Page 63 - AEI Insights 2018 Vol 4 Issue 1

Szanto, 2018

first place and where it can do better. The nationalist fervour surrounding the issue makes
productive discourse rather difficult as critics are perceived as foreign agents.

Besides the damage it inflicts on Hungarian political discourse, the politics of sovereignty also
undermines the very foundation of the current international legal order by seeking to normalize
the notion that international agreements can be reneged at will and often unilaterally. It is not
a facilitating factor for mature discussion of international issues. And as evidence shows, there
is rarely a happy end to these politics. Whether one considers the economic damage suffered
by the United Kingdom or the policy chaos of the Trump White House, one has no reason to
be optimistic about the effects of such populist politics.

In the end the only thing one can do is to correct the record. Facing the fantasies of populist
policies one’s only refugee is the realm of cold hard facts. And the cold hard fact is that there
is no concentrated effort to undermine Hungarian sovereignty, only calls to hold the country
accountable for its own promises and agreements.

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