According to a recent survey, Europeans express greater apprehension towards migration and radical Islamist terrorism than towards the threat posed by Russia. The findings of the poll suggest a significant disconnect between the issues European elites focus on and the genuine concerns of the general populace.
Fidesz’s communications director István Hollik announced the campaign aiming to promote the government’s national consultation initiative on his social media on 20 November.
‘I think that’s why the European Commission does not take the approach with Eurobarometer that the Hungarian government is taking with the National Consultations—because they would realize that Europeans are more supportive of centre-right policies than they would want to put their name and admit to.’
The event shed light on the how propaganda messages are being disguised as public opinion by European mainstream elites, and the intricate relationship between fear and politics in Europe.
According to Professor Bill Durodié, the report’s author, many questions in the Eurobarometer surveys primarily revolve around respondents’ perceptions of the European Union, its institutions, policies, and direction, and the report demonstrates that the formulation and presentation of questions and response options have been designed to promote ‘integrationist’ sentiments.
‘In contrast to other indicators, the Hungarian judiciary performs below the European Union average in terms of the perception of its independence. Based on this, we might state that the rule of law conditionality procedure launched against our country is justified. However, the validity of this argument is undermined by the fact that there are no criteria in this area either in which Hungary would not be ahead of several other Member States. For example, the Spanish, Slovak, Bulgarian, Polish, and Croatian public have a worse opinion of the independence of their country’s judiciary than the Hungarian.’
According to the findings of a poll by Nézőpont Intézet, 54 per cent of the population believes that another world war could come soon, while 55 per cent fears nuclear strikes from one of the parties. Prime Minister Orbán has shared similarly ominous sentiments in the past.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.