THE FINANCIAL TIMES: … In the eyes of many critics, Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s conservative prime minister, is constructing an authoritarian state on the banks of the Danube. Furthermore, he is building it on rocky economic foundations: the country is heavily in debt and its economic policies are under fire from the EU and the International Monetary Fund. The risk of political and economic turmoil is very real.
The case against Orbán is set out with great passion in Hungary: Between Democracy and Authoritarianism. In Paul Lendvai’s view, Orbán is “a master tactician, a gifted populist, a radical and consummate opportunist, and a ruthless power politician who believes not in ideas but in maximising his power without any compunction, giving vent to Hungarian nationalism or tapping into fear and prejudice at a moment of crisis”. He calls Orbán’s Fidesz “a charismatic ‘Fuhrer’ party”. This is gloves-off political writing at its best.
Orbán came to prominence as a radical liberal student leader in the dying days of communism. But he soon realised that while the liberals in post-communist Europe had the best ideas, they had little support outside urban elites… (more)
