Edgar Chol
In the area of Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), two countries routinely stand out: while France seems to almost always get its way and has been outvoted the least, Hungary has been responsible for 60 per cent of individual vetoes, threats of vetoes or delays in CFSP-related votes between mid-2016 and 2022. Both Macron and Orbán view themselves as strong European leaders, and make grandiose claims about the essence and future of Europe. But are their visions of Europe the same? And are they even compatible?
Orbán: I am Europe
Viktor Orbán justifies his populist and illiberal ideology by portraying liberal values as a threat to Hungary’s identity, undermining national unity and giving the country up to external control. To protect the Hungarian identity from his perceived danger of liberalism, he promotes traditional, Christian, ‘illiberal’ values enhancing a “family-based society”. Deliberately rejecting LGBTQ+ values, the Prime Minister depicts his country as a victim of “progressives trying to separate Western civilization from its Christian roots” and positions himself as the providential leader to lead a necessary resistance.
For Orbán, “Hungary has been a member of the family of Europe’s Christian peoples for a thousand years”. He embraces a Western Christian heritage for his country, making Hungary part of “the West”. The Prime Minister also criticises the Brussels and Washington mentality, which he perceives as “post-Western” (i.e. progressive), endangering the essence of traditional values. “The horrors of Nazism and Communism happened because some Western states in continental Europe abandoned their Christian values. And today’s progressives are planning to do the same”. Orbán instils the fear of foreign domination by emphasising Hungary’s traumatic past.
Hungary cannot go back to its Communist past, but doesn’t want a future dominated by Brussels either. In this context, Mr Orbán created his own niche: rather than advocating for a Hungexit, his political party Fidesz pursues a strategy of ‘taking back control’. It engages in EU democratic processes to safeguard the Hungarian identity, pushing for limited EU activity, greater national autonomy, and a shift in EU priorities towards internal security and immigration. Orbán strengthens international ties with far-right party chiefs like Marine Le Pen (France) and Matteo Salvini (Italy) to enhance Hungary’s global standing.
Macron: I am Europe
In contrast, Macron constantly puts Europe at the core of his agenda, evidenced by the choice of playing the EU anthem to celebrate his re-election (2022). Policy objectives interlink French and wider European interests: “We are transforming our country, but we are doing so with a European ambition”, “it is in France and Europe’s interest” (2017). Not only are national reforms taking a European scale, but so are the values inherited from the historic myth of the French Revolution (1789) such as ‘independent justice’, ‘media independence’ or ‘rule of law’. Talking about “our Europe”, “our common project”, “our model”, he sees the EU as an extension of French politics: France is Europe and Europe is France.
Asserting that France and Europe are one, Macron emphasises the need for “fraternity” and distance from the danger created by the ‘trap of populism and the extremes’. He condemns the “direction towards national withdrawal”. Mr Macron places himself as a rational European leader facing the irrationality of nationalism: for him, “illiberal regimes’ prosperity” vehiculates the “great fears” in our society, endangering the rule of law. My research also revealed a strong desire for a united, stronger Europe which will guarantee French interests in the political area, making the EU a strategic and privileged platform to preserve its position in the world order.
What does it mean to be European?
Both Viktor Orbán and Emmanuel Macron make strong claims about their European identity. Both leaders claim that it is authentic and essential for the wider relevance of the European Union. However, the political speeches I analysed clearly showed that Macron and Orbán don’t mean the same things when they speak of ‘Europeanness’.
The French discourse focused mainly on the allegedly universal legacy of the 1789 French Revolution and the humanist liberal values, which were instrumental for the origin and consolidation of the European project from the 1950s onwards. The Hungarian discourse emphasised historical and political victimhood, which has now been overcome with Hungary’s EU accession. But the highly coveted European status must now be protected from the threat of liberal values, according to Orbán, by re-embracing traditional family and Christian values.
Edgar Chol is a recent graduate of the B.Sc. Philosophy, Politics and Economics at UCL. This blog is an outcome of his undergraduate dissertation.
This blog was also published on the UCL PolSci Insights blog here.
Note: The views expressed in this post are those of the author, and not of the UCL European Institute, nor of UCL.
Featured Images: The Eiffel Tower by Anna Hunko via Unsplash and the Hungarian Parliament by Héctor Martínez viaUnsplash
