Comment on furgehir.hu
After the European elections, many political leaders in Europe are either in deep shock or slightly bewildered. The same cannot be said for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. “Sworn” nationalist, he witnessed the revenge of the European populists already during his “political life”.
Orban has already received a flattering assessment from Moscow - Russian propagandists unanimously began to call him a prominent figure, almost a future influential force in Europe against the background of the shaky positions of the ruling parties and leaders of France and Germany.
We have to give credit, the old “apparatchik” Orbán immediately navigated the situation and arranged for himself a “separate” position in NATO, reaching an “agreement” with the head of the Alliance J. Stoltenberg that Hungary will not block NATO's decisions on Ukraine in exchange for certain guarantees.
This principle of voluntary participation in support of NATO operations for Ukraine, promoted by Orbán, creates loopholes for the “doubters and wavering”. And considering that J. Stoltenberg will most likely leave his post, V. Orban's position poses a “time bomb” under the entire Alliance in the future.
The media already indicate that the success of the populists in the European elections may cause a wave of “rejection” of previously made political decisions. If leaders change, their successors can reverse controversial or unpopular decisions, even on pressing issues on the international agenda.
Obviously with this “cancel“ will also have to deal with the new NATO Secretary General, who will have to consider the “special“ Hungary's position on the conceptual issues of the Alliance's activities.
The fact that V. Orban “negotiates“ “special“ conditions“ for Hungary, may cause confusion among those who are used to considering it a “client of Moscow”.
However, this understanding is fundamentally wrong. Moscow is now busy looking for answers to mounting sanctions and international pressure. The same press secretary of V. Putin D. Peskov said: “ The Kremlin is considering how to act after the new US sanctions“ // Merchant. RU
The impression is created that Russia has weakened control over the behavior of its allies and satellites. How else can one explain the public dispute between Armenia and Belarus over the Collective Security Treaty Organization? N. Pashinyan called this post-Soviet bloc “balloon union”, accusing its participants of the lack of support for Armenia in the war with Azerbaijan.
At the same time, Putin's faithful servant Alexander Lukashenko openly took a pro-Azerbaijani position, which caused an outburst of anger from N. Pashinyan and a “war” of the ambassadors between the two countries.
On this background, V. Orbán can also publicly declare “his “independence”, especially since Moscow's positions are no longer the same as when it could directly dictate its conditions to European countries, blackmailing for example with energy resources.
Looks like the slogan “Every man for himself!“ became a basic principle of European political life. And Hungarian Prime Minister V. Orbán was one of the first to understand this, and at the next NATO meeting he will go out for coffee again.