‘The revival of nature also encourages people to renew and purify themselves, and in folk tradition, Holy Week was a prominent period for this. These days are associated with customs aimed at ensuring people’s health and well-being, keeping diseases away, and protecting their homes and property.’

Former Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović headlined the second day of the Danube Institute’s Family Formation Conference in Budapest, stressing that family policy must be approached with humanity, not just statistics. A panel discussion that followed highlighted declining birth rates, rising loneliness, and shifting social norms.

Hungary has taken a major step toward strengthening its scientific future with the foundation stone ceremony of the Frontiers Campus in Budapest, a project led by Nobel laureate Krausz Ferenc and backed by the government.

Since, alas, Hungary did not get to take part in the European play-offs for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, they played two international friendlies against Slovenia and Greece. The first game ended in a 1–0 victory for Hungary after a winner from returning Szabolcs Schön, while the second game ended in a 0–0 tie.

The Family Formation and the Future Conference, organized by Danube Institute, returned to Budapest, bringing together conservative policy makers and experts who warned that without stronger family policies, Western societies risk losing social cohesion as demographic decline and migration pressures intensify.

Hungary’s family policy model, economic strategy, and international positioning were at the centre of discussion at the presentation of the latest issue of Polgári Szemle, where leading experts outlined the intellectual framework and results of the past one and a half decades.

Migration and geopolitics dominated a Budapest panel on 27 March marking the launch of Tamás Dezső’s latest volume, as speakers warned that Europe remains unprepared for structural migration pressures. The discussion highlighted demographic trends, security risks, and policy failures shaping the continent’s response.

‘Burning churches are not merely buildings in fire; they are the conscience of a civilization set alight.’

Iceland’s legal and cultural landscape has been fundamentally reshaped by gender ideology, according to a recent Telegraph opinion article. The report links the 2019 Gender Autonomy Act to increasing youth transitions and a growing clampdown on critics, raising concerns about freedom of expression and child safeguarding.

Trans lawyer Rob Hopkins, a biological woman identifying as a man, was arrested for contempt of court during a child custody case in Ada, Oklahoma. She resisted arrest and repeatedly claimed that she could not breathe—the video of the incident went viral over the weekend.

A majority of Hungarians say their living conditions have improved over the past decade, with rising incomes, growing wealth, and increased life satisfaction reported despite a period marked by multiple global crises.

Global leaders and experts gathered in Istanbul for the Stratcom Summit 2026 to address the growing role of narratives in an increasingly unstable international system. Speakers warned that global governance is facing a deep legitimacy crisis, with information emerging as a central battleground in shaping geopolitical outcomes.

‘As Chairman of the Free Press Society Aia Fog noted in her opening remarks, the award, named after the controversial ancient poetess, “is not a popularity prize”. Each laureate has demonstrated immense intellectual courage in the face of fierce criticism, systemic opposition, and, in some cases, even death threats, refusing to bow to ideological pressure.’

X users and Reform UK Chairman Zia Yusu have criticized the latest episode of the BBC drama series The Capture for depicting online critics of mass migration into the United Kingdom as dangerous extremists that should be monitored by law enforcement.

‘The Church, much as it had been during Tsarist Russia, became thus a means of resistance, of assertion of one’s national identity—of Georgianness. The fall of the USSR allowed for this religiosity to flourish…Patriarch Ilia, by the early 1990s at the helm of the Church for little more than a decade, ensured this renewed religiosity would not be a fleeting sparkle but an enduring flame.’

Rob Schneider visited MCC Budapest, sharing his views on comedy, politics, and the state of Hollywood. Praising Hungary’s safety and national pride, he warned about cultural shifts in Europe and criticized ‘woke’ trends in entertainment, while also revealing plans to film Grown Ups 3 in Europe with Adam Sandler.

A Hungarian–Belgian collaboration will see riders, engineers, and mechanics from Hungary compete at the highest level of endurance motorcycle racing, with podium ambitions for the 2026 season.

A newly presented volume compiles decades of correspondence addressed to Viktor Orbán, offering a unique window into political decision-making, diplomacy, and personal relationships shaping Hungary’s modern history.

The Center for Fundamental Rights has hosted Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini of Italy for a book launch event. The Center published his 2024 book titled Controvento in Hungarian, which he wrote while under criminal prosecution after being charged with kidnapping for not letting boats of illegal migrants dock in Italy in 2019 as Minister of the Interior.

International patriotic cooperation is gaining momentum, with young leaders playing a key role in shaping Europe’s future, the speakers at the Transatlantic Youth Summit hosted by Fidelitas stressed.

The Hunimation–Hungarian Animation Pitch Forum returns this year, offering selected projects the chance to present their work in Budapest and potentially at a major international animation event in Annecy.

‘Creators depict aristocratic power primarily as a pragmatic, Machiavellian struggle; the problem with this is not that it is unrealistic, but that it is exclusive.’

Hungary’s Home Start housing programme has exceeded 30,000 approved loans, with the government planning further expansion, including support for young people working abroad.

‘Padlocks are a rare find in Hungarian graves…In 16th–18th-century Poland, for example, burial with a padlock was significantly more common…this custom was primarily, though not exclusively, characteristic of the burial of people who had been ostracized for some reason during their lives or after their deaths. Since they feared the dead might return from the grave, they placed a padlock with them to seal them in.’

The Strand Festival and a leading research institute have launched a joint campaign to promote environmental awareness and protect Lake Balaton’s natural ecosystem.

80 years ago, Ferenc Szálasi, the ‘Leader of the Nation’ of Hungary, was executed; in connection with his ‘activities’, it is worth recalling the events of Arrow Cross terror in Kassa and sharing a few related documents.

CPAC Hungary 2026 in Budapest, Hungary, featured keynote addresses by Prime Ministers Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Irakli Kobakhidze of Georgia. US President Donald Trump sent an exclusive video message to the event.

How should the Church respond to new times? The first NEXT conference of the Mission Academy sought answers to this question.

‘America is our only hope, only political counterweight to the EU,’ Eva Vlaardingerbroek stressed during a discussion with Dave Rubin in Budapest on Friday night. The full-house event, organized by the Danube Institute, focused on the civilizational challenges the West is facing, from migration and free speech to the wars in Ukraine and Iran.

Can free markets still save Western civilization? This was the central question at the Free Market Road Show in Budapest, where leading economists and policymakers warned that Europe’s economic stagnation is the result of deliberate policy choices—high taxation, overregulation, and flawed energy strategies—that are undermining growth and competitiveness.