Hungarian Conservative

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán held talks with his Romanian counterpart Marcel Ciolacu on Friday, a day before Orbán’s speech at Tusványos. The discussions focused on bilateral relations between the two countries and Romania’s accession to the Schengen Area.

While left-wing EU politicians are trying to organize a boycott of Hungary’s presidency of the EU Council, Chancellor Karl Nehammer of Austria has stated that he and the ministers of his party is not willing to take part in it, and vowed they will ‘continue to participate in sessions and meetings of the EU Council Presidency’.

UNHCR Regional Director for Europe Philippe Leclerc has recently completed a two-day visit to Budapest, Hungary, after which his organization released a public statement declaring that it counts on the Hungarian Government to be a partner in trying to solve the European migrant and asylum seeker crisis.

Viktor Orbán’s plane had not even landed in Moscow when the Brussels elite were already criticizing the Hungarian Prime Minister for his visit to Russia. First, Charles Michel, and later Josep Borrell, distanced themselves from Orbán’s trip, stating that the prime minister was not representing the EU in Russia—although this was never claimed to be the case to begin with.

According to former European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán aims to create ‘maximum discomfort’ for the new European Parliament with his newly established right-wing alliance, Patriots for Europe. Juncker harshly criticized the Hungarian PM as well as former US President Donald Trump in an interview with POLITICO.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to consider a time-bound ceasefire during talks in Kyiv on Tuesday. The two leaders discussed contentious issues between their countries, both described the meeting as constructive.

‘Hungary is preparing for an exceptionally active EU Presidency,’ Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán notes in an opinion piece published by the Financial Times. In the article Orbán outlines the priorities of the Hungarian EU Presidency, with a particular focus on boosting European competitiveness.

More than 20 cyclists will represent Hungary, for whom the event is important to accumulate international ranking points. The slow start of the Hungarian stage will take place on Saturday at Carl Lutz quay, in front of the Vogue event ship, and after a sharp start in Budakeszi, the peloton will cover 138.5 kilometres to the finish line set up at the Pannonhalma Abbey.

An analytical piece by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network examines the ways Hungary can advance the EU accession of Western Balkan countries while also pointing out possible obstacles to the process as well as the reasons why the Orbán administration has decided to make the issue one of its top priorities.

‘Family policy will remain of utmost importance to us, as part of our overarching priority of demography during our presidency. It is clear that all of our societies are being reshaped by the challenges of demographic change. The Hungarian Presidency intends to examine demography from the perspective of competitiveness in a holistic way by including it in the agenda of almost all council formations,’ State Secretary responsible for families at the Ministry of Culture and Innovation Ágnes Hornung told Hungarian Conservative in a recent interview.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel Israel Katz visited Hungary recently for the first time since he took up office. He met with President of Hungary Tamás Sulyok, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, and the leaders of the Hungarian Jewish communities. The main aim of the visit was to determine, with Hungary soon taking over the presidency of the EU, how Budapest and the Union would take action against anti-Israel efforts in the next six months.

According to the graphic shared by the Prime Minister’s political director Balázs Orbán, Hungary’s slogan will be ‘Make Europe Great Again,’ or ‘MEGA’ for short, for the upcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union. This is an obvious allusion to US President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan ‘Make America Great Again,’ which he is using for his presidential campaign as well.

The European Court of Justice has ordered Hungary to pay €200 million for ‘failing to respect’ EU law regarding procedures for granting international protection and returning illegally staying non-EU nationals. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called the decision outrageous and unacceptable.

Charles Michel has announced his candidacy for the European Parliament in this year’s elections, leaving his seat at the head of the European Council vacant. This raises the prospect of Viktor Orbán taking up the post, causing panic among the European left.

While attending a meeting of European Union justice ministers, Minister Bence Tuzson spoke to journalists about a number of important issues, including the recent increase in the terror threat in Europe, the frozen EU funds due to Hungary, and the country’s upcoming Council of the EU presidency.

Hungary has been a committed promoter of the European Union’s enlargement in the Western Balkans, and sees it as a fundamental interest of European security and economy, Judit Varga, a Fidesz lawmaker, told Hungarian news agency MTI after talks in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The European Parliament’s new campaign proposal would not only end the foreign affairs veto by amending the EU treaties but would also give the EU more power in the area of the rule of law and migration. As part of that overreach attempt, it would also suspend Hungary’s right to hold the EU presidency.

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.

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!’