Europe(ans), Tear Down that Constitution
With a two third majority in the national parliament and the support of the nationalist extreme-right Jobbik party, M. Orban is to be seen as the person closest to God in a democracy. Orban's refusal to undo any of these measures makes Hungary ineligible as a member of the European Union. Europe should thus start an infringement procedure and threaten to take away Hungary's voting rights when it refuses to comply with Europe's core values.
After a failed Socialist leadership, Hungary finds itself marginalized in the world economy. The country failed to overcome its historical traumas and still seems to be entangled in a debate over Communism and the collapse of the Great Hungarian empire.
Victor Orban, a very famous and known dissident under Communist rule, demagogically played on the country's nationalist sentiments and promised to change the humiliation and economic turmoil in prosperity and success.
However, M. Orban has been more concerned with his nationalistic insanity than with helping his country overcome economic turmoil. Hungary is broke, but Orban still claims he wants to cut the hand that wants to feed him, its lenders of last resort.
What most Hungarian voters, tragically, could not predict is that by giving him an absolute majority, they would have deprived themselves of some of their fundamental rights and be stuck with Orban longer than just the democratic term.
On January 1st, the new Hungarian constitution entered into force. Besides the absolute ban on abortion,besides the homophobic rhetoric and a disgusting reference to pre WWI "Great Hungary", the constitution should be seen as an instrument to perpetuate Orban in the Hungarian society.
Hold your breath. The constitution reduces the independence of the judiciary, the public prosecutor, the media, the central bank, the constitutional court, the human rights, minority affairs and data protection ombudsmen and the state audit office.
The politicization of these independent societal cornerstones gives the Orban administration the power to ban free media and appoint key figures in these institutions. The terms of office for these "officials", like the public prosecutor, the head of the national judicial body, the head of the media board, the head of the state audit office and many more, have been extended to sometimes 12 years. All positions will be filled with Fidesz loyalists. Consequently, this new constitution makes it impossible for Hungarians to undo these steps in the next elections, other than by a two third majority.
By violating the rights of its citizens and putting a halt to democracy, Hungary is in breach of the core values of the EU, which states in article 2 of the Treaty that "The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities". When substantial breaches of EU core values occur, the European Treaty provides for an infringement procedure to force a Member State into line. This so-called "article 7 procedure" is a nuclear weapon, designed for extreme situations.
The values of the European Union serve as the foundation of our cooperation. These values are and should be a constant reminder of our bloody past. Like the constitution in the United States, the European Treaty has been heavily influenced by the Enlightenment philosophers, amongst whom Montesquieu and his trias politica. This separation of powers has been exactly introduced to prevent dictatorship via the people, the Achilles heel of democracy.
Now it is time for the European Parliament and the Member States to instruct the European Commission to prepare an article 7 procedure for Hungary. Dictatorship via democracy is not acceptable within the Union, let's thus send this clear signal to "Democrator" Orban.
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