Conservative advice to government on its EU discourse
April 14th, 2022A conservative columnist hopes that the Hungarian government will revise its communication within the EU, strike a more conciliatory tone, and be ‘properly cynical’ in order to secure EU funding.
On Mandiner, Mátyás Kohán thinks that the biggest challenge for the next Hungarian government is to secure further EU funding which ‘has made Hungary a success story’. The conservative columnist calls on the government to reconsider its communication style after the landslide victory in the Parliamentary election. Kohán acknowledges that the government’s criticism of Brussels has boosted Fidesz support at home, but the typically harsh communication style makes it difficult to ‘open the EU money tap’. Kohán suggests that the government should acknowledge and thank the EU for its significant contribution to Hungarian GDP growth, and demonstrate that despite all disputes, Hungary belongs to the EU. Kohán goes on to suggest that PM Orbán should demolish the ‘anti-Orbán bullshit allegations’ by sending ‘pro-EU bullshit messages.’ In order to regain Brussel’s sympathy, he suggests that Fidesz MEPs should without hesitation endorse ‘non legally-binding resolutions’ in the European Parliament, ‘the postmodern bullshit factory’, on gender and other symbolic issues that have no chance whatsoever of implementation. He adds that the government could also launch its own multi-lingual anti-corruption agency (rather than joining the EU’s European Public Prosecutor’s Office) to ‘clear the Hungarian public procurement rules of corruption allegations’. Kohán is confident that such ‘smart and properly cynical arrangements’ would help the government secure EU funding more than open confrontation with the EU.