Audi et alteram partem

2012. 01. 23.

György Schöpflin's written statement to the debate on the political situation in Hungary.

It is a strange experience to be a Hungarian these days. I listen to the statements - allegations would be better - of the left, read the articles in the Western press, look at tv reports on Hungary and Hungarians, and I entirely fail to recognise myself in what they say. The mirror that is being held up is a distorting one, it shows an imagined Hungary, born of the dystopic fantasies of the Western left.

This selfsame left has referred more than once to European values. The one that I miss is that of fairness, of listening to the views of the other side, audi et alteram partem in Latin. Nor is there much evidence of moderation or reason in what is being marshalled against Hungary, it adds up mostly to wild exaggeration and hyperbole.

But this campaign, this onslaught against Hungary is not without its unintended consequences. Opinion in Hungary, just like myself, does not recognise itself in the distorting mirror and it resents what it does see. And that resentment is directed at the left, not at the government. It is directed at those who are seen as traducing Hungary, Hungary's European credentials and the very European values in the name of which the left claims to be acting.