PARIS: Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s defeat in Hungary is a blow to global nationalists and signals waning allure of the Trumpism movement in Europe, but the vote result should not be seen as a turning tide for right-wing populism.
For years populist leaders had drawn inspiration from the self-styled “illiberal” politician who on Sunday lost to political newcomer Peter Magyar in a bitterly fought legislative election.
A thorn in the side of the European Union establishment, Orban ruled Hungary for 16 years and cultivated ties with Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party. JD Vance travelled to Budapest last week to campaign alongside Orban, but even support from the US vice president was not enough to secure victory for Washington’s Hungarian ally.
“The political space for MAGA to play on the continent is shrinking — and I suspect the RN in France and other far right parties will now start actively distancing themselves from the Trump administration,” Mujtaba Rahman, Europe director at risk analysis firm Eurasia Group, told AFP.
Sebastien Maillard, of the Jacques Delors Institute in Paris, said the result raised new questions about whether closeness to Trump had become a political liability, after the US leader threatened to seize Greenland and impose tariffs against European allies who opposed the plan.
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