Jobbik

The Movement for a Better Hungary (Hungarian: Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom), commonly known as Jobbik, is a Hungarian political party. Originating with radical and nationalist roots at its beginnings, the party described itself as "a principled, conservative and radically patriotic Christian party", whose "fundamental purpose" is the protection of "Hungarian values and interests. From 2015 to 2020, the party is stated to have re-defined itself as a more moderate conservative people's party, culminating with its new declaration of principles now defining itself as a centre-right, pro-European party, although still with nationalist aspects. Between 2023 and 2024, it was also known as Jobbik – Konzervatívok (English: Jobbik – Conservative).

History

21st century

Originally established in 2002 as the "Right-Wing Youth Association" (Jobboldali Ifjúsági Közösség – JOBBIK) by a group of Catholic and Protestant university students, Jobbik was eventually founded as a political party on 24 October 2003 with headquarters in Budapest.

The "Movement for a Better Hungary" is more commonly known under its abbreviated name Jobbik, which is in fact a play on words. The word Jobb in Hungarian has two meanings, the adjective for “better” and the direction “right,” the comparative Jobbik therefore means both ‘the more preferable choice’ and ‘more to the right’. This is similar to the English "Right Choice" meaning both Conservative and Proper.

The meaning of the party’s 2009 election slogan “Hungary belongs to the Hungarians” (Magyarország a Magyaroké!) was also the subject of considerable scrutiny. Some critics thought the slogan essentially tautological, while others were sufficiently concerned to mount a successful complaint at the National Electoral Commission; which ruled it “unconstitutional” on the very eve of the election. Jobbik maintained that the use of the slogan’s wording was justified because Hungary’s post-bolshevic political and economic elite had been engaged in enriching themselves through placing the majority of the country’s significant assets into private or foreign ownership.

Jobbik dedicates itself to supporting the cause of the significant (a quarter of Hungarians live outside Hungary[41]) Hungarian minorities that exist external to the nation's territory in countries bordering Hungary[42] in their campaigns to achieve self-determination and autonomy.

Of the three victorious powers of World War I, it was the United States under Woodrow Wilson which argued for self-determination amongst the ethnic communities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.The city of Sopron was given the opportunity of deciding whether it wished to become part of Hungary or Austria through a plebiscite in 1921 following unrest. It decided on the former, but no other town was again granted the privilege.</ref> France and Britain however, arguably had a broader strategic agenda of ensuring that any future resurgent Germany would not have a European industrial ally to call upon. They therefore sought by their boundary decisions, primarily to economically cripple Austria and Hungary respectively to ensure this objective. Though their intentions are a subject of debate, two consequences of their actions nevertheless followed.

• First, Austria-Hungary having been an autarky, its successor states were indeed economically crippled; Germany in World War II had no such industrially significant ally.

• Second, the Treaty of Trianon (which in 1920 specifically partitioned the Kingdom of Hungary) left large ethnically Hungarian communities (whose residence had spanned centuries) outside the territorial border of modern Hungary; such communities today making up one quarter of Central Europe’s Magyar population.

As a consequence the Hungarian constitution states that:

“The Republic of Hungary bears a sense of responsibility for what happens to Hungarians living outside of its borders and promotes the fostering of their relations with Hungary.”

However, according to Jobbik, successive Hungarian governments have found it inconvenient to honour this commitment. The resolution of the Magyar minority issue was sold as a chief benefit of joining the European Community. In Jobbik's view, the EU seems merely to have hoped that accession would have made this issue somehow disappear. Jobbik sees the EU's continued and resolute refusal to get involved in any alleged incident of the infringement of Magyar minority rights as being in stark contrast to frequent and repeated highlighting of the Roma minority issue.

2020s

In Hungary, Jobbik argues, minority issues are actively promoted and defended (through exclusive multi-ethnic radio and TV times, and dedicated social funding); the deliberate curtailment of Magyar rights is seen as not merely a rhetorical feature of the political extremes of some neighboring countries, but actually a part of official government policy or of persisting legislation. (e.g. the racist Beneš decrees) Jobbik campaigns for these communities to be given the opportunity of self-determination that was originally denied them. As a result the party has caused concern amongst those whose political or constitutional principles are strictly opposed to even countenancing such a proposal, due to commitments to territorial integrity.

External links

• Official website (Hungarian)
• Official website (English)