Born 1980, only woman in the Hungarian government, where she is Minister of Justice and European Affairs, Judith Varga He is one of the exponents of the new European right to watch. Viktor Orbán, who is also the head of his party Fidesz, has entrusted her with the management of the complicated match between Budapest and Brussels. She was in Rome where she met her counterparts Carlo Nordio and Raffaele Fitto.
Minister Varga, fifteen EU countries have joined the lawsuit against your youth protection law, which prohibits the dissemination of explicit information about homosexuality and gender reassignment. Italy is not one of these countries. Was it your request?
“No, we haven’t made any requests. The Italian government itself can understand that Hungary has solid arguments in this legal dispute. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union stipulates that the upbringing of children must be decided by their parents, based on the laws of the nation states. And Hungary’s law on the protection of minors clearly states that it is the right of parents and families to decide on their children’s education in accordance with their philosophical and educational beliefs. Therefore, there must be no conflict between what we do and European legislation.”
The fact remains that fifteen EU Member States have opposed you on this issue. The political signal is clear.
“Personally, that doesn’t surprise me at all. There was an uprising in 2021 by these countries before they asked for the exact text of our law, before they could read or study it.
how do you explain it
“We hit a raw nerve. The pro-gender lobby is present in many countries and we owe this politically and ideologically motivated response. I’m sorry that so many media outlets have written about our law without checking the facts.
And what are the facts?
“The facts are that boys cannot be given sex education without the written consent of their parents. This is all that our Child Safeguarding Act states and is in line with EU law. I add that the law has strong popular support. A year ago, on the same day as the political elections, it was put to a referendum: the government majority won a major electoral victory, but the Hungarians who supported the law outnumbered those who voted for us.” .
How will you object?
«We trust that the European Court of Justice, to which we appealed, will recognize our reasons. The rule of law must also prevail in the European Union. The dispute is ongoing, it will last a long time and we do not expect a verdict this year.”
How are your relations with the government of Rome?
“The relationship with the parties in the current government coalition and with Giorgia Meloni was very good even before Meloni took office and has obviously remained so. There is convergence on many strategic issues such as immigration policy and family protection. There are also details that we don’t agree on from time to time, but that’s normal. It is crucial that Meloni remains as strong as he is now so that concerted action can be taken in the European Council to defend conservative values. In the talks I had with Ministers Carlo Nordio and Raffaele Fitto, we agreed on many things, especially with regard to the Hungarian EU Presidency, which starts on July 1, 2024.”
What will be your priority this semester?
“The demographic challenge in Europe will be high on the agenda of our presidency. European society is aging and therefore we need to support and empower families.
Illegal immigration cannot be the answer. It is necessary for Hungary and Italy to join forces on these issues”.
Her government continued to maintain good political and trade relations with Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine, always holding back when new sanctions were proposed. Giorgia Meloni instead sided with the United States and the other Atlantic allies even before she won the elections. With such a difference in Europe, how can Italy and Hungary work together?
“I will not comment on your definition of our relationship with Russia. I’m just saying that for us it’s a question of pragmatism. 80% of our gas supplies come from Russia and 90% of our homes are heated with gas. We cannot let our industries and our families die: if we want energy for our country, we must do business with Moscow.
Italy was in similar conditions but is recovering from them.
“Hungary is a landlocked country and it is not easy for us to diversify our energy supply. In recent decades, the conservative government has done everything it can to create connections with the states that surround us, but the pipelines connecting us with Slovakia and Austria do not change the fact that the main source is still Russian gas. We’re working on it, but we don’t want to go from dependence on Russia to dependence on the United States. It is in Hungary’s and Europe’s interest to have at least five or six different suppliers. There are opportunities for diversification, the alternatives can come from North Africa and countries like Azerbaijan».
Does the need for Russian gas challenge your Atlantic orientation?
“Our strategic location is something other than gas. We are and want to remain partners with the United States and members of NATO and the EU, but we cannot defend our national interests without making compromises, as we did last June when the embargo on Russian oil was imposed. In this case, by obtaining an exemption for us, we also helped the eastern regions of Germany, Slovakia and other countries. And that hasn’t stopped us from condemning Russian aggression from the outset, standing up for Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity, and being among the first to nominate Ukraine as a member of the EU. So it is not a question of whether we are with the others: we are, but we want there to be discussions, even about the means that can be used to end the conflict.
How would you like to stop it?
“We don’t think escalating arms supplies will help: it’s very dangerous, it risks ending in a nuclear confrontation. The only way to end the conflict is an immediate ceasefire. Hungarian public opinion wants peace, it is afraid of war and we, as a responsible government, must respect it”.
Speaking of cooperation with Italy, President Sergio Mattarella said the Dublin Accord and the other rules preventing the relocation of migrants are “prehistory”. Your government has always spoken out against resettlement. What do you charge to change position?
“I agree with President Mattarella when he says that the Dublin Accord is obsolete. Conceived at a time when immigration was not as massive as it is today, it is unable to deal with the phenomenon we are witnessing today. But introducing a relocation mechanism would be like sending out letters of invitation to people living outside the Schengen area, and we will not change our position on that. It takes a whole new strategy, which is why a “do ut des,” as you suspect, won’t work. We do not have to deal with the consequences of immigration, but with the causes that produce them. Instead of bringing the problem to Europe, we must bring the solution to where the problem originates».
It has been talked about for some time, but nothing concrete can be seen.
“Things are changing. I was pleased that Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party, who until now has not been able to say anything about building physical barriers or protecting borders, is now arguing that illegal immigration must be stopped by encouraging the participation Third, countries are catching up with the help of the European Commission, which has the financial means to do so Immigrants must be stopped before they reach European borders, the decision to grant asylum must also be made well before they appear.
Fidesz, his and Orbán’s party, was in the EPP until two years ago, but now it is not part of any faction in Europe. What are you doing in no man’s land?
«We are in the land of the strong and we are happy. Fidesz won the elections a year ago with a supermajority, and if we voted today, according to the polls, we would win by the same number. Even if we do not belong to a European family, we are members of the great community of the continental right, which is growing stronger and has only one goal: to convince us that it can defeat the left and win a majority in next year’s European elections this year ».
Ambitious and difficult goal.
“I think the chances of that are very good. Progressives, socialists and left-liberals are unable to respond to the real needs of European citizens. Today, alongside the people, there are the right and the conservatives, as the Meloni government shows. The elections in Poland and Spain in the coming months will give new impetus to the right.”
And what would change in Europe if the right won?
“If our elected representatives and those of the other right-wing parties together form the majority in the next European Parliament, a new era may perhaps begin. With a new commission in which bureaucracy and NGOs can no longer enforce the democratic process. And the EU line is dictated by the leaders of the member states, not by a European government pursuing its own political agenda.”