Brussels launches “Operation Dump Orbán”

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http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/1388001-brussels-launches-operation-dump-orban

It took a year and a half for Viktor Orbán to slip to the fringes of European politics. This poses a problem not just for ourselves, but for Western governments, who are unsure of how to handle their old ally.

Can the West force Viktor Orbán’s downfall? After all, they forced out Italy's Berlusconi and Greece’s Papandreou and replaced them with their right-hand men – technocrats from the world of finance, men more predictable and reasonable.

The stakes were high, as there were two eurozone countries as well as Brussels (in fact, Berlin and Paris) that feared the political and economic uncertainty would destabilise the entire area. And so they salvaged what could still be salvaged.

Too much pressure may backfire

But Hungary is not in the eurozone, and in the end it’s only the Austrian banks that are worried about us – quite worried indeed. Yesterday’s threat from the European Commission to launch infringement proceedings against us reveals that the government’s over-vigorous attempts to hold onto power and its unorthodox economic policy are causing serious concern in Brussels.