Left-liberal pundits describe PM Orbán as a conflict-seeking tactician

Two critics of the government believe the Prime Minister is leading Hungary into a fatal clash with the European Union.

On the Heti Világgazdaság website, Sándor Révész writes that ‘the days of cooperation between Hungary and the European Union are numbered’. He suggests that Mr Orbán denies the core values of the European Union, such as democracy and the rule of law and is trying to replace them with national sovereignty. He disputes the PM’s opinion that the European Union is too centralised and affirms that such a large organisation cannot function if all decisions are based on the principle of full unanimity.

In Népszava, political scientist Attila Ágh describes today’s Hungary as ‘a full-blown autocracy’. He accuses Mr Orbán of fomenting conflicts with the country’s international partners to find scapegoats for all the hardships the population is enduring. In this way, he has made Hungary an outlier within the European Union, Ágh continues, adding that the EU has by now ‘realised the need to stop Orbán running amok’. He hopes that society will ‘wake up’ and produce another regime change which, he thinks, is the only way to get rid of him.

Tags: European Union, Orbán