Hungarian Conservative

For the fourth consecutive year, the European Commission has published its annual report on the rule of law, which comes with few surprises. In addition to Hungary, Brussels is now concerned about the rule of law in Slovakia and Italy, which is unsurprising given that both Member States have governments prioritizing national interests. Poland, on the other hand, has fallen off the EU’s ‘bad guy’ list since Brussels’ favourite, Donald Tusk, came to power. This year’s report leads to a single conclusion: the Commission views the rule of law as a tool for political and financial blackmail.

The HDZ-led coalition won 34.4 per cent of the votes in the general election, while the Rivers of Justice got 25.4 per cent of the vote, with a turnout of 62.3 per cent. These results give a hint as to what the outcome of the upcoming European Parliament elections may be. (In the EP HDZ is part of the European People’s Party, while SDP is a member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D).) Precedent shows that if two elections are held shortly after each other the party that won the first election is likely to slightly improve its vote share in the subsequent election.

Mayoral candidate of Fidesz–⁠KDNP Alexandra Szentkirályi unveiled her seven-point plan for the city at a campaign event on 17 April. Outlined in her plan are measures to tackle corruption, streamline bureaucracy, improve transportation, and enhance cleanliness and orderliness in the city.

‘The main criticisms against the four Slovak governments of the past three years were the lack of competence and the imposition of ad hoc solutions. The current government coalition has produced the exact opposite: it carries out the programme that its political opponents are most afraid of and does so with panache.’

The investigation into the Brussels corruption scandal, which has been ongoing for more than a year with left-wing MEPs at its centre, could be jeopardized, as revealed by a recently released audio recording.

Renowned Hungarian political analysts concurred on a recent talk show that US Ambassador David Pressman is a political activist rather than a diplomat.

In a recent interview with POLITICO, Zelensky’s chief of staff Andrii Yermak stated that it is unacceptable that some of Europe’s leaders and citizens are fatigued by the conflict in Ukraine. It is no coincidence that war fatigue was mentioned, as Russian prank callers recently extracted a statement to that effect from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Mainstream media outlets in the US are now treating the content on Hunter Biden’s laptop, found abandoned at a Delaware computer repair shop, as authenticated and factual. However, they did not bother to investigate the matter ahead of the 2020 election, when the story could have hurt the Democrats.

US President Joe Biden’s son was supposed to enter a plea agreement in which he pleads guilty to two misdemeanour charges of tax evasion. However, in an unexpected turn of events, the judge ended up not accepting the deal after the defence and prosecution failed to agree whether it would shield Hunter Biden from any potential further charges. The Biden family’s shady dealings go way deeper than what was included in the plea bargain.

This report is a piece of war blackmail, and the reason is that time is running out for the EU. Next year, there will be European parliamentary elections, a new Commission will be formed, and they want to put pressure on Hungary before that, Attila Kovács of the Center for Fundamental Rights said in a press conference on Wednesday.

The controversial document highlights the ongoing concerns of the EU Commission regarding the rule of law in Hungary. While the country has introduced legislative reforms and anti-corruption measures, there are persistent challenges in areas such as judicial independence, media pluralism, legal certainty, and civil society rights.

‘In contrast to other indicators, the Hungarian judiciary performs below the European Union average in terms of the perception of its independence. Based on this, we might state that the rule of law conditionality procedure launched against our country is justified. However, the validity of this argument is undermined by the fact that there are no criteria in this area either in which Hungary would not be ahead of several other Member States. For example, the Spanish, Slovak, Bulgarian, Polish, and Croatian public have a worse opinion of the independence of their country’s judiciary than the Hungarian.’

In February 2020, the Central Chief Prosecution Office of Investigation pressed charges against two leaders of a Northern Hungarian district office for corruption offences. The officials had requested a bribe of four million forints from the director of a company involved in a highway construction project to unlawfully influence the land office procedure in the second half of 2018.

In his interview with Richard Quest, Péter Szijjártó asked the rhetorical question: ‘Do you think all this would be possible if there were systemic corruption? Because if there is systemic corruption, there is no growth, investors do not come, and they do not bring their money here.’

The immunity of two more MEPs has been suspended as Antonio Panzeri, one of the main suspects in the Qatargate scandal, agreed to cooperate with the investigation as part of a plea deal to reduce his sentence.

In response to the Qatargate scandal in the European Parliament, EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly urged the EP to strengthen its ethics committee.

Transparency International has just published their CPI report for 2022, as they have done annually since 1995. The rankings might surprise some, however, many perceive the published information as facts, although there are many issues with Transparency’s index.

The real danger is not posed by those who would like to embellish public opinion of themselves with bribes, but the external and internal powers that can easily dictate to EU policymakers.

Fidesz MEP Balázs Hidvéghi discussed the corruption in Brussels, double standards, and why he recommends that the EP adopt the Hungarian asset declaration system.

The corruption scandals of the EP make the lack of accountability of EU institutions visible for European citizens, contributing to increased disappointment with the system as it is today.

The EU’s most recent corruption scandal—the second within a short period of time—is a reminder of the lack of accountability and popular oversight of Brussels.

After being postponed due to the emerging global Covid pandemic and held under strange circumstances without spectators amidst political tension and the Covid hysteria fuelled by the media, a growing corruption scandal is now further tainting the troubled legacy of the Tokyo Olympics.

As the European Commission threatens Hungary with withholding billions of EU funds, Ursula von der Leyen’s own corruption scandal around the controversial Pfizer deal is growing. Double standards seem to be at the very core of the EU.

A new anti-corruption authority, in unison with a separate task force, will work to weed out any and all corrupt dealings that harm the financial interests of the EU budget.

In an exclusive presentation at MCC, Minister Tibor Navracsics addressed the question of the EU Recovery Funds, as well as the current state of the negotiations between Brussels and Budapest.

The most recent leaks to The Guardian reveal how Uber organised secret meetings, lobbied politicians and paid academics to promote its business. The scandal has reached several high ranking politicians from Emmanuel Macron to Joe Biden.