Viktor Orbán is a very experienced “political animal.” This is a political science term, not an insult.
He began as a Soros scholarship recipient and an anti-communist, and he supported granting visa-free travel to Ukraine. Orbán is ready to make grand promises and anything else. His populism is large-scale and powerful. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that he is willing to offer his support to different major political players. Over the past year, Hungary’s prime minister has visited Moscow, Beijing, and Washington — and he was welcomed everywhere.
It is worth adding that he not only maneuvers between the United States and Russia, but also actively attracts Chinese investment. This is also a fairly significant and interesting point.
What will happen to the European Union if Orbán retains power?
Creating a mechanism to expel any country from the EU is, in my opinion, a very big problem for Europeans. They are not internally ready for this, for the simple reason that Brexit became a significant psychological shock for them.
Therefore, there will be no easy steps. In fact, the European Union will outlive Viktor Orbán, without a doubt. But in any case, he is a signal to the European Union that it needs to change if it wants to find itself in these new realities — in my opinion, this is absolutely true.
— Yevhen Mahda
