Manipulation, intimidation, and institutional corrosion can be defeated: Opinion

As authoritarian tendencies gain ground across the globe, the question is no longer whether this trend exists, but whether it will be confronted or allowed to spread.

Europe is not immune. In the coming weeks, Slovenia and Hungary will hold parliamentary elections that go far beyond routine political contests: they are a referendum on whether citizens will stop the normalisation of authoritarian power, or permit it to entrench itself at the heart of the European Union.

On March 22 in Slovenia and on April 12 in Hungary, our people will each face drastically contrasting visions of our future. On one side, the promise of a democratic and European future represented by liberal values and politics based on trust and consensus.

On the other, authoritarianism and destruction of our most fundamental democratic institutions.

Hungary knows this choice all too well, having lived this nightmare to become the EU’s worst performer in terms of press freedom, rule of law, electoral interference, and corruption. That is what happens when authoritarians like Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party dominate a nation’s politics for most of the past 30 years.

Slovenia has been more fortunate, but only because Orban’s authoritarian soulmate, Janez Jansa, has been electorally impotent, as his party, the SDS, has only been able to form a post-election coalition one time in the past 15 years.

Still, Jansa appears determined to pull out all the stops to reverse this losing trend and is relying on tried-and-true methods from Orban’s bag of dirty tricks that Hungarians know all too well. On Monday of this week, one of the most active NGOs in Slovenia called March 8, held a press conference at which they presented jaw-dropping proof that the Israeli firm Black Cube masterminded a series of secret recordings meant to discredit the current democratic coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Golob.

Hungary, of course, is no stranger to Black Cube’s dirty tricks, as they intervened similarly to help Viktor Orban cling to power in the past.

These manipulations, encouraged and financed by parts of the extreme American right, along with election interference by Russia in Romania and Moldova, are a direct affront to our national sovereignty. They must be defeated and rejected.

Hungarians know how sophisticated modern autocrats have become. They no longer rely only on open repression. They capture newsrooms through politically connected oligarchs, intimidate critical voices in the name of “sovereignty,” invent imaginary enemies, and slowly build a quasi-autocracy inside the European Union itself.

Slovenia must not be allowed to become the next case study in that method. No one from abroad should dictate to Slovenian citizens whom they should entrust with leading their country, just as no European nation should be forced to accept foreign-backed interference as the new normal.

This year’s campaign has shown how low the extreme authoritarian rights are prepared to go in the pursuit of power. They are not interested in the lives of people in this country. What they seek is total control — control over everyone and everything in society — and the ability to rule without limits.

Democracy can’t survive on inertia alone. Personal freedom is a value that must be nurtured and protected. Once fear is normalized, hatred follows, and hatred can turn into violence. That is not the future we want for our children in Slovenia, in Hungary, or anywhere in Europe. As European women elected to office to represent our fellow citizens, we are particularly aware of the danger and legacy of hate that pervades right-wing ideology in our region.

Most Slovenians – and most Hungarians – oppose this brand of politics and do not want to live in a country where the authorities suppress the freedoms of individuals or groups, silence different opinions at home, and at the same time behave submissively toward authoritarian regimes abroad.

In the coming weeks, our two countries have a chance to prove that this politics of manipulation, intimidation, and institutional corrosion can still be defeated in the most democratic way possible: by citizens who think for themselves, who refuse to surrender their sovereignty, and who turn out in large numbers to defend their freedom at the ballot box.

We love our respective nations and will not allow our sovereignty to be taken away now or ever. And we personally will never be submissive to anyone. We are convinced that the events of this campaign will only motivate free-thinking, proud and active citizens even more to participate in the elections in large numbers.

Slovenia and Hungary must remain an independent, confident and sovereign states. And when we prevail at home, we will also strike a victory for the rules-based order, for consensus-based foreign policy that respects vaulted institutions like the European Union and the United Nations.

This opinion article represents the views of its authors and publication does not imply endorsement by Global South World.