Allies join Orban to build Hungary’s Balkan influence

Bloomberg

Long at the mercy of geopolitical forces, Hungary under Viktor Orban is looking to carve out its own sphere of influence.
His power at home is secure after three consecutive landslide election wins and a growing group of like-minded anti-immigrant leaders are at his side in the European Union. So far unfazed by street protests in Budapest, Orban has been championing his brand of illiberal politics across the Balkans. Close behind is a cohort of companies led by allies with designs on international expansion, often in a symbiotic relationship with politics.
“He is expanding his influence also through the economic sphere,” said Sonja Stojanovic Gajic, head of the Belgrade Center for Security Policy research institute. “You can see a recipe for capturing the state and for authoritarian rule.”
The one-two punch of political alliances and business deals, from media to construction and banking, is giving Orban an outsize role in Europe’s most volatile region, where Russian, European and US interests collide and China have also been seeking influence.
His involvement was exposed last month when the fugitive former leader of Republic of Macedonia sought and received asylum in Hungary.
Macedonia, the former Yugoslav republic that’s one of the battleground states for global powers, is among the countries where Hungarian influence is the most direct. Orban campaigned with the now-convicted ex-prime minister, Nikola Gruevski, and media outlets tied to his close adviser Arpad Habony pushed policies often similar to the Hungarian ruling party’s. They ultimately failed and Gruevski was defeated by a rival who’s accelerated the country’s integration to the EU and NATO, irking the Kremlin.
In another ex-Yugoslav nation, Slovenia, Orban’s preferred candidate Janez Jansa won the most votes but in the end failed to form a government, showing the limits of Hungary’s influence. Orban still holds a lot of leverage in the western Balkans, where countries are yet to join the EU and want to make friends with a member.
A more immediate goal for the Hungarian leader is to unite forces amenable to his anti-immigrant rhetoric for next year’s elections for European Parliament, unnerving the bloc’s mainstream political groupings.
“Orban is also seeking to cement his position for future fights in the European Union,” said Zarko Puhovski, a political science professor at the University of Zagreb.

Hunting Ground
The Balkans have long been a hunting ground for Hungarian companies. The investments linked to Orban’s entourage come on top of more traditional business links, which are also expanding.
OTP Bank Nyrt., Hungary’s biggest lender whose chairman has cordial relations with Orban, has been buying lenders across the former Yugoslavia and in Bulgaria. Refiner Mol Nyrt. has fought a long legal and management dispute with the government in Zagreb about its INA subsidiary in Croatia, with active backing from Orban’s
administration.
Orban has also played a complicated game to secure commercial access to the Adriatic and Black seas for his landlocked nation.