I want to address this article to you, Hungarians. I am a foreigner who has always lived in Spain. I am young, so I know how many of you young Hungarians may feel. I have been very fortunate to have visited Hungary on many occasions: the first time in 2017, when I went on an end-of-year school trip with my high school; then again in 2021, and since then I have been going at least two or three times a year, even living there for a full year from 2022 to 2023.
I do not know all of Hungary—I would love to—but I have spent enough time there. When someone leaves their country, they quickly realize what they miss. Personally, I missed many things (obviously, my family and friends), such as the climate, the food, the way Spaniards behave, my language… But I also found things that had disappeared in certain parts of my country, and when I returned, I missed them from Hungary.
I am not going to tell you who to vote for, that would not be appropriate on my part as an outsider, and it is something that has been done many times from both sides. I simply want to show you what can be lost in this country.
‘I simply want to show you what can be lost in this country’
First of all, one of the main things I noticed when I came to Hungary was safety. Not only because I personally did not experience any bad situation, but because none of the people I knew had either. Safety is one of the fundamental elements for living a peaceful life, and unfortunately, many people take it for granted.
Many Hungarians look at Germany, France, Belgium, and even Spain and Italy as countries to follow. However, if many of them were to live for a few months in most neighbourhoods of those countries, they would be in for an unpleasant surprise. Western Europe has unfortunately stopped being what it once was: a place with low crime where people could live comfortably. Obviously, we are not at the levels of Latin America, but it is true that the decline in safety in these countries has been very pronounced.
You do not realize how important this is in your country. I know people who no longer go out at night in Barcelona, Paris or Brussels, or if they do, they have to take a taxi no matter what. However, this kind of situation does not happen in Budapest. I have often gone out at night to restaurants or bars and have been able to walk back to my apartment, or wait for a night bus without having to worry about being robbed. Likewise, many of my female friends do not have this problem either, and I can tell you that more than one of them does have it in those Western European cities, not only because of the fear of being robbed, but of much worse things.
Similarly, I have friends in Budapest who allow their young children to go to school on their own using public transport. That would be unthinkable in the cities I mentioned earlier. In fact, I asked a friend in Barcelona who is a father about this, and he told me it would be unthinkable to let his children take public transport alone to school because he cannot be sure they would arrive safely. Not to mention that in Paris or Berlin it would be even more unthinkable. These kinds of things were possible in these cities 20 or 30 years ago, but policies of accepting refugees and opening the door to mass immigration from cultures incompatible with Western culture have led to this situation.
The family is the fundamental pillar of society; it was 2,000 years ago, and it still is today. That is why it is essential to protect and promote it. However, in the West, we have seen how traditional parties, mainstream media and intellectuals have been attacking this institution over the past two decades. While in the West people talk about 20 different types of families, in Central and Eastern Europe they speak about the real, natural family: a father, a mother and one or two children. At the same time, the demographic winter is affecting all Western countries. Many want to address it through illegal and mass immigration, while in many Central and Eastern European countries, they have focused on promoting the traditional and national family through family policies and support measures. You do not realize how much we need that in Western Europe, and no government has done anything to make it easier to have more children or to help parents build a family. If many young people here had the same support and ease as in Hungary, many would choose to become parents.
As if that were not enough, another of the major issues in the West has been the normalization of radical feminism, where being a woman who wants to have children and live a traditionally feminine life is labelled as outdated or sexist. A war between men and women has been created, which has directly contributed to the difficulties in forming relationships, maintaining stable marriages and having children. Likewise, the LGBT lobby has also been normalized, with sexual education classes for minors being introduced without parental consent, not to mention trans laws that allow minors to undergo treatment, in some countries, even without parental approval. All of this is already happening in other EU countries, and many of you would be shocked if these things started happening in Hungary or other Central and Eastern European countries, but this is happening in my country, and I can assure you that Brussels wants it to happen in all EU member states.
‘Being a woman who wants to have children and live a traditionally feminine life is labelled as outdated or sexist’
Illegal immigration has greatly affected Western Europe, not only in terms of safety and crime, as I mentioned earlier, but also in many other ways you might not realize. This has not happened in Hungary or other Central and Eastern European countries, which is why I want you to understand what is happening here. Neighbourhoods are no longer the same, shops are no longer the same, restaurants are no longer the same, and cities no longer feel the same. It is as if you had moved without actually moving, as if you were the one who had gone abroad, but that is not the case—politicians have brought this here. Your traditions, your culture—everything becomes secondary.
What comes from outside becomes the priority. You no longer feel at home in your own town or city when you should. Entire neighbourhoods feel like they belong to another country—something you would not fully understand unless you experienced it every day. Gradually, signs, menus, and even public administration have to include languages that are not yours, not European, and do not belong here. The native population increasingly feels displaced: they see how aid, opportunities and support go to others, while nationals are left aside. Housing becomes more expensive, jobs are harder to find, neighbourhoods become less safe, children are afraid to go out and play, to go to school, and older youths are even afraid to go to nightclubs, sometimes having to carry pepper spray to protect themselves.
Another major consequence in recent years has been the war in Ukraine, which has caused energy prices to rise across Western Europe. Some governments, such as the German one, prioritized ideological positions over national interests and the well-being of their citizens, cutting off gas supplies from Russia. This led to very high household bills and forced many companies either to increase prices or to shut down.
Finally, and no less importantly, Brussels has become a centre of power that wants to impose its agenda at all costs. This is well known, and many governments accept everything in order to continue receiving funds, but there are times when national interest must prevail so that the citizens of a country can have a better future.
I could continue writing with many personal examples that I have experienced and that people close to me have gone through, not to mention all the news that already exists and the things we unfortunately do not even hear about, which will continue to happen.
In short, Hungarians, you have great treasures in your country, and they are very easy to lose. I want you to keep this in mind. Do not take things for granted. There are things that are very difficult to recover. There are people in my country and in Western Europe who would give a lot for what you still have, and we do not know whether we will ever enjoy it again, or whether it is already too late to go back.
This Sunday, keep all of this in mind.
Hungary can remain Hungary.
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