Air Runs Thin for World’s Populists

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives on the second day of a European Union summit in Brussels on Oct. 2.

Photographer: Olivier Matthys/AFP via Getty Images 

Poland and Hungary are going for broke. After meeting in Budapest yesterday, Prime Ministers Mateusz Morawiecki and Viktor Orban reiterated their threat to veto $2.2 trillion of European Union spending, even at the risk of losing their share.

For Orban and Morawiecki, this isn’t about money. It’s about the bloc’s decision to tie funds — including access to the pandemic rescue package — to democratic standards.