Viktor, enjoyer of history, illiberal if necessary, disciplined provocateur
(B2) By claiming to be the cantor of illiberalism, Viktor Orban is not only positioning himself on the European political field, he is resurrecting a national model calling on national references.
If the current Hungarian Prime Minister intends to be re-elected by surfing on a national conservative wave (Read also: Elections in Hungary. Viktor Orban wins a new mandate), it is not without reason. It resonates in the heads of every Hungarian citizen certain national reminiscences.
Magyarization versus liberalism
At the time of Austria-Hungary, at the end of the XNUMXth century, the Habsburgs wanted to display a liberal model, an enlightened monarchy. The Hungarian parties are holding back with four irons in the face of a liberalism which seems to threaten their existence. They thus refuse the universal suffrage, proposed by Vienna, which threatens to drown them in the other minorities of the Kingdom (the Hungarians form only hardly more of the majority of the population). They claim the Magyarization of society. In particular, they want a 'Magyarized' army with the Hungarian language imposed in the ranks. They claim to be 'nationalists', even separatists, Hungarian autonomy vis-à-vis Vienna. What is called the Compromise which gives Hungary an autonomous government, with the exception of three ministries (Foreign Affairs, War and Finance) which remain common. This personal Union being personified in the person of the Emperor of Austria (François-Joseph) who is also King of Hungary.
surfing history
By displaying himself as “illiberal”, the current Hungarian Prime Minister thus echoes feelings from Hungarian history. By opposing Muslim immigration, he is using the natural springboard of the country's inhabitants against the former Turkish occupier. By ostensibly opposing the European Union, he needs no words to indicate that the Union criticized today could just as well be that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire as of the Soviet Union.
The call for a traditional political fabric
In a Hungary that has become relatively impoverished over the years (2), the leader of Fidesz positions himself in the historical lineage of the peasant party and the party of small landowners who, historically, have made up the fabric of Hungarian political life . Hence the right-wing of the discourse. If we want to understand Viktor Orban's game a little, we must take this metaphorical fact into account.
Europe used as a convenient foil
Viktor Orban knowingly uses the Union as a foil, an opponent that is all the easier because he will allow himself to be done without flinching or will react in a disorderly fashion. A small statement - on migrants, NGOs, Georges Soros... - and he is sure to have reactions that allow him to claim as the champion of 'Magyaritude' in the face of foreigners or migrants, of the nation against the Europeans. Hence these regular provocations vis-à-vis European power which are so many appeals from the foot of history. The leader is wisely careful not to cross too many red lines. He brushes the line, overtakes it a little, but despite all the ranting, comes back into line very quickly. It is in fact more docile than it looks (European funds oblige in particular).
Anticipation of the turn of the European right
Without sharing the views of the Hungarian leader, it must however be recognized that he laid down some questionable principles, which have now been taken up by others: the closing of the doors to migrants, the tightening of controls at the external borders ( 1), the re-establishment of controls at the internal borders of the Schengen area. Last principle taken up today by both Austria and France. Within the European People's Party, it is now rather the 'Orban' doctrine that has the wind in its sails than the 'Merkel' doctrine of the summer of 2015. Even at the economic level, by imposing a tax on SMS or telephone text messages , transactions by credit card, on sodas and hamburgers, or on private energy suppliers, by providing for a tax on internet suppliers, he has certainly fired all wood to find new resources. It provoked the ire of the Commission, which cried out against the discrimination of large European companies. But he created a certain model, indisputable: the 'Orban' model.
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
(1) Despite its brutal nature, the establishment of a physical border — barbed wire and fence — on the border between Hungary and Serbia is nothing less than compliance with the Schengen prescriptions that Budapest had left unapplied for reasons historical. On the other side of the border is Vojvodina, where a strong Hungarian minority lived and still lives. Keeping the border open was a way of recognizing that the link between these populations 'outside the walls' since the Treaty of Trianon and the mother country was not broken.
(2) Relative impoverishment. When you visit Budapest, you are struck by a city that has remained unchanged to itself. In 30 years, unlike its neighbours, from Warsaw to Ljubljana via Prague or Bratislava, these cities have been transformed, regaining a certain luster and a certain modernity. Budapest, which before 1989 was a sort of city of light in an ocean of greyness, has gone down the drain.
