Liberal POLITICO has once again attempted to discredit Hungary with fake news regarding a joint EU declaration on the Venezuelan elections. The Brussels-based outlet, citing anonymous sources, reported that Hungary vetoed the joint EU resolution. However, the Hungarian Foreign Ministry quickly rebutted the allegation.

The Hungarian economy grew by 1.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2024, remaining above the EU average. The countries of the eurozone are expected to continue weakening, especially the German economy, which is not a good sign for Hungary. Considering the data, there is a more urgent need than ever to boost the EU’s competitiveness, which is a key priority of the Hungarian EU Presidency.

President of the European People’s Party Manfred Weber is urging EU Member States to respond to the Hungarian worker visa changes with the strictest possible measures. Starting 8 July, Belarusian and Russian workers, along with nationals of six other countries, will be able to enter and work in Hungary under relaxed conditions. This move has infuriated the famously anti-Hungarian Weber, who claims it threatens the entire Schengen area. The European Commission has the power to suspend a state’s Schengen membership, although this has never happened before.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb stated in a recent interview that a point has been reached where starting negotiations regarding the war in Ukraine can no longer be postponed. Stubb’s statement echoes the proposals of Viktor Orbán, which the Hungarian Prime Minister submitted to European Council President Charles Michel following his peace mission in early July.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has nominated Olivér Várhelyi, the current Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, as the next Commissioner for Hungary in the new European Commission. Várhelyi’s task will not be easy, as he has experienced numerous conflicts with the European Parliament over the past five years. Additionally, pro-war factions will likely do everything in their power to derail the Hungarian candidate’s nomination process.

After Kyiv failed to restore the uninterrupted transit of Russian Lukoil’s oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia via Ukraine, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that Bratislava might stop diesel supplies to Ukraine. Slovak deliveries account for a tenth of Ukraine’s diesel consumption.

The threat of escalation in the Middle East is growing following Saturday’s deadly strike by Hezbollah on an Israeli-controlled settlement in the Golan Heights. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has even gone so far as to threaten Israel with an invasion.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán delivered his annual speech at Tusványos, where he discussed the war in Ukraine, the peace mission, the changing world order, and the upcoming US presidential elections. He stated that Donald Trump is the only chance for the United States to maintain its supremacy.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán held talks with his Romanian counterpart Marcel Ciolacu on Friday, a day before Orbán’s speech at Tusványos. The discussions focused on bilateral relations between the two countries and Romania’s accession to the Schengen Area.

Minister of Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás stated on Friday that Hungary does not want to blackmail Ukraine over the halted transit of Russian Lukoil oil shipments via Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia. However, Gulyás pointed out that if no solution is found in the near future, ‘other steps should be considered’.

The overwhelming majority of Hungarians support transparency in the foreign funding of media outlets. Recently, there has been an increase in foreign attempts to interfere in Hungarian domestic politics, with the media being a primary target. In response, the government established the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty. This move, however, could prompt Brussels to penalize the country with another rule of law mechanism.

After Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated on Wednesday that Ukraine was ready to negotiate with Russia if Moscow ‘acts in good faith’, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded on Thursday that Russia was willing to negotiate with Ukraine even if Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains president. Viktor Orbán’s peace mission has undoubtedly contributed to these positive developments towards peace, and the Hungarian Prime Minister could play a crucial role in mediating further talks.

For the fourth consecutive year, the European Commission has published its annual report on the rule of law, which comes with few surprises. In addition to Hungary, Brussels is now concerned about the rule of law in Slovakia and Italy, which is unsurprising given that both Member States have governments prioritizing national interests. Poland, on the other hand, has fallen off the EU’s ‘bad guy’ list since Brussels’ favourite, Donald Tusk, came to power. This year’s report leads to a single conclusion: the Commission views the rule of law as a tool for political and financial blackmail.

Bulgaria has offered to help maintain Hungary’s energy security if Ukraine does not resume Russian Lukoil oil shipments to Hungary in the near future. Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó called Sofia’s offer a sincere gesture of friendship.

Balázs Orbán, the political director for the Hungarian Prime Minister, participated in a panel discussion at this year’s Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp. He spoke about the current state of the European right, Viktor Orbán’s peace mission, and Hungarian foreign policy strategy. He mentioned that the Patriots for Europe political group, co-founded by Viktor Orbán, will be expanded in the near future, but he did not specify who the new members might be.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that Ukraine is ready to negotiate with Russia if Moscow acts in good faith, following his meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi. Kuleba’s visit to China sheds new light on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s peace mission: Orbán could play an important role in organizing the next peace conference, where Kyiv would welcome Russia’s participation.

As is the case every year, the speech of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will be the main event of the Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp, commonly known as Tusványos. The speech delivered here has become one of Orbán’s most significant yearly addresses in recent times, offering political guidance with his insights and, in many cases, accurately predicting future geopolitical events.

Mainstream political groups in the European Parliament have once again defied the will of the electorate, preventing Patriots for Europe (PfE), the EP’s third largest group, from gaining top jobs in parliamentary committees. Kinga Gál, PfE’s First Vice-Chairman, stated that they will challenge the decision at the Conference of Presidents and did not rule out taking the case to the EU’s top court.

The Hungarian government has taken a decisive step following Kyiv’s decision to halt Lukoil’s oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia via Ukraine. According to Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, Budapest will block payments from the European Peace Facility, amounting to approximately €6.5 billion, until Kyiv restores uninterrupted oil transit.

After a long time, Europe has the opportunity to take its future into its own hands, restore its long-lost prestige, and promote peace in Ukraine. Instead, Brussels has initiated a childish vendetta against Hungary over Viktor Orbán’s peace mission. Missing such opportunities out of hubris and pettiness demonstrates the utter incompetence of the EU leadership.

‘Bluntly, the war in Ukraine has unveiled the West’s ESG goals for the hypocrisy they are. The political and business leaders who promoted them are now caught up in their own contradictions,’ Khaled Abou Zahr has written in an opinion piece published by Arab News. The article highlights the contradictions between Western leaders’ warmongering statements and their promotion of green policies and a sustainable future.

Hungary and Slovakia are taking joint action against Ukraine over its halting of Russian oil shipments to the two EU member states. This move seriously threatens the long-term energy security of both countries, and is considered a violation of the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement by Budapest and Bratislava.

Polish MEP Ewa Zajączkowska-Hernik has been catapulted to fame by her tough speech last week in the European Parliament mercilessly criticizing Ursula von der Leyen. Zajączkowska-Hernik stated, among other things, that von der Leyen should go to jail instead of seeking re-election for her political activities over the past five years. The Polish MEP’s speech has already been viewed by nearly 3 million people on X.

The level of escalation in the Middle East has risen significantly after Israel struck a Houthi-controlled port in Yemen over the weekend, marking the first such attack since the war between Hamas and Israel broke out last October. The retaliatory strike follows a deadly drone attack by the Yemeni Houthis on Tel Aviv.

Balázs Orbán, the political director of the Hungarian Prime Minister, discussed Viktor Orbán’s peace mission and its impact in a lengthy post on X. He wrote: ‘The winds of change are upon us; it’s time for European leaders to overcome years of war psychosis!’

Italian antifascist-attacker-turned-MEP Ilaria Salis was quick to criticize Hungary in her very first post on X as a member of the European Parliament, accusing Budapest of not having guaranteed her fundamental rights due to her political beliefs as an antifascist while she was in custody and under house arrest. Zoltán Kovács, Hungarian State Secretary for International Communication and Relations, responded by calling on Salis’ defenders to ‘stop whitewashing a communist terrorist who led a group that almost killed someone on the streets of Budapest in broad daylight.’

Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc International Airport has also been affected by the global tech outage ongoing since Friday morning. According to the latest information, an update to cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform is behind the IT problems causing disruptions worldwide.

After some details had been circulating in the press for days, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán decided to release his ten-point proposal and assessment he had sent to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, following his peace mission. The document is the most detailed plan for achieving peace in Ukraine that has ever been made public since the war broke out in February 2022.

Viktor Orbán has been receiving increasing praise from Germany in recent days—something that has not happened for a long time. Henryk M. Broder, a columnist for the German newspaper Die Welt, lauded the Hungarian Prime Minister for his peace mission, stating that, seeing the EU’s failure, Orbán has taken Europe’s fate into his own hands and is doing so quite skillfully. Additionally, a left-wing German MP remarked that Orbán’s peace mission justifies why the EU won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012.

On 18 July the European Parliament re-elected European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with 401 votes in favour. In her speech before the vote, von der Leyen made numerous political promises for the next five years but also, of course, criticized Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s peace mission.