Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is promoting Hungary as Europe’s safest Christmas destination in a new video posted on X. Inviting tourists to ‘experience Europe the way it should be,’ he also stressed that Hungary pays a daily €1 million fine for not opening its borders to illegal migrants.
‘The damage is done. Most viewers will swallow the caricature without a second thought, file ‘Hungary = corrupt chaos’ into their mental map of Europe, and never realize they’ve been fed quiet propaganda dressed as entertainment. Beautiful Budapest didn’t deserve the smear. And the audience didn’t deserve the lie.’
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán warned that certain European leaders are pushing the continent toward war, insisting Hungary will not divert significant budget funds to Ukraine. He said Brussels must reverse its current course and avoid escalating the conflict.
Hungary rejects the EU’s latest migration report, arguing it ignores the reality at the country’s borders. Security adviser György Bakondi says the apprehension of 12,000 border violators this year proves that police and border hunter forces remain essential.
The Patriots for Europe group sought a plenary debate on corruption cases in Ukraine and the risks linked to EU financial aid, but their proposal was rejected by the left, liberal, and EPP majority in the European Parliament, prompting renewed criticism over transparency and accountability.
‘An increasingly uncomfortable truth is emerging for Europe: its economic fate now depends largely on the balance of power between the United States and China…One of the big questions for the coming years will therefore be whether Europe, and Hungary within it, will be able to move beyond its role as a passive victim of other countries’ trade wars and instead build its own industrial and climate policies.’
The Hungarian Institute of International Affairs’ first EastSec Forum examined Europe’s shifting security landscape amid the Russo–Ukrainian war. Speakers, including HIIA President Gladden J Pappin and Zachary Paikin of the Quincy Institute, stressed Hungary’s growing mediating role, the collapse of post–Cold War security structures, and the need to rebuild guarantees for lasting peace.
Semmelweis University has been named Central Europe’s top institution, and Hungary aims to elevate it into the ranks of Europe’s and the world’s leading universities, officials said at the opening of the university’s new Diagnostic and Therapeutic Centre in Budapest.
‘Rather than embracing theoretical frameworks like the concept of the EU as a “liberal empire”, what is now needed is a far more pragmatic approach—one that focuses on enhancing economic competitiveness and developing strategies aimed at strengthening the role of the EU in the global economy.’
‘Although the Commission’s aim is for the new fund to be the flagship for strengthening European industry, the division among Member States clearly shows that competitiveness is now not just an economic issue, but also a political one.’