Vox has broken its regional coalition agreements with the Popular Party (PP) in five regions, something that no other party has ever done in the history of Spanish democracy, as VOX leader Santiago Abascal announced on Thursday.
In the first half of the year, there was an increase in migration inflows at most of the European Union’s external borders, particularly in the Canary Islands, the border with Belarus, and the eastern Mediterranean, according to the EU Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex.
Silvana Heißenberg was a renowned actress in Germany until she publicly criticized Angela Merkel’s migration policy. Following this, she was labelled a Nazi, subjected to a smear campaign, and effectively blacklisted from employment. She has now relocated to Hungary to begin a new, safer chapter of her life.
‘The Agreement on the EU–Türkiye Statement regarding the Migration Deal is considered a turning point in EU–Türkiye relations, as it divided opinions on whether it had been worth entering into an alliance with the other party at such a price. However, its strategic importance was intended to be significant.’
The Free Market Road Show, held for the ninth time, was organized in collaboration with the Austrian Economics Center and the Danube Institute. This year’s speakers discussed topics such as Central Bank Digital Currencies and the related issues of individual freedom and privacy, new economic strategies for a post-COVID world, and how global security threats, such as wars and migration, affect trade.
Since 2013, migration pressure on Europe has become the new normal, and in recent years the situation has once again worsened: 2023 saw the highest number of illegal immigrants reaching Europe since 2016. Due to the worsening security situation in the Sahel region and the economic difficulties afflicting North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, nearly one million people applied for asylum in the EU.
The regulations of the new pact include, for instance, faster processing of asylum applications, more efficient return of those who do not have the right to stay in the EU, and solidarity in the distribution of migrants between Member States.
‘Viktor Orbán showed us that an alternative to the leftist, open-border government is not only possible but can be highly successful and popular amongst the people. That’s inspiring. However, for it to be a true success, the seeds planted by Hungary in the rest of Europe have to sprout as well. And that is not the responsibility of Viktor Orbán or the Hungarians, but of right-wing politicians in other countries.’
Fabrice Leggeri, the ‘guest of honour’ at the event, who served as the director of Frontex from 2015 to 2022 opined that the European Union as a rule attempts to dissuade member states from defending their own borders.
‘If working people are voting more right: as in Australia in my 2013 election, America in Trump’s 2016 election, Britain in Boris Johnson’s 2019 Brexit election, and here in Hungary for the past decade, that’s because the main party of the right has become more economically pragmatic, more focussed on the social fabric, more targeted towards people’s living standards, and more concerned to uphold its own country’s interests over “global” ones.’
Prime Minister Orbán spoke to Yoram Hazony at a panel discussion at NatCon 2024 in Brussels, Belgium. A two-minute clip of the interview, in which he discusses illegal migration and Hungary’s approach to it, went viral on X, receiving over 40,000 likes.
Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia has announced that his administration is not willing to implement the migration dictates included in the EU’s newly accepted migration pact. PM Viktor Orbán of Hungary and PM Donald Tusk of Poland have already voiced their objections to the pact.
Former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and Fabrice Leggeri, former head of the EU border agency Frontex and current lead candidate for the right-wing National Rally (RN) party participated in a public discussion held in the European Parliament on Tuesday. They shared their concerns regarding migration and the newly adopted Migration Pact, agriculture, and green policies.
The European Parliament today adopted a new regulation reforming the EU’s migration and asylum policy, including measures for expedited asylum processing and solidarity in distributing migrants among member states. The pact, strongly opposed by Hungary, aims to relocate asylum seekers, provide financial support to heavily burdened countries, and establish uniform procedures for refugee recognition and protection.
The majority of Europeans reject the European Union’s migration policy. Hungary, alongside France and Austria, stands out as one of the most critical of Brussels’ misguided approach.
At the launch event of the new book published by MCC Press and the Migration Research Institute titled Kié itt a tér? (Who does this space belong to?) a panel discussion was held on the dire consequences of uncontrolled immigration, the failures of integration, and possible solutions.
The man, who claims to have lived in Ireland for 17 years, was filmed at an anti-migration protest, which he attended out of fear for the safety of his two children.
According to a recent survey, Europeans express greater apprehension towards migration and radical Islamist terrorism than towards the threat posed by Russia. The findings of the poll suggest a significant disconnect between the issues European elites focus on and the genuine concerns of the general populace.
Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó was the guest speaker at the latest event of the International Speaker Series organized by the New York Young Republican Club on 7 February. After addressing the challenges Europe has been facing lately regarding the war, migration, and shrinking competitiveness, the minister answered several questions from the audience.
‘It is clear that the unhindered influx of masses of illegal arrivals, aided by criminals, and then the processing of asylum applications within the EU is a failure of failures,’ György Bakondi expressed on public M1 television.
Following the meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, Szijjártó disclosed that consultations have begun to ensure the success of Hungary’s rotating EU presidency in the latter half of 2024.
Bence Rétvári declared that the ‘Brussels bureaucrats’ fear that anti-migration forces will advance in the European Parliament elections. Therefore, ‘in a panic,’ they resurrected previous migration-friendly proposals.
Secretary Zsigmond expressed concerns over the slow progress in holding representatives accountable for misusing hundreds of thousands of euros. He also highlighted contradictory reports and voting patterns of these representatives against Hungary in the European Parliament,
The Hungarian Prime Minister’s chief security advisor György Bakondi talked to the Hungarian television TV2, and explained why Hungary is not willing to comply with what is included in the European Union’s migration pact.
The booklet takes an in-depth look at the European phenomenon of migration, from the number of border crossings and the attitudes of the Hungarian society towards immigration to the V4 and their stance on migration. It also delves into the situation Mediterranean EU Member States find themselves in the current crisis, as well as the role of Turkey in tackling the migration waves and the security challenges posed by them.
Around 3100 BC, the Yamnaya people began to move westwards, migrating from their homeland in modern-day southern Ukraine and Russia. As they reached the Carpathian Basin and the Danube valley, they began transforming the landscape of their newly acquired home, erecting kurgans, that is, burial mounds, for the deceased of higher status. Many of these ancient mounds are still visible in Hungary.
The participants of the conference agreed to hold regular meetings to assess migration processes, said President of the Visegrád Four and Interior Minister of the Czech Republic Vít Rakušan in Budapest on Monday.
The 76-year-old former Oscar nominee lauded the Eastern European countries for protecting their borders and actually enforcing their immigration laws, unlike his country of the US.
During a debate in the UN Security Council, Foreign Minister Szijjártó of Hungary argued that the international community should focus on trying to improve the conditions in the migrants’ countries of origin instead of hosting them in more developed foreign countries. He also suggested that migration should be examined from a security, not a humanitarian perspective.
If the draft law is adopted, guest workers in Hungary will be employable only under the strictest rules, and foreigners will be allowed to work in Hungary only if no Hungarian workers are available for the vacancies they seek to fill.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.