Nearly every month of the year saw events directed at or concerning Hungary, efforts led by the EU’s liberals and leftists, allies of the Soros network and its globalist agenda. At year’s end, the Orbán Government is standing by its opposition to illegal migration, the preservation of our Christian, European culture and the promotion of a strong Europe based on strong nation states, but our detractors have proven they are nothing if not determined.
In January, the European Green MEP Judith Sargentini demonstrated against the new Hungarian labor law, embarrassingly uninformed of the details and facts.
In February, we turned the spotlight on the policy initiatives of the pro-immigration, Soros-allied, special interests, writing about the migrant quota, protection of national borders, migrant visas, pro-migration NGOs, migrant debit cards, pilot projects and EU funds.
In March, we heard a lot of chatter in international media about the Fidesz-EPP relationship when the Hungarian governing party decided to voluntarily freeze its EPP membership. While we noted an abundance of different explanations and interpretations of the “conflict,” most of these relied heavily on misinformation and serious factual errors. So I provided five, key points. More on this in the new year.
In May, Fidesz-KDNP hauled in a record victory with record voter turnout in the European Parliamentary elections, where stopping migration, reinforcing Europe’s external borders and protecting Christian culture featured prominently in the campaign.
July was also a busy month in EU affairs. In a dramatic vote in the European Parliament, Ursula von der Leyen was elected president of the European Commission by a margin of just nine votes. As Antonio Tajani, MEP and former president of the European Parliament, pointed out recently, the support of Hungary’s FIDESZ-KDNP members proved critical to her victory.
In August, the left-liberal media unleashed its reporters and publicists on the subject of Hungary, an effort promoted by the Finnish presidency. In return, to provide some balance, we also had a candid conversation about Finland.
September saw the return of the topic of migration and the Article 7 procedure, a political revenge campaign camouflaged as a legal process that apparently has no end in sight. Also, the interior ministers of Germany, France, Italy and Malta gathered in Malta to revive the mandatory migrant relocation scheme.
October began with the introduction of Olivér Várhelyi as the new nominee for European Commissioner, followed by debates on the EU budget the following month. The EU budget is still on the agenda but is currently unacceptable for many countries, including Hungary. Olivér Várhelyi got a green light from the EP Foreign Affairs Committee and received one of the most important portfolios in the European Commission: Neighborhood and Enlargement.
Pro-migration forces returned to the Article 7 procedure against Hungary in the final month of the year. On the initiative of the Finnish Presidency, they called yet another hearing – ignoring the concerns of many member states – in the EU’s General Affairs Council. As I reported from the hearing, the discourse reached the level of parody when several delegations demonstrated a disturbingly poor command of facts and Soros allies Timmermans, Reynders, Jourová, Haavisto and their unelected NGOs took center stage.
Never a dull moment for Hungary in the EU in 2019. We parried several shots from the Soros orchestra and we achieved some progress. Most importantly in 2019, the Orbán Government stood fast in its promotion in the European Union of the interests of Hungarian voters – sovereignty, identity, respect among member states and fairness and accountability in European institutions and budgets.