Renew Europe chief Valérie Hayer has demanded that Ursula von der Leyen ‘use her power to act’ over reports of an alleged Hungarian spy network in Brussels tied to Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi. Hungarian officials strongly denied the story, calling it a foreign-funded smear campaign designed to damage Budapest ahead of next year’s election.
Former US President Barack Obama invited two critics of the Orbán administration in Hungary, Sándor Léderer and Stefánia Kapronczay, to talk about ‘fighting authoritarianism’ in a video he posted on his social media. Reactions to the video have been mostly negative on X, with users accusing President Obama of trying to pressure Hungary and Poland to open their borders.
What was Margaret Thatcher like in her private and professional life? What went wrong in the last year of her premiership? And what is her enduring political legacy in British politics? We spoke with a former special adviser to Prime Minister Thatcher about the Iron Lady’s personal and political character at the Danube Institute’s Thatcher Conference.
‘Hungary, and Ludovika in particular, can become a regional leader in building these connections and advancing joint research, education, and development projects with our Turkic partners,’ Director General for International Relations at Ludovika University Liliana Śmiech told Hungarian Conservative.
Brussels is set to investigate claims that Hungarian intelligence officers spied on EU institutions and sought to recruit an official while stationed at Hungary’s permanent representation between 2015 and 2017. The move comes eight years after the alleged network was dismantled—and just 6 months before Hungary’s general election.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen survived two separate censure motions in the European Parliament on Thursday, as mainstream factions once again shielded her from calls to resign. The right-wing Patriots for Europe and the Left had accused her of failures on trade, transparency and leadership, but both votes fell well short.
At Ludovika University, experts including former Ambassador Réka Szemerkényi and former US Assistant Secretary Philip T Reeker discussed the present and future of US–Hungary relations. Topics included strong historical ties, NATO cooperation, economic partnerships, and shared values. Panels also addressed investment, the war in Ukraine, and cultural exchange programmes.
‘The best approach for Hungarian politicians is to try to help Romania find a new path. The globalist path that the country has been on for the past two decades is coming to an end. Romania needs to figure out new ways to engage with a new world. The country can no longer rely on external alliances or foreign financial inflows. It must fight for its future and its prosperity.’
The 110th anniversary of Franz Josef Strauss’s birth was commemorated in Budapest with a conference organized by the National University of Public Service and the Otto von Habsburg Foundation. Speakers stressed the Bavarian leader’s vision of subsidiarity and his relevance for today’s debates on sovereignty and European cooperation.
The collapse of Sébastien Lecornu’s government has plunged France deeper into crisis, forcing Emmanuel Macron to weigh another snap election that could propel Marine Le Pen’s National Rally to power. Such a shift would upend the European Union’s political order, giving patriots unprecedented influence in Paris and Brussels.