Picula on Orbán's Fall: Vučić and Dodik Have Lost a Powerful Patron

(Patria) - Tonight on HRT, MEP Tonino Picula from the Socialists and Democrats group and rapporteur for Serbia, of the SDP, spoke about the consequences of Viktor Orbán's departure from power in Hungary for Croatia's eastern neighbour and the European political scene.

Picula believes that two key factors led to Viktor Orbán's electoral failure: a critical mass of public dissatisfaction and a clear alternative to his dominance.

- This time, Orbán's entire catalogue of accusations against Brussels, smears against the opposition, and reliance on a system rigged to be almost irremovable was not enough. In the test with the electorate, he received a plebiscitary message: you can no longer continue.

The voters decided by a two-thirds majority that they had had enough of living in an environment of endemic corruption, a collapsed economy, isolation within the European Union, and pandering to the Russian autocrat - Picula emphasised.

Commenting on Orbán's relationship with the European Union, he noted that Orbán turned his resistance to the EU into an important mechanism for staying in power.

- Not only did he block joint decisions and find a daily alibi in opposing Brussels for dismantling democratic standards in Hungary, but he also wanted to inspire other anti-European movements within the EU to act similarly - Picula said.

He believes Orbán never actually planned to take Hungary out of the European Union because he saw how traumatic that was for Great Britain after Brexit, but rather wanted to gradually strengthen enough to transform the EU from within.

- Let's not forget, after the last European elections, he even managed to form a special political group in the European Parliament. With Orbán's departure, the European Union has not solved all its problems, but it seems to me that without him, it can solve them more easily - Picula stressed.

Reflecting on the relationship Orbán cultivated with authoritarian leaders in the Balkans, such as Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and the former President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, Picula assessed that they have now lost a powerful patron.

- Orbán's Hungary was, for Serbia under Vučić's leadership, the EU member state that systematically shielded all destructive policies of Belgrade and prevented the sanctioning of the Belgrade regime in European institutions - Picula stated.

He notes that the influence and importance Orbán had for Vučić can be clearly read from the front pages of tabloids in Serbia, which represent "the face of the regime."

- These days, they are trying hard to explain how the Hungarian scenario can never be repeated in Serbia. That reminds me of someone whistling in the dark out of fear - Picula said.

Despite this, he assessed that in countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, there is a "weakness of the democratic opposition and civic resistance," and asserted that Vučić and Dodik are not even interested in the path to the EU.

- Vučić feigns interest only protocol-wise, solely because of the money that has been coming to him from Brussels all this time, no matter what he did.

There are all reasons to finally change not only the European Union's narrative towards Vučić's Serbia, but what is much more important: the policy.

The only language he understands is the language of financial pressure. He is not worried about closing negotiation chapters; he is worried about closing the financial tap - Picula concluded.