Steven N.Speaking at the Government Press Briefing on Thursday, Gergely Gulyás, Minister for the Prime Minister’s Office, said that the European Commission was engaging in race-based, anti-Hungarian revenge for withholding funds for Hungarian university programs.
This past January, the European Commission decided that Hungarian educational institutions either operating in the form of public interest trust foundations or maintained by such foundations cannot receive new grants from the EU-funded Erasmus+ cooperation and education exchange program or the Horizon Europe research and innovation framework program.
In Thursday’s press briefing, a journalist from hvg.hu asked Gulyás if he did in fact mean to say that the debate over the Erasmus-Horizon programs was “race-based revenge.”
In response, the Minister reiterated that he considered the manner in which the European Commission was behaving over the disputed EU funds as an example of anti-Hungarian revenge. Gulyás then stated:
Of course it is true that there is just one species, homo sapiens. And within that there are different ethnic groups, if you like. This is a decision taken against the Hungarian ethnic group … the Hungarian race. But if this word bothers you, then we can say it is an anti-Hungarian revenge, one which specifically affects Hungarians.
Historian: Nazis Used Similar Langauge
Nazi Germany used similar language to that used by Minister Gulyás, Historian Krisztián Ungváry told RTL News.
The only culture or subculture that uses the term race in the sense of, say, Hungarian race, German race, or Aryan race, is Nazi-type public discourse. So Gergely Gulyás managed to express his thoughts using fundamentally Nazi terminologies.
-Krisztián Ungváry told the news channel.
Ungváry also felt that the minister’s later clarification that the European Commission was taking revenge on the Hungarian ethnic group, which he used in a cultural and not biological sense, was even more problematic.
Gergely Gulyás appears to believe that any criticism from the EU is unacceptable because it is based on characteristics specific to Hungarians, said the historian. [HVG]
Narrow national definitions of “race” and nationality, let alone ethnicity, religious and sexual orientation, are main ingredients of domestic Hungarian politics.
We witness a phase in which the domestic Hungarian political themes narrowly dictate the foreign policy.
Parallels to historic political movements are accurate enough, as descriptions of the regressive nature of this state of Hungarian national self-definition – the white-Christian supremacy.
But the Hungarian adherence to pre-war ideals of ethnic purity is in direct conflict with EU politics, by which people of different European (post colonial) national identity from many places in the world come together.
When Orbán talks about a “migration invasion”, he envokes support for a percieved threat to the east European Christian white supremacy based on historic experiences with the Turks.
An important article, especially comments by respected historian and principled conservative Ungváry
Krisztián. Michael Detreköy’s comments (comments today) are also of value. Ironically, genetic and/or other scientific studies illustrate the frequent shared genes/heritage with nearby populations with Slovaks being one of the closest related population groups. Of course, many other genes/ethnic groups are part of the current Hungarian heritage. The use of the term “race” is not only unscientific, it is as Ungváry commented, “Nazi-type public discourse.” The retreat from “race” by regime spokesperson to discrimination based on “culture” is equally stupid. There is no evidence of EU discrimination against Hungarians. Detreköy’s comments hit the nail on the head i.e. the regime’s direct conflict with EU values.
Misi Bácsi sums up the obvious (neo) Nazi infuence on Hungarian politics without colouration.
I would like to add, that the Neo-Nazi influence on Hungarian (and European) youth, through internet media is massive and amounting to a problem out of control.
Hungarian authorities take advantage of this circumstance, by turning the blind eye to the radicalisation of youth because there is a common cause: The white-Christian supremacy.
We look at a near future, in which Jewish grave defamation and pro-Nazi graffiti, armed violence and assassinations will increase rapidly in Eastern Europe.