Joachim Kuhs
Joachim KuhsINN:JK

United Opposition front-runner Péter Márki-Zay is the mayor of Hódmezővásárhely, a town of 44 000 in southeast Hungary, and co-founder of the “Everybody's Hungary” movement. Since he emerged as the opposition challenger to Viktor Orbán in October, Brussels has rolled out the red carpet to him.

In November, Péter Márki-Zay (“PMZ”) was invited to a series of talks in the EU capital, where he met with Orbán’s arch-enemy Vera Jourova, Vice-President of the European Commission for “Values and Transparency”; Ska Keller, leader of the Greens; Iratxe García Pérez, leader of the Socialists; and Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party.

The only problem is the fact the EU’s poster boy PMZ is allied with the infamous anti-Semitic Jobbik party, and is now embroiled in an anti-Semitism scandal of his own. While left-wing media and EU bigshots never pass up an opportunity to cast Viktor Orbán’s pro-Israel government as borderline totalitarian and proto-fascist, the EU is supporting actual neo-fascists and Jew-haters, as Arutz Sheva reported in May (for the EU's latest anti-Israel declaration based on false premises, click here).

On Jan 9, Márki-Zay went on a bizarre Facebook rant against Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party, insinuating that “There are, by the way, Jews in Fidesz. Not many, but…”

In October 2020, Márki-Zay shook hands with László Bíró from the Jobbik party, who has called Budapest "Judapest". Referring to Polish, Russian and Israeli Hasidic Jewish tourists, László Bíró wrote on social media: "My dog goes crazy when those with the lice-infested 'sideburns' pass by the house."

In September 2018, Márki-Zay posted a picture of himself with Jobbik president Tamás Sneider, a former skinhead whose wife raised a Nazi salute on their wedding photos. Sneider confessed to beating up a Roma gypsy in 1992 and was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for three years. Márki-Zay has also supported Jobbik MP Lajos Rig, who called Romani people “the biological weapons” of the Jews.

On his visit to the EU in Brussels, Márki-Zay posed for a photo with Jobbik MEP Márton Gyöngyösi, who in 2012 said it was “high time […] to take stock of how many people of Jewish origin living here, especially in the Hungarian parliament and the Hungarian government, pose a national security risk to Hungary.”

You can imagine what the EU media would make of all these appalling scandals if they were perpetrated by Orbán’s Fidesz party. Coming from the EU-supported United Opposition however, we hear: Crickets.

For months, the EU has been building up pressure on the Hungarian government, threatening legal action and withholding Covid relief funds in order to strengthen the Hungarian opposition. Imagine the cynicism and arrogance of denying the Hungarian people Covid relief to bring about “regime change” from the anti-Semitic far-right.

The EU directly funds organizations like the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (2020: €910,000), which are close to the United Opposition and the anti-Orbán Open Society Foundations. EU parliamentarians make no bones about their desire for “regime change” in Hungary. In summer, Dutch PM Mark Rutte said he wants the EU to "force Hungary to its knees" over its pro-family, anti-child sexualization policy.

Unfortunately for the EU big shots, however, it doesn’t seem to be working. In December, a public-opinion poll commissioned by the opposition found 52 percent of Hungarians would like to see the current government reelected. Only 43 percent want a change in government. It hasn’t helped that Márki-Zay keeps calling voters who support borders, child protection, parents’ rights, lower energy prices, or even just live in the countryside, “ignorant and stupid”.

The good news is: It looks like the pro-Israel government of Viktor Orbán may get another 4 years.

MEP Joachim Kuhs is a trained Auditor. He is a member of the AfD National Committee, head of the “Christians in the AfD” and member of the Budget Committee in the EU Parliament. He lives in Baden-Baden, has 10 children and 15 grandchildren.