Hungarian Politics

[Tamas]

Antal "Goebbels" Rogán, Orbán's most important lieutenant gets on US sanctions list:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/07/sanctions-antal-rogan-hungarian-minister-corruption

[Tamas]

It's getting to the point where I genuinely have no idea whether Orban is still just caught in his ever-escalating bullishitting spiral or at this stage now actually believes the imaginary world he has created for his followers.

On some event of a pro-government "think thank" he was saying things like "The second phase of the operation to conquer Brussels is now officially on" (the first phase was the EU election, btw) and "in a few hours [after Trump's inaguration] even the sun will shine differently on Brussels". "Big patriotic faction in the EU parliament, different President in the US, the big offensive can begin"

[HVC]

There only one way the EU can react... give Hungary even more money

[Sheilbh]

He's right, isn't he? So far they can't work together mainly because Le Pen and Meloni hate each other. But the two far/radical right groups in the European parliament are the third and fourth largest groups. Collectively they're ahead of the social democrats.

VdL went for a right/left/liberal coalition in the Parliament (sacrificing the Greens) and there are still majorities that can exclude the far and radical right. But they're narrow and VdL had considered bringing Meloni's group in. It is increasingly likely that in the next 5-10 years they will need to be brought into European politics, in the way the Greens were in the 2000s and 2010s.

I'd add that Meloni's party already have one of the six Vice-Presidents of the Commission (in charge of cohesion policy - so spending on poorer regions of Europe). He's admittedly from the traditional right in Italy (Christian Democrat to Berlusconi to Meloni) rather than the post-fascist right, but they'll be exercising power - most likely spending power over regional cohesion funds (not a bad posting and one that Italy will obviously have a particular interest in).

I think the emergence of a far/radical right European Union is the most likely scenario at the minute particularly if Le Pen wins in 2027 and elsewhere the mainstream right (still the traditional political family holding best maintaining their position) think the answer is more civilisationism, more Fortress Europe, less European Green Deal etc.

Orban is winning at the European level.

Edit: e.g. an extreme example but Meloni at the weekend - "Rome should be the capital of the European Union, because the capital of the European Union cannot be the most comfortable place to set up offices, but the place that represents its millennial identity." We're transitioning from a purely Eurosceptic nationalist far and radical right to an increasingly European (even just in cross-border political cooperation), identarian right.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Rome can have it. Should reduce Brussels back to the provincial shithole it is

[Duque de Bragança]

Edit: e.g. an extreme example but Meloni at the weekend - "Rome should be the capital of the European Union, because the capital of the European Union cannot be the most comfortable place to set up offices, but the place that represents its millennial identity." We're transitioning from a purely Eurosceptic nationalist far and radical right to an increasingly European (even just in cross-border political cooperation), identarian right.

New Roman Empire?