, like environmental protection, supporting autonomy movements or creating a wage union, would be the responsibility of the European Parliament (and Commission).

HVG did an interview with the party’s EP list leader, Márton Gyöngyösi, who emphasised that the Orbán-regime can only be defeated in a local and a European level (in Hungary, there will be local elections in the fall). He said that unlike PM Orbán,

he supports Manfred Weber to become president of the European Commission.

According to him, Jobbik would struggle to stop illegal migration by implementing common European measures like strengthening Frontex. Furthermore, they would like Hungary to join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and stop government oligarchs stealing EU funds. Moreover, they would fight against fake news and would support the autonomy movements of Hungarians living in the Carpathian Basin.

Finally, they would like to create a wage union by raising Eastern European salaries to a Western European level. Jobbik believes that this is the only way to stop Eastern Europeans leaving their homeland to work for a higher income in the West and thus creating an immense labour shortage. He added that he would like to persuade MEPs and find allies in Europe to realise the above-mentioned goals successfully.

Gyöngyösi said that in the European Parliament, they would like to join a moderate-right, conservative parliamentary group and expects four seats on May 26. Regarding the future, he said that