Month: November 2017

The discourse I intend to analyze is the one that occurs at the European Union regarding the erosion of democracy in Hungary. More specifically, I will be looking at resolutions and debates originating in the European Parliament to understand the various meanings attached to concepts of pan-European values, national sovereignty, and the relationship between these two concepts by different actors within the European Parliament.

Speeches by multiple members of the European Parliament during a debate on the situation in Hungary provide a snapshot of these different discussions of European values and national sovereignty. On the one hand we have speeches by Franz Timmermans, who is the Vice-President of the European commission, and Phillipe Lamberts, a MEP and the leader of the Greens-European Free Alliance political group in the European Parliament. Both leaders emphasize the common European values of democracy and the rule of law.[1] Timmermans in particular also claims that “protecting freedom is a common European task.”[2] In contrast, Nigel Farage, a prominent Brexiteer and Eurosceptic, claimed that his fellow MEP’s attacks on actions by the Hungarian government were the result of that government’s opposition to the EU’s asylum policies rather than any actual concern about democracy.[3] Farage framed the remarks by MEPs supposedly concerned about democracy in Hungary as instead an assault on the national sovereignty of Hungary.[4]

In this discourse we can clearly see conflict between those who emphasize the various national identities held by Europeans and those who emphasize the pan-European identity and values. This discourse is connected at a very fundamental level to the subsequent vote in the European Parliament on whether to call for a launching of Article 7 of the Treaty of the European Union, which allows for the European Council to determine whether a member is in breach of European values.[5] There are also connections between this discourse and other speeches and political documents that deal with the relationship of the European Union and its member states when it comes to supposedly shared values like democracy.

[1] European Parliament, “EP Plenary Session: Debate on Situation in Hungary.” accessed November 22, 2017, http://audiovisual.europarl.europa.eu/Package.aspx?id=51766.

[2] Ibid.

[3] European Parliament, “(11) EP Plenary Session: Debate on Situation in Hungary. Round of Political Group Speakers. Nigel FARAGE (EFDD, UK) (16:19 – 16:22),” accessed November 22, 2017, http://audiovisual.europarl.europa.eu/Assetdetail.aspx?id=17e7157b-d109-40c5-ab67-a76100f1bff5.

[4] Ibid.

[5] “MEPs Call for EU Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Watchdog | News | European Parliament,” last modified October 25, 2016, accessed November 22, 2017, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20161020IPR47863/meps-call-for-eu-democracy-rule-of-law-and-fundamental-rights-watchdog.

As my dependent variable, democratic decline, is quite broad there are several different axes on which to define it. These axes include the independence of institutions and the rule of law, freedom of the press, and the existence of fair and competitive elections. To find qualitative sources on these aspects of my dependent variable, I have been searching for news articles that document these issues in Hungary, the country that I have selected as my case study.  One qualitative data source that focuses on the freedom of the press axis is a 2014 news article written by a Hungarian journalist and published by the BBC on the efforts of the Hungarian government to constrain press freedom. The article discusses the methods utilized by the government to influence news coverage such as rewarding state advertising to companies with friendly coverage and ensuring that unfriendly broadcasters run into problems when it comes to renewing their broadcast licenses.[1] Another article, this one by The Economist Intelligence Unit, documents the effects of a then-proposed tax on advertising revenue written is such a way to drive the German-owned media company RTL Klub, one of the few that still airs critical coverage of the government, out of business.[2] These actions, especially the intervention of the supposedly independent media regulator to deny broadcast licenses to critics, also indicate a lack of institutional independence and respect for the rule of law in Hungary.  Other actions, such as a crackdown on NGOs opposed to the government’s agenda by Hungary’s auditing agency[3] and how the government body designed to regulate monopolies has turned a blind eye to the consolidation of most media outlets in the hands of government allies also do not speak well of respect for the rule of law or the existence of a free press.[4]

From the articles and issues discussed in the above paragraph, it is quite clear to me that democratic decline is quite prevalent in Hungary. The above paragraph also indicates that I would operationally define democratic decline by breaking down important aspects of democracy such as freedom of the press and respect for the rule of law into smaller components and then asking questions such as “have there been any new legal restrictions imposed on the press?” or “does the government regularly label the press as an ‘enemy?’” to assess if decline occurred in the level of these elements within a state. I would also rate the degree of the decline on the simple scale of small, moderate, or high depending on how many of these questions were answered in the affirmative.

[1] “Hungary’s Media Battle ‘Economic Pressure, Intimidation,’” BBC Monitoring Media, July 8, 2014, accessed November 8, 2017, http://global.factiva.com/redir/default.aspx?P=sa&an=BBCMM00020140708ea780005l&cat=a&ep=ASE.

[2] “Hungary Economy: Media Tax Revives Worries over Tax Policy, Press Freedom,” Economist Intelligence Unit – ViewsWire, June 18, 2014, ViewsWire edition.

[3] “Hungary’s Media Battle ‘Economic Pressure, Intimidation.’”

[4] Pablo Gorondi, “US Worried about Dwindling Independent Media in Hungary,” The Canadian Press, October 17, 2017, accessed November 8, 2017, http://global.factiva.com/redir/default.aspx?P=sa&an=CPR0000020171017edah007hn&cat=a&ep=ASE.