Spring Comes Orban goes: pro-European demonstrations in Hungary

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is the joint statement of the two organizing groups of the “Spring comes, Orban goes” in the run up to the demonstration on [mark]Sunday February 1st 2014 on Kossuth sq., Budapest[/mark] and in 11 cities across Hungary and all major expat communities around the world.

Spring Comes, Orban Goes Demo takes place the day before the German Chancellor Mrs Angela Merkel’s visit to Budapest. This is a good opportunity to show that masses are opposed to Mr Orban’s politics. The Fidesz government’s actions have steered Hungary on the wrong path – a very dangerous one. In specific our protest demands:

• No to corruption! – We demand transparent governance! Start investigating Ildiko Vida the chief of the tax authority and Antal Rogan, former mayor and head of FIDESZ parliamentary fraction now! The Gucci Gangsters have to go!
• No to unorthodox economic nonsense! – We demand instant sensible economic policy! Cancel the new road toll tax now! Discontinue the discriminative special taxes!
• No to undisciplined foreign policy – Hungary to follow a European/Atlantic value-based foreign policy. Limit Russia’s influence on our nation.
• No to the authoritarian state – restore freedom of speech and press, re-introduce the democratic checks and balances.
• Respect of human rights, private property, the economically disadvantaged, Roma, refugees, freedom of religion – and a long list of stakeholders who have been unfairly targeted by Mr Orban’s administration.

We also have a message for the German Chancellor. Her visit to Hungary on February 2nd 2015 is an important step in the relationship between Hungary and Germany since Mr Orban’s state capture has taken hold. Mrs Merkel’s influence and power in Europe is unmatched, which is why we want her to hear our demands towards the European community – our community. To restore democracy and the rule of law in Hungary, and to preserve and further develop our common European values we propose the following to Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany, a leading member state of the European Union.

We propose that Germany makes an effort to enable the European Union to deal with the phenomena of endangering rule of law within its member states.

• Our first proposal is to implement a new union-level procedure to safeguard the rule of law, capable of effectively filling the gap between the procedure under Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union (the so-called “nuclear option”) and the infringement procedures that can be initiated by the European Commission. Though both the European Commission and the European Parliament have introduced their plans in 2014, these proposals do not consider amendments to the founding treaties of the EU, but without these it is impossible to create sanctions capable of deterring member states.
• Secondly, we ask for stronger enforcement mechanisms for compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights and the principles and jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, particularly in situations of massive and systematic human rights violations by EU member states. Judgments of the Strasbourg-based court are important reference points related to these questions, not only as the Strasbourg human rights practice is deemed to be part of Union law since the provisions of the Maastricht Treaty, but massive violations identified by the court clearly indicate systematic problems in a given member state.
• Third, to ensure clarity of the operation of the EU and of the use of union funds, we propose increasing the transparency of EU projects and applications. European funds should be kept safe from being misused or fueling corruption via member states’ governments. We deem it necessary to employ internationally-composed deciding bodies that track funds also on the level of the member states. We think that Germany can assist the European Commission’s efforts to make genuine progress on this matter.
• Fourth, as a last resort to handle misuses and to repress crimes related to mismanagement of union funds that could not be prevented, we propose to create a union-level prosecution service and necessary harmonisation of national legal provisions.

About the Event

Speakers:

Zoltán Kész, independent candidate for Veszprém’s byelection
SándorSzékely, president of the Hungarian Solidarity Movement
ÁgnesHeller, philosopher
Ferenc Hammer, media researcher, member of Education Network
Zoltán Vajda, initiator – 60ezren a MAGÁN nyugdíjukért protest group

Hosting: Balázs Gulyás – Százezren az internetadó ellen NoNetTax group

To date over 13K people rsvp-ed to the event.

The event will be broadcasted live in full or partially by Al Jazeera, ATV, Klub Radio and online via Nullker.hu.

About the Organizers:

• 100K against the Internet Tax
  Lead by Balazs Gyulas, the group to have organized the first successful civic protest that forced Orban to retreat on the Internet tax.
• 60K – organizers of protests against the theft of private pension fund
  The group lead by Zoltan Vajda organized to protect the remaining private pension funds.

Protests in Hungary outside of Budapest:

Székesfehérvár: https://www.facebook.com/events/402626493234195/
Nagykanizsa: https://www.facebook.com/events/1548151595443610/
Dunaújváros: https://www.facebook.com/events/1535392176710661/
Békéscsaba: https://www.facebook.com/events/1516358868652239/
Kecskemét: https://www.facebook.com/events/876434499044440/
Miskolc: https://www.facebook.com/events/1560234087556680/
Győr: https://www.facebook.com/events/891006410944357/
Szeged: https://www.facebook.com/events/428927647265596
Siófok: https://www.facebook.com/events/410985402400169/
Szolnok: https://www.facebook.com/events/384016471766695
Debrecen: https://www.facebook.com/events/988578357822628/

Exodus/Expat Demos internationally:

Amszterdam: https://www.facebook.com/events/630447850400159/
Vienna: https://www.facebook.com/events/1621458428076104/
Helsinki: https://www.facebook.com/events/782967055089986/
London: https://www.facebook.com/events/332072750324517/
New York: https://www.facebook.com/events/915910001786715
Berlin: https://www.facebook.com/events/794234813964724/