Strategic Allies

"Unity of the Carpathian Basin"

Ethnic thinking has obsessed Hungary. The dispute between Budapest and Kiev must be considered in the context of Budapest's seeing Hungarian-speaking minorities in neighboring countries to be members of an alleged supranational "Hungarian people." Budapest has been using various means to bind "Hungarians abroad" more closely to Hungary. During his first term of office (1998 - 2002), Prime Minister Orbán introduced measures to this effect, which were implemented when he took office in 2010. These included granting Hungarian citizenship and voting rights to members of minorities. Hungarian politicians are using provocative appearances in Hungarian speaking regions of neighboring countries, to demonstrate their all out efforts to develop strong ties between the minority citizens of the respective countries with Budapest. Two years ago, László Kövér, President of the Hungarian Parliament, visited the residential area of the Hungarian-speaking minority in Romania to commemorate the "greater Hungarian" Nazi collaborator József Nyirő, who was born in that region.[1] The Orbán government seeks to have this territory "unify" with Hungary under the slogan "Unity of the Carpathian Basin." Behind this innocuous term, Budapest is in fact hiding its attempts to establish an informal "Greater Hungary."

Poland's Citizens of Germany

Budapest's policy of laying claim to "Hungarians abroad" has provoked much criticism over the past few years. The principle of this policy, as well as important details, corresponds to the German model. Members of German speaking minorities in East European countries can acquire German citizenship if they can prove German descent. The respective German authorities are still accepting, among the documents proving German descent, the so-called "German People's List" identity cards.[2] The Nazis had issued these cards to persons considered to be of "Arian ancestry" in the occupied East European countries. For example, the German foreign ministry "estimates" that about 300,000 individuals belong to the "German minority" in Poland alone. Many "not only have Polish but German citizenship as well."[3] It is estimated that more than 200,000 Polish citizens are claimed by Germany and have been issued German citizenship. Approximately 16,800 German identity cards were issued to Poles, in 2011 and 2012 alone, according to a press report.[4] Polish citizens, who also have German citizenship, can vote in German elections. Having been elected also with their votes, the German government can claim to represent them.

Equal Rights for Some

"Few capitals appreciate having a neighboring country considering itself the government responsible for the welfare of a large portion of its own population," according to a recent article in a leading German journal.[5] The journal, however, was not referring to German policy toward Poland, but rather to Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán's demand for the Hungarian-speaking minority in Ukraine to be granted special ethnic rights. Kiev has, until now, rejected Budapest's demand, which would impinge upon approx. 150,000 of Ukraine's citizens in its southwest corner. "The demand for granting dual citizenship" is "in violation of Ukrainian laws," explained a spokesperson for Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Recently, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has come forward as an opponent of Budapest's German-inspired ethnic demands on Kiev. Tusk, who is not known to have raised objections to Germany's having issued German citizenship to Polish citizens, considers Orbán's demands "extremely inopportune." If one grants Ukraine's Hungarian minority special ethnic rights, it would be difficult to refuse the same to Ukraine's Russian minority. If Budapest is allowed to intervene with ethnic motivated measures, it could hardly be explained, why the Russian government would be strongly criticized for intervening on behalf of its "compatriots" in Ukraine.[6] But that is exactly the intention.

"Critical Solidarity with Hungary"

During his recent visit to Berlin, Orbán, whose ethnic chauvinist "Hungarians Abroad" offensive is now supposed to be called to order, to prevent jeopardizing the superseding objective - Russia's rollback - had just reiterated that the German government will, in principle, not represent an obstacle to his policy. On the occasion of his May 8, talks with the German chancellor, Orbán explained - albeit without making explicit reference to the fundamental parallel between the German and the Hungarian ethnic policies - that he would like to "express his gratitude (...) for the support Hungary has been receiving over the past four years from Germany." He is including "the support" he has received from Angela Merkel "personally, in the political sense. After all, the Hungarian governing party is a member of the grand family of the European People's Party (EPP)." "Germany is a particularly strategic ally for Hungary," added the Hungarian prime minister. German experts in foreign policy draw a similar conclusion. "German foreign policy of the past four years" has been "characterized by a critical solidarity" with Hungary, explains Kai-Olaf Lang, of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin, in which "surely (...) CDU party solidarity" within the EPP framework had played a role as well. Orbán's Fidesz Party is also a member of the EPP.[7]

"Kicking a Gypsy Mafioso's Ass"

Berlin's "critical solidarity" has been with a government that has not only expanded the playing field of ethnic-oriented foreign policy, over the past four years, but has also stepped up ethnic chauvinism in its domestic policy. There were protests throughout Europe, a few years ago, against the new, ethnic-chauvinist Hungarian Constitution [8] and a new, repressive law restricting the media.[9] The media law has made publicist activities critical of government policies more difficult. As a result of these and similar measures, Hungary is becoming an ethnic chauvinist society, systematically ostracizing critics and marginal groups - the Hungarian Roma being the largest of these minorities, explained the blogger Pusztaranger, who, for years, has been intensively following Hungary's rightwing ethnic chauvinist development, in his interview with german-foreign-policy.com.[10] The development in Hungary has led to the fascist Jobbik Party polling a fifth of the votes in the early April parliamentary elections. Jobbik had been in cooperation with the Ukrainian Svoboda government coalition Party, until antagonisms arose over the future of Ukraine's Hungarian-speaking minority. Jobbik member Tamás Snejder is currently Vice President of the Hungarian Parliament. Snejder has been known to observers of the Hungarian neo-Nazi scene since the early 1990s, according to Pusztaranger, "as the leader of the 'Association of National Youth' (Nemzeti Ifjak Egyesülete)"[11] skinhead group in his northern Hungarian hometown, Eger. He was sentenced to probation for criminal assault in 1992 - for "simply having kicked a Gypsy Mafiosi's ass," according to his official 2011 résumé. Snejder's election to the Hungarian parliament's presidency had been supported by Orbán's governing party, whose government benefits from the German government's "critical solidarity."

Other reports and background information on Germany's policy toward Hungary can be found here: Pillars of the Future, Pillars of the Future (III), Borderless Nation and To Heighten Tensions.

[1] See Ein positives Ungarn-Bild.
[2] Bundesverwaltungsamt: Merkblatt Feststellung der deutschen Staatsangehörigkeit für Personen, die im Ausland leben (Stand: April 2011). Abrufbar beispielsweise unter www.polen.diplo.de .
[3] Polen: Beziehungen zu Deutschland. www.auswaertiges-amt.de.
[4] Gerhard Gnauck: "Die Andschela Merkel, die ist doch CDU?" www.welt.de 22.08.2013.
[5], [6] Stephan Löwenstein: Anspruch auf alle Ungarn. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 20.05.2014.
[7] Orban bleibt unbequem. www.rnz.de 08.04.2014.
[8] See Borderless Nation.
[9] See Die Freiheit der Bank.
[10] See Die "tausendjährige christliche Nation".
[11] Ehemaliger Skinhead wird Vizepräsident des ungarischen Parlaments? pusztaranger.wordpress.com 25.04.2014.