Hungary has participated in the year-long conference in the hopes that the community would "find again the right track", Trócsányi said.Continue reading
Hungarians want a “strong Hungary within a strong European Union”, Justice Minister Judit Varga told a conference in Budapest on Thursday.
“Unfortunately, some used the series of conferences on the future of Europe to support their own ideologies,” Varga told the conference on the future of Europe and Hungarian interests organized by the Foundation for a Civic Hungary. “The Hungarian nation, however, declared that it wants a strong Hungary.”
Varga said that unlike the EU of today that rejected its traditional values and preferred foreign cultures, the Hungarian government holds that unless Europe’s Judeo-Christian roots and natural communities of family, nation and church are taken seriously, Europe’s future would be in doubt.
And, she added, whereas the EU was intent on entrenching a hegemony of opinion and effecting self-censorship, the Hungarian government believed in freedom.
The EU, the minister said, was increasingly constricting member states’ powers, while Hungary regarded member states as the sole bearers of sovereignty.
Varga insisted that the EU was driving in an anti-democratic direction, but Hungary wanted to create a “democracy of democracies”.
She also accused the EU of working to dilute Europe by supporting mass immigration while failing to provide adequate support for families raising children.
“We must say no to a European Empire,” she said, alluding to the opinions of Hungarian citizens canvassed during a series of conferences on the future of Europe, adding that Hungarians wanted member states to preserve and protect their country’s constitutional identity. Decisions, she added, should be made by elected leaders rather than NGOs.
Also, Hungarians do not want double standards applied in the bloc, Varga said.
Further, the protection of external borders should be the rule rather than the exception when it comes to immigration policy, she said. “We are Europe’s conscience,” she said.
Tamás Deutsch, head of the Fidesz delegation in the European Parliament, said EU decision-makers were often unaware of the opinions of the continent’s citizens and elected leaders. “They make decisions without even stepping out of the EU quarter in Brussels,” he said.
Fidesz deputy leader and MEP Kinga Gál said any further European integration had to be based on the protection of European values and traditions. She said the year-long series of conferences on the future of Europe had been a failure.
Featured photo by Szilárd Koszticsák/MTI