Editorial: Provocation

With its first efforts at union nearly 60 years ago, Europe attempted to free itself from a triple threat.

The first was that of a disastrous war.

The second was nationalism, which wrote many bloody chapters of its history.

The third was the varied fascist and other far-right divergences that led to destruction.

For many of those 60 years, a united Europe believed that it could exist as a union of democratic regimes, as a common system of principles and values.

Then, the elections in Hungary came along to show that this faith was a deception. A non-democratic prime minister managed, with the terrible control that he exercises over the media and institutions, to prevail in elections, with a percentage of the vote that allows him to tailor the Constitution to meet his objectives.

The victory of Viktor Orban in Hungary constitutes a defeat for democratic Europe.

Yet, it also constitutes a challenge that must not go unanswered.

European democracies have a duty to boldly stand up against undemocratic provocations.

This is especially true now that with the emergence of new populisms, one confronts the danger that divergences can grow into a gale that will directly threaten the democratic European structure.

It is true that the path from an authoritarian regime, such as that in Hungary after WWII, to one of democratic maturity, is a long one.

Still, it is equally true that on this road, the old democracies of Europe have much to teach.