Thanks indeed to @financialtimes.com for publishing me on the anti-US turn of the European right. From moderate conservatives to nationalist radicals, it is nimbly shifting towards a politics of autonomy. The centre and left must move fast - or risk being outflanked.
www.ft.com/content/cba2...
With Radev's win in Bulgaria, imo, we'll see something new at the EU level-- advocacy for pro-Ru positions not from a euroskeptic position a la Orban/AfD/RN but from an ostensibly pro-EU position: Europe should abandon Ukr and go back to cheap Ru energy to be stronger and strategically autonomous.
Not much has changed in wide segments of discourse/the population in Bulgaria
The US always had a streak of conciliatory attitude to the USSR, seeking to understand where they're coming from and hoping to find middle ground. Meanwhile, when I was growing up in Bulgaria in the 80s, I learned Americans are militarists who want to kill us, while the USSR wants peace. Zero nuance
👋 More and more Fidesz insiders are jumping from the sinking ship. Suddenly they blame each other, the circumstances, the party leadership, even Viktor Orbán himself. And of course they all claim they “saw it coming” long ago. 🧵
He was arguably most pivotal during the Kinnock era, before sliding into the immediate sidelines during Blair/Brown.
I steped briefly back into Charlemagne's robes this week (@spignal.bsky.social is on holiday) to explain why, amid all the Magyar-mania, the EU risks ignoring some important lessons it ought to take from its long Orban nightmare. www.economist.com/europe/2026/...
You're providing an important public service. Thank you sir
Gute Idee
A lot of Orbán's American fans are saying that this election proved he was never an authoritarian in the first place.
This is completely wrong — and, in fact, betrays a complete misunderstanding of both Hungarian politics and modern authoritarianism.
Here's why.
For years, but especially in the last few months, I have been trying hard to imagine what it will feel like seeing Orban decisively defeated. I just couldn't. And yet here we are: it is truly and well over. I have more reservations about Peter Magyar than I could say in 300 characters or a thread...
“Happy birthday sweetie, I got you diplomatic sanctions, just like you always wanted”
Let’s face it as well: it’s just not good sport to leave out Austria’s infamous day(s) in the sun.
Nothing like some Monday morning pedantry to start the week
Soros? Musk hasn’t followed this election at all, has he?
You got me, I was thinking about when the government was formed which is technically cheating
That's a great one; you've really upped the stakes, Tom. So important the ECB quietly suspended the independence of its decision-making.
I call on the Oracle that is @aphclarkson.bsky.social
Poland in 2023. Arguably Hungary in 2010, of course.
It's hard to think of a European election in the 21st century that has had more implications for the EU than the one in Hungary. Some that spring to mind are Austria in 2000, Greece in 2015, symbolically France in 2017, UK in 2019. Special mention to Romania in 2024/2025. Any other takers?
Which, ironically enough, resulted in the defeat of Fidesz, which Orban hadn’t expected. Totally different environment and voter compositions back then, though.
A sloping table tennis table
There is an obviously Fidesz designed table tennis table here in Szár - it’s sloped against the players
‼️🇭🇺🇪🇺 Here is a potted timeline thread marking some of the key milestones that built Prime Minister Viktor Orban's illiberal democracy in Hungary over his 16 years in power. His tenure looks likely to end tomorrow. The table stakes for Hungary and Europe could not be higher 1/
Our student protest against Viktor Orbán’s autocratic takeover in December 2010. The banner reads: WE ARE THE FIRST GENERATION WHO GREW UP WITH THE RULE OF LAW — LET US NOT BE THE LAST ONE.
BBC headline: Hungary to create new media watchdog. Students rallied for freedom of speech in Budapest.
Orbán took power in April 2010. We organized our first protests against him that December. I was 22, in undergrad, lucky to be in a community of students ready to resist.
Looking back, no wonder this moment feels so heavy. 🧵
🇭🇺🗳️📺I've spent a week watching Hungarian TV/YT, or at least what of it was subtitled in a remotely familiar language. I've tried to understand the core messaging of the key parties, to get a grip on the emotions, and to find out exactly who Péter Magyar is. Three takeaways: 1/
Let's look at a claim from the 2022 Hungary elections, that independent pollsters got it all wrong. It's not true. Everyone predicted a Fidesz win, with the exception of one pollster. But most were significantly off re Fidesz's lead, which ended up being >16pp en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion...
What's your take on a scenario in which Tisza wins the popular vote by 5-10%, while Fidesz scrapes through in enough constituency-level seats such that it can hang onto an absolute majority?
Now he's visited Moscow, I wonder whether he'll be visiting Kyiv?
Can't say that I know nearly enough about Hungarian domestic politics. But I'm pretty sure that if an American Vice-President would be dispatched to Austria in a last minute effort to influence Austrian voters this would completely and utterly backfire
I wasn't sure how much more I could hear about the saga of Karin Kneissl, but ended up binge-listening to this exceptional piece of reportage. A well-known tale where the Datum team nonetheless managed to deliver fresh and shocking insights. Highly recommended!