Let me start with the latest news, fresh out of Brussels. Katalin Halmai, Népszava’s correspondent in the Belgian capital, reported last night that LMP’s membership in the European Green Party might be in jeopardy. Tamás Meszerics, assistant professor at Central European University, represents LMP in the party of the European Greens. He has been much less visible in Hungarian public life than MSZP, DK, and Párbeszéd MEPs, but according to his colleagues he is doing a fine job in the European Parliament and is devoted to the cause of Hungarian democracy.
So, what is the problem? The Greens’ trust in LMP in the last few months has been shaken by the party’s recent change in political direction. There are definite signs that under the new leadership of László Lóránt Keresztes and Péter Ungár LMP is moving sharply to the right. First of all, the leadership has expressed its firm belief that cooperation with Jobbik is far preferable to association with the left-of-center parties of MSZP and DK. Moreover, a Jobbik-LMP alliance, they contend, is the key to ousting Fidesz sometime in the future. One problem is that Jobbik doesn’t have the best reputation in the West, so the Green leadership in Brussels is somewhat puzzled and worried about this alliance. Another serious problem with the “new” LMP is that both Keresztes and Ungár are dead set against “migrants” and fully share Viktor Orbán’s anti-migrant policies. This position is totally unacceptable to the Greens. And then, on top of everything else, Tamás Meszerics refused to endorse the report of Judith Sargentini, a fellow Green.
Let’s turn briefly to LMP’s position on the Sargentini Report. The first reaction of the LMP leadership was that Meszerics should vote against the report. The ostensible rationale for this decision was the belief in LMP that a vote for the report would strengthen Orbán’s position domestically. In addition, András Schiffer, the principal founder of LMP, who despite his withdrawal from the party still has considerable influence, announced in Magyar Hírlap, a government paper, that as a legal document the report is of little value.
Perhaps because even Jobbik didn’t demand that its MEP vote against the report but was satisfied with an abstention, the LMP leadership by the end was content with Meszerics doing the same. As it turned out, Meszerics simply didn’t show up. If we can believe him, he wasn’t blindly following instructions from above. He decided to stay away because, in his opinion, it should have been the European Commission and not the European Parliament that initiated Article 7 proceedings against Hungary. The whole complicated argument can be read on Péter Ungár’s news site, Azonnali. His reasoning didn’t convince me, I’m afraid, especially since he found the report to be an excellent summary of the political situation in the country.
Another person whose behavior has been a mystery to me ever since the election is Bernadett Szél, former co-chair and leader of LMP’s parliamentary delegation. She has been humiliated and even stripped of her voting rights, yet she remains a member of the LMP caucus. After several months of silence, she recently wrote an opinion piece for Népszava and was ready to face three reporters on ATV’s Egyenes beszéd.
Bernadett Szél’s encounter with the simple truth: one must choose sides
The article, titled “The emperor has no clothes and he knows it too,” is mostly about Szél’s conviction that “for many years Viktor Orbán has subordinated Hungarian interests to his own political gain.” It has been the case for some time, but, she wrote, after the invocation of Article 7 we are confronted with an entirely new situation. He could have offered a few concessions regarding the treatment of NGOs and Central European University, but he chose not to because he wanted to split the European People’s Party between pro-migrant and anti-migrant factions. He sacrificed Hungary for his personal ambitions in European politics. Therefore, Széll concluded, “It is not those who told the truth by voting for the Sargentini Report who are responsible for the present situation, but the one who has allowed, nay hastened, this outcome.” So, as opposed to the leadership of the party to which Szél still belongs, she approves the action of those MSZP, DK, and Párbeszéd MEPs who voted for the report.
The three reporters of ATV tried desperately to extract some rational explanation for her continued presence in a party whose ideology she no longer shares. Her unsatisfactory explanation was that she is a genuine green politician, and therefore her place is in LMP. I might add that Benedek Jávor of Párbeszéd is also a green politician who is doing a terrific job in The Greens-European Free Alliance in Brussels.
Bernadett Szél just received a U.S. grant to attend the International Visitors Leadership program, which will enable her to spend three weeks in the United States. This particular program concentrates on women’s issues. I do hope that during those three weeks in October she will have time to think about her future place in politics, which is surely not in the latest iteration of LMP.