Gábor Vona: Cheap whores and the Lisbon Treaty

The Lisbon Treaty can become law on December 1st and the date will go down in history as a shame day in European integration. Shame because the idea of integration foreign to European history and it takes the continent towards confederation that might end up in chaos. Let's hope that the dream of the United States of Europe remains just that, a dream, because if it becomes reality the bigger states will dispense with the sovereignty of the small ones. The Lisbon Treaty also scandalous because the defenders of democracy forced it on Europe by using undemocratic procedures. They left the people out of the decision making process and letting the corrupt elite to decide of its implementation. The only place, Ireland, where people could voice their opinion, but the supporters of the Treaty kept pushing the voting process until it produced a favorable result. What a great new world...

But this is not what really hurts. The state of Hungary that really bothers me. In my view, all Europe loose with this treaty, but there is one country that becomes a victim--Hungary. The Lisbon Treaty was signed on December 13, 2007; all over the continent, there were heated debates, discussions, arguments, counter arguments, petitions, presidential veto, demonstrations, and so on about the treaty. And in Hungary? The parliament, on December 17, approved it, with the support of Fidesz, without even reading it; first, among all the nations.

The Lisbon Treaty can become law if all member states sign it. This offers opportunities for countries to fight for their national interests, to obtain certain rights in areas important to them. All member states used these opportunities, that is why the signing procedure lasted two years. But the signing, in Hungary took only three days, and there were no debates whatsoever... We too could have asked lots of things in exchange for the signature. Europe owes us a lot. Instead, Gyurcsany and Orban voted for it without asking anything in exchange. Gyurcsany didn't surprise us. After the Oszod speech, he wanted back-patting from the EU. But why did Orban sign it? Because of the same reason? This is what outrageous and treasonous. That the Treaty is disadvantageous for us is one thing, this can be up for discussions. But the fact that they signed it quickly, without even asking them to do so, deprived us from the possibility to have a trump card in our hands that could have been used when negotiating with Brussels—for this, there is no excuse.

The currently political parties in Parliament proved once again that they are global in character. When national and global interests collide, they choose the global rather than the national, either because of considerations, cowardice or both. They look to Brussels, or Washington first and don't care what the Hungarian people say. If the Czechs and the Polish presidents could blackmail the entire Europe, then why couldn't our leaders? If the Czechs and the Polish managed to obtain exemptions from areas of the European Charter important to them, why is that our leaders didn't ask anything in exchange for the signature? The saddest thing in this whole affair is that the leaders of the Socialists and the Fidesz more than happy to jump into bed with each other just for back-patting (like cheap whores, as the folk wisdom holds) but the leaders of other countries ask a heavy price even for a hand kiss.

The fact that the Czechs and the Polish received special privileges, in my view, produced a new legal situation. We didn't sign the same Treaty they did. The possibility is here to reopen the Treaty and ask something in exchange for the signature, like autonomy for Hungarians in the neighboring countries, the suspension of the Benes decrees, renegotiating the agricultural section of the Treaty, or enforcing a moratorium on the purchase of Hungarian land and so on. We know that the current leaders won't do it. But I can assure everyone that we will. In power, Jobbik will reopen the Lisbon Treaty because it was forced upon us and on Europe by an undemocratic political establishment with undemocratic means, without asking the people and it was signed without even being read by those signed it. They signed it, in the meantime they locked themselves out from the Hungarian future.

Translated by poppyseed