Hermann Tertsch: Undoing the Harm to Our Societies Will Be Traumatic

Hermann Tertsch at the CPAC Hungary Conference in Budapest

Members of the Patriots for Europe political alliance, Spain’s VOX are currently polling at 15%. Is there a glass ceiling they cannot break, or will they one day join the list of European conservatives in government? In an exclusive interview, their MEP Hermann Tertsch told Hungary Today that he sees the way Hungarians have stood up to anti-sovereigntist forces in Europe as an inspiration.

Interview conducted by Sergio Velasco

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In PM Viktor Orbán’s view, the Patriots for Europe will serve as the yeast that will ferment radical change in Europe. As much as they have managed to achieve results relative to their side, the group is still only the third largest in the European Parliament, and Europe is still in the Babylonian captivity of a pro migration radical left. Can the Patriots realistically turn things around?

We are witnessing a change of an era in which Donald Trump plays a key role, just as much as we all do, including Viktor Orbán. Some have started this struggle earlier, some will come later, but they are all pulling now in the same direction.

In the Western world this change involves moving towards the final phase of socialism, a socialism that in the past always ended up being totalitarian. In the West, it has taken roots in the form of social democracy, while elsewhere in the Eastern countries it was defined by Soviet occupation until 1989. Currently we are witnessing this type of social democracy taking over the European project. I would call this phenomenon a “vegan socialism”, one that eventually turns into a carnivore that cannibalizes our continent’s societies. This would inevitably lead us to a totalitarian state, a state where there is no freedom, only forced solidarity and poverty.

This model, however, seems to be running out of steam. Its failure is obvious, but its proponents are desperately continue to apply it. The European Commission is a central player in this. Spain’s largest party, the People’s Party (Partido Popular), is a vehicle for this ideology in my country. Like other faux-conservative movements, it harvests conservative votes but offers only left-wing policies, tagging along with socialists politics, the communists, the greens, who are in fact themselves communists, and the so-called liberals, who are actually interventionists and socialists. They are all trying to save themselves from the wreck, but they cannot, because the whirlwind has already caught them and they are not going to be saved. Still, they are going to try their best.

Of course, President Trump, with America’s colossal strength, personality and resolve, is showing that there are things that can be done. It takes political will and political power.

There is always a tipping point after which the damage cannot be undone. Europe is unrecognizable as compared to a few decades ago, and this decay seems to be accelerating, despite the success of some patriotic parties. Are you fighting to merely slow this decay, or are you in a possession of means to bring your country and the continent back from the brink?

It seems difficult, and it will be very difficult. In any case, it will be traumatic, because the barrier has already been crossed where things could have been done in a non-traumatic way in some countries. However, it is something that must be done if we are to survive as nations, as a civilization.

There will be conflicts, no doubt, but it is clear that the path taken from total tolerance to intolerance does not work, because we are devoured by hostile, totalitarian, barbaric and cruel cultures. We are the opposite of that. That is why we must have the political will and the executive force to defend ourselves and protect our civilization. That is what we stand for when countries like Israel exercise their right to defend themselves, just as Ukraine does in the face of invasion.

In this sense, I believe that all of Western civilization must understand that we are in a time of change. And that change needs leaders capable of carrying it out with the firmness that their predecessors have not had, who, despite proclaiming the defense of certain values, have finally left them at the mercy of their enemies.

 

Spanish conservatives tell me that Spain is an especially difficult case, because of its past, the Franco era, which hangs as a stigma over the political right. But other countries that have a fascist past, Italy or Hungary, have been able to elect national conservative governments. Will Spain succeed too?

Referring back to the Franco era worked for a long time, but not anymore. Every day it works less and less. That is to say, since (left wing parties) have no economic arguments or any other kind, because everything they have done is a failure – people live worse, with less freedom, more needs and less welfare-, they have to look for ideological motives.

That is why they take Franco out of the grave, literally, and put him on a parade. They even created a “year of Franco”, but I think it is going to backfire. They will soon regret having launched a year with 100 commemorative acts dealing with Franco, because, as he is remembered, the lies that socialism has told about him are also being revealed.

The other day, for instance, our minister Ángel Victor Torres claimed that under Francoism women could not study. But there are admission lists of the universities from the 40s, 50s and 60s, full of women. These are such gross lies, with such short legs, that they are going to turn against them. People will see that under Franco women had access to universities. There is a whole bunch of anti-Franco myths that are collapsing because they are false.

Here it is not a question of defending the dictatorship, nor does Franco need defending. He died, and a very long line of people who mourned and lamented his death have died since then. He did not have a real opposition, beyond a few intellectuals and young people, like myself. The anti-Franco movement was a controlled movement, which did not generate major concerns to the regime.

The recourse to Nazism, Francoism and fascism is practically exhausted. For a long time they have used it to silence any truth they do not like. If they do not like something, they call it “fascist” and that is it. Now, moreover, they have made the term “pro-Russian” fashionable. Any truth, any political candidate they do not like is branded “pro-Russian”. Any leader, like Orbán, who does not follow their line, is “pro-Russian”. I myself have been called a pro-Russian, even though I am one of the most critical people of Putin’s regime, which IO regard a criminal regime.

It is often really about coming to terms with your past, a national reconciliation. What is Vox’s strategy in this regard? This must be a crucial question, as you are unlikely to come to power until ordinary citizens are being fed the propaganda that you are trying to resurrect some radical ideologies.

If we keep trying to establish who was the one who made the first mistake, we are not going to get anywhere. What is clear is that all sides are trying to put the blame on the other, and that the only way to reconcile is to assume that the past had its dramas, that there were shared responsibilities and that we must face the future by dealing with current problems.

Everyone can have their own opinion about what happened in the Spanish Republic, in the war and before that. But what we cannot do is to condition our current positions on today’s problems based on hatred and ideological entrenchments. It is ridiculous. We are in another time, in another context.

Franco has been dead for 50 years. In the 1980s, young people hardly spoke of Franco, even though he had been dead only for a few years. Now, however, he has been dead for half a century and the government continues to talk about him all day long. Why does the government talk so much about Franco? Because they are a failure and a gang of thieves. It is the most thieving and corrupt government in the history of Spain, and Spain has a long history of corruption in all ages.

This is the government with the least scruples and the most contempt for its own population. There is no doubt about that. They already know that when they lose power, they will also lose their impunity. And in that sense, the Sanchez government is just like Nicolas Maduro’s in Venezuela: the day it leaves power, it will loose its freedom too.

 

With Donald Trump’s inauguration it seems the global progressive network has suffered a heavy blow. With the American radical left now severely weakened and exposed, will the effects of its retreat be felt in Europe? Is Europe able to maintain its own form of Euro-cultural Marxism without the back winds and finances from America?

Some will continue to do do, others will not. Many of those who used to support (their European proxies) have stopped doing so. The signal is clear: the suspension of U.S. funds for certain woke projects that was used to finance the enemies of the West for years is coming. This is going to stop. It will weaken them. And when the United States takes the right steps, the real building of freedom will be much more evident. But, for now, what the perpetual funding of the enemies of the West is coming to an end.

This makes a huge difference and will have a huge impact. Many of those who used to fund these initiatives – from Mark Zuckerberg to Bill Gates and others – will continue in this venture, but many have opportunistically changed course. Even Zuckerberg, for example, has been forced to admit that he has been censoring content, suppressing facts to favor Joe Biden, hiding Hunter Biden’s crimes and many other things.

Now we will see what happens after the U.S. election, with allegations of tampering and irregularities (during the campaign) are coming to light. I think a lot of people will think twice. Many who once thought they would profit by promoting the destruction of the West will now reconsider, especially if they see that others no longer support them or if they have run out of the funds they were receiving.

But we must go further. Certain international organizations need to be thoroughly reviewed. It is not just UNRWA, UNESCO or the UN. It is time to ask ourselves: what has become of the UN, and how does it work?

The UN has become a corrupt mafia, a cesspool that fosters totalitarianism and harasses democracies. It does exactly the opposite of what the populations of the countries that fund it want.

You and your Vox colleagues often speak about the inspiration that you get from Hungary, but ordinary Hungarians have little awareness of the struggle that is going on for the future of Spain. What could you pass on to Hungarian conservatives as an inspiration or advice from your particular experience as a Spanish national and patriot?

I do not have to give you any advice because the Hungarians know how to defend themselves very well. I would only say not to give in, to resist, because the toxicity of socialism and its message of weakening the West are still present. We are seeing it constantly: they use all the mechanisms at their disposal. A clear example is what happened in Poland, where the government fell, partly because of their own mistakes, but mainly because of an external intervention. They put forward Donald Tusk as a candidate, yet it was Germany, together with Brussels, who actually led the campaign against the PiS government. First, they blocked the government, and then they encouraged its fall. It was a joint action, a full-fledged interference.

The same is happening in Romania and certainly also in Hungary. The European Commission, Germany and other countries are brutally interfering against the Hungarian government.

Hungary is strong, but Hungarians must be aware that these attacks will continue. Even so, sooner or later, those who today are trying to impose their ideology will lose. But in the meantime, they are fighting tooth and nail, trying to harm all of us who want to restore conservative values, to restore respect for the law, equality before the law, border control, culture and the fundamental principles of our society. They are capable of anything to prevent this. That is why, above all, we must remain on guard.

Sergio Velasco is a Spanish political scientist, analyst, and political commentator. He is the founder of ‘Filosofía Política’ and a columnist in Spanish, Hungarian, and English-language media.