The European iteration of US political website Politico ranked Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán fourth among Europe’s “doers”, but the capsule about his achievements is short on praise and long on criticism.
In its “class of 2021” list, Politico ranks nine public figures each in three categories: doers, disrupters, and the dreamers which equals 27 picks, topping it with the overall most influential person in Europe to make it 28 in total. That last one is of course German Chancellor Merkel, in a class of her own within the class of 2021.
Politico, while acknowledging Merkel’s huge influence on European politics for the 16 years she has been leading Germany, is mostly critical of her lack of initiative.
“Nothing better reflects the state of European politics today than the fact that a lame duck is its standard-bearer,” Politico writes. “Inertia is her default status. Merkel, 66, doesn’t drive EU policy forward. She allows it to proceed when she withholds the veto.”
With regard to Orbán — fourth among the doers behind Italian PM Giuseppe Conte, European Medicines Agency Emer Cooke and ECB governor Christine Lagarde, — Politico sums up Orbán’s activities as “having arguably won the argument on migration, the Hungarian prime minister has been busy creating a model for ‘illiberal democracy’ while avoiding any real punishment from Brussels.”
The publication laments that Poland has blocked Hungary from losing its voting rights during past Article 7 procedures against the country but turns its attention to the topical issue of the moment, which is the Hungarian and Polish veto of the EU’s seven-year budget and coronavirus recovery fund. Politico points to the veto and hints that Hungary may not stay in the European Union much longer.
“The crisis-inducing impasse may finally motivate Western diplomats to figure out a workaround to bypass Orbán on a wide array of key decisions. That, then, could prompt the question: What’s the point of Hungary staying in the EU?” asks Politico.
The list of disrupters is led by Russian tech entrepreneur Pavel Durov, of Telegram app fame.
“Launched in 2013 to compete with WhatsApp and evade Kremlin snooping, Telegram has long been on European governments’ radar as a tool for terrorists’ plotting and propaganda. Lately, it has become increasingly popular for organizing mass movements in the West and its immediate backyard,” Politico writes.
Politico lists European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as the top dreamer.
“It’s hard to find an area of policy where the European Commission president hasn’t embraced an assertive stance — no matter how few tools she has at her disposal to actually enforce her ideas,” it says about von der Leyen.
