Summary
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, encouraged by Donald Trump’s return to power, hosted Germany’s far-right AfD leader Alice Weidel, calling the party the “future” of Germany.
He aims to unite Europe’s far-right in the EU Parliament and praised AfD’s anti-immigration stance. Weidel, in turn, lauded Hungary as a “role model.”
AfD, polling at 21% ahead of Germany’s February 23 election, has gained mainstream recognition, with CDU leader Friedrich Merz breaking precedent by seeking AfD support in parliament.
Orban’s Patriots for Europe bloc seeks further far-right influence in Brussels.
“Bärendienst”, as in “A well meaning action that has unintended negative consequences”?
And literally meaning “bear service”, I think? That’s hilarious. The most formidable beast of the wilds of Europe, simply a bumbling little guy always making things worse when they try to help
it’s from an 1800 year old Indian fable about a bear who crushes his friend’s skull with a rock in an attempt to kill an annoying fly.
many european languages seem to have the expression.
Oooh that’s cool, thank you for sharing
Yeah I recognized the german as being equivalent to the danish bjørnetjeneste, which also means bear service or slightly more accurately a bear favor.
I’ll take it!