Towards the end of the Cold War, Viktor Orbán emerged as an aspiring politician from the liberal corner. The now ‘somewhat corpulent’ sixty-year-old has been the boss of a ‘captured state’ for fourteen years – a hostage state with a hostage media landscape, says Tijn Sadée, Europe correspondent for NOS, among others. ‘The image I have is, let me put it neutrally, that of a very shrewd politician.’
‘Hungary must start from scratch if Russia cuts energy lines’
18 min 54 sec
No matter how much pressure European leaders put on him, Orbán manages to hold his own as an outsider within the European Union. He does this, among other things, with a very pragmatic attitude towards Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Ideologically, the relationship is limited to Orbán’s admiration for strong leaders, but the business relationship with Russia has everything to do with great energy dependence, says Sadée. ‘He has to navigate and when Brussels speaks sternly to him about it, he mainly laughs about it.’
‘The average Hungarian understands the current situation and understands how Orbán deals with it’
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Because, especially for Hungary, it is a complete illusion for the time being to stand on its own two feet in terms of energy supply. The country has essentially invested nothing in energy diversity since the fall of the Wall in 1989. Even for its only nuclear power plant, the country is completely dependent on Moscow. Sadée emphasizes that this is certainly not the fault of Orbán alone. ‘Even in the years before him, the Social Democrats and Liberals did not invest anything in an energy mix.’
Energy ties with Russia
In fact, the ‘warm’ ties with Russia were never a point of discussion internally. And Brussels can jump high and low, Hungary certainly could from scratch should start if the energy lines with Russia were now cut. ‘The average Hungarian understands the current situation and understands how Orbán deals with it.’ The opposition is small and far too weak to attack the president. ‘And that’s how Orbán wins elections every time.’
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The last time Orbán won elections, he managed to win many extra votes by promising Hungarians low energy prices shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. ‘That was a huge comfort. And then the average Hungarian quickly forgets how that happens.’ It also explains how the Prime Minister can quite easily get away with an ambivalent attitude towards Putin. ‘He has promised the Hungarians a peace strategy. Because according to him, the Western war strategy leads nowhere.’
