The Prime Minister said the EU was in the habit of making bad decisions, and he listed the 2008 financial crisis and migration as examples, as well as the decision regarding the war in Ukraine to go ‘towards war and sanctions’ rather than in the direction of peace.
While talking to the Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet, Ákos Bence Gát of the Danube Institute criticized the hectic and unreliable way the withholding and release of funds is ruled on by the EU. He also talked about Ukraine’s potential accession to the Union, which is the main agenda point of the ongoing EU Council meeting.
In a missive addressed to European Commissioner for Budget and Administration on Thursday, the Hungarian Minister of Finance recalled that there is a long-standing consensus that the defence of the European Union’s borders is a collective responsibility of the member states, and yet, Hungary bears almost exclusively the financial burden of the protection of its southern, Schengen border.
Arriving for the two-day EU summit, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary’s position is very clear. ‘When we talk about enlargement, the Hungarian stance states that it is a merit-based, sophisticated, legal procedure,’ he explained.
Talks with Ukraine on possible EU membership ‘right now are absurd, ridiculous, and unserious’, and the government will not support them. Right now no one knows what Ukraine’s accession would entail or how much territory or population would be integrated into the bloc, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in the debate of the ruling Fidesz party’s draft resolution on Ukraine’s accession talks.
The fate of the motion was uncertain right up until the votes in the House were tallied, as many members of the governing Conservative Party faction indicated their inability to accept the proposal, deeming the suggested legislation insufficiently radical. In the event of the proposal’s failure, several members of the Tory faction’s right wing signalled their readiness to initiate a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Meloni emphasized her familiarity with the views of the Hungarian Prime Minister, which diverge from those she holds concerning Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. However, she noted that, in her opinion, the inflexibility and strictness of the European Commission have led to the Hungarian Prime Minister’s perspectives.
According to the Ministry of Energy’s plans, domestic enterprises can apply for non-refundable state support from a budget of 30 billion HUF for the purchase of purely electric cars, light trucks, or minibuses.
Renowned Hungarian political analysts concurred on a recent talk show that US Ambassador David Pressman is a political activist rather than a diplomat.
At an award ceremony recognizing excellence in tourism, State Secretary Csaba Dömötör acknowledged the resilience of the Hungarian tourism sector, standing on multiple pillars, diverse experiences, and the commendable dedication of the awarded professionals.
At the inauguration ceremony of the new unit at the Dunaharaszti plant of Coca-Cola HBC Hungary, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó highlighted that US companies now constitute the second largest community of investors in Hungary.
Geert Wilders has reached the peak of his 25-year political career. However, the Party for Freedom, which does not even have a quarter of the seats in parliament, will need to find several coalition partners to win a majority. Can it be done?
According to estimates, in November Russia suffered over 900 casualties a day; thousands of Ukrainian civilians and more than 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the start of the invasion. It is clear that the cost of the war is becoming unbearably high.
A recent survey revealed that three-quarters of Hungarians (76 per cent) support the purchase of modern military technologies and the pay hike for soldiers, while two-thirds (69 per cent) are in favour of increasing the size of the defence forces.
Ukraine may amend its legislation restricting minority rights, and the new initiative appears to be a praiseworthy improvement. However, the draft regulation concerns only the recognized nations of the EU, intentionally excluding Russians and Russian speakers.
For years, Hungary has been under regular attack from Brussels for allegedly failing to respect ‘European values’. It is worth examining these values to see if it is in any way wrong not to respect them in the way that the representatives of the liberal mainstream in the Western world expect, and whether our entire civilization should not instead perform a paradigm shift, radically transforming its values.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Friday said it was a mistake for the European Commission to be pushing for EU leaders to put Ukraine’s European Union accession on the agenda, opining that the bloc should first sign a five to ten-year strategic partnership agreement with the country.
‘There will never be a full-proof manner in individualizing who within a Muslim community is a terrorist. At the same time, doing absolutely nothing, like the elite in Brussels does, only harbours Muslim jihadists on our front porch while they are preparing for the next attack.’
The Hungarian state acquired the former Ministry of Finance building for 10 million euros in 2021, below the appraised value according to the valuation. Due to its location and high prestige, the actual value of the property is practically priceless.
The participants of the conference agreed to hold regular meetings to assess migration processes, said President of the Visegrád Four and Interior Minister of the Czech Republic Vít Rakušan in Budapest on Monday.
The new Hungarian draft law laying down general rules on the entry and residence of third-country nationals is an unprecedentedly strict piece of legislation, not only in Europe but also globally, to regulate the employment of workers from outside the European Union.
Earlier this year, the EU reached a preliminary agreement with Hungary regarding judicial reforms, outlining specific milestones that the Orbán government must fulfil to access funds.
Because e-scooters are unregulated, it is not even clear whether they can be ridden on public roads or pavements, whether wearing a helmet while riding them is compulsory, or whether the same zero-tolerance alcohol limit applies to e-scooter users as to motorists.
In an interview with a Bács-Kiskun County newspaper, Katalin Novák stressed the importance of making starting a family appealing to young people, the importance of border protection, and her mission to build stronger ties with Hungarian diaspora communities.
The new Polish government is quite likely to not be able to deliver on many of its crucial election promises, which may create legitimacy problems. And this is far from being the only difficulty: if the new government is unable to change the laws that led the EU to launch the Article 7 and the so-called rule of law proceedings against Poland, there may be serious economic consequences for the country.
The payment would come as part of the Union’s RepowerEU plan, aimed to help Member States transition to green energy, thus would not come from the €36 billion of COVID recovery and cohesion funds suspended over supposed rule of law concerns.
Balázs Hidvéghi, MEP for the ruling Fidesz party in Hungary, pointed out how the European Union treats rule of law concerns completely differently in the case of the left-wing Socialist party in Spain than it does in the case of the right-wing conservative Fidesz party in Hungary.
It is important to point out that, despite the extensive media coverage dedicated to the matter, Hungary is not one of the countries with the highest number of infringement proceedings. The Commission’s report on monitoring the application of EU law during 2022 shows that Hungary in fact occupies a mid-range place among Member States.
According to the Hungarian government, ‘preserving the ethnic foundations is our joint responsibility’, and as long as that exists, the politics based on ethnic groups also has a future, the Hungarian prime minister said.
Katalin Novák reminded that in the last 30 years, the population of Hungary has decreased by more than 700,000, and the ethnic Hungarian population of the neighbouring countries has also significantly diminished. However, she said, that decline is not something that cannot be stopped. ‘Let the Carpathian Basin be the source of passing on life,’ she declared.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.