Since its Eastern enlargement beginning in 2004, the European Union has integrated countries with almost no welfare states, weak trade unions, and labor market conditions heavily tilted in favor of capital. This has, in turn, affected European politics more broadly, helping to undermine welfare states in the Western part of the continent.

One extreme example of this phenomenon is Hungary, today ruled by authoritarian, ethnic-chauvinist premier Viktor Orbán. His government combines paleo-conservative nationalism with neoliberal economic policies undermining workers’ conditions.

Yet this has also sparked flashpoints. Orbán’s moves to impose more overtime on workers have in recent weeks sparked the biggest mass protest movement his government has faced; today trade unions are promising a general strike if the measures are not repealed.