European Contexts Series
When: 24 February 2022, 9:00-10:30CET
Where: Concordia Cloud
Registration is mandatory. Registered participants will receive a Zoom link one day before the event. Registration deadline: 23 February 2022, at 18:00CET
Register now.
Concept and Introduction
Zsuzsanna Szelényi, former MP and foreign policy specialist. Currently she conducts research at the Central European University’s Democracy Institute, focusing on polarization and populism as a threat on democracy in the context of the future of the European Union. Europe’s Futures Alumna.
Speakers:
Internal Politics
Dániel Mikecz, political scientist, Research Fellow at the Institute of Political Science at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Senior Research Fellow at the Budapest-based political think-tank, Republikon Institute. Based in Budapest.
Does the Opposition have Access to Media?
Ágnes Urbán, economist and media expert, associate Professor and Head of the Department of Infocommunication at Corvinus University Budapest. Based in Budapest.
Why do Hungarian Elections matter to Europe?
Botond Feledy, foreign affairs specialist, senior non-resident fellow at the Centre of Euro-Atlantic Integration and Development (CEID). His research focuses on EU-US relations, cyber security and influence operations in Central Europe. Based in Brussels.
Moderation
Mirjana Tomić, fjum/Presseclub Concordia and Ivan Vejvoda, acting Rector of Institute for Human Sciences (IWM)
Background
Hungary holds parliamentary elections on 3 April 2022. For the first time, Victor Orban seems to face a serious competitor: a coalition of diverse parties. The man who transformed Hungary and embodies the concept of illiberal democracy may not be easy to defeat. Even if he is defeated, would the transition of power be smooth? Defying Brussels as well as other democratic rules, Orban started his campaign on 13 February, by promising price caps, and announcing that a possible war in Ukraine could transform Hungary.
What is Orban’s election strategy and narrative? What is the opposition’s strategy and narrative? Does it suffice to win the elections to defeat orbanism? What are the scenarios if he does not win? Would he admit a defeat? Should Orban remain, what would be his next steps?
If Orban controls most media, how can the opposition communicate with citizens? Who finances the opposition media channels?
Should these elections matter to Europe? Why?
The background talk will address these and other questions as well as set the context for journalists, academics and analysts who follow political developments in Hungary.
Target Groups
Austrian and international journalists, thinktank analysts, and academics.
Number of participants: Maximum: 70
Additional Information
Mirjana Tomic, email: Mirjana.tomic@fjum-wien.at, Cell: +43 676 365 26 9