Author: Vojtěch Berger, HlidaciPes.org
INTERVIEW When Martin Hojsík is asked whether his liberal faction Renew is currently in contact with colleagues from the Czech ANO movement, he does not hesitate to answer “no.” A year after ANO left the liberals to join the new Patriots for Europe political group, the air in the liberal camp has obviously cleared. Vice-President of the European Parliament Hojsík, elected for the Progressive Slovakia party, explains that it was precisely because of his efforts not to undermine Renew’s unity that he did not speak much to the Czech media in the past. “I don’t have that problem anymore,” he says for HlídacíPes.org.
Martin Hojsík admits that chairing the EP sessions has become more difficult since the rise of right-wing parties in last year European elections. However, he has no doubts about the correctness of the decision not to allow extremists into leading positions in the European Parliament through a “sanitary cordon”: “My step-grandfather went through Mauthausen,” he explains.
In an interview for HlídacíPes.org, which took place during the Globsec conference in Prague in June, he also returns to the recent inspection mission to Slovakia led by MEP Tomáš Zdechovský. According to Hojsík, the emotions displayed by the Slovak government surrounding this mission were “a complete disgrace.”
It will soon be a year since Andrej Babiš discovered his deep conservative roots, so to speak, overnight and founded a new faction, Patriots for Europe, together with Viktor Orbán and Herbert Kickl. At the same time, he left your liberal group, Renew, with his ANO movement. Has this had any impact on the functioning of Renew?
The faction is now more cohesive. Renew is unique in that we are very diverse, and I like that. I consider it a good training ground for how to persuate others, because the faction actually encompasses almost the entire European Parliament in terms of opinion – except for the extreme parties. The departure of ANO has reduced the pressure on some of the more extreme positions. In the past, I didn’t give many interviews to the Czech media because I thought it was polite not to put my colleagues in the faction in a position where journalists would write that we had internal disagreements. Now I don’t have that problem anymore.
We tried to be polite, but two years ago, before the elections in Slovakia, Andrej Babiš attacked Michal Šimečka, the chairman of Progressive Slovakia, through his Hospodárske noviny newspaper (Babiš owned the Mafra Slovakia publishing house at the time, ed.) and on social media, even during the election moratorium. For me, this is also a question of political culture, or rather a lack thereof.
Do you still meet with MEPs from ANO informally today? After all, they are still the same people, only since last year they have been given, so to speak, “different instructions.” Or do you see it differently?
The delegation of MEPs from the ANO movement has practically changed completely since the last election period, but to answer your question – we do not meet. If, for example, a colleague from ANO participates normally and constructively in negotiations in the Environment Committee, it is my responsibility to engage in dialogue with him. But otherwise, they are in a “sanitary cordon” for us.
How has this isolation, which was intended to prevent both factions involving extremist parties, namely Patriots for Europe and Europe of Sovereign Nations, from accessing key positions in the European Parliament, worked out after a year?
I am one of the supporters of the sanitary cordon, because for me the extreme right is a personal matter – my step-grandfather went through Mauthausen. In some cases, the European People’s Party (EPP) has allowed certain things to pass through the European Parliament, knowing that everyone to its right would support it. And that is dangerous for me, and for the EPP itself; it is playing with fire. In doing so, they have, so to speak, declared extremists to be normal, even though they are not at all reliable partners. When negotiating laws and compromises, you want to try to deal with people who stand by their word and try to find constructive solutions.
Has the overall atmosphere in the European Parliament changed since last year’s European elections, particularly with regard to the emergence of new factions involving right-wing populist parties, many of which have extremist wings?
I was Vice-President of the European Parliament at the end of the last term already, and the difference is noticeable. At the first meeting of the Parliament’s leadership, President Roberta Metsola said that this Parliament will be more demanding in terms of conducting meetings and that we must be very careful to enforce the rules of procedure. However, it is important to try to be fair to everyone, regardless of whether they are communists or far-right. Even colleagues from my political group sometimes exceed their speaking time, and I have to turn off their microphones.
Two European Parliament inspection missions visited Slovakia in quick succession recently. The first mission of the Committee on Budgetary Control, led by Czech MEP Tomáš Zdechovský, caused a huge stir, partly due to the harsh statements made by Prime Minister Fico and Interior Minister Šutaj Eštok towards the MEPs. The second mission, by the Civil Liberties Committee, did not receive by far such a media attention, even though it also addressed fundamental issues such as the abolition of the special prosecutor’s office and media freedom. Why such a huge difference in the perception of the two missions?
Perhaps the government simply feared that the misuse of EU funds posed a greater risk to its image than the rule of law, which, in its view, ordinary people do not understand. Incidentally, at the same time as Tomáš Zdechovský’s mission in Slovakia, I myself led a mission of the Committee on Industry, where we looked at how geothermal energy is used in Slovakia, which is a positive topic.
But there was no coverage of this mission at all…
I know, that’s exactly the point, even though we also had a press conference for journalists. Yet it is a very important topic, because it is about energy prices, which we do not have to import. But the Minister of the Interior did not attack me over geothermal energy, unlike my colleagues who were checking the use of European funds. But back to the two missions under scrutiny – I myself was ashamed of the disgrace that government representatives brought on Slovakia. After all, when the European Parliament does its basic job and monitors the use of European funds by member states, that is normal. If I am clean and know that I have no problem, then all I have to say is: please, what are you concerned about? If it is a criminal matter, we will hand it over to the criminal justice authorities. In short, a constructive, normal approach. But this spectacle was a complete disgrace.
What have similar cases done to Slovakia’s reputation in Brussels over the last two years?
It’s bad. As I say, our big task as “opposition” MEPs is to keep Slovakia in Europe. We are the only EU country where all MEPs from the ruling coalition are non-aligned, i.e. with zero influence. And that is something that really hurts Slovakia. When you hear from your sources in the Council of the EU, where the ministers sit, that Slovakia is repeating what Orbán said, it’s terribly sad.
In terms of reputation, the European Parliament has experienced two major scandals involving lobbying and possible corruption in the last three years. The first was the Katargate affair, which was followed by a tightening of the rules for lobbyists in the European Parliament, and the second was this year’s lobbying and corruption scandal involving the Chinese company Huawei. What does this say about the internal rules of the European Parliament?
No matter how strict the rules are, just like traffic rules, the black points system for drivers in the Czech Republic, or anything else, they are no guarantee that everyone will obey the speed limit. It is important that, in addition to well-designed rules, these rules are also enforced, and that any criminal cases – which are hidden by nature – are investigated by an independent court, convicted, and not, so to speak, quietly time-barred by amendments to the criminal code and penalties reduced so that everything fits.
We have already talked about the long-term rise of populist and, in some cases, extremist political forces in Europe and the efforts to isolate them in the European Parliament. However, this raises the question of why this is the case and what traditional political parties can do to win back these votes. Do you feel that the current leadership of the European Union, especially with the old-new head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, sufficiently reflects this need to simply do things differently?
I see a very strong connection with national politics. The European Parliament is not a bubble; it reflects the situation in the member states. It is easy to blame this development on hybrid warfare, even though it plays a huge role. It is easy to blame it on social media algorithms, which prefer things that evoke very strong emotional and even instinctive reactions and give them more space. Inequality is growing in Europe, young people are struggling with housing affordability, all of which are things that contribute to a certain disconnect…
That’s an analysis of why the current European Parliament looks the way it does. But I was asking more about whether it adequately reflects the need for change that many voters are expressing.
That’s the million-dollar question. For my part, I will tell you that I will do everything I can to make it so. A beautiful, meaningless political statement, isn’t it? It’s a similar question to whether there will be early elections in Slovakia. There is a million speculations about that too, and my answer is that I don’t know, but that we have to work on it. It’s up to each of us. In 1932, Germany was also grappling with whether and how the democratic parties would unite against Hitler. So I hope it will turn out well for all of us and for Europe—but I can’t guarantee it.
