Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been engaging in political contortionism in recent weeks to keep his country in the sphere of the EU and NATO without provoking Vladimir Putin. Less than a month before the elections in which Orbán and his Fidesz party will try to keep a majority against a unified opposition, the Hungarian leader maintains his camaraderie with Putin in the midst of the war that is ravaging Ukraine.
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Budapest yesterday authorized the parking and passage of the alliance’s forces through its territory but prohibited the transport of lethal weapons and equipment to Ukraine.
In an extensive official statement, Orbán made it clear between the lines that he does not want to be an enemy of Russia and Putin. “We have to look at this conflict not with American, French or German eyes, we have to look at it with Hungarian eyes. And from the Hungarian point-of-view, the most important thing in this conflict is the peace and security of the Hungarians. To do this, we must stay out of the war.” In reference to his administration’s denial of arms transit, he declared: “Against those who use these weapons, we will be their enemies.”
Péter Márki-Zay, the opposition candidate, said that Orbán “has been copying Putin’s model for 12 years. He has been inciting a discourse against Europe, the West and European unity for 12 years … We are not protected by Orban, but by NATO.”
The biggest media crisis in Europe
In the elections, Hungarians will have to choose between “you [Viktor Orban] and Putin or Europe,” Márki-Zay declared at a rally, calling for greater cohesion with the anti-Orbán alliance of six parties and Brussels.
On April 3, Hungary will have to decide where it wants its policy to go for the next four years.
The latest Politico poll gives 49% of the vote to Fidesz and 45% to the opposition. The numbers predict the last few weeks to be full of promises and fierce media clashes between the two candidates. In the country, a large percentage of the rural population lives under the government’s information bubble.
Orbán managed to undermine the EU without breaking the rules.
When Orban came to power in 2010, his main priority was to secure absolute control of the press. It was done with the management of the Media Council, an organization that is dedicated to the supervision of the information that is broadcast throughout the country. A study on press freedom in Hungary by the International Press Institute cataloged the current state of the media in the country as “the biggest media crisis in the EU”, where a “sophisticated control system that doesn’t use violence” governs.
Free but not fair elections
European observers said the 2018 elections had been free but not fair, partly because there is no room for opposition in the public media. A group of European parliamentarians, from six different parties and 16 nationalities, asked the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to send a large-scale mission to monitor the upcoming elections. Their demand arose in response to petitions from various NGOs that accuse the Hungarian leader of committing a democratic backslide and endangering the legitimacy of the institutions.
With an absolute majority in Parliament in 2011, the Hungarian Prime Minister changed the Constitution. Orbán managed to undermine the EU without breaking the rules. The president skillfully uses the unanimity that some European policies require to continue weakening the Union. Working in tandem with Poland, the rule of law is diluted. The government is increasingly authoritarian, with pending cases in Brussels related to judicial independence.
The Kremlin maintains strong commercial ties with Hungary. In November 2021, Russia exported 256 million worth of euros and imported 178 million euros, giving Moscow a positive trade balance of 78.7 million euros.
