Does Hungary deserve so much criticism?

At the beginning of May 2017, the European Parliament voted a resolution to initiate a sanction procedure against Hungary, based on Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union. This article provides for substantial sanctions, including the suspension of the right to vote in the Council, against any Member State which violates European values and does not respect the rule of law or democracy.

While it is clear that Viktor Orbán's positions have tightened in recent years, most recently on the CEU law or the immigration management, it would be best to stay prudent instead of piling on the Western media’s tendency of "Hungary bashing". Hungarian actions are easily criticized by the media in Western European countries, starting with Germany and France. However this bashing only distances us from reality.

Undeniable economic results

First, economic success is the judge of peace for the leaders of the Union. Yet the economic situation in Hungary is not so alarming, compared to some of its European neighbors. Quite the contrary; since 2013 the Hungarian economy has returned to growth, emerging from the recession, with annual growth rates of GDP between 2% and 4% (n-b: 2.9% in 2015 according to Eurostat). In comparison, France has struggled since the subprime crisis to reach 2% growth. In addition, Hungary has also made great efforts to meet the convergence criteria.

Public debt has fallen considerably since 2010, but remains above 60% of GDP (n-b: 75.3% in 2015 according to Eurostat), whereas the public deficit of less than 3% of GDP now corresponds to the expectations of Brussels. The Hungary of Orbán has also succeeded where the France of Holland has failed: to reduce, in a considerable and continuous way, the rate of unemployment, now between 4% and 5%. After the crisis, Viktor Orbán chose to make multinationals and banks pay more than citizens, by introducing new taxes on these sectors in 2010. These may seem to be much fairer measures to many Western Socialists, than the continuous increase of taxes in some countries since the crisis, knowing that poverty was growing in Hungary already before.

One must look to one's own backyard before preaching

Regarding the deterioration of the ties between the European Union and Hungary, the countries of Western Europe give many lessons to Hungary without really looking at what is happening in their own country. Many French, German, and Brussels leaders blame the attitude of the Hungarian authorities on the border with Serbia. The problem is not so much that the European Union condemns these questionable attitudes on the humanitarian level, but above all that it really abandons one of its member states. It should not be forgotten that this border with Serbia constitutes an external border of the Union, and that if the Union were a true union, all Member States should be concerned about the security and management of the latter. Instead, Germany like France prefer to give lessons, and let the first management of migrant flows to Italy, Greece or Hungary. Similarly, the European Commission has recently called on the countries of the Visegrád Group to respect quotas. However, if Hungary has not yet implemented the quota mechanism, France hasn’t itself done that so far either, falling still far behind the target of welcoming 30 000 refugees.

The activism of a free opposition in the country

Specialists constantly evoke the deterioration of democracy in Hungary. But isn’t democracy more alive in Hungary than elsewhere in Europe? In Western Europe, and especially in France, civil society appears to be asleep. As soon as citizens want a major change, they appeal to political parties, and do not really commit. Even the “En Marche” movement, which is a civil society movement, is more and more structured as a real political party. French citizens have difficulty thinking outside of partisan logic, and are increasingly disinterested in politics. In Hungary civil society is awake, and political opposition to Fidesz does not come from parties, but rather from direct involvement of Hungarian citizens, especially young people. The emergence of movements as diverse as Momentum and Kétfarkú Kutya Párt symbolize the existence of a living democracy in the country. Moreover, spontaneous demonstrations against the closing down of the newspaper Népszabadság, against the organization of the Olympic Games in Budapest, or the CEU law, bear witness to the resurgence of a free and direct democracy in Hungary.

The countries of Western Europe should be humble in the face of history. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe regained their full sovereignty in the early 1990s. Two decades on a historical timeline are short. History has its own pace, a rhythm that must be respected. Hungary is thus advancing at a pace that is its own, and France and Germany at another. It would be unfair to judge the present situation in Hungary through the prisms of the German and French situations, for these are not comparable. Moreover, the rise of the Visegrád group, of which Hungary is a part of, does not hinder the construction of the European Union. On the contrary, it has led to a more realistic and pragmatic European Union, that is to say a Union with several speeds and multiple cooperations.

So let's stop this systematic bashing of Hungary because Hungarians are reviving democracy in Europe and they not all share the same piquant style as some of their representatives.