Democracy

Viktor Orbán scored a major “own goal” by banning Pride celebrations in Hungary, to summarize what happened in his political vocabulary, provoking Hungary’s biggest-ever Pride in Budapest, resulting in 200,000 participants and a strong sense of demanding political regime change in the country.

There will be — but it is unlikely to arise from the current so-called “left-wing” parties. The European Parliamentary elections have shown that the Democratic Coalition (DK) has not, after all, become the strongest force in the opposition — not even after taking the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) and Dialogue for Hungary (Párbeszéd) under its wing. They have all merely shrunk simultaneously. Has the political left collapsed? On the contrary: it may now have a real chance to be born.

With less than a year to go until the next Hungarian parliamentary elections, Viktor Orbán’s Government appears to have a weak hand in its communications battles with its new political opponent, Péter Magyar’s Tisza party. To cover up the challenges it faces, the administration has turned up the heat under the independent media, NGOs, and opposition parties, playing from the same old authoritarian playbook of threatening a free civil society.

The Hungarian Government is giving itself the power to deprive any company or organisation of its revenues on the grounds of protecting the country's sovereignty. The hysteria against foreign agents is becoming insane. The main enemies are Ukraine and the EU institutions.

In the past decade, multiple states around the world have signed up to pursue a feminist foreign policy (FFP). Some, like Sweden and more recently also the Netherlands, have already retracted these promises. In the face of the surge of far-right parties and politicians in Europe and in the US, what does the future hold for FFP? Is there potential for FFP in the V4 countries? What makes a foreign policy truly feminist? An international conference organized by the Prague office of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (HBS) in cooperation with the Association for International Affairs (AMO) on 25 March 2025 brought together policymakers, government representatives, academics, think-tank experts, and civil society organizations to discuss these issues.

In his annual state of the nation address at the end of February, “looking back from the cooling shade of the American electoral victory”, Hungary’s Prime Minister reinforced his ideological alignment with Donald Trump by announcing draconian measures against those whom he rhetorically frames as enemies of his patriotic, illiberal agenda – NGOs, the LGBTQ+ community, the opposition, and independent media – and doctrinally entrenched himself alongside Trump on Ukraine and against migrants. Viktor Orbán considers Trump “the only man who can save the Western world, and probably the human beings on the globe as well”. 

From further manipulation of the electoral system to outright annulment of results, there are many ways in which the Orbán regime could prevent the current opposition from winning. What is certain is that repression will intensify over the next year; the only question is how severe it will be.

After the Prime Minister's announcement banning the 2025 Pride parade, MPs of the governing majority swiftly passed constitutional amendments. These new laws ban assemblies that might breach the "LGBTQI Propaganda" Law, impose fines on participants, and allow police to use facial recognition technology to identify them. This amendment, set to take effect on 15 April 2025, violates the rights of LGBTQI people and their supporters, while also infringing on the privacy of all citizens by enabling mass surveillance and stoking fear among those who oppose the government's policies.