Problems in store for Hungarian relations with post-Merkel Germany?
Right-wing analysts fear that the new liberal left-wing German government will severely criticize Hungary and attempt to encroach on national sovereignty. Left-wing commentators are far from certain that Germany will become more critical of Hungary than under Chancellor Merkel.
Overview of the Hungarian press by budapost.eu
Magyar Nemzet‘s László Szőcs fears that German-Hungarian relations will become more difficult. The pro-government columnist attributes the victory of the left to Angela Merkel, who, according to Szőcs, has abandoned conservative values and embraced pro-immigration politics. The Scholz government continues in the same direction and will also openly support gender theory and attempt to create a United States of Europe, Szőcs suspects. He suggests that Annalena Baerbock, the new Green Foreign Minister, is likely to be an even stronger critic of the Hungarian government than Chancellor Scholz.
In Magyar Hirlap, Péter G. Fehér also takes for granted that the new German government and above all Foreign Minister Baerbock will try to teach Hungary and Poland a lesson. The pro-government commentator finds it alarming that German foreign policy is determined by what he sees as a radical green politician without any expertise. Fehér agrees with Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Poland’s ruling law and justice party, that Annalena Baerbock’s main goal is to build a “Fourth Reich”.
Pesti Srácok‘s Botond Bálint writes that “the new government in Berlin sees the whole of Europe as the German Lebensraum”. The pro-government blogger believes that despite its strong economy, Germany has become “the sick man of Europe” due to demographic and societal decline resulting from mass immigration. Bálint believes that Germany, “guided by a sense of superiority”, will dominate Europe and make other nations its colony by imposing its LGBTQ and pro-Islamic ideology on them. Bálint goes so far as to predict that in this endeavor the new German government will behave with the same vehemence as Hitler.
MandinateDániel Kacsoh also criticizes the German government’s “hyper-progressive” vision of federalizing Europe and its commitment to LGBTQ rights. The pro-government blogger suggests that Germany’s new government wants to rule Europe – albeit this time in pursuit of different values than at the turn of the 20th century. Kacsoh finds it particularly sad that Hungarian opposition parties cherish the values of the new German government and hail its efforts to weaken Hungary’s national sovereignty.
NepszavaAndrás Vas finds nauseating a suggestion by Fidesz vice-president Szilárd Németh that under the new German government Hungary faces challenges similar to those of 1944. Németh, who is also undersecretary of the ministry of Defense, said the new German government wants to eliminate national identity, destroy Christian families and values, turn Europe into a land of migrants and create a new Reich in Europe by stripping nation states of their sovereignty. Vas finds it particularly tasteless, as well as absurd, to compare the democratically elected government of Hungary’s main economic partner to Nazi Germany which invaded Hungary in 1944 and killed hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews “with active help of the Hungarian authorities ”.
Writing in the same daily, Tamás Rónay warns the Hungarian government against a combative tone with the new German government. Anti-German conspiracy theories may mislead Hungarian voters, but they are also likely to anger the German government and make it even more determined to push for cuts in EU funds for Hungary, the analyst warns. from the left.
In 168 ra, Richard Szentpéteri Nagy wonders if the new German government will really become more active in the defense of democratic values and the fight against corruption in Hungary. The leftist columnist is worried about the existence of a tacit agreement between Germany and the Hungarian government. As long as the Hungarian government offers subsidies to German factories operating in the country, the German government and voters will turn a blind eye to corruption and democratic decline in Hungary, he believes. Szentpéteri Nagy thinks that the new German government may be more willing to intervene to defend democracy, but even if it decides to do so, it would be too late, since the Orbán government, he suggests, has succeeded in to pit Hungarians against Europe “while robbing European taxpayers”.
In an interview with Information, on the other hand, the former ambassador in Berlin Gergely Prőhle considers improbable a reversal of the German foreign policy. Prőhle believes that Chancellor Scholz will follow the pragmatism of his predecessor, and despite the progressive values of the new government, Germany will tone down radical ideological demands. Regarding German-Hungarian relations, Prőhle is optimistic that the Scholz government will consider maintaining good economic relations as its priority.
Photo illustrated by Szilárd Koszticsák / MTI
