Falling into totalitarian temptation

The totalitarian impulse resides in the furthest corners of any autocrat. And, if anything stops his uncontrollable urge to set himself up as lord of lives and properties, taking advantage of any extraordinary emergency, these are the counter-powers that oppose him in any truly democratic system. 

The first leader in the European Union to give in to this totalitarian temptation was the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, who was given full powers by his Parliament for an indefinite period. In order to justify his request, Orban claimed that the national emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was a problem, in other words, the same argument that has been used by other European leaders - Pedro Sánchez, for example - although the Hungarian leader hasn't set a time limit on the enjoyment of those extraordinary powers and no expiry date. This seems to follow the path of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has taken advantage of the pandemic to generalize the tele-computer systems for surveillance and control of the masses, a path that Russian President Vladimir Putin is also taking. 

The special powers that Viktor Orban has enjoyed since 30 March include, of course, special attention to the media, so that anyone who publishes "news that causes panic", a typical expression of any dictatorial regime whose first concern is to nip in the bud any criticism of the leader and his regime, can be sentenced to up to five years in prison. 

For quite some time now, the Hungarian leader has been bordering on, if not openly violating, the essential values that make up the fundamental foundation of the European Union, but in this case, he has taken a step that puts him openly against it. It is so obvious that 13 EU countries, led by Germany, France, Italy and Spain, but also including Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, Ireland and Greece, issued a joint statement on Wednesday expressing concern about the exceptional measures taken by Budapest, while supporting the decision of Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission to “examine the emergency measures taken by the EU-27 against the coronavirus, to ensure that fundamental rights are not violated”. 

The big surprise is not in the support of the thirteen signatory countries, rather in the EU partners that have not signed up, especially Hungary's three allies in the Visegrad Group, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and the three Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This is not a minor fracture. The implicit acceptance by these countries, former satellites of the Soviet Union, that security takes precedence over freedom and even makes freedom disappear, is not only a brutal step backwards, it’s also a devastating blow to the European Union itself. 

In addition to the statement, in this exceptional time there is an urgent need for more than just a wake-up call to Hungary and, by the way, to all those who would not be foolish enough to cross the line of states of alarm and take advantage of the confusion to enter the uncontrolled and excessive exception. As a first step, it seems clear that the suspension of Fidesz, Orban's party, from the European People's Party (PPP) is not enough. Its president, the polish Donald Tusk, is openly calling for its expulsion: “Building a permanent state of emergency is politically dangerous and morally unacceptable”. For the same reason, the EU shouldn’t limit itself to more than justified criticism. The repeated violation of the values that underpin it by any member should give rise to more forceful procedures. 

There are already enough external attacks seeking the collapse of the European Union as to enable its demolition to be accelerated, allowing the internal totalitarian drives of the crouching dictators to take hold.