Published: 22.6.2021
Viktor Orbán’s politics is a dead end in Europe, Socialist MEP István Ujhelyi said at an online press conference on Sunday held together with Deputy Mayor of Budapest Kata Tüttő.
Speaking at the opening of the EU’s programme series on the future of the European Union, Ujhelyi stressed that while Fidesz is leading Hungary out of the European Community, according to the democratic opposition’s values Hungary only has a future in Europe. At the same time, the Socialist politician added that the operation of the EU clearly needs to be reformed, and people must be asked about the details and directions of this reform.
Ujhelyi announced that since the government had failed to consult Hungarians on this matter, MSZP would take on the task and in the coming months, as part of the programme announced by the European Union, would launch a series of debates and discussions with NGOs, advocacy groups, trade unions and citizens. The Socialist MEP said that each month an all-round debate on a specific subject would be held, mainly online. According to Ujhelyi, the current Fidesz government’s European policy only serves the petty power greed of the „ruling kleptocracy”, so that Orbán’s abuse of the rule of law or the way he spends EU money cannot be criticized at home or indeed in the EU.
Deputy Mayor of Budapest Kata Tüttő, who took part in the opening event of the conference series on the future of the EU in Strasbourg as the Socialist member of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union, was the first Hungarian to address the plenary debate. At the press conference, Kata Tüttő said that the new citizen-led European programme series aims to involve as many people as possible in shaping the EU: an online platform has been created, which is also available in Hungarian, and a number of events organised by the Commission will help the discussion, too. „Our hope is that these debates and discussions will help us identify areas where we will be needing more EU involvement in the future, and others where we will need less. We want a European Union that is more in line with who we are now and what we see in the world today”, said Kata Tüttő, adding that a long process had begun, but the comments also made it clear that substantive work and real change was underway.
Kata Tüttő and István Ujhelyi had previously also initiated and organized a social campaign pertaining to the future of the European Union. In 2018, during an online consultation called „Our Europe”, more than 20,000 people filled in the Socialists’ questionnaire, and the results confirmed that the overwhelming majority of people support Hungary’s membership of the EU, a significant majority want to join the eurozone as soon as possible and would like to see more EU funds spent on health, for example.
You can follow the newly announced series of discussions on the transformation of the European Union on MSZP’s social media sites. The online consultation platform set up by the European Commission can be accessed at https://europa.eu/european-union/conference-future-europe_hu
Strasbourg/Budapest – 20.07.2021