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A Hungarian Member of the European Parliament (MEP) leveled harsh criticism at the EU and its globalist allies for accusing Hungary, and by extension other, more conservative Central European nations, of undermining democracy.

In an interview with German newspaper Deutsche Welle, published this week, outspoken Hungarian MEP Gyorgy Schpflin said that comparisons between Hungary and autocratic countries such asRussia and Turkey are false and politically motivated.

They perform this virtue signaling in order to deflect attention from equivalent problems at homethis is an old rhetorical trick.

Undermining democracy is very much a question of what one means by democracy is it rule by the consent of the governed or domination by the values of the liberal elite, regardless of consent? Schpflin said.

Accusing Central European countries like Hungary, which resists mass migrationand open borders, of being anti-democratic and illiberal is a favorite tactic of progressive globalists.

Less than two weeks ago, now-French President Emmanuel Macron accused both Hungary andPoland both NATO members and EU member-states of being anti-Democratic regimes in a roundaboutattack on his then-opponent, Marine Le Pen.

We all know who Le Pens allies are: the regimes of [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orban, [Polish Law and Justice Party chairman Jaroslaw] Kaczynski, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, Macron said. These arent regimes with an open and free democracy. Every day they break many democratic freedoms.

An April headline from The New York Times Editorial Board decried Hungarys Assault on Freedom. A recent sub-headline in The Economist declared that In Europes illiberal east, populist nationalism is alive and well, while a 2016 article in the same magazinewas titled, Illiberal Central Europe: Big, Bad Visegrad.

In 2016, the EU parliament on two occasions officially accused the Polish government of being anti-democratic. In September 2016 it issued a resolution saying that the Polish governments endanger[s] democracy, fundamental rights and the rule of law in Poland. A New York Times headline from April of this year described Polands Anti-Democratic Drift.

Contrary to the widespread liberal narrative of democratic backsliding in Central Europe, the institutional order in Hungary works well, said Schpflin. The Constitutional Court regularly quashes draft laws passed by parliament, and the EUs Justice Scoreboard places Hungary in the top third of EU member states, he continued.

As far as the media are concerned, even a casual sampling of what is published will show that there is very wide-ranging, often very harsh, criticism of the government, of Fidesz and of Orban personally, Schpflin said. No journalist has been arrested, so parallels with Turkey or Russia are nonsense.

Schpflin also challenged the attacks on Hungarys new education law targeting Soros Central European University, which critics charge is an assault on democratic freedoms. Academic freedom is intact, said Schpflin. Again, a sampling of what is published will demonstrate this. Much of academia lean to the liberal left and remain in their posts.

"As far as the CEU is concerned, it enjoys a privileged position inasmuch as it grants both Hungarian and American diplomas, but without its having an American mother university, hence American academic oversight," Schpflin said.

"The higher education law is about regulating this. Whether the CEU will want to regularize this is their decision. There is no commitment on the part of the Hungarian government to expel the CEU." If Hungary can be in any way accused of "illiberalism," it is only in the economic sphere, said Schpflin.

Schpflin suggested globalist voices use the vilification of Hungary as somehow anti-democratic to divert attention from pressing problems in their own nations.

"They perform this virtue signaling in order to deflect attention from equivalent problems at home, along the lines of 'yes, there may be difficulties here, but look how much worse things are in illiberal, authoritarian, autocratic Hungary,'" he said, "this is an old rhetorical trick."

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Hungarian MP blasts progressive vilification of countries' pursuing their national interest - LifeZette