“Europe has lost its capacity for self-determination”

The accompanying letter, written for the jubilee celebration of the Swiss conservative weekly Die Weltwoche, on the occasion of its 90^th birthday, stated: “Due to the large number of visitors, please use public transport if possible …” As this was not possible for me due to time constraints, I tried my luck by car – and luck was with me. A friendly reception at The Dolder Grand in Zurich, friendly police officers. A quick thought came to me: There are probably some people who would wish him gone, Viktor Orbán being a controversial personality. Then: Switzerland is (still) a safe place in this belligerent world.
  A sizeable number of participants had already gathered at the entrance, having waited patiently to be admitted. Amidst the crowd and without security guards, Ueli Maurer, a former Federal Councillor (2009–2022) and two-time President of the Swiss Confederation (2013 and 2019), was among those waiting. Something like that would no longer be possible in Germany today, I thought.¹ Admission control was swift and again very friendly. The Dolder Grand lived up to its name.
  The hall was bustling and yet quiet and polite. No space problems. Interviews were being conducted at the back of the hall. The former president of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus, was in conversation with Roman Zeller of Die Weltwoche and patiently answered the questions put to him with concentration and foresight.
  The room was filling to capacity, about 500 participants. Conversations everywhere, making for a pleasant atmosphere.
  When Viktor Orbán enters the hall, he is greeted with standing ovations – not an homage, but a tribute to his person and life’s work. Die Weltwoche’s editor-in-chief, Roger Köppel, unabashedly expresses his delight as he welcomes the Hungarian prime minister. Viktor Orbán’s words of welcome in return are in no way inferior. A dignified start.
  After Orbán has also greeted Václav Klaus and his Hungarian compatriots, he finds words of appreciation for Switzerland, a “further place of free speech”. What Switzerland and Hungary have in common: Both are “freedom-loving and combative countries”. Orbán, now in his 17^th year of service as Hungary’s prime minister, presents himself as a person who has his “own view of things”.
  Orbán’s topic is European politics since the Second World War.² He describes the European Union as a problem shared by Hungary and Switzerland. Although Switzerland is not a member of the EU – “stick with it!” – it is nevertheless part of Europe, i.e., it feels the effects of decisions made in Brussels.
  Orbán’s thesis, right at the beginning: Europe has lost its capacity for self-determination today; it is not in a position to act in a self-determined and sovereign manner. “That hurts”. He explains how this came about with a historical review of relations between the US and Europe in the post-1945 era and the changes that have taken place since the end of the Cold War.
  Western Europe initially coped well with US power after the war, Orbán said. The European heads of state and government succeeded in solving the intellectual task of “how Europe could remain itself, how it could maintain its own quality, while still adapting to the balance of power that had been created. […], how to find a way of preserving the quality of Europe in a world dominated by Anglo-Saxon customs and norms in Western Europe.” Democracy and capitalism had to be given “a specifically European face and quality. This solution became Christian democracy.” According to Orbán “Christian democracy was the answer to how to bring the concept of the common good into a purely competitive democracy. […] thus creating a distinctly European political quality.” That, together with ‘the entire depth of the Christian tradition as part of our economy”, said Orbán, “worked”. Some heads of state and government at the time, notably Konrad Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle, had succeeded in not allowing the Anglo-Saxon model of democracy and “cowboy capitalism” to be completely imposed on them. It had allowed Western Europe to “remain an independent factor in a spiritual sense”, and European interests could also be represented within an American hegemony.
  Nevertheless, the US was able to expand its power worldwide by means of what we now call soft power.
  At the Cold War’s end, in 1990, change gradually began. While there were initially still Christian political forces in the US and Europe, these have now been “replaced by progressive-liberal forces with decisive weight and power”. In the meantime, these forces would occupy all important positions in Europe and had “taken control of the Continent”. Europe’s fate is now “chained” to the US – with many implied consequences.
  There is a dearth of politicians to lead Europe out of the reigning “progressive-liberal hegemony”. The “universal values” so often cited by the Americans conceal tangible US interests that determine foreign policy, and anyone who does not share them is labelled. There is no longer any meaningful dialogue, because, Orbán said, “The nature of disputes over values is completely different from that of disputes over interests”. Compromises are possible when interests differ. But if someone invokes values, he is no longer willing to compromise. The same thing happens in Europe. ‘“European values’, Orbán argues, “usually conceal the interests of one of the big European countries”.
  Orbán sees a further problem in the fact that since 1990, the US has begun to westernise not only Europe [he probably refers to the eastern countries of Europe] but also the rest of the globe, and has attempted to export progressive liberal principles. On the one hand, this has caused numerous wars. On the other hand, the non-Western part of the world has begun to take a hostile stance towards the US.
  Orbán describes the European Union as “a special creation. It is sui generis. So there is no such animal in the encyclopaedias. But in reality there is.” He is referring to the lack of political leadership by the European Council, the assembly of the leaders – prime ministers and presidents – of the 27 EU member states. Instead, more and more decisions are being taken by Brussels institutions, i.e., by those who should actually implement the decisions of politicians, and not to take decisions for politicians. But the EU bureaucracy, specifically the EU Commission, presumes to decide and act politically.
  On the question of “what to do?”, Orbán gives the example of his own country, even if, with a population of just eight million, it was not a model that can simply be adopted by other countries: Hungarian society is pluralistic. It strives for sovereignty within the EU. There is no liberal hegemony in Hungary. This gives people time to think about Europe. Instead of a “welfare state”, there is a “workfare state” – and thus prosperity. Incomes are taxed at a flat rate of only 15 %. Exports by volume are 32 % of GDP. Instead of gender, there is the family, and this is of central importance; attempts are being made to solve the demographic problem – the decreasing number of people of a younger age and the simultaneously increasing number of older people – with a financially generous family policy. According to the constitution, marriage consists of a man and a woman: “The father is a man and the mother is a woman”.
  Orbán has the following recommendations for Europe: There needs to be a script for the possible event of the US withdrawing from Europe. The “postmodern leadership madness” should be forgotten. A new generation of politicians should be trained. He then makes a personal “last cautious comment on Christianity and Christian culture”. “I am convinced”, he says, “that Christian culture should be popularised ...”.
  His last sentence is that “Hungary is not the black sheep but the first swallow, and we are waiting for the others!”
  There was constant applause during his speech – he had probably spoken to the hearts of most of the audience.
  On my way home, and after having followed the media coverage, I think:
  Although I don’t agree with everything Orbán had to say: For me, a lot of food for serious thought – and no room for media polemics.  •

¹ In todays Germany you will hardly meet a serving politician among ordinary people without security guards – a residue of the Red Army Faction, the RAF, since the 1970ies, who were engaged in a series of bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and shoot-outs over the course of three decades.
² Viktor Orbán’s speech is available in an authorised English-language text version: https://miniszterelnok.hu/en/speeches of 22 November 2023.