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    John Mastadar

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    John Mastadar

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    114 Opinion and Analysis Orbán’s dangerously familiar discourse, John Mastadar

    sovereigntist parties, Russia is trying to undermine the essence of the EU decision-


    making process. One of the most illustrative examples is the relationship between
    the Russian administration and the French National Front, in which technical and
    financial support is exchanged for advocating Russian interests in French foreign
    policy, such as softening the stance towards the annexation of Crimea and the
    justification of Russia’s domestic policy.
    Hungary is following a similar path. In his speech, held at the beginning of his
    fourth term, Orbán confirmed his will to fight EU multilateralism: “We shall fo-
    cus all our strength on representing the view that the EU must operate as an alli-
    ance of free nations, and must give up the fever dreams of a United States of Eu-
    rope.” Hungary’s strongman counts on the 2019 European Parliament elections
    in May to promote his views inside the EU Parliament. Orbán takes advantage of
    the weakness of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union to forge an alliance with
    the Christian Social Union, Austria and, to a certain extent, Italy in order to cre-
    ate a political force inside the European Parliament that is able to counter the cur-
    rent structure of the EU. Against this political battle with its extended axis, French
    President Emmanuel Macron, though weakened by the Gilets Jaunes protest move-
    ment, still considers himself as the main political force capable of countering the
    sovereigntists, replacing a weakened Germany as Angela Merkel’s CDU party con-
    tinues to lose its popularity among German voters.
    By adopting a common philosophical and social framework, Hungary and Rus-
    sia are securing their power on a short-term basis. One can question the sustaina-
    bility of this aggressive policy. Scapegoating and using nationalist rhetoric are old
    political tools that, in the past, have led to the darkest hours of European histo-
    ry. However we should not forget the fundamental differences between Hunga-
    ry and Russia; since Hungary is part of NATO and the EU, violating internation-
    al law, as Russia tends to do, seems to be out of the question (as we can witness in
    the Ukrainian case). If one is violating international law, the other uses it for polit-
    ical destabilisation. These two approaches are radically different. Therefore, Hun-
    gary cannot be fully considered a Trojan horse in the Greek sense of the expres-
    sion, but rather as something seeking to destabilise NATO. The question is if this
    is enough to bring a permanent end to the Alliance.

    John Mastadar is a political scientist and holds a double MA in European studies


    from the Jagiellonian University and Kyiv’s Institute of International Relations.

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