<img src="https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/28/0/0/4127/2752/664/0/75/0/197c06b_1693235533880-ap23173604305981-1.jpg" srcset=" https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/28/0/0/4127/2752/556/0/75/0/197c06b_1693235533880-ap23173604305981-1.jpg 556w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/28/0/0/4127/2752/600/0/75/0/197c06b_1693235533880-ap23173604305981-1.jpg 600w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/28/0/0/4127/2752/664/0/75/0/197c06b_1693235533880-ap23173604305981-1.jpg 664w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/28/0/0/4127/2752/700/0/75/0/197c06b_1693235533880-ap23173604305981-1.jpg 700w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/28/0/0/4127/2752/800/0/75/0/197c06b_1693235533880-ap23173604305981-1.jpg 800w" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 556px, 100vw" alt="Bosnian Serb entity president Milorad Dodik and Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban in Banja Luka, June 22, 2023." width="100%" height="auto"> <noscript> <img src="https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/28/0/0/4127/2752/664/0/75/0/197c06b_1693235533880-ap23173604305981-1.jpg" alt="Bosnian Serb entity president Milorad Dodik and Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban in Banja Luka, June 22, 2023."> </noscript> <figcaption class="article__legend" aria-hidden="true">Bosnian Serb entity president Milorad Dodik and Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban in Banja Luka, June 22, 2023. RADIVOJE PAVICIC / AP </figcaption>

As soon as he returned from one of his regular visits to Budapest on Monday, August 21, the fiercely nationalist president of the Republic of Srpska (Bosnian Serb entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina), Milorad Dodik, called a press conference in his "capital" of Banja Luka to announce the good news. During the World Athletics Championships inauguration, which he had been invited to by Viktor Orban, the Hungarian Prime Minister supposedly promised to invest €118 million to finance a wind farm in his Balkan territory, one of the poorest on the European continent.

This Hungarian money will be used to "replace the Germans with whom we no longer want to cooperate" because they "are rude and incorrect," said Dodik. He criticized Berlin for having recently suspended its development aid quoting persistent separatist excesses of the Bosnian Serbs. Known for undermining all efforts at unity in ethnically divided Bosnia-Herzegovina and ostracized by most Westerners for his radical nationalist stance, Dodik is reaping the rewards of his increasingly close relationship with Orban.

Following their first in the summer of 2019, the two individuals, united by their robust pro-Russian beliefs, convene multiple times annually in Budapest or Bosnia. During these meetings, they consistently display gestures of camaraderie and collaboratively criticize "Brussels." On each occasion, the Hungarian promises to do all he can to support the Bosnian Serb – whom he describes as "key to stability in the Balkans," – &nbsp;for example by blocking any attempt at European Union (EU) sanctions against a man already sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom for his secessionist ambitions.

Mirroring that friendship, Orban has shown growing interest in the Balkans in recent years. Six countries in this border region (Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Northern Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro) are candidates for EU membership. "Viktor Orban is sending more and more money to the region," noted Srdjan Cvijic, co-author of a study on what he calls Hungary's "peacock dance" in the Balkans. Published in May by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, a think-tank based in the Serbian capital, it details increasingly visible divergences between Hungarian positions and those of the rest of the EU, as well as the growing economic interests of several major Hungarian companies in the region, such as the OTP bank and telecoms operator 4iG.

Some suspect that Orban's main aim as a staunch defender of the Balkans' place in the EU is to find allies at the European Council table, where his pro-Russian stance has increasingly isolated him. "With the cooling of relations with Poland [following the war in Ukraine], Orban has turned his attention to the southeast," said Cvijic. At that game, the Serbs and their historical ambiguities regarding Russia appear to be his main ally. For months, Orban has been calling for this country of 7 million inhabitants to be immediately integrated into the EU, despite its shortcomings in the rule of law. <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/oliver-varhelyi-eu-commissioner-enlargement-western-balkans-serbia-human-rights-democracy-rule-of-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="Nouvelle fenêtre">In 2021, Politico published a lengthy investigation</a> criticizing the European commissioner for enlargement, Hungary's Oliver Varhelyi, for playing down his officials' criticism of Belgrade in order to promote the country's accession.

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Increasingly isolated within the European Union due to his pro-Russian stance, the Hungarian Prime Minister is seeking allies in this region by stepping up investments, notably in Serbia.{ai:summary}#foreignaffairs Bosnian Serb entity president Milorad Dodik announces that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will invest €118 million for a wind farm in the Republic of Srpska. Dodik criticizes Germany and says Orban supports him to block EU sanctions. Orban's growing interest in the Balkans may be aimed at finding allies in the EU.