In Soumen Kuvalehti on the far right in Austria + geopolitics - FPÖ did well in EP el, but not as well as expected - Will probably do worse in national el - Scandal-ridden FPÖ will struggle to find allies - even if in gov, FPÖ can’t push pro-Putin policies suomenkuvalehti.fi/politiikka-ja-…

Orban, Kickl and Babis try to form new far right alliance - if they find enough partners=> from 2 to 3 far right groups in EP - but ideologically heterogeneous: ANO much less authoritarian than Fidesz (and to some extent FPÖ) less pro-Russian as well reuters.com/world/europe/a…

Ytterhögern i Storbritannien har eggats på av falska uppgifter om gärningspersonen efter måndagens knivdåd. Desinformationen online påminner om Rysslands sätt att skapa splittring, enligt Magnus Ranstorp svd.se/a/rPr3Vw/varna…

Good by ⁦Lili Bayer⁩ on Hungary’s sinister sovereignty protection office, which main task seems to be to cast doubt on what remains of free media and NGOs in the country theguardian.com/world/article/…

Der Standard asks: what does Viktor Orbán want with a private university in Vienna (Central European University’s home since it was expelled for Hungary)? Close ties between Fidesz and FPÖ of course, but also ÖVP derstandard.at/story/30000002…

Is Viktor Orbán Ungarns risking x-border travel by letting Russians into Schengen?, asks DiePresse, pointing at an open door to Russian spies. A reminder that the border to Austria is still subject to passport checks. diepresse.com/18735744/setzt…

Years-of-lead terrorism still divides Italy. At anniversaries of far right bombs Italicus train 4/8/1974 + Bologna station 2/8/1980 Fratelli d’Italia politicians keep referring to fascist perpetrators“according to the courts” as if the real truth is other bologna.repubblica.it/cronaca/2024/0…

Péter Szijjártó: Croatia is not a reliable transit country for crude oil Much better to rely on Russian oil… Hungary (and Slovakia) has temporary exemption from import ban on Russian oil to transition away from it, but has instead increased imports telex.hu/english/2024/0…

My Financial Times piece on next year's Polish presidential election: ft.com/content/fd32e0…

One EU member state blocks bid form another on classified grounds of national security - rail as critical infrastructure - Hungarian firms + govt Russia links probably main issue - might be tested in court => more and more focus on geopolitical risk in EU on.ft.com/3X6BXC0

Interviewed in Nettavisen re: von der Leyen and Weber telling Orban off in much harder words that usual: a sign of how isolated Fidesz (and Patriots for Europe) now is due to combo of democ backsliding and Putin-friendly stance. And abuse of CM presidency. nettavisen.no/nyheter/full-k…

The Trump effect on EU 1. Far right nationalist get a big boost; now present self as part of wave 2. Parties that are against supporting Ukraine will be much more assertive 3. Orban can use to on EU foreign and security policy unconstrained by eg. Meloni nettavisen.no/nyheter/trump-…