At the Reykjavik summit on Wednesday the Hungarian President emphasised that the heads of state and government of the Council of Europe have an ‘extraordinary responsibility in promoting and ensuring peace for their citizens.’

According to the minister, representatives presented the delegation with the regulations and fundamental aspects of the spending of EU funds, followed by questions from the committee members. However, Navracsics noted that it was apparent the delegation had not read the background materials sent to them in advance for more detailed information. Also, in some cases, the opinion of certain representatives was heavily influenced by political biases, resulting in occasional factual errors during their questioning.

The Hungarian Prime Minister congratulated Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over the phone on his victory in the first round of the presidential election in Turkey.

The liberal faction of the Hungarian Psychiatric Association engaged in a power game against editor-in-chief at Psychiatria Hungarica Tamás Tényi, who wanted to publish an essay critical of gender theory written by a right-wing author. The piece was never published, and the chief editor resigned in protest.

Viktor Orbán announced on social media that the renovation of Road 37 between Gesztely and Szerencs has been completed, and thus the speed limit has been increased. He also encouraged drivers to use the new road confidently but drive cautiously.

‘We condemn all forms of terrorism in the strongest possible terms, we recognise Israel’s right to self-defence and we express our sincere sympathy to the government and people of Israel in the face of this new grave threat,’ the MFAT statement said in reaction to the recent terrorist attacks on Israel.

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.

In February 2020, the Central Chief Prosecution Office of Investigation pressed charges against two leaders of a Northern Hungarian district office for corruption offences. The officials had requested a bribe of four million forints from the director of a company involved in a highway construction project to unlawfully influence the land office procedure in the second half of 2018.

‘If the European Union views China as a rival, it will lose out. It has become evident in recent years that China has a competitive advantage in many areas of the economy,’ the minister declared. He emphasised that if the EU wants to benefit from its relationship with China, it should focus on cooperation based on mutual trust, respect, and benefits rather than rivalry.

Protestors from the radical environmentalist group Extinction Rebellion interrupted two speeches at the National Conservatism Conference currently ongoing in London. A similar grandiose event, CPAC Hungary, recently wrapped up in Budapest without any incidents, although some reactions by left-wing media were similarly scathing.

State Secretary Potápi reminded that the history of Hungary would have been unthinkable without the Jews in the early Middle Ages, and then later, from the 18th century until the mid-20th century. Jewish people ‘not only sacrificed their lives and blood for Hungary in the wars of the 19th and 20th centuries, but also made a significant contribution to Hungary’s economic and cultural development.’

The State Secretary said that since 2010, every year has been the year of families in Hungary. He added that the family support programmes in the country are still work in progress, with the government working dynamically on introducing new schemes as soon as possible.

The concept of the ‘Bulwark of Christendom’ appeared in all border areas where two civilisations and religions came into contact. However, the conscious and regular use of the term is linked to the Italian humanists of the 15th-century Renaissance, who greatly contributed to the formation of the modern image of Europe.

In an exclusive interview with Hungarian Conservative, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum talked about a number of interesting topics, including the US Embassy’s billboard campaign in Hungary, Hungary’s role in defending traditional values in Europe, and the 2024 US Presidential election.

Sowell begins his book by stating that there are many explanations for inequalities, which broadly fall into two extreme categories: some believe that inequality is rooted in descent, in genetics, while others believe that the less well-off are exploited by the rich. Sowell believes in neither as an exclusive explanatory factor. Instead, he holds that success depends on certain preconditions, where even small differences can lead to big differences in outcomes.

Ágnes Hornung reminded that the government has expanded and enhanced the family support system year after year to facilitate childbearing, child-raising, home-building, and work alongside child-raising, all with the aim of leaving more money in the hands of families.

Péter Szijjártó stated that one of the main pillars of the government’s foreign economic strategy is the economic relationship with China. ‘Companies like Huawei, which not only invest and create jobs in Hungary but also share technological knowledge and actively support domestic higher education, play the most important role in this,’ he declared.

The truth of the matter is that AI is here to stay. It is the future. While we may be some time away before, and if, we are confronted with a ‘HAL’ as the astronauts in Discover One, AI could be apocalyptic if it is under the wrong hands. At the same time, would anyone care to tell us whose are the right hands?

Given the resurgence of the concept of central planning, it is vital to recall that even 20th century scholars recognised the profound flaws inherent in such a techno-optimistic approach. One of the intellectuals opposing this mindset was Michael Polanyi, a Hungarian British polymath, whose ingenuity brought about important discoveries in physical chemistry, philosophy and economics.

According to Thomas Molnar, intellectualism is only a brief flash between the religious and technological society. More dangerous than its waning light is its ‘thunder’, i.e. the unspoken problem of the Century, which is revealed unmistakably only after the lightning.

Hungary’s first female president took office in especially troubled times with a war raging in a neighbouring country. However, despite the challenges, she grew into the role of president quite fast and seamlessly, and has represented Hungary country in many high-profile diplomatic missions since her inauguration.

Changing decision-making in areas crucial to state sovereignty would create a specific system of majority tyranny where, although it would be easier to adopt a Council position and bring together a majority of votes, political divisions would be further deepened and the democratic functioning and legitimacy of the Union as an institution would be undermined, and the long-term consequences of this would be unforeseeable in today’s already uncertain times of crisis.

Although we clearly cannot consider László Németh a conservative thinker in the ‘classical’ sense, we can still regard him as an interesting writer. He is worthy of our attention especially with regard to his critique of technocracy. In fact, he expressed valuable insights regarding the dominance of technical rationality, but also in many areas of culture, therefore his works can serve as valuable food for thought for conservatives who are willing to expand their horizons in new directions.

Human inventions such as contraception that ‘simplified the process’ of accessing sexual pleasures, had the ultimate side effect of devaluing romantic love, as what used to make it precious was the difficulty of overcoming the cultural and societal barriers of attaining the subject of one’s admiration, Stanislaw Lem argued.

‘It is strange to see that some people in the West think that Hungary is reactionary simply because of having a sane family policy,’ Professor Daniel J. Mahoney opines. An interview about statesmanship, human nature and the pitfalls of liberal democracy.