On 15 March, traditionally, the editorial board and clubs of Polish thought will be in Budapest. It will be the 3rd in a row of our visit to the capital of Hungary, and the second, in which the members of the Polish thought Clubs will participate next to the editorial office.
Like all year, questions arise about the intent of this visit. And as all year the answer is constant: Hungary is our ally and strategical partner. Not only due to yesterday, but above all due to present and tomorrow.
Just look at the map to remind you that Poland and Hungary are not neighbours today. It is expected to be an argument that the function of relations with this country and nation is overestimated by our environment. Nothing more wrong.
Looking historically at Polish-Hungarian relations, 1 cannot miss the function of geography, or as we would say in modern language: geopolitics, in shaping their unique character. Thanks to the fact that Poland's statehood developed north of the natural barrier of the Carpathians, while the Crown of Saint Stefan dominated the Danube basin, located south of this barrier, for a 1000 years our common past managed to avoid an acute political dispute. On the another hand, there were many opportunities for our countries and nations to support each another and to benefit each other.
As an adept of political realism, I avoid terms specified as "friendship" in relation to relations between countries or nations. However, if I were to find a word in Polish, which would be closest to giving the essence of the relation between Poles and Hungary, it would be the word “friendship”. Built for centuries of honest relations and dozens of selfless gestures from both sides. Reaching the beginning in our statehood. Remembering the times of glory and the times of the collapse of our countries. So even though we're not neighbors today, we're more than friends. And friends visit from time to time.
Z However, we besides share the present with Hungary. Common targets, but common threats. Since the start of the war on Ukraine, Hungary has been the only collective Western state consistently talking about the request for peace. Not escalation, not weapons, but peace. Today, in the context of the dramatic changes that have taken place overseas, the wisdom of the Hungarian position is clearly visible. How different from the war huffs and calls for the arms race, which flow from many European capitals, including unfortunately from Warsaw. Yesterday and today, realistic, peaceful Hungary were and are an outsider of Europe. Tomorrow, due to the peculiar relations with the United States, which they have built together Viktor Orban and Donald Trump, Hungary can become the leader of a fresh Europe. A Europe free from the ideological madness of genderism, migrationism, environmentalism and all sorts of progress. A Europe whose existence is besides our vital business.
We already have political allies and colleagues in Budapest, with whom we share a imagination of the future. A imagination of a Europe of free, self-determination nations. A Europe free from anti-human ideology imposed present by states and societies. For that reason, we must keep close contact with Hungary.
But that's not all. We can and must learn from Hungarians. First of all, how to get our country back for us. After all, Hungary, after 1989, like Poland, was politically owned. Governments held the Compradorian elites, carrying out not Hungarian interests but abroad interests. However, unlike us, nephews were able to clean up their home. Hungary Hungary was restored to Hungary by a consistent, long-standing work. They got free of those who, for abroad money and from abroad inspiration, muddy the water of the Danube. They made this a country smaller and poorer than Poland, truncated by the political dictatorship of Trianon and hard-experienced during the communist period, especially after 1956. Although the Hungarians' conflict for self-determination continues, for present they are hosts in their country. It's not just inspiration for us, it's a very circumstantial lesson.
Przemysław Piasta
Think Poland, No. 11-12 (16-23.03.2025)
