“Ironically, it has taken the resignation of a Hungarian MEP after he was caught fleeing a party described by its organiser as a gay orgy to highlight the growth of illiberalism in Europe.”
“Jozsef Szajer apologised for breaking Covid-19 restrictions by attending the gathering of roughly two dozen men, and said drugs found [in his bag] by police belonged to someone else.”
“The incident would probably have remained a topic of gossip in the Brussels bubble and a national story in Hungary were it not for the details of the career of the man concerned.”
“Szajer, a staunch ally of right-wing nationalist prime minister Viktor Orban, famously drafted Hungary’s new constitution on his iPad – a reactionary document that vowed to protect “the institution of marriage as between a man and a woman” and “the family as the basis of the survival of the nation”.”
“The constitution became the basis for laws eroding the freedoms of LGBT people and was the background to a culture war crusade against anything identified as “too gay”, with targets ranging from a children’s book and a Coca Cola advert to Eurovision.”
“Budapest and Warsaw acted in protest against the EU’s new rule-of-law conditionality: a proposed change under which funds could only be given out to countries that respected democratic EU values. The governments of Hungary and Poland – both accused of democratic backsliding and interfering with the independence of the judiciary – suspected a trap.”
Read more: The gay orgy that exposes the hypocrisy of Hungary’s illiberals
2021-week12
