In a recent article in the London Progressive Journal
I highlighted an opinion poll in Andalucía that showed a majority of people in
that region believed Spain to be the most corrupt nation in the EU.
Do I believe that Spain holds that title? No I don’t.
There have been serious cases of political corruption but there are other more
sinister abuses elsewhere. Having said that as the people of Spain live in a
country in political and economic meltdown it is all too easy to see how they
reached that grim conclusion. I know: I live amongst them.
Far more worrying to me is the collapse in trust by
the people of Andalucía in their monarch, government in Madrid and Sevilla, the
main political parties, the institutions, justice and the financial sector.
Only the army and state security service were held in high regard. Students of
Spanish politics will know that Spain has been here before.
Last week I spent several days in Budapest at a
conference organised by the Party of European Socialists (PES). When I visited
Pierre Kanuty, who handles international relations for the Parti Socialiste in
Paris at the end of January, he stressed just how important supporting the
socialist MSZP in Hungary was by holding the meeting there.
This message was underscored by the PES president,
Sergei Stanishev, who spoke at the rally for 10,000 MSZP supporters in Budapest
on Saturday addressed by party leader Attila
Mesterhazy, which I attended. Stanishev attacked the Fidesz leader and
Hungarian Prime Minister, Victor Orban, for “not understanding democracy”. On
Monday Orban’s government passed major constitutional amendments that made his
previously illegal legalisation legal. It is widely believed it will impact on the rule of law and respect for fundamental
rights. Stanishev slammed Orban’s “assault on democracy” and urged a
postponement of the decision. The President of the European Parliament, Martin
Schultz and the Council of Europe General Secretary Thorbjorn Jagland had also
called on Orban to back down and to refer the legislation to the Venice Commission
of the Council of Europe for an opinion. No prizes for guessing that the
Hungarian Premier ignored such calls. In Stanishev’s words: “Mr. Orban, like
all populists does not have the interests of the people at heart and sees
democracy as little more than an obstacle”.
However a bigger shock came later on Saturday when
Sergei Stanishev addressed the PES delegates. Stanishev is the former Bulgarian
Prime Minister (2005 -2009) and is leader of the socialist BSP. On May 12
Bulgaria will hold a general election after the people of that country took to
the streets and got rid of Byoko Borrisov, a right wing populist prime minister
in the same mould as Hungary’s Orban.
Stanishev urged PES delegates to come to his country
for May 12. However he did not want them to campaign for his BSP but to monitor
the elections. He stated that other European politicians looked at him in
disbelief when he told them there were no guarantees that Bulgaria’s elections would
be fair and free. International observers and PES delegates were needed at the
polling stations and the counts.
How could an EU nation such as Bulgaria rig the
ballots and get away with it? In exactly the same way as Orban in Hungary rides
roughshod over the constitution ignoring the European Parliament and Council of
Europe.
It is clear that with the breakdown of trust in the
institutions in Spain, the authoritarian governments in Hungary and Bolivia,
democracy in Europe is in grave danger.
In Budapest I was told of families who would not speak
openly of their support of the MSZP because they feared for their jobs. Police
wouldn’t call but a tax inspector certainly would. Women who were party
activists found that jobs in the public services were barred to their children.
People who spoke out against the Hungarian government or who were involved in
union campaigns faced similar obstacles. Where the media is under attack and
the one radio station that supports a liberal agenda Orban wants closed down.
It is then you realise the true frailty of democracy
and the urgent need for all of us to speak out to defend it in Spain, Hungary,
Bulgaria - in other countries in the EU and the wider world.
(The above article appeared in the London Progressive
Journal on March 15 2013)
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