'He knew very well how to grab power, already in 1993'
Little preview of my upcoming book #TaintedDemocracy . Check out the podcast of The New Statesman where I talk about Orbán Viktor's long history of using nationalism and my own experiences with the transformation of Fidesz.

.Zsuzsanna Szelenyi: Autocrats today are elected democratically.

Peaceful transition of political elites then becomes less and less possible.

We are witnesses to a growing network of illiberal regimes.

#BSC2022

Excellent panel on Illiberals in the EU and in the Western Balkans Una Hajdari Milica Delević Zsuzsanna Szelenyi Selim Koru and Natacha Kazatchkine Belgrade Security Conference BCBP

What about this ideological camaraderie today?? In 2018 @ViktorOrbán received #SteveBannon in his office, who gave a speech for $20k at a Hun government-sponsored conference.

Human chain of student, supporting their teachers' strike today in #Budapest . ❤️

Update from Visegrad Insight in Paris on War and the Future of Europe Zsuzsanna Szelenyi:
- apetite to understand CEE huge: full house public event w/ Euro Créative 🇪🇺. Worry- this comes too late Romain LE QUINIOU
- underinvested EPCommunity can produce similar backlash to strat autonomy

Deux beaux événements à Paris 🇫🇷 avec Visegrad Insight ! Débats intéressants sur l’impact de la guerre sur le futur de l’Europe 🇪🇺 avec des étudiants, parlementaires et collaborateurs parlementaires en compagnie de Zsuzsanna Szelenyi Wojciech Przybylski, Anastasiya Shapochkina et Frédéric Petit 🇺🇦 !

Shame on Orbán

Read Thorsten Benner's sober analysis of what Olaf #Scholz got wrong in #Ukraine -and what he got right.
The sad conclusion: 'Mr. Scholz is unlikely to be able to bring about a turning-point for Germany’s image in central and eastern Europe any time soon'
economist.com/by-invitation/…

#Russia bans its own culture and history. Today is Andrey Sakharov’s 101st birthday. His monument was removed from Moscow’s park “Muzeon”. Lectures about him were also canceled at Moscow State University.

On the occasion of #CPAC hosted by #Orban in Budapest here is my article telling the #Hungary story: newrepublic.com/amp/article/16…

Very cool company at IWM conference on how the #UkraineRussiaWar changes #Europe

Ivan Vejvoda and Boris Marte open #TimeToDecide in #wien ⁦IWM⁩ ⁦ERSTE Foundation⁩

CEU Democracy Leadership Academy is waiting for application of young and mid-career keaders from politics and civil society from #CzechRepublic #Croatia #Hungary #Poland #Slovenia #Slovakia until 20 May 2022 Forward this call to young talents! youtu.be/NbQfbLEsreA