The Strasbourger
newsstand sales: £ 0,83 Sunday, 19 May 2013. The circus is in Brussels.

Mr Schulz, enough!


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Tags: EP, EU, Fidesz, Orban, Schulz 
We already knew Martin Schulz was a man of compromise. But his lack of strengh in addressing the issue of Fidesz MEPs is astonishing. Coming from a man who has - for years - reprimanded European leaders for being "fascists", this silence makes indeed a lot of noise. 
by Alfonso Ricciardelli

Sometimes we wish to get back to 2003, when a fiesty Mr Schulz addressed Mr Berlusconi in the European Parliament plenary, accusing him of violating elementary freedom of press rules and claiming he had transformed Italy in a "videocracy". 

Back in the days, this episode made Schulz famous and confirmed Berlusconi's tendence to be a steady gaffeur: the "Kapo" joke - the way the Italian leader addressed the then Head of the Socialist Group - was reported by media all over the world and exposed the existing loop in the European Union's capacity to deal with issues pertaining to human rights in its own Member States. 

Nine years later, another European leader is threatening democracy in his country with an even steadier and stronger design. Together with a two/third majority in his Parliament and an amended Constitution that refers to "Great Hungary" and impairs freedom of press and independence of the judiciary, Viktor Orban also enjoys the support of one and a half million fanatic Hungarians.

The danger is much higher, but Mr Schulz does not seem to care. 

Indeed, this historical moment happens to coincide with his election as President of the European Parliament. Allegedly, this has been his dream, the job he has aimed at from the moment he set foot in the EP arena. In order to be elected, Martin Schulz needed the votes of the EPP - being leader of the Socialist group, which is a minority party. 

Among those votes, there are 14 coming from Fidesz, the political party of Mr Orban. 

This time, no reaction from Mr Schulz: no passionate speech in the plenary, no declaration on behalf of the Socialist group or personal disappointment and regret. Pure politics is winning the day and ambition has overtaken common sense and shared European values. The same "shared values" he has many times defended and claimed to be standing for. 

So there are two possible conclusions to draw: either Mr Schulz has changed, from a passionate and aggressive politician to a man of the establishment, or he simply has always been a man of the establishment. And his past attacks to other politicians - including the ones he addressed to Nigel Farage - were all steps of a calculated path, tools that he used to grow more and more important on the EP stage, to get media attention, in order to finally achieve the aim of his life: being President of the weakest European Parliament legislature ever seen. Being President in a Parliament that allows quasi - fascist parties to sit in a building that takes his name from Altiero Spinelli.

Who knows what Simone Veil would have done if Fidesz was sitting there when she was President... 

P.s. The picture shows the natural tendence of European leaders for compromise...


Picture Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/europeancouncil/5619541490/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Comments (2)

Sat, 14 Jan at 15:37certenotti wrote:
Dear Pi,

First of all, thank you for commenting and starting the debate.

Since the idea of building this website is to discuss issues, your comment is extremely welcome. I actually would like to ask you to prepare a small assessment of the Hungarian situation and send it to me: I will publish it under your name with great pleasure.

This is the idea behind the Strasbourger.

As for the factual mistakes, I believe I have to disagree with you.

As a matter of fact, my article was condemning Schulz and not Hungary: the idea being that the European Parliament should be more firm in saying something politically strong against a country that is steering towards nationalism.

I personally have nothing against Fidesz voters: but, being Italian, I have it clear what it means to neglect freedom of press. It might not be in the Constitution - and I am happy to acknowledge you are right if this is the case - but journalists in Hungary are scared.

As for the judges, there is a declaration they have sent to the European Parliament. I think it is pretty revealing.

Maybe "facts" are against my analysis, but "politics" are against yours: don't let formalism obscure your vision.

P.s. Whoever supports a government like Orban's (or Berlusconi's) - despite the disrespect these two leaders have of democratic tools - according to my humble opinion, is a fanatic.

Sat, 14 Jan at 12:46pi wrote:
Dear Alfonso,

Your piece is weird mixture of factual errors and the lack of real knowledge about the European Parliament.

Just on the previous. The paragraph that best demonstrates your complete ignorance of facts is this:

"an amended Constitution that refers to "Great Hungary" and impairs freedom of press and independence of the judiciary, Viktor Orban also enjoys the support of one and a half million fanatic Hungarians."

1.
If you had read the constitution, or knew someone who did, you would know that the constitution does NOT refer to any such thing as "Great Hungary".
I don't know where you got your information from, but I must tell you this is nothing but a very primitive lie that could have been easily avoided by reading the actual text. Please respect your readers a little bit more.

2.
Press freedom is guaranteed in the constitution, what you might put in question is the media law.

3.
Independence of the judiciary is also guaranteed in the constitution, what you might refer to are other, lower-level pieces of legislation

4.
"support of fanatic Hungarians"
To use the word 'fanatic' is a very strong judgement, especially without any reasoning to support it. I believe you have to choose your wording much more carefully.

I have absolutely no intention to defend the Hungarian government, not at all, my only humble attempt is to defend the facts the lack of which completely undermines not just your personal credibility but also the credibility of any legitimate criticism.

If you want to avoid becoming ridiculous, I suggest that in the future you devote much more attention to facts.

Best,



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