At a time when the world seems to be sliding backwards into authoritarianism, the world celebrated a huge victory for freedom.
With record turnout, Hungarians voted to kick out their right-wing authoritarian leader, Viktor Orbán! Orbán had clutched onto control in his country for 16 years. During that time, he consistently
blocked the European Union (EU) from providing full
aid to its beleaguered neighbor Ukraine, cracked down on civil society, and attacked human rights, including LGBTQ+ rights.
This election result is a gigantic win, not only for Hungarians, but for people everywhere, as it helps us remember the political power we have. Viktor Orbán's defeat will have incredible ripple effects - and we must keep the momentum of this victory going.
An important way to do that is to ask the EU to ensure future authoritarian member states cannot unilaterally block its humanitarian aid work and human rights protections. Sign the petition urging the EU to insulate itself and make sure these types of anti-democratic leaders can't single-handedly block its work in the future!Hungary is a member of the EU and Orbán wielded his 16-year influence to block its ambitious, pro-freedom work. Orbán was particularly close with Russia's Vladimir Putin and the US's Donald Trump, and tried to stymie any EU projects that Putin or Trump might disagree with.
For example - Ukraine has been under attack from Russia for over 4 years now. As a neighboring country, the fate of Ukraine has huge implications for the EU. But since it is not an EU member state, it can only ask for assistance, without any guarantees of receiving such help.
The rest of the EU has been trying to approve €90 billion in aid for Ukraine and its embattled people. But Orbán chose Putin over Europe and
continually vetoed this funding package.And Orbán has been
openly hostile to human rights, as well. Just last year, as part of a wider effort to remove LGBTQ+ rights, Orbán successfully convinced the Parliament of Hungary to
ban all public events held by LGBTQ+ groups, communities, or organizations, such as Pride Parades. This wasn't just a regular old law, either. This was an amendment to the country's constitution. Not only did these events become illegal, but authorities also gained the right to use facial recognition technology to identify anyone who did attend after all.
Now that Orbán is out and his successor, Péter Magyar, will be guiding Hungary's domestic and foreign policy, we have to make sure the European Union takes advantage of this opportunity.
With Viktor Orbán, the EU received a warning about how a single rogue, authoritarian member state can derail the entire EU's priorities and proposals. It must use this experience to ensure that this type of unilateral hostile internal interference can never happen again!
No anti-democratic member state should be able to single-handedly block the EU's work. Sign the petition to tell the EU to protect human rights, humanitarian aid, and its own future by creating rules to insulate itself from future authoritarian member states!