Orban

Given both Poland and Hungary are the two member states deemed to be the worst offenders, governments of those two countries challenged the mechanism before the CJEU in 2021, arguing that it lacked a proper legal basis in the EU Treaties.

Orban and Putin used to meet once a year before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and this was their 12th reunion, but probably the longest, which at five hours is an unusually lengthy discussion in diplomatic terms, indicating perhaps sharp disagreements behind the scenes.

Hungary's united opposition urged the government to call off the meeting, which they labelled detrimental and contrary to Hungary's national interests. Russia's demands are aimed at restoring the former Soviet sphere of influence, the parties wrote in a statement.

"I wish to have a government of experts, where not party loyalty but expertise and leadership skills would count," he tells BIRN, adding that he has no doubt that his position in the coalition as prime minister would remain solid.

Orban led a high-level Hungarian delegation that visited to Dodik's hometown Laktasi in Bosnia's Serb-dominated Republika Srpska entity on Saturday. He said he intended to return a favour after Dodik's visit to Orban on September 24, yet details of the Bosnian visit remain sketchy.

What is less talked about, however, is what came after the fall of Hungary's great medieval kings. Following the catastrophic Battle of Mohacs in 1526, the medieval kingdom of Hungary was subject to nearly two centuries of partition and external rule, with the eastern half of the kingdom coming under the rule of the Muslim Ottoman Turks of Constantinople.

Peter Marki-Zay, the mayor of Hodmezovasarhely, speaks at an anti-government protest in downtown Budapest, Hungary, 01 May 2018. EPA-EFE/ZOLTAN BALOGH The candidates

The local press was full of complaints over the tightly controlled event, which Orban stressed had definitely no connection to the upcoming election in Czechia but was merely a standard state visit. Naturally, then, the two premiers refused to take questions, but treated the few journalists admitted to an hour-long chat.

Closer to home, 40 kilometres west of Budapest, Orban fulfilled a personal dream to build a stadium in Felcsut, the small village of 1,700 people where he grew up. Together with his close ally and mayor of Felcsut, Lorinc Meszaros, the two managed to have a stadium with a capacity of 3,800 built in 2014 for the Puskas Academy team at a cost of 10 million euros.

Eleven years after Orban returned to power and made family policy a cornerstone of his vision for the future, the answer is that it's complicated.