Europe is us! The Union and local communities
Introductory presentation - Zoltán Ranschbourg (Senior Analyst at the Republikon Institute): He compared the current European Parliament horseshoe with the March European Elects mandate estimate. Even before the 2019 elections, the seat estimates showed a strengthening of the extremist parties, but looking at the final result, the main stream parties held their ground.
István Szent- Iványi: Those who pay attention to Hungary and Central Europe see the difference between Hungary and the government, and do not confuse the two.
It is the fundamental right of citizens to hold governments to account and to hold them to account every four years during elections, but this has been reversed in Hungary, and János Lázár has said that they want to hold voters to account for their votes, so they have turned what democracy should be built on upside down.
As far as the next European Parliament elections are concerned, we cannot expect any radical advances, and occupying Brussels is just a dream, but it does matter who will be in the key positions, in committees and as Commissioners, because a lot depends on them as to what we can get. But the real problems will only be solved if there is a change of government in Hungary.
Sándor Rónai: In Europe, Orbán knows exactly what he is doing. Since the money given to the government is not always transferred to the local governments, local governments must be helped as much as possible from direct sources. We in DK have set up a working group called "Direct Europe", which is trying to help local governments to get more EU funds available to them. There are municipalities for whom paying half a million to a million forints to a grant writing company is a lot and they cannot start because they cannot raise such costs.
István Ujhelyi: There are huge celebrations in other countries, but who has seen a big state event celebrating 20 years of European membership?
The next cycle, the 2024-29 cycle, will be very, very important, the European institutions will have to adopt a new budget, the new US legislature and we have to be strong against the buffalo power of China. There are a million issues where we need to have a meaningful dialogue in order to get on. In recent years we are starting to move to programme thinking in the EP, local government districts will be able to apply on a programme basis.
If resources remain frozen because of the rule of law, then I have no idea what Hungary will need to be innovative, what will make it more competitive, what will prevent us from being completely marginalised.
Katalin Cseh: It means a lot to us Hungarians that we can be part of the European Union andshape it.Most of the Fidesz MEPs do almost no work, they are not part of a political group, they sit in the back row and sometimes they contribute to things for a minute, but they do nothing of any significance. In this term, the European Commission has created a lot of extra funds, even just for the recovery from the Crown Virus, EUR 750 billion is a lot of money. Every country outside Hungary has got some of this money, everyone is building and beautifying, and we are the only ones who do not have access to it because of Orbán, because they are unable to pass laws, with a two-thirds government, that would make these funds available to the Hungarian people.
Republikon is supported by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed at this event do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the funding organisation can be held responsible for them.
