Lisa O’Carroll

The shortest way to these objectives is the European path.

i.e.

the Russian interference failed in that case.

Yeah, and it failed obviously in Hungary.

And we had, you know, the last elections in France, there were a few socialists or centre-left elected to mayoral positions.

I don't know whether it is, as some people say, you give the far right a chance to run a country and they don't do it very well.

And then, you know, that it's cyclical.

Like all politics is cyclical that, you know, it was 16 years of Orban, they were fed up.

time for change.

There was a time when people thought in 2027, Maloney would be in power, Marine Le Pen or her disciples in power, Orban in power.

And that would be a really, really dangerous moment for the EU.

That's a big question.

How strong is it?

I mean, it's as strong as its weakest link, isn't it?

And Orban has been that person who has stopped them supporting Ukraine in a way that they wanted to support Ukraine.

And I think, you know, outside of what's happening in the Middle East and Iran, Russia is still

the biggest hostile force in the EU, but maybe the election in Hungary has shown, as you said, that the Russian foreign interference doesn't deliver the change that Putin and the Kremlin would like.

You know, they would be delighted, but I think it's sobering.

And I don't think they will be banking anything much from it other than they can get back to a normal process of business, which they haven't been able to do in the last four years since Putin invaded Ukraine.

Well, he said time and time again that he doesn't want to go back into the single market and the customs union.