September 11, 2014

If the EU is not prepared to defend its rights values at home, how can it credibly do so abroad?

editor:	Murat Suner

According to Human Rights Watch a dozen police officers raided the offices of Ökotárs and Demnet - two nongovernmental organizations in Budapest operating with foreign donor money allocated to civil society organizations in Hungary - on Monday morning.

The incident - not unusual for authoritarian and nationalistic regimes - is only the latest in the Hungarian government’s assault on civil society.

The roots of this current development can be traced in an extraordinary speech delivered July 26 before an ethnic Hungarian audience in neighboring Romania by Mr. Orban. There, he proclaimed his intention to turn Hungary, a member of both NATO and the European Union, into a state that “will undertake the odium of expressing that in character it is not of liberal nature.” Citing Singapore, China, India, Turkey and Russia as models, Mr. Orban underlined his intention to "to abandon liberal methods and principles of organizing a society, as well as the liberal way to look at the world.”

What Mr. Orban portrays as a new, post-crisis political model The Washington Post compares authoritarian nationalism practiced by "thugs and charlatans throughout the 20th century — including Hungary’s pro-Nazi World War II regime."

The significant difference however is that Hungary walks towards further illiberalism while remaining a member in good standing of the European Union. It's overdue for E.U. leaders to react and "move quickly to disabuse Mr. Orban of that conceit" says the Washington Post. "The union, which has promised Hungary $20 billion in aid over the next seven years, must make clear that member nations cannot reap the benefits of membership while violating their treaty commitments to freedom of expression and the rule of law."

Mr. Orban has excluded himself from the democratic principles of the European Union, and thus he and his government should be treated accordingly. Otherwise, if the EU is not prepared to defend its rights values at home, how can it credibly do so abroad?