Flying into Budapest on the heels of anti-government protests, German chancellor Angela Merkel met with her counterpart, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban to encourage unity over the EU’s approach to the Ukraine crisis. Orban’s coziness with Russian president Vladimir Putin has been linked with an ambiguous approach to the Ukraine crisis on the part of Hungary. Having withheld gas supplies to Ukraine for a period, allegedly to top up its own reserves, Hungary has since renewed supplies, drawing praise from Merkel. But she was less impressed by Orban’s refusal to endorse the concept of liberal democracy. “We spoke about the issue of democracy and its attributes,” said Merkel. “This discussion needs to be deepened” and “honestly, I can’t put the words ‘illiberal’ and ‘democracy’ together.” Unwilling to let the comment slide, Orban repeated his widely criticized stance. “”Those who say that democracy is necessarily liberal are trying to put one school of thought above the rest and we’re not going to grant that privilege,” said Orban.
