“In this context, which we have heard here today, and which dominates the European discourse, only the threats from outside the so-called liberal democracies, i.e. authoritarian states, are used to be addressed, while within the liberal democracies, the pressure and manipulative power of those informal private powers can be felt – I would only refer here to Mr. Soros’ network – which pose a much greater threat to the functioning of democracy in Hungary,” said László Kövér.
On the first day of the conference, the participants spoke on the topic “The strategic autonomy of the European Union facing the new challenges of liberal democracies in the era of social media and artificial intelligence, from the perspective of foreign and defense policy: Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East”.
According to the speaker of the house, there is undoubtedly a danger of influencing democracies and manipulating public opinion, but he objected that the great majority of the speakers highlighted only the threatening role of Russia.
“Probably none of the colleagues were in the position, like the politicians of the Hungarian government party, that various internet platforms blocked their social media pages or limited their ability to speak,” he noted.
László Kövér believed that the lesson of the first day was to try to focus the topics of the debate more in order to have a meaningful dialogue. “It is worth choosing a topic in which the possibility of agreement and consensus is greater than in others, it is worth looking for what really connects us and we can really work together,” he emphasized.
He said that Hungary will host the next speaker’s conference, which is the highest forum for cooperation between member state parliaments, next May, and that the topics to be discussed must be determined by the end of the year and presented at the meeting of the secretaries-general of the EU parliaments next February.
László Kövér also mentioned that during the Tuesday session of the conference, he will provide information on “the emphasis Hungary is preparing” for the successive presidency of the Council of the European Union, which it will take over from Belgium in July.
In addition, a discussion focusing on economic and social issues will be on the agenda, at which the European Commission intends to point out the mistakes made. “Mostly the ideological exaggerations of the green transition and, as a result, the crisis of European agriculture,” he added.
According to the plans, at the end of the conference, the participants will adopt a final declaration, in which Hungary’s numerous amendments have been incorporated. “We have achieved many results, in which we have not, and we will indicate our dissent in a footnote so that there is no misunderstanding as to what we have contributed to,” said László Kövér.
The European Speakers’ Conference is the last official event related to Spain’s EU presidency, which it held in the second half of 2023. The event will be attended by the presidents and 11 vice-presidents of the parliamentary chambers of 39 Member States, as well as representatives of five EU candidate countries and nine invited countries.
2024-04-22 19:07:08