Hungarian Conservative

Minister of Defence Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky drew attention to the fundamental change in the security situation in Europe and stressed that the military must demonstrate appropriate deterrence to ensure the safety of the Hungarian people. He emphasised that defence is something that concerns all Hungarians, and reiterated that the Hungarian Defence Forces welcome young people who want to join in the armed defence of the homeland.

In a letter to the new Slovak head of government, Lajos Ódor, Prime Minister Orbán expressed his readiness to work together for the development of cooperation based on mutual respect. The PM also expressed gratitude to the outgoing Slovak prime minister, Eduard Heger, for the constructive cooperation established in recent years.

The events of the 1990s are becoming part of history everywhere, including in Hungarian politics. It has been a quarter century since Viktor Orbán formed his first administration in 1998, which was then followed by four more after 2010.

The European Peace Facility was posed to transfer €500 million to Ukraine for artillery round purchases, but the aid was blocked by the Hungarian government. The official explanation for the move is that Budapest would like to see the off-budget EU fund focus on more than just Ukraine, but some believe the blacklisting of OTP Bank may be behind it.

21 May was designated National Defence Day in 1992 because it was on this day that Hungarian soldiers recaptured the Buda Castle after a three-week siege at the end of the spring campaign in 1849.

In its Tuesday report, the bank estimated a real growth of 0.4 per cent for 2023 and 3.5 per cent for 2024 in Hungary. The bank increased its estimate for the Hungarian Gross Domestic Product growth this year by 0.6 percentage points and raised the growth projection for next year by a full percentage point.