Published: 20.11.2023
„Sovereignty”: it’s clear that this has become the new keyword in Fidesz government propaganda; migrant, gender, Soros, and the rest are now on the side-lines. „We must preserve our sovereignty!” From now on, ‘decent Hungarians’ will sleep and rise with this: those who do not follow suit are of sovereignty to dispute!
But seriously: there would be nothing fundamentally wrong (especially for a nation that has a history of freedom-fighting at its core) with the issue of national sovereignty being a priority in the policy of a government. Self-determination and freedom are important values, moreover, to remind Fidesz voters of something that gives them the creeps these days, important European values. However, the way in which the powers that be are using this concept and intention (to their own advantage) is, in many respects, insincere and harmful.
I will not even waste too many words on how the new national consultation in its current form, carried out with premeditation, malicious motives and criminal organisation, is pointless, how it disparages (i.e. plays for fools) Fidesz’s own masses of followers and how much better the money spent on it could be spent in schools or hospitals, for example. Anyone with a modicum of complex thinking knows what this consultation is about. It is about the same thing as all the others.
Fidesz has used the term ‘sovereignty’ many times before, but it was not the same from which position it was speaking: as an opposition party or as a NER stooge bathing in the public money pot. When Fidesz was in opposition, for example, it openly and committedly supported the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, but now, strangely enough, Hungary’s ‘sovereignty’ is being violated by joining the EU prosecuting authority. Ah, yes: the sovereignty of unimpeded theft; we get it now.
The Fidesz, which was in opposition back then, also openly pledged – and this was also in one of their earlier programmes – that the European Union must be given the means to force its Member States to adhere to its values and principles, and that this should not be done without a reluctance to give a mandate that „might curtail our sovereignty.” The Fidesz of today, on the other hand, already declares an attack on national sovereignty when someone quietly remarks in a whisper: ‘”come on guys, at least you shouldn’t steal that.”
On the subject of sovereignty, I would like to give just one example, which perfectly illustrates the hypocrisy of the current government and the hypocrisy of their current propaganda. So while the ‘pro-peace’ government is proclaiming the fight for sovereignty, they are sneakily bringing back the residency bonds that were sold for money.
Many of you will remember that such an opportunity already existed once: in 2012, Fidesz launched a residency state bond programme, which simply meant that anyone with money could buy Hungarian papers, and through us, EU papers. Under the programme, nearly 20,000 (!) people got themselves such documents, and the best part is that the money they ‘invested’ was returned to them by Hungarian taxpayers. In fact, the only people who had any profit from this were Fidesz members and Fidesz-connected figures who were intermediaries in the programme through off-shore companies.
Whatever the government’s claims at the time, the Hungarian state had absolutely no need for the residency bonds, neither to finance the deficit, nor to renew maturing debt, nor to increase foreign exchange reserves; these bonds played no meaningful role in financing the state. In fact, they have proved to be a very expensive source of financing, with credible evidence that they have resulted in a net relative loss to the country of nearly EUR 66.5 million, or more than HUF 21 billion, for the programme as a whole. For you and for us: taxpayers.
And then we haven’t even mentioned the important fact (which, by the way, threatens our national sovereignty in no way) that these Fidesz gold visas have also allowed persons who pose a serious national security risk to obtain Hungarian/European residency permits without any real control. It is known that the Syrian dictator’s confidants and several Russian businessmen with a rather peculiar reputation who are close to Putin have bought their way into the Hungarian national community.
We have still not received a reassuring answer from the Fidesz government as to how, for example, Sergei Naryshkin, the son of the head of the Russian intelligence service, was able to obtain Hungarian papers thanks to the bonds. The Hungarian immigration service has previously admitted that Andrei Naryshkin was their ‘client’, but the details of this are still unclear. All we know from the Hungarian fact-finding press is that the Russian man’s registered address was a few months ago in an apartment in a house on Bécsi Street, a property which some believe belongs to the circle of friends of Minister Antal Rogán. Evil be to him who evil thinks: it’s all pure coincidence.
In their great war for sovereignty, Fidesz now wants to revive this programme and the relevant working document has already been made public. According to it, anyone who buys a sufficient amount of state investment certificates or – get this – makes a „donation” of one million euros to a college or university run by a „public interest trust with a public function” can get Hungarian papers. Pray tell, to what extent will it violate our sovereignty if (criminals seeming to be) foreign businessmen with shady backgrounds, or commissars (intelligence agents, perhaps) of regimes with policies contrary to the European Community, fund Hungarian higher education institutions that have been placed in the hands of Fidesz appointees? We could consult on this too, but there was no room on the paper…
dr. István Ujhelyi
Member of the European Parliament
Founder of the Community of Chance
19/11/2023