Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, has slammed “the liberal mainstream” as the cause of a “weakening European Union, the extreme pessimism of the populace of many western European countries” and for building an “opinion dictatorship”.
Addressing the Conservative Conference organized by the Ladislav Hanus Fellowship in Bratislava, Minister Szijjártó said: “the liberal mainstream is hypocritical because they lecture us on how to operate a democracy and on the importance of the freedom of opinion. Meanwhile, the liberal mainstream is the most discriminative ideology today, branding and excluding dissenters immediately. So the liberal mainstream is actually building a hegemony and dictatorship of opinion."
The minister added that the EU’s share of the world’s GDP has fallen to 18 percent from 21 percent over the past 20 years. Today, 7 of the 50 largest companies of the world are from the EU, down from 14 ten years ago, he said. Meanwhile, 27 percent of social spending in the world is being given out in Europe, he said, “putting the system’s sustainability into question”. The EU has been successful thanks to its strong nation states and conservative politics, Minister Szijjártó said. It could be bolstered again by a conservative turnaround, and if patriotic politics based on democratic Christian values and on the “original European values” replaced its liberal mainstream, he said. A weakening EU “is contrary to the will of central Europeans”, Minister Szijjártó said. In an antidemocratic move, the liberals are “trying to thwart the participation of central Europeans, Christians and conservatives” in the debate on the future of the EU, he said. Meanwhile, Minister Szijjártó said Hungary was putting conservative family, economy and security policy into practice. The number of taxpayers has grown from 1.7 million to 4.2 million in 11 years since the Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance came to power, he said. The government is also protecting families, and has called to life a programme to support persecuted Christians in their homelands, he said.