One-time opposition darling party Momentum has never succeeded in making it into Hungary’s parliament. They did send two MEPs to Brussels back in 2019, an opportunity they milked to spend their terms whipping up hatred against anything Fidesz.
Not that criticism isn’t needed, nor that improvements could not be made. However, the tactic of hysterical rants and cute photoshoots never seemed to have much of a point, and despite overt enthusiasm from many in the West, Hungarians agreed that Momentum did not have much to offer.
Momentum did not even reach 4 percent in the latest EU parliament elections, with the two MEPs, Katalin Cseh and Anna Donáth, sent packing.
Nevertheless, their party group in the European Parliament, the liberal Renew Europe, has zero intention of minding the Hungarian electorate, as earlier this week they met in the EP’s Strasbourg seat and welcomed none other than the two women who no longer represent Hungarian voters, reports Magyar Nemzet.
In one post by French Renew president Valérie Hayer, she says, “Our Europe does not yield to leaders who seek to undermine democracy,” calling the women’s presence “a highly significant symbol” as they stand behind a banner reading, “Europe loves Hungary – Orbán loves Putin.”
This comes across rather amusing considering an April Euromaidan report stated: “Most of the 1,200 French companies have remained in Russia; some expand their business. French companies are collectively the single biggest foreign employer in Russia, with about 160,000 employees. They pay billions of dollars in taxes to the Russian Federation every year.”
In that same month, Remix News wrote about Macron’s threats to Putin while buying up €600 million in Russian gas. Politico reported that “In the first three months of this year, Russian liquefied natural gas deliveries to France grew more than to any other country in the EU compared to last year,” while an AP report from just last month said Russian LNG shipments to France had more than doubled in the first half of 2024.
Of course, France is not alone, and it is easy to find articles bemoaning other countries that continue to benefit from Russian energy and companies that “depend on” Russian sales — if anyone cares to look.
Renew Group member Fabienne Keller, also at the meeting, noted: “We were pleased to welcome Anna Donáth and Katalin Cseh to the Renew group meeting tonight. We had a fascinating exchange of views on their fight to defend the rule of law in Hungary against the many outrages of Viktor Orbán. We fully support their campaign!”
What campaign? For who?
Momentum was a one-hit wonder, riding the wave of Momentum’s NOlimpia campaign led by party head at the time András Fekete-Győr against Hungary’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics into a series of flavor-of-the-week protests with themes ranging from “shutting down CEU” to “the slavery law.” Later on, as the party lost steam, Donáth herself led the party, although most continued to associate it with Fekete-Győr.
Mind you, some of the topics may have been worth pursuing, such as making sure workers are paid for extra hours worked in a timely fashion or fighting certain government expenses.
But Momentum never seemed that interested in proper governance, nor did it ever seem capable of potentially governing better. Its sole purpose was centered around one thing: Ousting Orbán. And making as much noise as possible to convince the West that an all-out coup was needed.
As Magyar Nemzet noted: “It is clear from all of this that the leading politicians of Momentum, who have already lost the trust of Hungarian voters, will not stop their actions against our country in recent years. It is also clearly visible that Anna Donáth and Katalin Cseh have not been given any mandate by the Hungarian people, but by the international liberal elite, who continue to count on them in their scheming against Hungary.”
“Our Europe does not yield to leaders who seek to undermine democracy”? You are being paid some €8,000 a month by taxpayers to represent those who democratically elected you. Could you at least speak with those elected by Hungarians to voice opposition concerns?
