Hungarian Conservative

Currently, there is ongoing correspondence between the government and the European Commission regarding the remaining contentious issues related to the frozen EU funds. The dialogue is a follow-up of Minister for Regional Development Tibor Navracsics and Minister for European Union Affairs János Bóka’s talks in Brussels in early September on the release of EU funds and the resolution of the Erasmus dispute.

People increasingly feel that liberal and left-wing politicians, hand in hand with the Brussels bureaucracy, have become detached from reality, and are unable to provide relevant answers to the everyday problems of citizens.

Besides supporting EU’s EDIRPA and ASAP initiatives, Hungary has also been participating in joint capacity building and procurement programmes with France and Germany.

According to the European Conservative Reformist Party, similarly to what the Hungarian government advocates, what Europe needs is not a federalist dogma, but sovereign nation states taking into consideration the peculiar needs and characters of regions and communities, for the sake of a prosperous and competitive continent.

In a statement issued today, the Fidesz EP group has announced its support for the new common procurement act (EDIRPA) proposed in the European Parliament. The act would allocate €300 million in funds to ‘incentivise the joint procurement of urgent and critical defence products needed in the context of the response to Russia’s war on Ukraine.’

Iliana Ivanova remarked on the unfortunate situation where young people are missing out on opportunities, emphasizing, however, that ‘rules are rules and must be adhered to.’

Szijjártó emphasized that Hungary wants a strong EU, but this is only possible if member states are strong enough. However, for this to happen, nations need to stick to their traditions, their history, and have the freedom to live their religion.

According to the calculations of a study commissioned by two EP groups and those of the Hungarian Makronóm Institute show that the European Union’s energy policy is fundamentally flawed, and that the targets set, namely a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, can only be achieved by actively involving nuclear power plants.

‘A significant part of European culture is fading away. The Greek tradition of philosophy, knowledge, curiosity, is being lost. We live in the period of cancel culture, of narrowing down what can be contested or argued or put into question. In terms of reason, of statecraft, state building, practical political rationality, much has also been lost.’

It seems that the majority of MEPs are aware of the legal and political limitations of the options for action outlined in the Meijers Committee’s analysis, but are committed to continuing to exert political pressure on Hungary and Poland in the coming months.

The ongoing conflict has seen the direct targeting of religious symbols, places of worship and refuge as more than 250 churches of different denominations have been burned down or damaged across the state.  Since the clashes began, 180 people were killed, thousands have been injured, more than 60,000 have been displaced, and more than 12,000 have fled to the neighbouring Mizoram state.

The Hungarian foreign minister announced that Budapest will not consent to further arms shipments to Ukraine as long as Kyiv fails to remove OTP Bank from its list of international war sponsors.

The current system involves separate national elections with varying rules and representation. The proposed changes aim to create a single European election, but critics argue that it would diminish the role of member states and distance voters from politicians. The majority of member states oppose the reforms.

According to the European Parliament, Romania and Bulgaria’s industries and inhabitants are negatively impacted socially and economically by the two nations’ continued exclusion from the visa-free zone.

She is resigning to take an active part in the campaign in the 2024 European Parliamentary election. She is also rumoured to be leading the Fidesz EP list, although that is yet to be confirmed. The minister believes that she has fulfilled all the tasks she took on when she was appointed.

The European Parliament is trying to do everything in its power to politicise and ideologise the disagreements between the EU institutions and the Hungarian government. The MEPs attacking Hungary seem to be forgetting what the role assigned to them in the treaties is, and instead of fulfilling their role of EU co-legislators, they pretend that they are sitting on the opposition benches of the Hungarian parliament.

According to the EP’s position, developers of general-purpose AI systems would only be able to market their products on the EU market after assessing and mitigating potential risks and registering their models in the EU database.

Alexander De Croo stated that depriving Hungary the presidency would not only be a bad idea, but it would prove counterproductive as well.

Ákos Bence Gát told Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet that Hungary raised the issue of creating a rule of law instrument during its presidency, which would ensure that the rule of law criteria, for which member states are held accountable, are also upheld within EU institutions. This caused panic.

MEP Rob Roos and political pundit Eva Vlaardingerbroek, both from the Netherlands, took to Twitter to defend Hungary and advocate for its upcoming EU Council presidency.

Balázs Orbán pointed out that Hungarian foreign policy has long sought to draw attention to the fact that the Balkans should be offered the prospective of European integration. ‘This is another potential conflict zone that can explode just like the Ukrainian-Russian conflict. It is important for every EU country to stand in favour of the Western Balkans enlargement policy for the sake of the stability of the region,’ he emphasised.

According to Fidesz deputy group leader in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Zsolt Németh the future of conservatism in Europe is bright, as right-wingers on the continent are ‘coming closer together’; and that therefore the slogan of the Budapest seminar could rightly be ‘Conservatives of Europe, unite!’

About a week after the Committee on Budgetary Control officially rejected her renomination, the European Parliament reversed that decision and voted in favour of another six-year term for Gáll-Pelcz on the European Court of Auditors. However, on the same day, the EP also passed a resolution condemning Hungary.

György Hölvényi underscored the importance of exercising caution with the concept of Schengen and open borders. It represents an economic and political opportunity that can be mishandled, potentially signalling Europe’s disintegration if not properly managed. Ensuring proper protection of external borders is essential to avoid issues emerging with internal borders, he warned.

While officially, the conference’s main agenda point was the shadow rapporteurs on the current state of the rule of law in Hungary, more time was devoted to Hungary’s Council of the EU presidency set to happen in 2024, a concept none of the MEPs was thrilled about. The ongoing negotiations about releasing the frozen EU funds were often talked about as well.

‘We should not turn a blind eye to the EP representatives who seem to be out of line with their role. Repositioning the power of the EP is actually part of a wider phenomenon that tries to outsource political decision-making from the democratic frameworks of the Member States and thereby reduce the influence of voters on the fate of their own country.’

It can be clearly stated that over the past years, the current majority of the European Parliament has not shied away from using the tools provided to it by the treaties to assert its political will, and one of the results of its activism has been that the debate with the Commission on the rule of law in Hungary has shifted to a political-ideological level.

At his recent hearing in the EP, the Budget Commissioner stated that it is not true that the Commission is hindering negotiations with the Hungarian government over the rule of law concerns. The Commission is interested in finding a solution, but it must be a solution that serves the interests of Hungarian citizens, Hahn said.

According to the minister, representatives presented the delegation with the regulations and fundamental aspects of the spending of EU funds, followed by questions from the committee members. However, Navracsics noted that it was apparent the delegation had not read the background materials sent to them in advance for more detailed information. Also, in some cases, the opinion of certain representatives was heavily influenced by political biases, resulting in occasional factual errors during their questioning.

The Hungary Helps Programme, however, does not only help persecuted Christians, but provides effective support in crisis areas and areas that are hit by man-made or natural disasters as well. Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, Hungary has provided 130 billion forints (335.6 million euros) in aid to the victims of the war in Ukraine. Hungary also sent ten tons of relief supplies to Turkey immediately after the deadly earthquakes on 6 February and 50 million forints (132,000 euros) to Syria.