this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2024
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Attempts by Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán to address MEPs at the inaugural plenary sitting of the newly elected assembly in Strasbourg have been rebuffed by parliamentary chiefs unable to find room to accommodate him in the agenda, two sources familiar with the issue have told Euronews.

By long-standing convention, heads of government are given the opportunity to address the Parliament when they take over the rotating presidency of the EU Council, presenting the agenda for their six-month turn at the helm of inter-governmental policy negotiations and answering questions from MEPs.

The sources said Orbán had indicated to the parliament that he could appear before the plenary on Tuesday or Wednesday (16-17 July) next week to present the agenda of the Hungarian presidency, which Budapest has given the slogan ‘Make Europe Great Again’.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 month ago (2 children)

This is beautiful.

May his public embarrassment continue until we're rid of him for good.

[–] idegenszavak 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

His voters won't know about this. Government propaganda is in a different world. He just met with Zelinsky, Putin and the Chinese dictator, and couldn't achieve anything, obviously. In government media he is praised for trying to bring peace everywhere but the evil EU and US don't let him succeed, and we have to vote him otherwise Hungary will get pulled into the war.

Oh, there is Euro football match today, so everyone will hear about this. During the half time break there are not just ads, but also a little news segment where you can hear about his latest achievement. So those who are not interested in politics but football can hear about the adventures of our glorious leader.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Yeah, for sure. I just take comfort in knowing it bruised his ego a little.

As for getting rid of him it's going to take a lot more. Poland gives hope, but the situation there was not as bad as in Hungary.

I just hope that him trying to play an increasingly bigger role globally will lead to his downfall somehow. He clearly has a distorted image of himself and his abilities, which is not a great starting point of aspiring dictators.

[–] idegenszavak 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

yes, he is out of touch, and when he meet reality it can turn into funny or strange, like this recent interview segment: https://www.reddit.com/r/hungary/comments/1dzbw53

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

That's amazing, thanks for sharing!

I don't generally see videos of politicians, as I get my news primarily from written sources and I don't have much of an interest in rhetorics. It's fascinating to see his words are as idiotic as his actions.

I guess he manages to come across as more convincing in Hungarian.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

I wouldn't mind him having a heart attack or a heat stroke this summer 🤗

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Pardon my ignorance, but why was Hungary added to the EU in the first place? How did it ever get to this point?

[–] Tar_alcaran 48 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Because Hungary had been strongly social democratic basically since WW2 (though much of that was behind the iron curtain), and they'd been hugely improving up to their entrance to the union, with only a little mistake of electing Orban once, before going back to a sane Premier.

And then 2010 arrived, and the entire country took a swing Hard Right and down shit street, but by that time they were already in.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago

I'll just add that Fidesz (the right wing governing party) started out centrist in 1990. In 2010 they'd moved towards the right, but in a lot people's minds they were one of the big, reasonable parties since the end of Soviet control. And also just in general "the opposition".

The social democratic governing party also was inept and admitted as such (see Őszöd sleech).

So what happened was the left side of the spectrum lost all support, and what in many people's minds was the centrist or centre-right opposition picked it all up. Just over half the votes gave them a supermajority and from that point they gradually attained complete control over all institutions as a result.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The EU countries in general just cannot get over the right wing tendancies and xenophobia of which they are a deep cause. By exploiting developing countries and shitting toxins into the environment we make their countries worth fleeing from, and where else to flee than prosperous countries. They are only following the wealth that was extracted from their countries.

Our reaction is to act surprised and say "no room here, we're struggling too", after having voted for parties that will take the wealth and move it upwards away from the common people. So instead of using our "superior" education to vote for parties that want to redistribute wealth, we vote populist - people who find scapegoats in the poor. "Immigrants are the problem!", "Leftists are the problem".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago

Are you ignorant or just unwilling to accept that the cheap products you buy are made by children, minorities, and people living in abject poverty? Do you not know about the workers of fast fashion or are you just blissfully unaware? Have you never heard of the cobalt mines in Congo? Or are you conveniently ignoring it to buy yet another smartphone that will end up in a landfill in Asia because we ship our trash there?

Or do you just not give a fuck because you have to "take of me first"? Fuck the brown people right? Fuck the poors of other nations. They were born to make products for us, right? They have no right to try and flee the conditions we helped create and continue to create. They should just accept their fate and die as teenagers in mine while citizens of their age in exploiting countries can enjoy tiktok.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago

had been strongly social democratic since WW2

Except they weren't democratic at all: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goulash_Communism

Please update the comment.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

We in Europe have a similar problem in Slovakia at the moment with PM Fico with a similar autocratic (and pro-Russian) approach. Europe will have to adapt to the rise of the extremists from the right (and soon from the left too?) and other global development.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

You are in good company. We are trying to fight off the yoke that autocrats are planning for our own country. Bastards just don't know when to quit.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago

How unfortunate. They must have tried really hard to squeeze it in there, but just couldn’t find a time slot.