We have sent two questions to many researchers in Central, Eastern and Balkan Europe about the impact of the war in Ukraine on their respective political landscapes. In this article, two Hungarian researchers responded and we publish their answers in their entirety.
The two questions were:
- What impact do you think the war in Ukraine is having on the political landscape in your country?
- What effect has this war had on perceptions of the European Union in your country, both among the general public and among the political elite?
Attila Ágh, Corvinus University
- What impact do you think the war in Ukraine is having on the political landscape in your country?
Ukraine has been blamed for everything.
The war in Ukraine combined with the future of the EU has recently been the main ideological and discursive battlefield between the Orbán regime and the democratic opposition. Both issues above have been in fact common artificial arguments for the protection shield of the regime in deep crisis and chaos that has elaborated a false narrative for both the basic failure of the EU strategy supporting Ukraine against the Russian invasion and for the deepening crisis of the EU acting as an empire and neglecting the sovereignty of its member states, especially Hungary. The declining Orbán regime has concocted an ideological self-defence mechanism summarised in the term of peace as opposed to war. The Orbán government has claimed to be the only peace protecting government in the EU, in fact it has been supporting the Russian aggression and criticised day by day the Ukrainian government for the self-defence of the country, as blaming the victim for the crisis and not the aggressor.
- What effect has this war had on perceptions of the European Union in your country, both among the general public and among the political elite?
In the Orbán vision the European Union is doomed to fail.
For the Orbán government in its relationship with the EU the main principle has been the “sovereignty” radically confronting with the Union’s integration. The Orbán government has regularly put pressure on the EU by vetoing many important common decisions, usually in 26 vs 1 proportions. Actually, it has violated not only the EU international activities, but even more so with the rule of law at home, therefore sovereignty means the claim of the authoritarian regime to get rid of the democratic EU regulations. In the last years the EU has responded with the frozen EU transfers to Hungary. The latest reaction of the Orbán regime has been the accusation of the Leyen Commission II by turning away the European resources from the member states to give them for the warfare in Ukraine. Therefore, it presents itself in general as supporter of peace and opposing to the war. In fact, at this point of its campaign against the war, the two main authoritarian features of the Orbán regime meet: the self-defence of its authoritarian regime at home and the support for the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Orbán has declared several times in more and more radical versions that the EU has been doomed to fail, and it will soon be decomposed.
Ilona Pálné Kovács, Institute of Regional Studies of the Centre for Regional and Economic Studies (KRTK).
- What impact do you think the war in Ukraine is having on the political landscape in your country?
The Hungarian government’s favourite instrument is to formulate messages for the voters about external fears, like in 2015 the migrant crisis, and for three years the war in Ukraine is the main danger. The emergency situations could provide arguments why did the government introduce the emergency legislation bypassing the parliament although the government has stable majority. The war is the main issue even in the election campaign, the government safes the people, the prime minister is our hero fighting with forces pro war and looking for space in between West and East under the slogan of sovereignty.
Since the new political actor (Tisza) emerged being much popular than the parliamentary opposition the government tries to use the war against the rival as well.
The whole political landscape is turbulent full of conflicts, and the war seems to be proper field of public discussion avoiding the hot public policy issues like poverty, bad public services put on the table by Tisza party.
Ukraine and the war are communicated not only as high risk, but high costs paid by „ the Hungarian people”. The new democratic miracle, the so-called National Consultation was launched in 2025 asking the people about the accelerated EU joining of Ukraine.
The government’s policy is penetrated by minority aspects as well blaming Kiev by ethnic discrimination. It is most likely that the war will be the main topic of the approaching parliamentary election campaign as well, selling the Hungarian government as the only actor in the EU who supports the peace, offering venue to the peace negotiation between Trump and Putin.
- What effect has this war had on perceptions of the European Union in your country, both among the general public and among the political elite?
The government has very ambivalent relations to the EU called “Brussels” and made the conflicts domestic political issue. Brussels is communicated as the main risk to our sovereignty: Brussels, freezing „our” money based on false arguments, endangering our energy safety etc. The Ukrainian war is one of the most often mentioned conflicts. Hungary is the only member state supporting the peace, Brussels feeds the war and spends a lot of our common budget.
It seems however that the Hungarian society remains pro-European and has more trust towards European institutions than the Hungarian government according to the Eurobarometer. This point is favourable for the opposition parties having members in the European Parliament. Even the EP is a battlefield between the government and the domestic opposition supported/attacked by the different fractions. Unfortunately, in the Hungarian political narrative the term of treason has been emerged showing that the relation to Europe is a line between patriots and enemies. The government uses drastic communication/propaganda against Brussels, giant posters on the streets with the faces of EU leaders and Zelensky contributing to spreading the spirit of “cold war”.