Hungary’s Populist PM Seen Back on the Offensive in 2020

"There is a strong view inside the upper circles of the governing party that if they do not change the line, they may fail in 2022," Gabor Torok, a leading political analyst, told Nepszava daily.

Fidesz has already lured back Orban's longtime spin doctor, Arpad Habony, from his London retreat — to lead a new political offensive and demolish the opposition for good, insiders say.

Habony, 52, is a colourful character. He started his career as a crown guard in parliament and worked his way up to become the prime minister's closest political advisor.

Some describe the éminence grise as a "natural talent". A protégé of the father of negative campaigns, the late Arthur Finkelstein, he was the brains behind Orban's 2015 anti-refugee campaign, as well as campaigns against former European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and US-Hungarian financier George Soros.

Habony spent the last few years in London setting up an international political consultancy that aimed to provide strategic advice and support to right-wing politicians all over the continent.

Unfortunately for him, one of his first high-flying clients, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, failed to get past the first round in France's 2017 presidential election — hardly the best publicity for an up-and-coming consultancy.

Habony was later involved in establishing the Orban-friendly V4NA news agency in London, which critics say seeks to influence public opinion in Europe by peddling an anti-immigrant narrative camouflaged as objective and independent journalism. 

Now that he returns home to crank up Fidesz's propaganda machine, analysts say his messaging will shape the government's communications strategy for the next few years. Pundits predict an anti-Brussels...