’Christian liberty’ seen as a beacon for sovereignist forces
July 31st, 2019A pro-government columnist describes PM Viktor Orbán’s anti-liberal stance as one which is slowly becoming part of the mainstream in Europe, after years of being considered as a fringe phenomenon.
In Magyar Hírlap, Mariann Őry recalls that when Viktor Orbán first described himself as a follower of illiberal democracy five years ago (See BudaPost, July 31, 2014), international reactions were overwhelmingly negative and he was judged to be outside the global consensus on democracy. These days on the other hand, she writes, ‘sober and objective analyses’ are being published one after the other on his annual address at the Fidesz summer gathering in Transylvania where he reframed his illiberal democracy concept as ‘Christian liberty’. The reason, Őry suggests, is that anti-migration and sovereignist forces have become more popular over the past five years. Those forces may find the concept of ‘Christian liberty’ attractive, she believes.