EU-Kritik: Danke, Orbán! - WELT Viktor Orbán war eine Nervensäge für Europa. Angesichts der blamablen Leistungen der EU – von der Migrationspolitik bis zum Green Deal – kann man das durchaus auch als Kompliment verstehen.

Let's check in how the Germans reacted to downfall of the Orbán regime.

Oh.

Oh no.

meme image: "so I guess you can say things are getting pretty serious"

_"The Government’s consistent cheerleading for data centre expansion has reached a point of reckless disconnect from the economic reality of Irish citizens... Irish families are paying nearly double the electricity rates of these industrial facilities, effectively subsidizing the massive energy consumption of global tech giants while struggling with a punishing cost-of-living crisis." https://greenparty.ie/news/uncritical-expansion-data-centres-will-fuel-social-inequality-and-energy-crisis-cllr-hazel-chu

Data centres uses 32% of Ireland's total electricity supply but pay almost less than half of the residential rate. So we're effectively subsidizing tech giants during a cost of living & energy crisis. Meanwhile this Govt continues to cheerlead their expansion & continue to fail in their obligations.

It was too cold in basque country 😭😭😭

Why do I care about that so much?

If only there were more Slovenes in this sport...

Say more.

My guess: the media, which removed the burden of good governance from UK governments. And corruption, incompetence, negligence followed.

This is where Orbán found himself. That he chose to concede defeat does not annul the fact that he had built an authoritarian regime of a particular kind; it just means he realized he no lacked good options for staying.

Moreover, the Fidesz regime could still survive Magyar's victory.

Except this march was not led or organized by Tisza. They didn't even participate. Magyar did everything in his power to distance himself from the Pride which he thought (accurately) was an attempt to paint him as an out of touch city center liberal.

WE ALL WERE. what an insane race it was. Thanks for the retrospective, I got to feel it again :)

A central pillar of the Tisza platform was a wealth tax.

Will be very interesting how that plays out.

It's not just that Orbán losing inspires hope in other competitive-autocratic countries ruled by right-wing nationalist authoritarians. It's that his loss materially changes things in those other countries, because he's been operating as a headquarters and funding source...

OK, maybe one more addition.

He lost for the same reason Biden lost: inflation (and sagging economy). Not because Hungarians hold some deep desire for democracy or because they had enough of his anti-LGBTQ+ policies.

It was the economy, stupid.

Not sure what his calculations are.

Maybe he thinks that some deeply unpopular but necessary policies will quickly unseat MP, Tisza will splinter post-election, and he can return as the savior on a white horse in a year or so.

Maybe he genuinely believes in the sovereign voter (doubt).

He could've stayed in power, but he chose to organize a (reasonably) free and fair election and lose.

Not gonna lie, I'm surprised by this outcome. I expected a last-minute coup-style intervention either by his personal guards (TEK) or a foreign power supporting him (US, Russia, Israel)

It's important to note that Orbán chose this outcome.

He has no checks and balances in Hungary on his power. None. The MPs are personally loyal to him, so are the justices of the constitutional court. There's emergency status in effect, suspending parts of the constitution.

(this rewatch is so adorable, keep posting!)

Hungary sends JD Vance to voicemail

well well well

“We now go live to the Orbán family compound…”

even the most tenacious autocrats have a difficult time denying a landslide result against them

Ice cold, confident tactics. Loved it.

Watching Pogacar lose will be topped only by watching Orbán lose

Between this and Roubaix, absolute popcorn time

Oh people are EAGER today.

I know - I was being sarcastic. The government reserves the hands-off approach for the far right, any left movement would meet extreme violence from the police.

This is wrong. Ethnic Hungarians *who applied for and received citizenship*. They are Hungarian citizens, and it's a somewhat tedious process that 'only' around 60% completed.

The obvious conclusion is that the left must start doing 24 hour blockades to achieve any policy win.

Sadly Budapest is not Hungary. The capital was supporting the opposition for a long while.