Hungarian election outcome, which brought relief to Europe, started in Serbia and Republika Srpska an avalanche of questions about what the fall of Viktor Orban could mean for Serbs in the region, the Slovenian newspaper Delo writes today.
More than Serbs in general, that question worries the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić and the former leader of the Serbs in BiH, Milorad Dodik, while the Serbs are interested in what they could learn from Hungary and who could be their Peter the Hungarian, according to Delo.
In addition to concern for the political fate of its elite, the departure of Orbán caused fear in Serbia of possible problems in the supply of energy from Hungary, which should be less favorable to Russia under the Hungarians.
This particularly brought to the fore the question of how the change of government in Budapest could complicate the already agreed sale of the majority Russian share in the Serbian Oil Industry to the Hungarian MOL, which was a condition of the US administration for the lifting of sanctions on the largest energy company in the region.
Photo: AP Photo/Darko BandicCelebration of the victory of Tisa in Budaimpest
There is also concern in the Republic of Srpska
In the days after Orban's defeat, people in Republika Srpska were most worried about the fate of funding from the Hungarian Progresus fund, which, according to Orban and Dodik's agreement, paid out grants and subsidies to farmers and small entrepreneurs for the purchase of equipment and machinery from Hungarian manufacturers.
Slovenački list states that the move in Hungary hints at the continuation of the reduction of Europe's energy dependence on Russia, "which, besides the Slovaks, bothers the Serbs the least."
In support of Serbia's resistance to Brussels' demands to align its foreign policy with Europe's, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke out this week, criticizing Serbia's European conditionality and repeating that Vučić will not accept "anti-Russian" conditions for EU membership.
Lavrov reminded that Serbia will not join the Union if it would endanger relations with Russia, and that the accession process could only continue with the recognition of Kosovo's independence and harmonization with sanctions against Russia, which, in his opinion, would make Serbia a buffer zone in the fight against Russia.
Photo: Tanjug / Rade PrelićAlkeksandar Vučić and Milorad Dodik
The victory of the Hungarians caused nervousness in the Serbian government
The work quotes foreign policy analyst Boško Jakšić, who assessed that the defeat of Orban, despite the support of Donald Trump, brings great nervousness to the Serbian ruling structures, because it shows how easily power is lost after decades of authoritarian rule and with the support of the most powerful country in the world. Fearing war, he says, was the predictable response of Serbian leaders.
The day after Hungary's victory, Dodik wrote on the X network that Republika Srpska is threatened by the "wartime alliance of Croatia, Albania and self-proclaimed Kosovo", while Vučić has been warning for a long time about defense agreements between NATO members and Kosovo as a threat to the Serbian people.
Jakšić believes that the Serbian authorities are more concerned about the Hungarian announcement that they will investigate all the controversial affairs of the previous government in the region, including the financing of gatherings like CPAC, which were attended by Orban, Dodik, Vučić and Janez Janša, rather than the security of the people.
For autocrats in the region, the key message of the Hungarian elections is that hard work on the ground leads to victory, while movements without a clear leader in personalized political systems have no chance, so the Serbian opposition will have to find a common leader, the Slovenian daily concludes.
Source: FoNet / Delo
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