Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said Hungary is open to diversifying its energy supply but will not replace cheap and reliable sources with more expensive and less dependable alternatives, warning that doing so would undermine the country’s utility price protections.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said European leaders led by Ursula von der Leyen agreed with President Zelenskyy to continue the war in Ukraine, warning that the conflict has no solution on the battlefield and is costing Europe heavily.
‘In the coming years, the main fault line in European politics will be less political and more historiographic: between those who see the West as having started 2000 years ago, and those who see its birth as intrinsically tied to a 20th-century political model.’
The Hungarian National Bank (MNB) has announced it is cutting its base interest rate by 25 basis points, from 6.5 per cent to 6.25 per cent. This is the first rate cut by the central bank since September 2024. The positive shift in monetary policy was precipitated by a favourable monthly inflation report for January and strong performance of the national currency forint on the foreign exchange markets.
German authorities have launched a criminal investigation against a pensioner in Heilbronn for calling Chancellor Friedrich Merz ‘Pinocchio’ on Facebook, invoking a controversial law on insulting politicians. The case has reignited concerns over free speech in Germany.
‘Illness, war, living costs, and deteriorating public security in Europe currently pose more pressing existential challenges for us than climate change. As of now, this has not always been the case, and one may hope it will not remain so.’
At the Danube Institute’s most recent event, MEP András László and a panel of experts have discussed how foreign aid agencies, such as the now-dismantled USAID, and ‘quasi-NGOs’ use foreign aid as a front to push a progressive agenda, as opposed to actually helping people in other nations.
Hungary’s government says it is providing unprecedented support to families, expanding tax exemptions for mothers and increasing funding for family policies while criticizing opposition plans that it claims would dismantle key benefits.
Viktor Orbán pushed back against criticism from António Costa over Hungary’s refusal to back a €90 billion loan to Ukraine, calling the situation ‘absurd’ after Kyiv halted oil transit through Druzhba. Budapest maintains it will not support any Ukraine-related decisions until energy flows are restored.
Hungary’s humanitarian strategy was summarized by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who once said: ‘Let us not bring the trouble here, but take the help there where the trouble is.’
Hungary’s government has signed an agreement enabling cooperation between Semmelweis University and Harvard University, supporting joint training in Budapest and Boston as part of a plan to elevate the Hungarian institution among the world’s leading medical schools.
As the Ukraine war drags into its fifth year, the question is no longer whether negotiations are happening, but whether they can deliver peace. Hungarian Conservative asked four experts to assess the conflict, revealing deep divisions over whether current diplomacy signals progress—or merely manages an entrenched stalemate.
As the war in Ukraine enters its fifth year, one lesson is becoming increasingly clear: diplomacy only works if it is actually pursued. While Europe clings to moral posturing and isolation, Washington has returned to sustained engagement with both sides—slowly narrowing positions and proving that persistent negotiation, not silence, creates the conditions for peace.
‘The fact that the Church is telling us to hear, as opposed to properly guide, those who have a same-sex orientation or claim that God created them inside the wrong body, thereby having the full right to surgically alter it, has become an endorsement of an ideology that also preys on minors.’
US Markets rose on Friday, after the United States Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump does not have unilateral tariff powers under the IEEPA. The ruling casts doubt on recent trade deals and sets up legal battles over roughly $180 billion in tariff revenue collected under the now-invalidated tariff rates.
‘Europe does not simply exist in a vacuum. It is not a technocratic project, but a civilizational community built on clear foundations, foremost among them its Judeo–Christian heritage. European integration must build on these foundations, not dismantle them.’
Janez Janša announced plans to pursue a constitutional overhaul if his Slovenian Democratic Party wins the upcoming election, stressing the need for a two-thirds majority. Polls suggest SDS leads the race with 20–28 per cent support, giving momentum to his bid despite fragmented opposition parties.
On the night of 22–23 February, Ukrainian drones hit the Kaleykino oil pumping station near Almetyevsk, Russia. The oil station is a major supplier of the Druzhba pipeline, which transports Russian crude oil to Hungary and Slovakia, further escalating tensions between Budapest and Kyiv. Energy infrastructure in the city of Belgorod, Russia, was also struck by Ukrainian drones on the same night.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said he will ask the national grid operator to halt emergency electricity deliveries to Ukraine, escalating tensions linked to energy supplies and EU policy toward the war.
An open air exhibition presenting the history of Gellért Hill and the renewed Citadel opened on Friday at the Várkert Bazaar in Budapest. The display, titled From Oppression To Freedom — The History of the Citadel on Gellért Hill, traces the site’s story from past centuries to the present day.
Co-Chairwoman of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Alice Weidel said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is the only guarantee that Ukraine will not join the European Union, arguing that the country does not meet accession requirements and calling for Europe to pursue peace talks with both sides in the war.
‘It is very likely that in the coming weeks evidence will come to light about the dirty deals that various Latin American leftist leaders have made with the Venezuelan regime, which will affect their electoral aspirations or could even see them face trial.’
‘Without biodiversity, ecosystems that provide us with clean air and water, fertile soil, or regulate our climate, for example, will collapse…This process is already underway, but the negative trend and its extent can be influenced, among other things, through the international cooperation described above.’
Péter Magyar of the Tisza Party claimed 250,000 signatures were collected on the first day. However, the Center for Fundamental Rights has reached out to Hungary’s National Election Office (NVI) for the official numbers, which revealed that Tisza had collected less than half of the claimed number, 110,000 by 4pm on the first day. By contrast, Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party collected 196,000 signatures in the same period.
Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced that Budapest will veto the EU’s 20th sanctions package unless Ukraine restores oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline. He argued the halt is political blackmail aimed at driving up fuel prices ahead of Hungary’s April election and influencing the outcome.
Was the great writer Antal Szerb beaten to death by a fellow Jew, as a postwar indictment and online claims suggest? Drawing on court records, testimonies, and archival evidence, this piece revisits a murky People’s Court case to separate hearsay, vengeance, and historical fact.
Hungary and Slovakia have escalated pressure on Ukraine to restore oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline, with Viktor Orbán threatening to block a €90 billion EU loan and Robert Fico warning to halt electricity exports. Kyiv has rejected the demands as ‘blackmail’, accusing both governments of acting irresponsibly and undermining regional energy security.
Less known than Nazi persecution itself is the role of the Jewish Councils established under German occupation. In Bereft of Council, historian László Bernát Veszprémy offers a rigorous, source-driven account of Jewish leadership in wartime Hungary, confronting uncomfortable questions of responsibility, survival, and post-war reckoning without speculation or revisionism.
‘In the first phase, immediately following the regime change, the conservative generation aimed to emulate Western European models, often paving the way for neoliberal shock therapy. The second generation, referred to as the “new right” in Central Europe, formulated its approach based on the adverse effects of post-transition capitalism.’
‘Finally, what many had feared came to pass: the heir to the throne of the Austro–Hungarian Empire fell victim to an assassination attempt. Although he escaped the first attack unscathed, the Serbian terrorists made no mistake the second time around…The assassination went down in world history, but the life of Franz Ferdinand has been completely forgotten.’