Tribune. For its sixtieth anniversary, the European Nations Cup is being played between twenty-four countries, in eleven cities of the continent. The final is to be played in London, at the legendary Wembley Stadium, on July 11.
However, we learn that UEFA [Union des associations européennes de football européen], which organizes European football, is blackmailing the British government. This asks that one to exempt its 2,500 VIP guests from the anti-Covid-19 sanitary measures in the final.
In the event of a refusal, the final will be played in Budapest – that is to say in one of the only stages of the competition which does not have to do with measuring and barrier gestures. This stadium was further distinguished during the two matches which were already played there in mid-June by the deployment of an anti-LGBT banner and homophobic insults targeting the Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, then “cries of monkeys »And racist invective directed against French players N’Golo Kante, Paul Pogba, Kylian Mbappé and Karim Benzema.
The leaders of the European football bureaucracy are not only setting a bad example of the lack of good citizenship. They display noble contempt for the 900,000 Europeans who have died of Covid-19 (at the very least) and all the ordinary supporters who carry out barrier gestures and comply with measures to combat the circulation of the coronavirus.
An arm of honor
But that’s not all. UEFA takes a de facto side by refusing the city of Munich’s plan to light up its stadium in the rainbow colors of LGBT pride during the Germany-Hungary match on 23 June. By shaking the specter of a final played in Budapest, UEFA sends an arm of honor to the overwhelming majority of Europeans for whom the rule of law, pluralism, tolerance, democracy and social rights give meaning to their sense of belonging to Europe.
Hungary has in fact been ruled since 2010 by a prime minister, Viktor Orban, and a party, Fidesz, which methodically undermines and erodes them. And who, on the pretext of building large facilities, including football stadiums that they use as instruments, divert European funds for the benefit of a clientele of debtors and members of their families. A team of courageous academics led by Magyar Balint described in detail why and how it is appropriate to name “Mafia state” Hungary of Orban.
Orban and his party keep inventing imaginary adversaries who are in reality singled out, even stigmatized, by his administration: the Roma, the Jews, the homosexuals. Orban is also endangering European solidarity and its fragile place in the world by inserting his country alone into the global system for financing trade infrastructure deployed by the Chinese dictatorship: the New Silk Roads.
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