Messrs Thorsten Benner and Wolfgang H. Reinicke, "Europe's Orban problem" has become not only an embarrassment but also a burden, because Viktor Orban constantly ignores "the European Union’s core values and practices". He misled the world about his democratic belief while he was prime minister between 1998 to 2002. The European Union conducted talks with Hungary over membership. In 1999 it joined NATO and in 2004 the EU.

Hungary was badly hit by the global financial crisis in 2008. The value of the forint plummeted and its credit status reduced to junk status. Many homeowners had taken out mortgages denominated in Swiss francs since 2004, because of lower interest rates. When the forint plunged in value homeowners faced rapidly rising monthly payments. In 2010 Orban returned to power and he decided the banks — mostly foreign-owned — had to pay for it. A new law enabled persons with loans denominated in Swiss francs to pay them off by using an exchange rate of 180 Hungarian forints to the franc — about a 25 percent discount to the market rate of almost 240 forints.

Since 2010, Orban's populist government had upset many in Europe. The state of democracy had been eroded and civil liberties undermined. It passed a media law that aimed at silencing critics. It walked away from an agreement with the IMF, choosing to seek fiscal stimulus rather than reducing deficits, as the previous government had promised to do after it was bailed out in 2008 by a rescue package worth 20bn euros. Depite budget deficit the government still promised big utility price cuts for households, higher salaries for teachers and generous childcare benefits. Constitutional changes had been a thorn in the EU's side, as they removed essential democratic checks and balances and curtailed civil liberties, harmed free speech and cemented Fidesz, the ruling party's hold on power. Orban insisted his policies were popular with ordinary Hungarians and that constitutional reform was needed in order to complete the work of eradicating the legacy of Communism from the country. His populist approach seems to go down well with many Hungarians. He has not been afraid to appeal to nationalist sentiments, often declaring Hungary's unique character - being engaged in a perpetual struggle against foreign powers.

There's no doubt that "his ultimate objective is to build an “illiberal state” on “national foundations.” Orban is trying to reinterpret Hungarian history and play down any episodes that cast a shadow on the country's reputation, by undersocreing the nature of Hungarian democracy, which is different from that in other countries. He always says that Hungary had in the past been forced to subjugate to much more powerful countries. Now he decides the country will not be told what to do by bureacrats from a supra-national force such as the EU, which is said to be trying to impose alien liberal and leftist values on other countries.

Indeed the European Union has to send a stark message to "Orbán that behaving like a populist autocrat in the center of Europ" is not acceptable. Either he plays by the rules or he will be treated as a pariah!

