Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper), A senior MEP has been awarded the prestigious Hunyadi János Award of the Hungarian Foundation for a Civic Hungary.
Ryszard Legutko, who has been co-president of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament since 2014, has been honored for “work on preserving Europe’s overarching cultural traditions and the moral principles of Christian culture.”
An ECR spokesman said, “The award is a testament to his advocacy for the values of freedom, independence, and cooperation between equal European nations, often against the mainstream of European public opinion.”
The award was presented by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who traveled to Brussels for the occasion the day before the council meeting on 21 February.
Legutko said:”The award was given to me for protecting European values and freedom. This statement presupposes that European values and freedom are threatened today, and they need protection. This presupposition is correct.
“Yes, European values and freedom are threatened today, and they do need protection. At the same time – and it is something of a paradox – few other words have been so often on everyone’s lips and seem so venerated as never before in our history. How is it possible that we live in a world where words such as Europe and European are the highest expressions of praise, and at the same time, anyone with elementary knowledge can see that they are becoming increasingly vacuous.”
Victor Orbán said: “Professor Legutko was one of the first conservative thinkers to recognize that liberalism operates on a similar principle as communism. And he did not keep this awareness to himself; he created discussion environments from which Fidesz initially drew.”
He continued: “The fact that I can stand here today as the Prime Minister of Hungary, representing – besides my government – a political organization, as well as a party that was established in the late eighties and that fought against the communists effectively, stems intellectually from the fact that we managed to understand the secret of the Poles, we managed to understand the logic of resistance, the logic of organization, the unity of philosophy and action, thought and deed, which Professor Legutko best symbolizes for all of us.”
Orbán said: “Sovereignists once sent communists to the dustbin of history, and they will do the same with liberalism.”
Legutko’s fellow ECR co-president, Nicola Procaccini, congratulated Legutko on X (formerly Twitter), saying: “He is a real fighter in the ongoing struggle to preserve our European traditions and cultures. He is a veteran in the battle against excessive wokeism, against the undermining of European nations by left-wing mainstream opportunism, and mindless political correctness. He fearlessly stands as a steward of the true European values of freedom, diversity, and mutual respect between sovereign nations.”
