Environmental Theatre

Facing a sharp decline in financial support from the next European budget, countries of Central Europe have found new opportunities in the “formerly-hostile” environmental policies.

Comedy has a way of shining a light, sometimes uncomfortably, on the internal motivations and psychology of a society, even elucidating how seriously (or not) they consider an issue. This was certainly the case when Viktor Orbán’s communication minister, Antal Rogán, quipped last year that “Greens are like watermelons: green outside, but red inside.”

The reason for this “against the tide” position stemmed from the viewpoint that climate change – in fact any green – initiatives were seen as obstacles to the economic and industrial development of Hungary. The rest of the V4 choose not to champion the green cause either – until, that is, they discovered that there was money available.

The Green-eyed Monsters

Since European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the European Green Deal with its massive funding, the questions resonating across the region are: how much can we get?  And would it come at the expense of the – apparently, shrinking – cohesion funds or the common agriculture policy (CAP)?