The prime minister’s appearance in Strasbourg to introduce the Hungarian rotating presidency of the European Union yielded mixed results. From the government’s perspective, it is likely that what we posit was the overall goal – i.e. appealing to the Fidesz base at home without causing a serious backlash in Strasbourg – was achieved. At the same time, the government did face very public and open criticism of both the media law and its activities in general. And Orbán’s response was not suitable for soothing critics and inspiring hope that the phase of conflict with his European counterparts is over.

Policy Solutions' analysis on Orbán's speech in the European Parliament can be downloaded from here.