Jacob Mikanowski: prediction

Transcript context

…And you think it’s broadly compatible with Hungary just staying in the EU: people looking a bit the other way on both sides, but it can just continue? Or not? I think it’s amazing it’s gotten to this point. And the EU has abetted him, effectively. EU funds, which are hugely transformational in Hungary: if you drive around the Hungarian countryside, it’s kind of annoying because every 500 meters, it feels like, you come to a roundabout under construction, pointlessly. And that’s all EU money, and it’s all under the control of companies that — construction firms essentially act as extensions of Fidesz and Orbán’s power. They control, as a party, this tap of money, and that helps solidify their power. The EU effectively helps fund their dominance as a political movement, as a political party. To me, it’s strange that it’s gotten to the point that it’s gotten, but unless there’s a big movement in Hungarian society, which has tended to be pretty quiescent, I don’t know how the EU would really — or why the EU would decisively step in. The things that have gotten people really out in the streets in Hungary: one of the big ones was when internet prices were going to go up, and they backed down. He tends to back down when there’s a big protest. He does respond to that signal, but they keep the temperature pretty low in Hungary. Why are so many Hungarians so concerned with Trianon, the loss of territory? Who cares? Why should they care? What are they hoping to get?…

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