In his regular Friday morning interview with public Kossuth radio, Viktor Orbán stated that in terms of European political struggles, traditional categories have been used so far, such as right-wing, left-wing, globalist, or sovereigntist forces, but now a new dimension has opened up: the decisive question will not be about party affiliation, but about who is for peace and who is for war.
‘‘‘More power to Brussels! Down with the nations!’’ is the motto that best describes what the Commission and the EP agree on. As for the differences in opinion, they are only rooted in the question of where exactly in Brussels the power that has been taken from the Member States should be concentrated.’
According to POLITICO, Slovakia may soon find itself undergoing a rule of law procedure, possibly leading to the European Commission deciding to freeze EU funds due to the Central European state. The contrasting paths of Robert Fico and Donald Tusk serve as a clear illustration of Brussels’ ideological warfare on member states that refuse to surrender their national sovereignty.
The new rules prohibit AI applications that could violate citizens’ rights. These include biometric categorization based on sensitive personal data or the creation of facial recognition databases using images downloaded from the internet or closed-circuit television networks.
While Hungarian MEPs from liberal opposition parties have supported the Erasmus ban penalizing their fellow Hungarians, Fidesz MEP Andrea Bocskor is fighting hard to get students and teachers back into the programme and thus help their academic careers.
The European Parliament is seriously considering legal action against the European Commission regarding the allocation of EU funds to Hungary. Despite Brussels releasing €10.2 billion last December, over €20 billion remain blocked due to ‘rule of law concerns’.
The adopted amendments to the Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency, designed to respond to the energy crisis, cover new trading practices such as algorithmic trading and strengthen reporting and monitoring requirements to protect consumers from market abuse.
‘2023 in fact demonstrated, if demonstration were needed, that a deep social, political, and ideological cleavage now divides electorates across Europe, separating progressive, educated, urban, middle class and younger voters from the alienated rural, working class and older conservative voters living outside the fashionable urban centres. This cleavage was dramatically evident in election results in Spain, Slovakia, Poland, and Holland in the course of 2023.’
As the European Parliament elections approach, Manfred Weber, President of the European People’s Party, has entered campaign mode, with a focus on demonizing Viktor Orbán and the European right. Meanwhile, speculation continues regarding which political group Fidesz will align with in the next EP.
Ursula von der Leyen has announced her intention to be the candidate of the European People’s Party for a new term leading the European Commission. However, the EPP leadership intends to change the policy Von der Leyen has pursued for the past five years.
Throughout the negotiations, Hungary consistently advocated for regulations that support European businesses and developments without unnecessarily increasing red tape, while providing adequate flexibility for member states.
Despite concessions from the European Commission, farmer protests across Europe show no signs of abating. On 22 February, farmers from the Visegrád Group countries will hold a joint demonstration to protest against EU agricultural policies.
According to Italian press reports, on the margins of the latest EU summit Viktor Orbán indicated that Fidesz is ready to join the ECR after the elections. The move would significantly swell the ranks of the ECR, considering that Fidesz is projected to win 14 seats (of Hungary’s 21), sending quite a sizable delegation to the European Parliament.
Brussels recently unveiled its climate target, adjusted in the wake of the farmer protests. However, the ambitious plan is still founded on a flawed approach: the EU is prioritizing mitigation over adaptation, imposing a greater financial burden on member states than what is truly necessary.
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.
Balázs Orbán observes that Brussels believes it is in the interest of European countries for the Russo-Ukrainian war to continue or possibly escalate. Hungary, on the other hand, is of a different opinion; this conflict has no military solution and a diplomatic resolution is needed.
Concerning press reports suggesting that an Italian defendant charged with participation in last year’s Antifa attacks is being held in demeaning conditions in a Budapest prison, Gulyás said all detention conditions meet European Union and Hungarian standards. Inmates are given three meals a day, he stressed, dismissing the claim that prison cells are rat-infested. He reminded that foreign inmates are also informed of prison rules in their mother tongue upon admission.
The ongoing demonstrations against the AfD will not have a lasting impact on the party’s support, and consequently, will not negatively influence the upcoming EP elections in the summer, Maximilian Krah told Hungarian Conservative.
Brussels is allegedly considering economic retaliation against Hungary should Viktor Orbán vetoe further funding for Ukraine, as indicated by a leaked document. However, the conflicting statements surrounding the purported plan suggest only one thing: there is chaos in Brussels, with EU funds having long been viewed as a tool for political blackmail.
As tensions continue to grow in the wake of farmer demonstrations, agriculture is set to become a major issue across the EU ahead of the European Parliament elections in June, when the political right is expected to make significant strides toward a majority in the EP.
With just over four months remaining until the European Parliament elections in June, no European political group has managed to present a real top candidate for the presidency of the European Commission, except for the European People’s Party. This raises the likelihood of 2024 marking the end of the Spitzenkandidat system.
While the supposed freedom of a materialistic culture will tend to undermine any sense of the sacred, we can be aware of the false idols and choose to tend to our souls. Scruton, indeed, left us a final work on this very topic.
As the enlargement process advances, the imperative to reform the European Union becomes increasingly pressing. Opinions are divided on how this should be achieved; the European Commission may soon unveil its own plans.
Ursula von der Leyen’s recent remarks have confirmed it that the freezing of EU funds to Hungary was never primarily motivated by concerns about the rule of law. The withholding of the funds has rather been used as a tool to impose a leftist agenda on Hungary, including gender ideology and migration.
Emphasizing the need to resist ‘blackmail’, the resolution, approved by the vast majority of the MEPs, condemns the alleged ‘systematic efforts of the Hungarian government to undermine the EU’s founding values’. The resolution also highlights Hungary’s perceived violations of EU treaties, calling on the European Council to assess whether the country has committed ‘serious and persistent breaches of EU values.’
Debates about Hungary consistently bring to the forefront the Hungarophobic positions and opinions of the Left in the European Parliament. In the current session, left-wing MEPs targeted not only Viktor Orbán but also Ursula von der Leyen.
Leftist MEPs added a last-minute amendment to a resolution up for a vote on the European Parliament floor tomorrow in which they declare their intent to sue the European Commission for approving the release of €10.2 billion of the withheld cohesion funds to Hungary.
Led by Hungarian MEPs Katalin Cseh and Anna Donáth, the left-wing majority in the European Parliament persisted in depriving Hungarian students and researchers of the benefits of Erasmus+. In a statement issued after the EP vote, Fidesz MEPs described the actions of the far-left Momentum MEPs as disgraceful.
The European Parliament is threatening to revoke Hungary’s voting rights, with 120 MEPs petitioning for the launching of the next level Article 7 proceedings against Hungary ahead of a key EU summit in February.
In an interview with public Kossuth radio, Deutsch contended that the Hungarian ‘dollar left’ actively participates Brussels’ illegitimate, coercive behaviour. He referenced former Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, who admitted over a year ago in a radio interview that he had supplied fabricated arguments for political blackmail to the Brussels bureaucracy, which served as the basis for initiating legal proceedings against Hungary.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.