The little game of the “best enemies” of Emmanuel Macron and Viktor Orbán | Slate.fr – Slate.fr

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This Monday, December 13, like Éric Zemmour at the end of September and Marine Le Pen at the end of October, Emmanuel Macron arrives in Budapest to meet Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. But not only. According to the official program, the head of state will hold a summit with the leaders of the countries of the Visegrád group (Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland), will discuss with several representatives of the Magyar opposition parties and honor the memory of the committed philosopher Ágnes Heller, which he had received in May 2019. Since Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007, this is the first visit of a French president to Hungary.

This trip ends the tour of the twenty-six other European capitals promised by Emmanuel Macron under his five-year term and prepares the six months of the French presidency of the EU starting on 1^er next january. During the race for the continental elections in May 2019, Macron and Orbán ducked into each other’s western style. In early July 2018, the French president estimated that “The real frontier of Europe” was the one separating the “progressive” from “Nationalists” of Orbán’s caliber. Three weeks later, the Hungarian told the German daily Bild not wanting a Europe “Under French leadership”.

Diplomatic gestures

On August 28, 2018, the Italian populist Matteo Salvini and his Magyar comrade called Emmanuel Macron “Leader of the pro-immigration camp”. The day before, the French president tackled the “Claimed nationalism” of Hungary at the conference of ambassadors in Paris. On October 26, during a citizens’ consultation in Bratislava, the Slovak capital, Macron exhausted the “Mad spirits” Hungarian and Polish leaders, who “Lie to their people”. Today, Emmanuel Macron and Viktor Orbán continue to exploit their differences in order to promote their re-election next spring.

“The debates are real, but Macron and Orbán are used for domestic reasons. As they are in the middle of the countryside, the speech “best enemies” serves them all the more. By welcoming Macron, Orbán shows his European importance and proves he is not isolated, analyzes political scientist Eszter Petronella Soós, specialist in French affairs. And then, Emmanuel Macron is not only coming for Orbán. So he can sell this trip more easily at his liberal electorate, while sending a message to the sovereignists after the arrivals of Zemmour and Le Pen. ”

In early 2019, the invectives of yesteryear gave way to diplomatic gestures, a sign of the rapprochement between the two countries. On January 28, during a reception at the Budapest residence of the French Embassy, ​​the Secretary of State for Families and Youth in the Orbán government, Katalin Novák, received the Legion of Honor from the hands of General Benoît Puga, dispatched from Paris especially for the occasion. A figure of conservatism in Hungary, the forty-something, mastering the language of Molière, obtained the prestigious decoration for her work in favor of “Promotion of Franco-Hungarian relations”.

At the end of March, Ambassador Pascale Andréani attended a Budapest colloquium on immigration bringing together pundits of the neo-conservative international. Among the speakers: ministers of the Orbán government, the Hungarian historian nostalgic for the interwar period Mária Schmidt, representatives of American think tanks very to the right, the Islamophobic pen Douglas Murray (adviser to Brazilian President Bolsonaro), Nicolas Sarkozy, and, already, Éric Zemmour in his capacity as columnist. The presence of the diplomat gave credit to the “Cultural struggle” reactionary driven in Hungary.

“Monarchs”

In mid-July 2019, Ursula von der Leyen took control of the European Commission thanks to an ad hoc Orbán-Macron pact. On October 11, Emmanuel Macron welcomed his “Dear Viktor” on the forecourt of the Élysée, two days before the Hungarian municipal elections. As a prelude to a lunch that dragged on, the Head of State advocated European unity and saluted the importance of the Visegrád group. Smiling, Orbán mentioned the famous poem “Autumn has passed through Paris” Endre Ady learned by all Magyar schoolchildren, then insisted on common positions around security and border protection.

“Orbán and Macron rule on the basis of a simple orthodoxy that everyone must comply with. They like to behave like monarchs, treating voters like subjects and accepting few restrictions on their personal plans, comments Swedish economist Fredrik Erixon in the British magazine The Spectator. AT the image of Fidesz and Orbán, having turned their backs on their youthful liberalism, there is not much liberalism left in Macron. Orbán and Macron like to appear as opponents, but often end up on the same side in Brussels. “

Nevertheless, a fault line persists on the carbon adjustment mechanism at borders, taxation at 15% of the profits of multinationals, ratified lip service by Hungary at the end of last October, as well as the question of the rule of law, perennial Magyaro-French bone of contention. Tensions resurfaced on June 24 on the sidelines of a European electricity summit in Brussels. Seventeen out of twenty-seven EU Member States, including France, vilified recent Hungarian legislation punishing the “promotion” and the “representation” homosexuality and transidentity.

Desire for glory

Still, France, fourth investor in Hungary, has a vast network of local companies such as EDF, Veolia, Auchan, Decathlon, Michelin, Bonduelle, Danone, Groupama, AXA, Lafarge, Sanofi and Servier. In May 2017, Areva won a contract to modernize the reactor protection systems at the Paks nuclear power plant, the only Hungarian atomic site. In 2017 and 2018, JCDecaux displayed the campaigns anti-Soros and anti-migrant executive. The Magyar Air Force Fleet includes Airbus transport planes and helicopters, Falcon transport planes, Eurocopter training helicopters and Mistral anti-aircraft missiles. In the first quarter of 2022, Hungarian soldiers will join the European armed force in the Sahel, with a large hexagonal contingent.

For journalist Bálint Ablonczy, “France and Hungary fought against the amputation of the envelope of the common agricultural policy and for the reinforcement of that of Defense during the budgetary negotiations concerning the cycle 2021-2027. According to Macron, the increase in the defense budget embodies the precondition of European strategic sovereignty that he constantly evokes. On this ground, Orbán turns out to be an unexpected ally, who, as a sovereignist, supports the oldest dream of federalists wishing to go beyond nation-states: the European army. “

In April, Macron and Orbán will face the polls at the same time. One wants to re-stack to turn the “yellow vests” page and Covid, the other is seeking a fourth consecutive term against a united opposition around the Christian-technocrat Péter Márki-Zay. The Frenchman intends to dominate post-Brexit Europe and Merkel. The Hungarian dreams of a large Eurosceptic coalition in Brussels whose pillars would be his Fidesz party, the Polish PiS, the Italian Lega, the RN and the Spanish team Vox. If there is indeed an identical characteristic in the two men, it is undoubtedly the desire for glory.