On Sunday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban suffered a major defeat in the legislative election after 16 years in power. For all the talk of him being an authoritarian or even a dictator, he quickly conceded defeat in a tearful speech to his supporters.

Amid all the doom and gloom in the European Union, Orban’s political demise is certainly a cause for celebration. But it is a Pyrrhic victory for the EU’s current leaders and the centrist, liberal-democratic cause they claim they represent. Orban’s political career might be dead-ended, but Orbanism is very much alive and kicking.

The EU is going through its worst geopolitical crisis in its history. Its inept, visionless leadership thinks in outdated 20th-century cliches and strives to outperform its openly illiberal rivals in jingoistic tough talk, especially when it comes to Russia. But on top of failing to deliver on their promises to suffocate Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime economically and defeat it militarily in Ukraine, they are now facing the real prospect of a political breakup with the United States and a large-scale economic crisis caused by US President Donald Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran.

The victory of an ostensibly pro-Brussels Hungarian party, led by Peter Magyar, has provided a rare opportunity for EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to rejoice. She wrote on X that Hungary “has chosen Europe” and that it “returns to its European........

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