’From now on, we don’t want to hear from the Americans about how democracy works here, how institutions function, or what the rule of law entails,’ Péter Szijjártó stated in Budapest on Thursday, commenting on the most recent developments in the United States aimed at excluding Donald Trump from the presidential race.

‘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.’

Dodik expressed gratitude for the budgetary support provided by the Hungarian government earlier this year to the Bosnian Serbs, which enabled the institutions to function smoothly. According to the plans, the predominantly Serb-populated region of Bosnia and Herzegovina aims to work on the development of the electrical grid, solar energy, and hydropower, as well as construct a pharmaceutical factory and improve infrastructure.

Ukrainian representative Yuriy Kamelchuk demanded an explanation as to why Hungary had blocked the payment of the next instalment of military aid from the European Peace Facility (EPF) to Ukraine. In his reply, the Hungarian minister reminded that Ukraine has put the biggest Hungarian bank on their list of international sponsors of terrorism, suggesting that the Hungarian bank enables the Russian war machine. As soon as OTP is removed from that list, the minister declared, Hungary will reconsider its veto.

The book’s greatest value can undoubtedly be found in its historiographical sections, which present the historical assessment of the Soviet Republic and the Horthy system. It is in these that the author utilises the largest literary material and provides the widest overview.