Central Europe: a new Right against anti-liberalism

Toy Jean-Baptiste Sastan *

Brussels welcomed him as head of state. Six commissioners, an international press conference, a meeting with the leader of the Conservative group in the European Parliament… The new leader of the Hungarian opposition, Peter Marki-Zai, has raised new hopes in European circles.

After twelve years of intense confrontation with the nationalist leader of Hungary, these circles are pleased to see the mayor of a small Hungarian town, with conservative and pro-European positions, finally reconcile the Hungarians with Europe. The 49-year-old Catholic with seven children won the opposition qualifiers, convincing him that he is the best to face Victor Orban.

Although his path to power is still long and uncertain, this engineer is already the symbol of a real wave in Central Europe. A new Right seems to be emerging in this area. It is pro-European, it is anti-corruption, it is religious, on social issues such as immigration it is conservative, but it is also ready to work with the Left.

This trend is particularly strong in the Visegrad Group (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia), which benefited financially from the EU to turn against it after the 2015 refugee crisis. On November 11, the populist Czech Prime Minister Andrei , who had campaigned with Orban against Brussels and immigrants, resigned following his defeat in the October parliamentary elections.

That election was won by university professor Petr Fiala, leader of the right-wing ODS party, which allied with four other parties. Their program envisions a return to a “Euro-Atlantic foreign policy, which will emphasize stable cooperation with democracies and the protection of human rights”. Parties may not be able to adopt the euro, but they see EU membership as “critical and beneficial”. If Fiala manages to form a government, it is certain that his discussions in the Visegrad group will be tense.

In Poland, the next parliamentary elections are scheduled for 2023. The return of Donald Tusk to the country has revived interest in the battle between his liberal party and the extreme conservatives of PiS. But the rest of the opposition is making moves to win a part of the vote of the non-urban areas, which will play a decisive role in the result.

Slovakia has finally shown the way, as is usually the case. In early 2020, a small conservative and pro-European party (OLaNo) came to power along with three other center-right parties and began the process of restoring the rule of law after many years of Mafia penetration at the highest political level. Slovakia has repeatedly distanced itself from Orban, showing that unity is less and less the rule in the V4 team.

The case of Slovakia also shows that turning the page on “anti-liberalism” is a long and chaotic process. Nationalism may be in crisis in central Europe, but it has not yet been defeated.

Jean-Baptiste Sastan is Le Monde’s correspondent in Vienna