Jobbik protests against labelling the Hungarian people racist

On the 26th of February, 2009, Mr Vladimir Spidla, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities said in a statement: it seems that “the Roma have become the target of organised racist violence - fed by political populism, hate speech and media hype” in Hungary.

(See: : http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=cs&catId=89&newsId=464&furtherNews=yes)

Following this statement, we were surprised to learn that Vladimir Spidla, the person who has slandered our country, was honoured by the Hungarian Socialist Party in Budapest with a „Public Award” on International Women’s Day, on the 7th of March 2009.

(See: http://mszp.hu/belfold/bovebben/minden-not-megillet-egy-csokor-beke)

Regarding the above, we would like to put on record the following:

1. It is our duty to firmly repudiate this vicious and baseless charge.


2. We request that Mr Spidla present to the public without delay, and hand over to the Hungarian Police, the evidence that bears out his charges.


3. If Mr Spidla has no evidence of his allegation, we demand that he apologize to the Hungarian people whom he collectively stamped racist.


4. Mr Spidla has referred to the basic values of the European Union, and affirmed that „Europe stands for social solidarity, democracy and the rule of law”. We kindly ask him to put these lofty ideals into practice by not branding racist entire nations on no evidence whatsoever.


5. Equally, we wish to remind Mr Spidla of the pogrom against the Roma community at Litvínov in the Czech Republic, his own homeland, that was carried out by 500 neo-Nazis in January 2008. We have tried in vain to find a similar communiqué about the event. We hope that Mr. Spidla is not of the racist type that Mr. Benes, the one time President of Czechoslovakia used to be, when, by dint of his decrees, he deported, after World War II, hundreds of thousands of Hungarians on the basis of a collective crime they have never committed.


6. Also, we wish to remind Mr Spidla that as soon as the citizens of the Republic of Hungary will send our representative(s) to the European Parliament, we will fight with all our capabilities against racist – he would perhaps call them Nazi - politicians who label entire nations collectively guilty without the flimsiest evidence.


7. We are likewise shocked and saddened to learn that the Socialist and Liberal delegates from Hungary actively support Mr Spidla in his efforts to slander their own people in order to further their own career.
   

Zsolt Varkonyi,
Foreign Affairs Committee, Jobbik