Slovak Premier Eduard Heger on Monday sent a text message to his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban to congratulate him on his victory in the general election. Is such a curt response to Orban’s victory just another example of Slovakia’s future relations with its neighbour?
Following the general election in Hungary, which took place on Sunday, April 3, Viktor Orban is set to remain in office for another four years. His Fidesz-KDNP Party Alliance, which has been in power since 2010, won the election and is on course to hold a two-thirds majority of seats in Parliament. According to political analysts, besides the now “usual” campaign topics, such as the threat of Brussels “dictatorship”, LGBT and immigration agenda, Viktor Orban was able to use the war in Ukraine to his advantage.
However, it is the war in Ukraine that has exposed the divergent attitudes among the Visegrad Four countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary) towards Moscow. Moreover, after the Hungarian elections, there are voices saying that this Central European political format should continue without Budapest. Some experts go so far as to say that the V4 virtually no longer exists. According to them, Viktor Orbán has long managed to secure the best of both worlds for his country – cheap energy from Russia, markets and funds from the European Union. Moreover, the theme of the fight against the European Union, which Hungary and Poland in particular have had in common, has now been overtaken by the attitude towards the war in Ukraine. However, according to Euractiv analyst Radovan Geist, the result of the Hungarian elections will not affect Visegrad’s functioning, as Viktor Orbán is still the same man.
“Already in the previous years, he has undermined the rule of law, concentrated power and misused the Visegrad format to put his policy through on the European scene. In the past this has often prevented any functional cooperation between the V4 countries on mutual topics, and this should continue also in the coming future.”
Jan Kovář from the Institute of International Relations in Prague expresses a similar opinion when he says that the elections just confirmed that Hungary for some time now has not been a free democracy. Its partner countries might find it difficult to reach agreement on common topics and might prefer not to be seen as members of the Visegrad Four pact.
Source: Jana Balková, RTVS
