GAUGING THE HUNGARIAN PUBLIC'S TOLERANCE OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUDAPEST 000361 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CE JAMIE LAMORE AND ERIC GAUDIOSI, EUR/PGI JODY BUCKNEBERG, AND DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/06/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM PINS SOCI HU SUBJECT: GAUGING THE HUNGARIAN PUBLIC'S TOLERANCE OF INTOLERANCE REF: A. BUDAPEST 00360 ¶B. BUDAPEST 00168 Classified By: Acting Pol/Econ Counselor:Jon Martinson, reasons 1.4(b,d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Despite frequent admonishments by key government and human rights leaders to respect the rights of the Hungarian Roma, several indicators point to a growing anti-Roma climate in Hungary. Two recent public opinion surveys indicate an overwhelming majority of Hungarians harbor strong anti-Roma sentiments, and some prominent public figures have made anti-Roma comments that garnered no serious societal rebuke. Evidence of the anti-Roma trend is further reflected in the increasing popularity of the far-right political party Jobbik. End Summary. ============================ STANDING UP AND SPEAKING OUT ============================ ¶2. (U) In the midst of increasing attacks againt Roma, key government figures have stepped up their show of support for the Roma people while condemning acts of violence directed at their community. In a meeting with police leaders on May 12, Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said attacks against "our fellow Roma citizens" are, "an open assault on public safety in Hungary." Later that day during an event marking the 61st anniversary of the proclamation of the state of Israel, newly appointed Foreign Minister Peter Balazs said Hungarians, "must proclaim that discrimination never again gains ground in Hungary." Others, including President Laszlo Solyom and Justice Minister Tibor Draskovics, have also shown strong support for the Roma community. Solyom recently said the road was "littered with wasted opportunities to integrate the Roma into society," while Justice and Law Enforcement Minister Tibor Draskovics labeled the perpetrators of crimes against Roma "shameful" and called on Hungarians to become more tolerant. ========================= PUBLIC OPINION SOLIDIFIES ========================= ¶3. (U) Yet despite these and other calls for tolerance and Roma inclusion, two recent surveys show that the Hungarian public has an overwhelmingly negative opinion of Roma. In a survey conducted by the pollster Median released in early March, over 80 percent of respondents said they were prejudiced against Roma, saying that Roma "make no effort to fit into society." Nearly 60 percent of those questioned said that they thought "crime was in the blood of the Roma," and, alarmingly, 36 percent said that Roma should be separated from the rest of society. ¶4. (U) A similar survey conducted by the Publicus Intezet at the end of March found that 82 percent of Hungarians support the forceful assimilation of Roma. Forty-six percent of the respondents believed that certain crimes are committed primarily by Roma and that separate criminal regulations should be established to deal specifically with them. ==================================== PUBLIC MORE TOLERANT OF INTOLERANCE? ==================================== ¶5. (C) News of the poll results coincides with a series of controversial comments made by some key public figures in recent weeks. The comments each individual made, while widely viewed as objectionable, stirred little response from the public before quietly fading out of the news. ¶6. (C) On January 30, Miskolc police chief Albert Pasztor said in a press conference that "all of the robberies" in Miskolc over the past two months had been committed by Roma. He added that "Hungarian and Roma can't live together." Reacting to the statement, Justice Minister Tibor Draskovics temporarily suspended Pasztor while the actual comment was reviewed. On February 1, Draskovic reinstated Pasztor after he concluded that Paztor had not violated any law. ¶7. (C) On February 9, in an op-ed in the national daily Magyar Hirlap, columnist Zsolt Bayer wrote, "regrettably, many members of the Gypsy minority have given up on co-existence and humanity." He added that Gypsies, "are not human beings, but animals." In response to objections by the Prime Minister's Office, Magyar Hirlap editor Istvan Stefka said, "we are 100 percent behind Bayer and we see nothing BUDAPEST 00000361 002 OF 002 objectionable with what he wrote." ¶8. (C) On February 11, Viktor Orban, leader of the main opposition party FIDESZ, said, "It must be made clear that the ratio of perpetrators of serious crimes of Gypsy origin is increasing every day." He added, "Those who keep that fact silent will only aggravate the problem." Roma leaders quickly rebuked the statement, calling Orban's comments "unfortunate," but there was no other public call for Orban to retract his statement and certainly no research cited to support it. ¶9. (C) On April 2, Parliament's Civil Rights Ombudsman Mate Szabo said in an interview that he could "see the profile of Gypsy crime." He continued, saying, "We are speaking of a collectivist type of social, practically tribal, group that is distinct from the predominantly individualistic crimes in Hungary. If we see the profile of a criminal, we should warn the population and name it clearly." The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the Roma Civil Rights Foundation, and the European Roma Rights Center protested Szabo's comments in a joint statement where they called for Szabo's resignation. The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union called on Szabo to retract his statement. Several Roma leaders also protested the comments and demanded Szabo's resignation. The following day, Szabo retracted his statement, saying he "composed his words wrongly." He also said he would only leave office if members of Parliament removed him. On May 4, the Parliament's Defense and Law Enforcement committee rejected Szabo's 2008 civil rights report, citing his anti-Roma comments a month earlier. ¶10. (C) Comment: Despite several government officials' best efforts to curb anti-Roma sentiment, the recent poll results, coupled with the controversial statements that generated only weak public reaction, reflect a troubling trend. Given the rising popularity of the far-right, and overtly anti-Roma, Jobbik political party over the past few months, there seems to be evidence to support the polls' findings that the public is becoming increasingly sympathetic to anti-Roma positions. The results of the upcoming European Parliamentary elections on June 7 may provide a better indication of how tolerant of intolerance the Hungarian public has become. End comment. Levine