Despite their advocacy for increasingly stringent green policies, EU leaders—including Commission President Ursula von der Leyen—took a private jet last week from Brussels to Luxembourg, a journey that would have taken just over two hours by car. The scandal has cast a shadow over von der Leyen’s week, already clouded by an eagerly anticipated EU court ruling concerning the so-called Pfizergate text messages.
For years the EU dismissed peace talks as premature. When Hungary pushed for negotiations, it was vilified. Now, with Donald Trump launching talks without them, Brussels is scrambling to claim a role it once rejected.
Six months ago, many questioned whether Hungary could fulfil the role of ‘honest broker’ required for the EU Presidency. Now, as the semester concludes, it is evident that Budapest has delivered one of the most successful and memorable presidencies in the history of the European Union.
Thursday’s European Political Community Summit in Budapest is significant in multiple ways. With Donald Trump’s victory, we have never been closer to achieving peace in Ukraine than we are now, thus the first step can be taken by European leaders today. The summit also marks the beginning of a new chapter in Hungary’s history.
The Israeli Defense Forces have killed the last surviving senior Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, in a firefight. While this is a significant step forward for Israel in its war against the terrorist organization, it is far from the end of the conflict, as both Israeli and Palestinian reactions have indicated.
The ‘Friends of Peace’ group was established at the United Nations last Friday on Hungary’s initiative. Led by China and Brazil, the 15-member group aims to facilitate the initiation of peace talks regarding the war in Ukraine and promote the implementation of the key points of the Sino–Brazilian peace plan.
US Ambassador David Pressman has once again criticized the Hungarian government, this time targeting Viktor Orbán’s peace mission. According to Pressman, no one is truly following the Hungarian Prime Minister’s efforts for peace, which he characterized as ‘appeasement’.
Hungarian Interior Minister Sándor Pintér has addressed the European Commission’s concerns regarding the extension of the Hungarian National Cards programme to Russia and Belarus. In a letter sent to Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson, Pintér emphasized that Belarusian and Russian guest workers arriving in Hungary would undergo thorough screening to ensure compliance with EU regulations and would not pose a threat to the national security of Schengen member states.
After the expansion of the so-called National Card scheme for which Russian and Belarusian nationals have now also become eligible, Budapest came under fire from Brussels politicians who claimed the measure poses a security risk to Europe. However, the conditions under which Russian nationals can enter and work in Hungary have not significantly changed with the introduction of the National Card and are comparable to the visa regimes of other European countries, which in fact allow Russians to apply for long-term visas in a much more generous way than Hungary and yet have never been pilloried for it.
President of the European People’s Party Manfred Weber is urging EU Member States to respond to the Hungarian worker visa changes with the strictest possible measures. Starting 8 July, Belarusian and Russian workers, along with nationals of six other countries, will be able to enter and work in Hungary under relaxed conditions. This move has infuriated the famously anti-Hungarian Weber, who claims it threatens the entire Schengen area. The European Commission has the power to suspend a state’s Schengen membership, although this has never happened before.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.
