How Hungary Sees the Ukraine Conflict

How Hungary Sees the Ukraine Conflict

Sumantra Maitra interviews Hungarian minister of justice Judit Varga.

SM: But the EU as a military bloc?

JV: We always said we need a smart Europe. We don’t need more Europe, or ever closer union. Let’s put a lot of money in Africa and Middle East, support local communities, to empower them, not to make them move to Europe. External migration should have a joint European action dimension.

We should let ideological conflicts go because they are widening the gap between member states.

SM: I almost sense a longing for Angela Merkel.

JV: Not longing. But who am I to judge her? I respect a lady like her. But she changed the Christian Democratic Union into a liberal party, and they entered the competition with the real liberals. They should have been much more straightforward on principle.

SM: Do you feel like there is an imbalance in media coverage when it comes to conservative women leaders such as yourself and liberal politicians such as Sanna Marin or Kaja Kallas or Jacinda Ardern?

JV: We conservatives are humble—we don’t have to be extreme on the internet to be okay, we talk to our people and work then go home, cook dinner, kiss our kids, and read a book at night. We don’t need to promote or overexaggerate ourselves. This is the character and nature of conservatism. To safeguard the past and then modernize organically. This is difficult for me, but we as conservatives, we have to take off the gloves and be present in the arena, My objective is to show even those who don’t like me, that at the end of the day they are better off with us.

SM: Where do you see yourself in the next coming, political future?

JV: As long as my children are small, work is an exception and family is the general rule. My focus for the next five or six years is to be a good mother to my little children. This is a one-time opportunity. Life is long, and I can be a politician and a lawyer later. I am serving my country and it’s a great honor. I came back from Brussels because I wanted to dismantle the bad mantra against my country. I just wanted to explain my country’s rationale in various capitals and one thing led to the other.

SM: What would you say to the Anglo-American conservatives?

JV: I keep fingers crossed for them for the 8th of November. We need you. Every step forward for the conservative movement globally also resonates in Europe. This weakens our opponents. We count on you.

Sumantra Maitra is a national security fellow at the Center for the National Interest and an elected, early career historian member at the Royal Historical Society. He can be reached on Twitter at @MrMaitra.

Image: Reuters.