“In Brussels, censorship and hypocrisy”: Hungary’s far-right goes after Italian bookstore PiolaLibri

Brussels – An Italian library in the heart of Brussels’ European quarter accused of censorship by the clique of Hungarian premier, Viktor Orbán: It happened at PiolaLibri, a landmark of the Italian expat community in the EU capital for over 17 years. Not only book# but also aperitifs, events, and small concerts. On the venue and its manager, Jacopo Panizza—guilty of refusing to grant the space for the presentation of a book linked to the Hungarian far-right—the anti-EU propaganda of Budapest came down.

The volume in question is titled The War Against the Past, by Frank Furedi, a Hungarian sociologist and director of the Mcc Brussels think tank, the operational arm in the European capital of the Mathias Corvinus Collegium, a private Budapest institute largely funded by Fidesz, Orbán’s party. The essay, in full sovereignist style, is a plea for the West to “fight for its history” against the risks of the hyperglobalized world.

Furedi had explored the possibility of presenting it at the Piola, initially granted and scheduled by the bookstore for Monday, Sept. 30. But last week, after focusing on the event details, bookstore members decided to cancel it. “When there are events with a political side, we always ask that there be a cross-examination, that it not be a self-celebration,” Panizza explained to Eunews. And in this case, “no cross-examination was planned.”

It should be specified that PiolaLibri is neither an association nor the equivalent of the Italian ARCI or AICS (cultural associations, TN). It is a small company, its owners are entrepreneurs, who make food and wine and culture coexist in the same space. They are free to choose their menu as well as their cultural initiatives. Over the years, there have been artists of the calibre of Francesco Guccini, Vinicio Capossela and Giorgio Canali, cartoonist Zerocalcare and writer Paolo Rumiz, but also Luca Zaia and Gianfranco Fini.

“When debate and different views are assured, all are welcome,” Panizza insisted. But Furedi and the sovereignist think tank have launched a “media chase,” accusing PiolaLibri of censorship and yielding to political pressure. “Freedom of speech is threatened in the heart of the EU,” reads the account X of Mcc Brussels, according to which “this incident reveals the deeply censorious nature of the EU bubble and the hypocrisy that exists and thrives in Brussels and Belgium.”

On Rue Franklin, in front of the Piola’s red door, Hungarian cameras, journalists, think-tank members, and Furedi arrived. “Without, however, ever asking us for anything,” the bookstore managers claim. Even Davide, Panizza’s partner, took the opportunity to apologize to the author and explain that “we have nothing against the book” per se. “We made an initial miscalculation,” and the decision to cancel the event “was not taken lightly,” they admit at PiolaLibri.

But the affair has “been politically contested,” the Orbanians have found yet another scapegoat to turn against Brussels. “We were right in the end,” Jacopo and Davide affirm with a smile. In the end, the Hungarian sociologist found the space to present his book at the Press Club Europe, a stone’s throw from the European Council headquarters, so much for Brussels’s “prevailing” censorship.