Hungarian Chancellor Péter Szijjártó offered help for the re-election of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) during a meeting with the Minister of Women, Family and Human Rights, Cristiane Britto.
The meeting took place in London in early July, and the Hungarian offer was reported by Cristiane herself in an internal travel report obtained by Sheet. The two authorities were in the UK to attend the International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief.
According to the document, right at the beginning of the conversation, the minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the European country stated that he had requested the bilateral meeting because, in the first place, the two countries share the same vision of the family. “Secondly, due to the interest in knowing more about the electoral scenario, he questioned whether there was anything the Hungarian government could do to help President Bolsonaro’s re-election”, Cristiane writes in the report on the meeting with Szijjártó.
In response, the minister commented on “the polarization of Brazilian society” during the electoral period. “I highlighted the convergence of thoughts of the two countries on different topics, particularly those affected by the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights (MMFDH).”
At the meeting, Szijjártó also said that Brazil has the largest Hungarian community in Latin America, a group that, according to him, overwhelmingly supports Bolsonaro. At the end of the meeting, he “wished success in the next presidential elections”, according to the report made by the minister in the report.
Sought after, the ministry headed by Cristiane, the Itamaraty and the Hungarian embassy in Brazil did not respond to questions made by the Sheet. To the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the Sheet asked if any diplomats attended the meeting and if the professional reported to superiors the attempt to interfere in the Brazilian political-electoral process proposed by Szijjártó. There was no response.
Hungary is one of Bolsonaro’s rare international allies. The country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, was in Brazil for the inauguration of the current Brazilian president. The courtesy was reciprocated in February of this year, when the head of the Plateau went to Hungary, one of the few European countries visited by Bolsonaro.
The account given by Cristiane indicates that, when the meeting took place, the trip to Brazil of the President of Hungary, Katalin Novák, was already planned. A few days later, she arrived in Brasília to meet with Bolsonaro, which took place on July 11. In Hungary, the president performs ceremonial functions.
The joint agenda involved a meeting at Palácio do Planalto and a lunch at Palácio da Alvorada, the official residence of the President of the Republic. After the meeting in Planalto, both highlighted the proximity between the countries, mainly in relation to identity issues. Hungary’s prime minister, Orbán, has been in power since 2010, and his administration is accused of eroding the country’s democratic mechanisms.
The ultra-rightist, for example, led the expansion of the Hungarian Supreme Court, leaving the collegiate largely in favor of his government, and changes in the rules for electing deputies, which made it easier for his party, Fidezs, to obtain majorities in Parliament. Orbán also promoted the restriction of the press during his term, either through the purchase of publicity by the state or by encouraging businessmen close to the government to acquire press vehicles that were critical of his administration.
On Bolsonaro’s visit to Hungary, the president called Orbán his brother and highlighted that they both share similar values. These values include what the Brazilian president and the Hungarian prime minister call the defense of the traditional family, a label that presupposes criticism of any family composition that does not involve a man and a woman. In this sense, topics of conservative behavior and values were discussed at Cristiane’s meeting with the Hungarian chancellor.
“The Hungarian Chancellor spoke of the relevance of the recent US Supreme Court decision that overturned the Roe v. Wade precedent [suspendendo o direito ao aborto no país]. I also highlighted Colombia’s recent accession to the Geneva Consensus [articulação internacional contra o aborto]”, says the minister in the report.
“The parties briefly commented on the political situation in Colombia and then the Hungarian minister celebrated the fact that Brazil had not ratified the Global Pact for Migration, commenting on the difficulties faced by Hungary on the issue of customs, with an emphasis on educating children on issues related to sexuality, which, in the Hungarian government’s view, should be in the hands of families, not schools”, continues Cristiane. “The parties also commented on the pressure coming from both international organizations and the liberal press, dominant on the global stage.”
Szijjártó told Cristiane he feared that a change in German legislation to authorize same-sex marriages and allow people to choose their gender from the age of 14 would spread to other Western countries. The quote refers to a proposal by the ruling coalition that provides for the possibility of changing name and gender through self-declaration. Teenagers would need parental permission.
