Hungary’s Ambivalent Discourse Around Its Geopolitical Positioning

By adopting a communicative approach, this contribution aims to reveal the ambivalent politics of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in his geopolitical positioning. We outline three main discourse strategies. First, the relationship with the EU is dramatised by the Hungarian government which presents it as a permanent conflict. Second, Hungary’s Euroregional influence is based on several levers, particularly the strategic alliance of the Visegrad Group and neighbourhood policy. The latter is mainly oriented towards the cross-border Hungarian diasporas, which are tightly integrated into the Prime Minister’s political project of unifying the nation. Finally, the rapprochement with autocratic powers such as China, Türkiye and Russia through the establishment of bilateral relations and economic cooperation, serves to build strategic alliances and consolidate Orbán’s leadership on a global level, albeit at the cost of Hungary’s isolation in the European space, especially against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.