The 2022 opposition prime minister candidate announced the official establishment of his new Mindenki Magyarországa Néppárt (Everyone’s Hungary People’s Party). At the scarcely attended press conference, he revealed that they plan on not taking any funding from the central government, and operating on donations alone; as well as eventually joining the European People’s Party.
István Holló, a Ukrainian citizen who is suspected of espionage and has ties to high-ranking members of the opposition TISZA Party, will remain in the custody of Hungarian police indefinitely during his criminal investigation.
German outlet Deutsche Welle has published an interview with Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar which, in essence, serves as a propaganda piece. The questions appear crafted to be favourable from the outset, while crucial details about Magyar’s political trajectory—both before and after his rise—are conveniently omitted. Our takeaways follow.
‘To this humble foreign observer, it seems relatively straightforward why Fidesz has remained in power so long: the opposition has failed to offer an appealing alternative. Recently, Mr Márki-Zay, lionized in Western media, proved a poor campaigner (one recalls Kamala Harris). Mr Magyar’s narcissism and personal history seem certain to cause him political problems…’
Hungary has established a new 150-member anti-narcotics unit to tackle drug trafficking and organized crime, with Parliamentary State Secretary Bence Rétvári declaring that ‘drug dealers belong in prison.’ The unit, part of the National Bureau of Investigation, aims to dismantle trafficking networks.
Despite the end of the Democratic administration in the US and the departure of Joe Biden’s controversial ambassador to Hungary, the interference in Hungarian domestic affairs continues. On the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration, the US Embassy in Budapest awarded millions of Hungarian forint in grants to opposition-aligned media outlets.
In his interview on The Tucker Carlson Network with Darryl Cooper, Carlson shared his perception of three major right-wing political figures he has interviewed, Viktor Orbán, Donald Trump, and Vladimir Putin. He believes that as opposed to how the mainstream media likes to portray them, none of them are particularly radical, rather ‘sincere nationalists’ who ‘want to do the best for their countries’.
An opinion piece by the Washington, D.C.-based magazine The Atlantic is trying to make the case that Donald Trump’s victory in November could bring a ‘Hungary-style autocracy’ to America. Evidently, this is nothing new, just a usual hit piece by the liberal media in the US with the customary distortions, omissions, and half-truths.
In December last year a new law created a distinct category for ‘EU minorities’ in Ukraine (such as the Hungarian and Romanian ethnic minorities) that now have access to more privileges than for instance the Russian minority. Later, as a sign of goodwill to better relations, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó visited Ukraine. Now, with the meeting between Orbán and Zelenskyy the two country’s relationship is officially warming up. If in the long-term Budapest does manage to considerably contribute to peace between Russia and Ukraine, as it clearly intends to, it might have a long-lasting positive impact on bilateral relations.
‘On multiple occasions, on camera, Jakab was explained that he is currently part of the legislative branch of the government, and he is in the running to lead the executive, thus he has no business giving out prison sentences, because that is under the purview of the judicial branch. It is unclear how much of it sunk in for young Péter, but he kept going with his simplistic shtick.’
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.
