Politico rapporterar om att Ungerns blivande premiärminister Péter Magyar kommer att verka för att Österrike-Ungern ”återuppstår” i form av en mer sammanhållen centraleuropeisk region. De gamla habsburgarna ler antagligen i sina gravar medan de kvarvarande habsburgarna antagligen också gör det medan Österrikes regering gillar idén som går ut på att de länder som en gång […]
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Politico rapporterar om att Ungerns blivande premiärminister Péter Magyar kommer att verka för att Österrike-Ungern ”återuppstår” i form av en mer sammanhållen centraleuropeisk region. De gamla habsburgarna ler antagligen i sina gravar medan de kvarvarande habsburgarna antagligen också gör det medan Österrikes regering gillar idén som går ut på att de länder som en gång ingick i Österrike-Ungern ska börja samarbeta mer och agera mer tillsammans efter modell från Be-Ne-Lux-länderna och de nordiska länderna. Konkret handlar det utöver Ungern och Österrike om Tjeckien, Slovakien, Polen, Rumänien, Ukraina, Slovenien, Kroatien, Serbien, Bosnien och Montenegro liksom även om Italien, som dock snarare identifierar sig med att vara en del av en sydeuropeisk region även om den nordöstra delen av landet som habsburgarna en gång styrde över känns rätt centraleuropeisk.
Hungary’s next leader wants to revive Central Europe’s clout by tapping its imperial past.
Prime Minister-elect Péter Magyar says he will deepen ties with neighboring states, especially Austria, building on strong economic links and a shared history rooted in the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the late nineteenth century.
“We used to share a country, and Austria is a key economic partner of Hungary,” Magyar said after his victory over Viktor Orbán in the Hungarian election earlier this month. “I would like to strengthen the relationship between Hungary and Austria for historical but also for cultural and economic reasons.”
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The incoming Hungarian leader has already publicly outlined how he might achieve his vision for a Central European bloc. At a press conference earlier this month he proposed merging the Visegrád Group — an informal alliance of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia — with the Slavkov format, a cooperation framework involving Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
“I believe this is in the interest of every country, including Austria and Hungary,” Magyar said. “So I hope that we will be able to make progress here.”
As a clear signal of that strategy, Magyar said his first trips as Hungary’s new leader in early May will be to Warsaw and Vienna.
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“The visit to Warsaw is about sharing experiences regarding the transition back to a liberal democracy,” said Emil Brix, a former Austrian diplomat and historian who has studied the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. “The visit to Vienna has more to do with European policy and with the fact that it is necessary to develop our own proposals from within this region.”
The Austrian government appears receptive to the idea.
A senior Austrian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal thinking, said there is an inherent logic in strengthening collaboration among Central European states within the EU along the lines of the Benelux model.
“We are all states of roughly the same size with many shared interests, and together we would be more relevant in terms of voting capacity,” the diplomat said.