Democracy Digest: Orban Celebrates Win in Brussels but Poland Gets the Cash Prize

"We have managed to defend our utility cost reduction program. We managed to repel the European Commission's proposal that would have banned the use of oil from Russia in Hungary. Families can sleep peacefully tonight, the most daunting idea has been fought off." Orban wrote triumphantly in a Facebook post.

The pro-government media and pundits agreed. Zoltan Kiszelly of the government-allied Szazadveg think tank said Orban was a rare politician who defends the interests of the people and not those of the global elite, which do not care about energy prices and how these might affect the average citizen. "Orban achieved a victory comparable only to the migration debate," Kiszelly said, referring to Orban's blocking of joint EU resolutions on mandatory refugee quotas back in 2015.

Yet just a day later, on Wednesday, signs emerged that Orban would be pushing for concessions. As EU ambassadors gathered on Wednesday to sign off on the sanctions text, Orban's government turned up with more demands that now threaten to derail the process. One of those is removing from the sixth sanctions list Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a chief propagandist for President Vladimir Putin, implying that Orban's concerns are not just about cheap energy for the Hungarian people but also about "freedom of religion". By Thursday evening, reports were emerging that the EU was indeed prepared to exclude the religious leader from the sanctions.

Orban celebrated his 59th birthday this week, which had a religious tone as he attended Mass in a downtown Budapest Catholic church. The priest in charge was not short of words of praise for the prime minister, describing him as "entrusted by God with the representation of Christian interests, and thus he...