The third Budapest Global Dialogue kicked off on 9 February with an opening panel warning that censorship, supranational pressure, and ideological regulation are eroding democracy across the West. Speakers including Balázs Orbán and US Under Secretary Sarah B Rogers argued that free speech and national sovereignty now stand at the centre of a widening transatlantic political struggle.
Balázs Orbán and Carl Bildt clashed at Budapest’s Brain Bar festival, offering starkly different visions for Europe’s future. While Bildt urged deeper EU integration to confront crises from migration to war, Orbán accused Brussels of centralizing power and undermining sovereignty—echoing Hungary’s longstanding call for new leadership.
In an interview on GB News with Nigel Farage, political director of the Hungarian prime minister Balázs Orbán said Hungary’s near-zero migration figures show the success of a firm border policy. He slammed Brussels for fining Budapest €500 million despite its role as a frontline defender of Europe, insisting EU rules reward illegal entry rather than deterrence.
Fidesz’s 2026 campaign chief Balázs Orbán opened his new Substack with a blunt message: Hungary is misrepresented for daring to defy liberal dogmas, yet offers answers to crises the West cannot solve. Warning that Brussels and Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party endanger Hungary, he said Ukraine’s accession would mean Europe’s collapse, not its salvation.
Hungary is not in a dead end, but outdated foreign policy thinking has reached one, Balázs Orbán, the prime minister’s political advisor, argued. He rejected claims that opposing Brussels has left Hungary isolated within the EU.
Hungary needs leadership accepted by all and capable of preserving peace, security, and economic growth, a role only Viktor Orbán can fulfill today, said his political director Balázs Orbán in an online interview on Monday.
During the opening panel of MCC Feszt 2025 on Thursday, Balázs Orbán declared that the European Commission had betrayed European citizens by accepting the humiliating terms of the US–EU trade deal and that Ursula von der Leyen should resign. Joined by Patrick Deneen and James Orr, the panellists explored the prospects of a world beyond liberalism.
At Tusványos 2025, global thinkers from all around the world, from Lebanon, the UK, and Hungary, discussed the decline of liberalism and rise of post-liberal democracy. Speakers like Balázs Orbán, Lord Frost, and Philip Pilkington argued that Western liberalism failed to deliver its promises, while others stressed the need to protect traditional values.
The war in Ukraine is tragic—but it is not Hungary’s war. That was the central message of Balázs Orbán’s interview on CNN, where he criticized the EU for sacrificing stability in pursuit of what he described as an unwinnable proxy. He warned against deeper entanglement in a war that risks becoming Europe’s own—particularly if Ukraine is prematurely admitted into the EU.
Ursula von der Leyen reaffirmed strong EU support for Ukraine’s war effort and reconstruction, prompting criticism from Hungary’s political director, who accused Hungarian opposition parties of backing foreign interests over national ones.