Europe’s populist godfather ‘gets a slap’

Bloomberg

After Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was castigated in the European Parliament this week over what he calls his “illiberal democracy,” the very public rebuke was hailed as a breakthrough for Europe.
For opponents of the continent’s embrace of populism, finally there was a united show of strength against a leader who has railed against the European Union’s core, shutting his country to refugees, cosying up to Russia and cajoling his political allies. But it also had an unintended effect, one that might play out in crucial European elections next year.
With actual sanctions all but ruled out because Poland’s nationalist government would veto them, the decision to deploy stricter monitoring of Hungary’s democratic institutions raised Orban’s profile. Already hailed as a hero by US President Donald Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon, Orban enhanced his position as both the lightening rod and standard-bearer for the forces that have risen in eastern Europe, Italy and, most recently, Sweden.
“Orban feels ascendant, he’s riding a wave and he knows he won’t face sanctions,” said Paul Ivan, an analyst at the European Policy Center in Brussels. “It’s clearly a fight he’s willing to have.” For the 55-year old Hungarian premier, Wednesday’s vote in the Strasbourg assembly was a battle in a larger war of ideologies that will culminate in elections to the European Parliament in May. The winners will be able to make key appointments setting the course of the world’s largest trading bloc. The EU procedure against Hungary “ultimately has no threat of sanctions and yet they went ahead with it just to weaken Hungary before the next fight,” Orban told public radio on Friday. “The whole point was to stigmatize us.”

Man on Mission
For much of the past decade, Orban’s aim has been to shake off the constraints of being an EU member without jeopardising billions of euros in European aid.
In an unprecedented consolidation of power since communism ended, Orban appointed friends and allies to run the courts, central bank and audit office. He caused an outcry in western Europe by putting up a fence to keep out migrants moving through Greece and former Yugoslavia into Hungary. Orban remains popular at home, winning a third-straight term in April elections.
“It might be counter-productive to raise expectations of people concerned about democracy if it’s almost certain that Hungary won’t face sanctions,” said Richard Youngs, a Madrid-based analyst at Carnegie Europe. “On the other hand, while Orban may be too far down the track in his authoritarian flight for the EU to reverse it, the vote against Hungary may at last unblock debate about how to protect democracy in other countries of the bloc.”