The Danube Institute hosted a high-level discussion on the EU’s future, where Balázs Hidvéghi, Stefano Arroque, Daniel Hinšt, and Péter Kruzslicz agreed that the bloc’s growing centralization has created a structural crisis. Speakers urged reform, respect for sovereignty, and a return to the principle of subsidiarity.
Artificial intelligence has officially entered Hungary’s local administration with the launch of HALI, the country’s first municipal chatbot, unveiled in Vonyarcvashegy on Saturday by Minister Tibor Navracsics.
Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ) has surged to an unprecedented 38 per cent in a new Market Institut poll—the highest level in its history—cementing its lead ahead of the governing coalition parties. The result underscores a broader rightward shift across Europe, as patriotic forces from Germany to the UK continue to gain ground.
Hungary’s used car market is expected to see a surge in electric vehicles between 2026 and 2027, as fleet cars reach the end of their lifecycle, according to Das WeltAuto, one of the country’s leading used car dealership networks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signalled his willingness to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in Budapest, saying he is ‘ready’ to join the summit if it aims for a just and lasting peace. ‘We need both sides of this tragedy,’ he said.
‘Western Europe is in terminal decline. That’s my point of view, anyway. One informed by two years in the European Union’s infernal capital.’
‘One of the greatest male dancers of the 20th century was born in Kyiv in 1889 to Polish parents. He rose to fame as a member of the Tsarist ballet, and then, under Diaghilev, in ballet productions choreographed by Mikhail Fokine and with sets by Leon Bakst, he became an icon of modernist art.’
‘In Budapest, not only have the Hungarians worked to build and restore buildings beautifully, but also to remove modernist intrusions, reclaiming space for beauty.’
‘The armed conflict started in April 1775 at the Battles of Lexington and Concord—with the aim of reform, not independence—and after more than six years of fighting, it was in October 1781 that the colonists, against all odds, defeated the Royal Forces on the battlefield. In fact, it was on 19 October 1781 that General Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia—exactly 244 years ago today.’
‘There was a circus nearby, and I got a job shoveling after the elephants…My mother was hardworking and resourceful. She always pushed me to go see things. We saw Rome, Pompeii, and the Vatican—we traveled all over Italy, which made time pass faster. Meanwhile, we waited every day for our names to appear on the list—to get a sponsor so we could leave the camp.’
‘In a country aiming for EU membership, the Church chose confrontation over passive acceptance of draconian laws. And it won.’
‘The events in District I during the Hungarian Soviet Republic give a very good account of how fear, miscommunication, and ideological zeal combined to ignite violence and unrest…From armed requisitions to fatal clashes over religious processions, the communist Council Republic’s heavy-handed responses reveal the fragility of order under a revolutionary dictatorship.’
US President Donald Trump has explained why Budapest was chosen as the venue for his upcoming peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, praising Hungary as strong, stable, and safe. Trump said that both he and Putin ‘like Viktor’, describing him as ‘a very good host’.
During a press conference organized by the Oeconomus Economic Research Foundation, Hungarian Deputy State Secretary for Strategic Affairs and experts on the topic discussed the niche effect of the new Otthon Start loan scheme, emphasizing recent data and future predictions.
Hungary and China celebrated another milestone in their growing partnership on Friday with the launch of the Hungarian edition of The Governance of China, Volume II. Published by the Eurasia Center, the book presents Xi Jinping’s key ideas on governance, modernization, and China’s role in a changing world.
‘Sooner or later…Orbán will no longer be the Hungarian chieftain…It occurred to me that if the Hungarian people choose to forsake the faith embraced by King Saint Stephen…and instead permit themselves to be dissolved into the post-Christian cultural mongrelization represented by the godless, nationless EU, the tragedy will not be Viktor Orbán’s, but their own.’
‘The crisis has made Hungary’s relationship with Israel stronger than ever before.’
The House of Terror Museum will mark Hungary’s 23 October national holiday with a full programme of guided tours, history lessons, workshops, film screenings, and outdoor exhibitions commemorating the heroes and victims of the 1956 Revolution.
‘A horseman cannot consider their occupation to be work. It is a service, a vocation that we are happy to perform, and we are fortunate to be able to do so…It requires constant readiness and dedication, day after day, so anyone who doesn’t really love it would find it difficult. We have to feel the weight of what we do. In the long chain of the stud farm’s history, we cannot be weak links.’
Hungary’s Rural Development Programme, launched in the previous EU budget cycle, has supported nearly 400,000 projects with over 2,942 billion forints in EU and domestic funding, marking the largest rural investment initiative since the country’s democratic transition.
Budapest may soon join the ranks of historic diplomatic cities as US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin plan to meet there for peace talks on Ukraine. Analyst Anton Bendarjevskiy says the summit could become Hungary’s most significant foreign policy milestone in decades.
The Mathias Corvinus Collegium is launching a new philosophy journal titled European Journal of Political Philosophy. On that occasion, Chief Editor William Wood and Managing Editor Titus Techera spoke at an event on MCC’s Budapest campus. Joined by András Lánczi and Professor Tilo Schabert, they discussed the bodies of work of such thinkers as Eric Voegelin, Leo Strauss, and Alexandre Kojève.
The HUN-REN Hungarian Research Network will host the 2026 annual conference of Academia Europaea in Budapest next October, providing a major opportunity to highlight Hungarian scientific achievements on an international platform.
‘If we are truly conservatives today, then we must want to revolt against this contemporary, anti-conservative world. Does anyone seriously believe that Burke would want to conserve what we have right now?’
Hungary’s capital will host the next Trump–Putin summit on Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán confirmed on Thursday. The talks aim to revive negotiations stalled since August and come just as Zelenskyy pushes Washington for long-range Tomahawk missiles to strike deep inside Russia.
How did the Iron Lady fix the struggling British economy? What was her role in the collapse of the Soviet Union? For what reasons was she a convinced Eurosceptic? We asked her former Political Secretary about Margaret Thatcher’s living political legacy at the Danube Institute’s conference on the 100th anniversary of her birth.
Previously unknown construction drawings of the Chain Bridge by Adam Clark, dating back 185 years, have been identified by the Hungarian Museum of Science, Technology and Transport. The rediscovered plans will go on public display in November in Budapest.
Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has achieved a historic breakthrough, polling 40 per cent in Saxony-Anhalt and becoming Germany’s largest party nationwide with up to 26.5 per cent, according to Insa and Ipsos surveys—cementing its dominance across both regional and federal levels.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico sharply rebuked Brussels ahead of next week’s European Council summit, accusing EU leaders of using Ukraine to ‘cover up their inability’ to solve the bloc’s real problems—namely soaring energy costs and a crisis in the automotive industry.
‘In its LGBTIQ+ strategy, the Commission proposes to include hate speech in the…list of serious crimes—all to “better protect” the LGBTIQ community. This would not only mean that the 27 Member States would need a common approach to defining what constitutes “hate speech” but also that all EU countries would be required to fight against such crimes collectively.’