Hungary’s government has been at odds with the EU ever since Viktor Orbán and his party, Fidesz, reclaimed power in 2010. But by all accounts, Hungary has largely benefited from being part of the European project. Why, then, has the prime minister continued his 16-year crusade of attacking and discrediting the EU, while overtly arguing for reversing the integration process?
The answer is simpler than it seems. Since 2010, Orbán has employed a unique ‘playbook’ that secured his unprecedented longevity. He built a legal-political system designed to entrench power structures and processes that benefited him and his circle – but no one else. The fight with the EU was inherent in consolidating the regime, as ‘Brussels’ was presented to voters as an enemy of progress and sovereignty, from which only Orbán could protect.
On the eve of the parliamentary elections in Hungary, this CEPS Explainer attempts to explain the whys of the past 16 years, with a combatant, hardline Eurosceptic strongman on one side and a hesitant, weakened integration fighting on multiple fronts on the other.
