The monopolization of the concept of democracy is extremely anti-democratic, stated in the homeland of democracy, Athens.
The representatives of the liberal democracies are trying to appropriate the concept of democracy, and this approach is extremely anti-democratic, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó stated on Friday at the Athens Democracy Forum.
According to the ministry's announcement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sviatlana Tsyhanouszkaia participated in a panel discussion on the democratization of Central and Eastern European countries together with the Belarusian civil rights activist. Péter Szijjártó emphasized that the concept of democracy does not require further qualification. According to him, a country can be called a democracy as long as the people can decide on their own fate and that of their country. "We had to fight for our freedom for four decades, because we were not on the lucky side of the continent (...) Today, we are often criticized and criticized by the West, they want to tell us how we should live, how we should operate our political system, they claim that we are not democratic country, simply because the government is not liberal," he said.
Péter Szijjártó answered the question about the criticisms of the Hungarian state of the rule of law and stated: the reason for the reprimands and criticisms is simply that a conservative, patriotic, Christian-democratic government is in power in Hungary. "Viktor Orbán is the most democratic leader in Europe," he stated. He underlined that Hungarian foreign policy is based on the pursuit of the national interest, so the government keeps pragmatic cooperation in mind and tries not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. In this context, he emphasized the importance of political stability, saying that it enables effective action and the representation of the national interest. In relation to the situation in Belarus, the minister pointed out that the crisis and the European Union measures taken in response to it showed the limited effectiveness of the community's foreign policy tools, as sanctions and declarations did not result in change. He believed that the EU's actions in this field have not been very successful in recent years, so a longer discussion on the effectiveness of sanctions would be necessary. He warned that if the punitive measures are not effective, the threat of them will not have a deterrent effect either. In addition, he also raised the question of whether it is hypocritical to impose various sanctions while the larger member states make huge deals with some countries they criticize loudly. As an example, he mentioned the restrictions against Chinese officials and the fact that China was the EU's number one trade partner last year.
Dissident Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsyhanouszkaya defended the EU sanctions during the conversation, saying they are the community's only means of exerting pressure. In response to the moderator's question, he stated that he considers all EU member states, including Hungary, to be democracies.
Source: MTI
Featured image: PestiSrácok
