US President Donald Trump will return to the NATO table in just a few hours for the first time since 2019. The summit in The Hague is set to be far from routine for several reasons: member states are expected to approve a 5 per cent defence spending target by 2035. It will also mark the first summit since 2022 not centred on Ukraine, raising questions about Kyiv’s increasingly uncertain future.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called on Hungarians to cast their vote in the Voks 2025 consultation on Ukraine’s EU membership, warning that rapid accession could endanger Hungary’s sovereignty, economy, and social protections.
‘As a historian, much of Karol Nawrocki’s career—especially as President of the Institute of National Remembrance—was dedicated to studying the crimes committed against Poles during World War II. During his campaign and since, President Nawrocki emphasized multiple times that Ukraine must make concessions with regards to its memory politics.’
‘My colleagues listed some…fine principles: sovereignty, diversification, energy security, solidarity. However,…if the von der Leyen-Zelenskyy plan goes into effect, Hungary will be subject to the opposite of all these. This proposal is a serious violation of our sovereignty, since the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union states that energy policy decisions are a national competence.’
Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán warned that admitting Ukraine into the EU would mean dragging the war into Europe. He criticized Western leaders, accused Brussels of overreach, and insisted Hungary won’t be drawn into conflict or dictated to by Kyiv.
István Holló, a Ukrainian citizen who is suspected of espionage and has ties to high-ranking members of the opposition TISZA Party, will remain in the custody of Hungarian police indefinitely during his criminal investigation.
Karol Nawrocki’s presidential victory marks a conservative shift in Poland, raising tensions with Brussels and Kyiv. Backed by Law and Justice, Nawrocki is critical of EU influence and Ukraine’s NATO bid, while calling for historical accountability in Polish–Ukrainian relations.
‘Although the Court has automatic jurisdiction over member states having ratified the Rome Statute, it cannot prosecute a crime if the states involved have not recognized its jurisdiction. Neither Russia nor Ukraine have accepted the ICC’s jurisdiction over the crime of aggression, the very crime with which the Russian regime is accused.’
As the Trump administration signals its intention to step back from peace talks over the war in Ukraine—pressuring Kyiv and Moscow to engage in direct negotiations—a new structure for peace efforts is beginning to take shape. In parallel, the Vatican under Pope Leo XIV is assuming an increasingly active role in the process, positioning Rome as the new epicentre of the negotiations.
At Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming inaugural mass in the Vatican this Sunday, President of the Republic Tamás Sulyok will be leading the Hungarian delegation, his office has announced.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.
