The Hungarian parliamentary elections on April 12 are being billed as the most important in the country’s modern history. With Hungary a central figure in the escalating tensions between Russia and the West, this weekend’s vote could also have geopolitical implications for Kyiv, Moscow, Brussels, and Washington.
Bryn Rosenfeld, a professor of government at Cornell University who studies post-communist politics and public opinion, says Hungary’s turn against the European Union may say less about its voters — and more about the political strategy of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Rosenfeld says: “Orbán is now a Euroskeptic standard-bearer and an important cudgel for the Trump administration against the European Union, with veto power over essential support for Ukraine. But Hungarian voters are not inherently anti-EU. In fact, in the years before Orbán took office, polls showed they were satisfied with their country’s EU integration.
“Hungarians’ antagonism towards Brussels followed, rather than preceded, Orbán’s attacks—which have helped him consolidate his own power domestically. Under different leadership, Hungarians are likely to return to a more supportive relationship with the EU.”
