6 April 2011
Perhaps it was not surprising that the LMP found Daniel Cohen-Bendit. After all, being a party of protest is no fun in a parliament where the recently-elected government has a super-majority and intent on using it. So what does a liberal-Green party do when it struggles to be heard in the domestic politic arena? Of course you bring in a foreigner!
However, it might have been wiser if the LMP had attracted a foreigner who actually knew something about Hungary and Hungarian politics. The most that Cohen-Bendit, a German Green Member of the European Parliament knew about Hungary was appreciating that it was a solid member of the communist international during his ‘Red Period’ and that his old friend Joshka Fischer was also Hungarian of sorts!
So, here we have a former rabid communist who has also admitted a proximity to paedophilia and possibly criminal activity – Dani was delighted when the European Parliament refused to lift his immunity following a request by a Frankfurt Prosecutor – advising the Hungarian nation on what should and shouldn’t be in their new constitution.
Surely the LMP must have had some idea about Cohen-Bendit’s past? Surely by introducing this kind of commentator into the domestic political arena in Hungary is not what politics can be different means? What does this say about the LMP?
It says that the LMP are opportunists for a start. Simply because the Socialists brought MEP Martin Schulz to Budapest to support their protests against the media law, they felt that they also had to mimic big brother. Did the LMP not realise that Schulz’s speech at this award ceremony was the equivalent of ‘dead but not forgotten’? Did the LMP not appreciate that Cohen-Bendit has even less legitimacy than the German Socialist Party in Hungarian politics?
It also says that the LMP are devoid of meaningful policies. What do they stand for? How do they refute allegations that they are not simply Liberals in sheep’s clothing? What have they actually achieved in politics since the election? Why are they so concerned about the Grippen contract when the stink of corruption continues to be overpowering in Budapest? Since when has anti-corruption been selective?
If the LMP wish us to believe that politics can be better then they had better start showing us how. Poisoning the political debate over the constitution by encouraging and supporting the interventions of people like Cohen-Bendit is an affront and insult to Hungarians. The Hungarian people have had enough of other people telling them what to do. Indeed, why don’t the LMP actively engage in the constitutional debate and put their ideas up for constructive dialogue? You will probably find that their ideas, the ideas of an ‘elite’, with no connection to the outcomes of their own political creed, have no resonance with the majority of Hungarians. If they did, the LMP would be in power and Cohen-Bendit would not be on Hungarian TV.