A Hungarian think tank closely linked to autocratic leader Viktor Orbán has been accused of breaking EU lobbying guidelines by failing to declare its funding, DeSmog can report. MCC Brussels has failed to disclose financial figures and funding sources despite lobbying within the EU since 2022, the advocacy organisation Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) states in […]
While I cannot see any outright solution for our collective Orbán problem, I can definitely say it’s a great learning experience in adjusting requirements for newcomers.
We need to attach joining a common public prosecution to list. Something with teeth, that only autocrats need fret (I have no clue what and how, though).
I whole-heartedly agree. I am definitely biased on the matter, but I feel the whole separation direction is antagonistic to the EU cause. Like right now Orbán is definitely antagonistic and causing disruption to the common goal, but if we separate Hungary from the EU, we take away Orbán’s tight-rope act and the problem only further festers (albeit, outside the EU).
There is definitely an argument to be had against this, as the EU has acted as a valve for people who were fed up enough. So maybe we can make a pressure cooker, but for some reason I doubt the government will be the first casualty if that happens.
Yeah it’s a difficult situation and I might have been a bit populist in my blatant ‘throw them out’ rethoric. It does feel a bit hopeless sometimes though. I am so glad Poland got out of the PIS stranglehold, though. It’s hard to see former Eastern bloc states somehow succumbing to Russian interference.
The slowness of action is both Europes greatest asset as its fundemental weakness. It’s relatively shielded from short lived populism, but it can’t really react well to when the democracy rots through.
But thanks for this interaction and for justly calling for more nuance. It’s not a great time with old creull autocrats seizing the reigns all over.