Orban Out: The Impact on European Politics, Ukraine, and Democracy

On April 12, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban conceded defeat in the country’s general elections, which ousted his party Fidesz and ended his rule of 16 years. The election was widely seen as a referendum on Orban’s self-described “illiberal democracy,” and his loss is a blow to the global nationalist movement promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump. Peter Magyar, a former ally of Orban and the founder of Tisza, the main opposition party, will take over as prime minister once the new parliament convenes. The defeat is striking not just because Orban held power for so long but because of just how rigged the Hungarian system was in his favor. Over 16 years, Orban’s party tilted the electoral system to its advantage, stacked the judicial system and independent agencies, and took control of most news media. Magyar and his party’s message focused on economic dissatisfaction and anticorruption, which resonated with voters and prompted record turnout. And Magyar’s Tisza party win has broader implications for Europe. In the short term, without Orban advocating for the Kremlin’s interests, blocking European assistance to Ukraine, and watering down sanctions against Russia, change in Hungary will likely yield positive results for Ukraine. To discuss all of this and more, Brussels Sprouts is excited to welcome Rosa Balfour and Dan Kelemen to this week’s edition. Rosa Balfour is the director of Carnegie Europe. R. Daniel Kelemen is the McCourt Chair at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(100)

Ukraine's Command Shake-Up: Fedorov Out, Drapatyi In

On July 15th, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed now–former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, one of the architects of Ukraine’s technological transformation on the battlefield. His ab...

24 Jul 52min

Forecasting the Future of the Axis of Upheaval: The View from Moscow

Today’s episode of Brussels Sprouts comes from a virtual panel discussion that the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) held on July 14 to mark the release of a report titled Forecasting the Futu...

17 Jul 1h 27min

Europe Stepping Up and the United States Stepping Back

This week, the Allies met for the NATO summit in Ankara, Türkiye, in what was billed as a summit of low expectations. President Donald Trump once again created headlines with public comments about Gre...

10 Jul 51min

Prospects for Ukraine and a Look Ahead to Ankara

The past month has featured a series of major transatlantic gatherings that together tell an important story about where the alliance is headed. At the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in Sweden, allies...

26 Jun 50min

Getting the Brits Ready to Fight

On June 22, United Kingdom (UK) prime minister Keir Starmer announced that he would resign as leader of the Labour Party and leave the premiership. Starmer had faced mounting pressure to hand the posi...

22 Jun 56min

Brussels Sprouts Live: Four Ambassadors Reimagine the Transatlantic Relationship

Today's episode comes from the CNAS Annual Conference held last week in Washington, D.C. The theme of this year's conference was “New Rules,” and nowhere is that more evident than in the transatlantic...

17 Jun 25min

U.S. Posture Changes and the Future of European Defense Planning

Over the last several weeks, European allies have been trying to interpret a steady stream of signals from Washington about the future of the U.S. military role in Europe, discussions we've covered on...

5 Jun 50min

Window of Opportunity? Deterrence and Moscow’s Calculus

In the last episode of Brussels Sprouts, we looked at the dizzying series of U.S. announcements about America’s military posture in Europe. Since then, new reporting has emerged. The Wall Street Journ...

29 Mai 54min