Hungary's Orban and his political alliances | DW News
Summary
TLDRDer ungarische Premierminister Viktor Orban feiert das Unabhängigkeitsjubiläum seines Landes und lädt autoritäre Führer wie den türkischen Präsidenten Erdogan ein, während EU- und NATO-Mitglieder wie Frankreich und Deutschland nicht vertreten sind. Orban folgt einer 'Östlichen Öffnungsstrategie', die eine pragmatische Zusammenarbeit mit Ländern wie Russland und China und eine ideologische Ablehnung der europäischen liberalen Demokratie umfasst. Trotz innenpolitischer Probleme wie Inflation und einem dringend reformbedürftigen Bildungssystem bleibt Orban beliebt, indem er eine starke Staatsideologie und eine narrative des Freiheitskämpfers propagiert.
Takeaways
- 🎉 Ungarn feiert sein Nationalfeiertag, und Premierminister Viktor Orban veranstaltet eine Party mit Gästen wie den Präsidenten von Türkei, Serbien, Aserbaidschan, Kirgisistan, Usbekistan und Katar.
- 🤔 Die Einladungsliste war ungewöhnlich für ein EU- und NATO-Mitglied, da sie keine führenden EU-Politiker wie Frankreichs Präsident Macron oder Deutschlands Kanzler Scholz umfasste.
- 🧐 Orban folgt einer extremen ideologischen Außenpolitik, wobei er seine Verbündeten auf der Grundlage von ideologischer Nähe auswählt, was zu einer Distanzierung von liberalen EU-Demokratien führt.
- 🔄 Orban sieht autoritären Führern wie Aserbaidschans Präsident Aliyev mehr gemeinsame Ideologie und pragmatisches Vorgehen bei, zum Beispiel bei der Energiebeschaffung.
- 🏛️ Ungarn bleibt Mitglied in zwei westlichen Bündnissen, EU und NATO, und verhält sich oft kontrovers gegenüber der Mehrheitsmeinung seiner Partner.
- 🚫 Ungarn hat sich in NATO wie die Türkei gegen die Zustimmung zur Aufnahme Schwedens ausgesprochen, was auf Prinzipien und nicht offensichtlichen Gründen beruht.
- 📉 Ungarn ist in der EU eine Ausnahme, da es 80% seines Gas und Kernkraftwerks-Brennstoffs von Russland bezieht, was auf eine enge Abhängigkeit und weniger Transparenz hindeutet.
- 🏅 Orban wird von einigen amerikanischen Konservativen als Held gesehen, da er eine starke nationale Identität und traditionelle Werte fördert, was bei ihnen Resonanz findet.
- 🚨 Ungarns Regierung ist in der EU bekannt für ihre unkonventionellen Methoden, wie die Öffnung der Grenzen für Menschenhändler, um Druck auf westliche Nachbarn auszuüben.
- 🤝 Obwohl Orban oft als Außenseiter dargestellt wird, könnte sein Verhalten die EU und NATO dazu bringen, sich an die Zukunft anzupassen und ihre Strukturen zu reformieren.
Q & A
Welche Länder waren bei der Feier zum ungarischen Nationalfeiertag vertreten?
-Die Gästeliste umfasste die Staats- und Regierungschefs von Türkei, Serbien, Aserbaidschan, Kirgisistan, Usbekistan und Katar.
Warum wurde die Einladungsliste für die Feier als ungewöhnlich betrachtet?
-Die Einladungsliste war ungewöhnlich, weil sie traditionelle europäische Verbündete wie Frankreich und Deutschland nicht umfasste und nur den türkischen Präsidenten als NATO-Vertreter einbezog.
Wie wird Viktor Orbans auswärtige Politik von Experten bewertet?
-Orbans auswärtige Politik wird als extrem ideologisch und selektiv in Bezug auf ideologische Nähe zu seinen Alliierten betrachtet, was ihn zu Freunden wie Georgien Meloni oder Donald Trump, aber nicht zu Ursula von der Leyen macht.
Was ist Orbans 'Östliche Öffnungsstrategie'?
-Die 'Östliche Öffnungsstrategie' ist eine Kombination aus Pragmatismus und ideologischer Abneigung gegen europäische liberale Demokratie, wobei Länder wie die Türkei, Russland und China als nützliche und zuverlässige Partner angesehen werden.
Warum hat Ungarn die NATO-Beitrittsverhandlungen Schwedens blockiert?
-Ungarn hat die NATO-Beitrittsverhandlungen Schwedens blockiert, um Druck auf die EU auszuüben, um finanzielle Unterstützung für Ungarn zu erhalten.
Wie hängen die Energieimporte von Russland mit der ungarischen Außenpolitik zusammen?
-Ungarn ist abhängig von russischen Energieimporten, was es in der EU als Extremfall betrachtet wird. Es sieht Russland als einen vertrauenswürdigen Partner an und unterzeichnete neue Abkommen, nachdem der Krieg in der Ukraine begann.
Welche Rolle spielt Korruption in der ungarischen Politik?
-Transparenz International rangiert Ungarn im EU-Vergleich am Ende in Bezug auf wahrgenommene Korruption, was zu einem langjährigen Konflikt zwischen Ungarn und der EU führte.
Wie wird Orbans Haltung zur Migration von seinen westlichen Partnern wahrgenommen?
-Orbans Haltung zur Migration, die durch Anti-Einwanderungsrhetorik und die Verteidigung des Christentums geprägt ist, wird von seinen westlichen Partnern als nicht im Einklang mit ihren Prinzipien angesehen.
Warum wird Orban von einigen amerikanischen Konservativen als Held betrachtet?
-Orban wird von einigen amerikanischen Konservativen als Held betrachtet, weil er als Verfechter einer starken, traditionellen Kultur und Werte gilt, die er gegen progressive soziale Ideen verteidigt.
Wie sieht die Beziehung zwischen Orban und den Vereinigten Staaten aus?
-Orban pflegt Beziehungen zu konservativen Kreisen in den USA und hat die CPAC-Konferenzen in Budapest abgehalten, um diese Verbindungen zu stärken.
Was ist die größte Herausforderung für Orban in Bezug auf seine politischen Ambitionen?
-Die größte Herausforderung für Orban ist es, die wachsenden innenpolitischen Probleme wie Inflation und Bildungsreform zu lösen, während er gleichzeitig seine ideologischen Ambitionen verfolgt.
Outlines
🎉 Ungarns Geburtstag und Orbans Freundeskreis
Der ungarische Premierminister Viktor Orban feiert das Landjubiläum und lädt eine Gruppe von Staatschefs aus, die nicht übereinstimmend mit den üblichen EU- oder NATO-Partnern sind. Gäste wie die Führer der Türkei, Serbiens, Aserbaidschans, Kirgisistans, Usbekistans und Katars sind dabei, aber keine führenden EU- oder deutschen Politiker. Dies offenbart Orbans ideologische und pragmatische Beziehungen zu autoritären Regierungen und seinen Abstand zu europäischer liberaler Demokratie. Sein 'Östliche Öffnungsstrategie' kombiniert Pragmatismus und ideologische Verachtung für europäische liberale Demokratie, was zu einer abweichenden Haltung innerhalb von NATO und der EU führt, insbesondere in Bezug auf Russland und die Ukraine.
🌐 Orbans Außenpolitik und die Auswirkungen auf die EU und NATO
Orban nutzt seine Position innerhalb von NATO und der EU, um Druck auf andere Organisationen auszuüben, was in der westlichen Politik ungewöhnlich ist. Ungarns Haltung, die Schwedische NATO-Beitritts zu blockieren und weiterhin von Russland abhängig zu sein, stellt eine Abweichung von der EU-Linie dar. Die Regierung sieht Russland als einen vertrauenswürdigen Partner, was zu einer erhöhten Abhängigkeit von russischen Energieimporten führt. Dies steht im Kontrast zu der Transparenz und Rechenschaftspflicht, die in Beziehungen zu etabliertem demokratischen Ländern erwartet wird. Ungarn wird auch als korruptionsanfällig bezeichnet, was zu Konflikten mit der EU führt. Orban setzt seine anti-Einwanderungspolitik fort, die sich von der der westlichen Partner unterscheidet, und nutzt Migration als politisches Werkzeug.
🤔 Orbans Einfluss auf die amerikanische Konservativen und europäische Politik
Orban genießt die Unterstützung einer Gruppe amerikanischer Konservativer, die seine Haltung und Politiken bewundern. Er wird als Held betrachtet, der seine nationale Interessen gegen die EU verteidigt, und seine Zusammenarbeit mit Putin im Oktober 2023 wird als pragmatisches nationales Interesse dargestellt. Ungarn hat die Konservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Budapest abgehalten und investiert in konservative Think Tanks, um Ideen und Narrative zu fördern. Orban und seine Unterstützer vertreten eine Gegenerzählung, die die Souveränität der Nationen und die Ablehnung der Einflussnahme aus Washington oder Brüssel betont. Dies spiegelt sich in seinen politischen Aktionen wider, die oft die EU- und NATO-Partner in Atem halten.
🏛️ Die Herausforderungen für die EU und NATO und mögliche Reformen
Orban stellt die EU und NATO vor Herausforderungen, indem er ihre Schwächen und Uneinigkeiten offenlegt. Die EU und NATO müssen möglicherweise reformiert werden, um auf die Herausforderungen der Zukunft vorbereitet zu sein, einschließlich der Aufnahme neuer Mitglieder wie der Ukraine. Die EU hat Finanzmittel als Druckmittel gegen Ungarn eingesetzt, um Reformen durchzusetzen, aber die Unterstützung Ungarns für die Ukraine ist ein größeres Ziel. Es gibt eine Spannung zwischen der EU und ihrem Mitglied Ungarn, die um enorme Summen von Geld und politischen Entscheidungen geht. Während Orban bereit ist, als schwarze Schafe aufzutreten, könnte er auch daran interessiert sein, Teil der Gruppe zu bleiben, da seine Beziehungen zur EU und NATO wichtig sind.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Ungarische Regierung
💡Illiberalismus
💡Ostliche Öffnungsstrategie
💡NATO
💡Rogausländer
💡Korruptionsbekämpfung
💡Migrationspolitik
💡Nationale Identität
💡Freundschaften
💡Rechtsstaatlichkeit
💡Konfrontation
Highlights
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban hosts a party for Hungary's birthday with leaders of certain countries, excluding many EU leaders.
Orban's foreign policy is described as extreme ideological, selecting allies based on ideological proximity.
Hungary's 'Eastern Opening Strategy' combines pragmatism with shared ideological disdain for European liberal democracy.
Hungary, a member of EU and NATO, often departs from the majority view of its partners within these alliances.
Hungary uses its position in NATO to pressure the EU for financial support.
Hungary's refusal to reduce imports of Russian gas and its increased dependence on Russian energy are highlighted.
Transparency International ranks Hungary at the bottom in the EU for perceived corruption.
Orban's approach to migration includes building a razor-wire fence and releasing human smugglers as a form of pressure.
Orban has become a hero to a certain group of American conservatives, hosting CPAC in Budapest.
Hungary's demographic conference rejects non-traditional forms of family and progressive social ideas.
Orban's critics argue that he uses divisive personal issues to divert attention from other policies and questions.
Domestic issues in Hungary, such as soaring inflation and an education system in need of reform, are not being addressed by Orban's policies.
Orban's Fidesz party has a strong, big state ideology that resonates with Hungarians and is different from the European norm.
Western governments are questioning how to bring Orban back in line, using financial transfers as a tool to influence Hungary.
Orban's confrontational position risks trust with current allies within the EU and NATO, yet Hungary does not want to leave these organizations.
There is a suggestion that Orban's western partners may privately welcome his actions, despite public disdain.
Orban's actions expose divisions and weaknesses within the EU and NATO, potentially contributing to the evolution of these partnerships.
Transcripts
It’s Hungary’s Birthday!
Prime Minister Viktor Orban throws a party.
The guests included: : the heads of Turkey, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan,
Qatar.
It looks like an informal summit of like-minded illiberal leaders.
For a member of both the European Union and NATO, it was an unusual invitation list.
It didn’t include France’s President Emmanuel Macron or Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Not one serving EU leader came to the party or the subsequent diplomatic meetings – and
the only NATO member was Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
What’s going in Hungary?
And why does Orban have the friends that he does?
I think the government has an extreme ideological foreign policy, where he [Orban] selects his
allies on the basis of ideological proximity and that’s a world where Georgia Meloni
or Donald Trump can be good friends but someone like Ursula von der Leyen cannot.
And they express it openly.
He has more to talk about with authoritarian leaders, such as Aliyev the Azerbaijani president
than with for example the German chancellor.
So he feels more this shared ideology but he also thinks that pragmatically this is
the right thing to do.
This is laid out in Orban’s “Eastern Opening Strategy”.
It’s a blend of pragmatism - seeing powers like T urkey, Russia, and China, as useful
and reliable partners, for example buying energy.
And shared ideological disdain for European liberal democracy.
We have replaced a shipwrecked liberal democracy with a 21st-century Christian democracy, which
guarantees people's dignity, freedom and security.”
Hungary remains a member of two major western alliances – the EU and NATO – but has
often departed from the majority view of its partners.
Within NATO, Hungary joined Turkey in refusing to ratify Sweden’s accession.
Turkey portrayed its position as a principled one connected to Koran-burnings in Sweden.
Hungary had a couple of other, unspoken reasons.
Viktor Orban used the Swedish and Finish NATO membership as a negotiation potential in order
to pressurize the EU to provide funds to Hungary.
And this is definitely something new.
This attitude that in one organisation we use pressure for another organization, that
is very unusual in the Western political culture and I think this is very telling about how
Orban is exercising power in Hungary for many years.
It is not new to us.
the new logic of foreign policy is a rogue diplomacy, if you don’t treat me well, I
will hurt you immediately and this what we can see these days with the NO ratification
of Sweden’s NATO accession.
The Hungarian government openly says, that because Sweden criticised Hungary so many
times, they are still reluctant And within the EU, following Vladimir Putin’s
full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Hungary refused to join efforts to reduce imports of Russian
gas.
Instead, Hungary signed NEW deals and now gets around 80 percent of its gas from Russia.
That makes Hungary an extreme outlier in terms of its unitary dependence on Russian imports
of gas, oil and nuclear fuel for the nuclear power plant.
They look at Russia as a trusted partner, also with these countries it is much easier
to have a less accountable, less transparent relationship.
If you are trading with more established democracies, it is more likely what you are doing will
be more out in the open, it is difficult to hide things.
And what kind of things might Hungary want to keep out of sight?
Transparency International latest ranking puts it at the bottom in the EU for perceived
corruption.
This has long been a point of friction between Hungary and the EU.
Orban’s approach to migration has also been out of tune with his western partners.
He has spent a decade issuing anti-immigration rhetoric and claiming to “defend Christianity”.
2015 saw huge numbers of people passing through Hungary towards Western Europe.
Hungary responded with a razor-wire fence to keep them out.
More recently Hungary seemed to copy Belarus with a tactic seemingly aimed at putting pressure
on western neighbours.
I think open black mailing and open obstruction is more and more part of the Hungarian foreign
policy playbook to an extent where Hungary arrived to a point where a few months ago
that Hungarian authorities released more than 1000 human smugglers, telling that if you
Brussels complain about Hungarian prisons are overcrowded, this is what you get.
What is it?
It is the open weaponization of migration, something that Lukashenko is usually doing.
Within the European Union it is taken as a highly hostile attitude.
This kind of attitude - one that puts Hungary first, and rejects the sensibilities of allies
- appeals to more than Orban’s voter base at home.
He has become something of a hero to a certain group of American conservatives.
That kind of narrative means Orban can portray his meeting with Putin in October 2023 – with
the war in Ukraine still raging - as an act of pragmatic national interest
I come from a thousand-year-old country with rich history, but let’s be honest: Hungary
is far from being a Global Superpower.
The U.S. is a Global Superpower.
Your leaders should give an opening speech at our conferences in Hungary.
They did.
Hungary has hosted CPAC in Budapest twice since 2022 nurturing the links and exchange
of ideas.
Orbán’s government is investing in homegrown conservative think tanks too.
Rod Dreher is a fellow of one of them, the Danube Institute in Hungary.
He describes himself as “Conservative, Orthodox Christian” and approves of political involvement
in academia.
The key thing about Orban for American conservatives is he seems to understand that culture is
a room of political battle, this is something that Republican and standard Conservative
thinkers in the US don’t understand.
It is like they see the Universities, see the media, all of that to the left.
Orban doesn’t do that - I think, he understood something, that we American conservatives
really should learn, if we are going to prevail Rod Dreher was on the guest list of that Hungarian
birthday party.
His thinking fits with Orban’s – they and many other conservatives subscribe to
a specific counter-narrative.
I think the counter- narrative should be, nations have a right to be sovereign to look
out for their own interest.
We should cooperate among nations but it is not the right of Washington or Brussels to
force our own national ideology on other nations.
For example Viktor Orban always says, ‘leave us Hungarians alone on family policy’.
We don’t want Sweden to be Hungary, we don’t want Belgium to be Hungary but let us do things
according to our own traditions.
Many like-minded thinkers met up here at Hungary’s demographic conference.
They rejected non-traditional forms of family, along with many other progressive social ideas.
The star of the event this year: Georgia Meloni, Italy’s Prime Minister.
Put the family at the heart of development policies.
And these are clearly influenced by national culture, identity, customs and traditions.
However there are many experiences that have worked, that are important to share, the experiences
that we see here in Hungary” 00:19 The speakers include Jordan Peterson, a well-known
figure on the alt-right, who talks about people who don’t have children being mentally unwell.
Orban takes the personal and turns it political – Europe-wide – in his speech.
We need a change of course, we have to accomplish that family-friendly, conservative powers
regain governing power in more and more European countries.
On top there are European elections, everything is given that with an all embracing operation
we can turn the power balance to our favour Orban’s critics say he focusses on such
divisive, personal issues to divert attention from other policies and questions.
Orban wants always to talk about ideology, He wants us to talk his gender policy, his
migration policy.
He does not want us to talk about his corruption issues and to talk about his rogue foreign
policy that can undermine from inside the security of the European Union.
Angry demonstrations on Hungarian streets show that domestically, there are problems
Orban’s policies are not fixing: in particular: soaring inflation and an education system
in dire need of reform.
Students and their teachers have been marching for nearly a year – against a law which
they say will strip teachers of protections granted to public employees.
They see it as a way for the government to control public education.
For us it is really important to be here because without people, who are able to choose their
own future, and decide for themselves, which is obviously learned at school, we cannot
build a democracy upon that Hungarians are also frustrated by everyday
corruption, and years of Orban’s government effectively eroding the independence of judges
and courts.
Orban seems to care little for Hungary’s actual alliances in the EU and NATO.
He has been failing to cure Hungary of its domestic problems.
And yet – he’s in his fourth elected term in office since 2010.
How does he – and his Fidesz party - keep winning over Hungarian voters?
Fidesz has a very mixed but seemingly unified ideology.
This ideology is based on the concept of a strong, big state, which has the responsibility
and the power to rule the country basically without other actors, such as civil society
or citizen participation and this strong state idea is a very strong base for the government
which is different from the European norm.
It’s an ideology that resonates in Hungary.
Some also say Orban knows very well how his people tick.
He can turn what others might describe as repression and ultra-conservatism into a heroic
story.
Orban clearly reads well the Hungarian psyche and Hungarian mentality, and he resurrects
the archetype of the freedom fighter from the Hungarian collective psyche and the most
important aspect of this freedom fighter narrative is that you have to fight against the oppressors
and even if you fail you are morally superior That kind of narrative means Orban can portray
his meeting with Putin in October 2023 , as an act of pragmatic national interest.
Orban’s approach to foreign policy is very clearly out of step with the majority of Hungary’s
partners in the EU and NATO.
His approach is seen by many as counterproductive to their collective aims.
He built these strategies with the belief that the west is declining and the geopolitical
shifts will put Europe into a minority position so he also wants to build leverage on putting
Hungary in the centre and opening to the East No surprise then, that western governments
are asking how they might bring him back into line.
It’s the EU which has had the greatest tool to use in trying to influence Hungary – financial
transfers.
It’s been holding back billions of Euros over concern for Hungarian rule of law and
fundamental civil rights.
But securing Hungary’s backing for continued extensive aid for Ukraine is the greater goal.
It’s a tug-of-war between the EU and its member Hungary, involving massive sums of
money over domestic and foreign policy.
He may be happy to be the black sheep, but some suggest Orban wants to remain in the
herd – that he’s more wedded to the EU and NATO than his attitude might suggest.
Viktor Orban takes huge risk at least on two levels, one is that: With this confrontative
position we are risking trust with our current allies, within the European Union and NATO.
And it is very important to know that Hungary does never want to leave the EU or the NATO.
This is a critical relationship.
No relationship with Turkey; Uzbekistan or whoever could replace the relationship for
us within the European Union.
Orban continues to pursue these other friendships, signalling to the West that he has other options.
And yet, his western partners like Germany’s chancellor still want democratic groupings
to demonstrate strength through unity to actors like Russia and China.
So they’ll be keen to rein him in or find a way to work around his attitude.
He will become more obstructive, more combatant, he will become more dangerous to the European
Union and NATO if there are no good ways to circumvent his decisions.
16:38 CUT 16:58 And I think what would be rather good and it is on the table of EU constantly
is get rid of the unanimous decision making in foreign policy issues and have rather a
qualified majority” But people with insider understanding of Fidesz
suggest those western powers are playing a more complicated game – that they may even
privately welcome what they publicly disdain.
Zsuzsanna Szelényi, former member of Fidesz He is often playing the useful idiot for many
other countries, for Germany, for Austria.
He speaks openly about Ukraine should not be NATO-member, when he says that, it means
a lot of countries also think this but don’t say.
I think it is leverage building activity from his side, that he makes favours to other politicians
by being so outspoken and radical.
What Orban does, is to expose the divisions and the weaknesses of the EU and NATO.
Many would argue the EU has long needed to reform – there are 27 members – swollen
after the 2004 expansion when ten countries joined in one go.
NATO too, is facing new challenges, including the cold hard truth that the US can no longer
do everything for Europe.
Perhaps this could be Orban’s contribution to the evolution of these partnerships – if
the EU and NATO react to Hungary’s obstruction by making themselves fit for the future – which
may include new members such as Ukraine.
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