Authoritarian regime takes shape in Hungary

Markus Salzmann

The silence on the part of other EU states on this development speaks volumes. All European governments are in the process of shifting the burden of the international economic crisis onto the broad mass of the population via drastic austerity measures. This cannot be carried out by democratic methods.

Hungary’s right-wing government led by Victor Orban has used its 15 months in office to systematically establish an authoritarian regime. It has curtailed the powers of the judiciary, imposed limits on press freedom, purged the media and state apparatus of critical voices and introduced a constitution reminiscent of the dictatorship of Regent Miklos Horthy.

At the same time, it has undertaken broad measures against the social and democratic rights of working people. The regime has introduced compulsory labour for the unemployed, slashed pensions, reduced social spending and laid off thousands of public service employees.

In particular, the Orban government has tightened up its authoritarian measures following the end of the Hungarian presidency of the European Union in June. Initially, some sporadic criticism of Orban’s measures was raised inside the European Union; now there is little to be heard. There has also been no protest from the ranks of the European People’s Party, which includes alongside members of Orban’s Civic Union (Fidesz), the German conservative CDU and CSU, and the French ruling UMP party.

Together with its small coalition partner, the national conservative Christian Democrats, Fidesz has a two-thirds majority in the Hungarian Parliament. Fidesz has used its majority to change the constitution and adopt measures that can only be reversed by a two-thirds majority. Having announced his intention to “reconstruct the whole country” at the beginning of his term, Orban has considerably expanded the powers of his government with such laws.

The Constitutional Court, for example, has suffered an extensive reduction of its powers. The country’s highest judges are no longer able to rule on whether new budget, tax and welfare laws are consistent with current law.


Mladic extradited to the Hague

Chris Marsden & Markus Salzmann


WSWS

In addition to Serbia’s reluctance to capture Mladic, there has been behind-the-scenes opposition to his arrest on the part of the United States, Britain and France.

Ratko Mladic, former chief of staff of the Bosnian Serb Army in the Republica Srpska during the 1992-95 civil war, was extradited to the Netherlands on Tuesday, where he will stand trial at the Hague for war crimes.

Mladic, 69, was arrested by Serbian security forces on May 26, under orders from the Democratic Party government of President Boris Tadic. He faces charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, levelled on July 24, 1995, by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague (ICTY). He is accused of orchestrating the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, as well as heading the siege of Sarajevo and other war crimes.

On May 29, a rally of several thousand was held outside the Serbian Parliament building in support of Mladic, which later erupted into rioting throughout the capital.

Two days earlier the ICTY appointed a trial chamber of three judges to hear the case. There is no reason to expect a trial to be held any time soon. Mladic had gone into hiding after the arrest of Slobodan Milosevic, the former president of Serbia and Yugoslavia, in 2001. His capture has been a precondition for Serbia being allowed to join the European Union. For years he was the formal subject of an arrest warrant, and a reward of €5 million. Serbia increased the reward to €10 million late last year.

Mladic was sought alongside Radovan Karadzic, first president of the Republica Srpska, who was arrested on July 21, 2008, and is currently in the custody of the ICTY awaiting trial. The ICTY prosecutor at the time, Carla Del Ponte, stated that Mladic had been in reach of the Serbian authorities since 1998. She warned that unless he was captured by May 1, 2006, Serbia’s entry into the EU would be in jeopardy.


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