The Hungarian National Assembly has elected Tamás Sulyok, formerly President of the Constitutional Court, as the new President of Hungary.
At the 16 February demonstration organized by influencers and other celebrities, which rallied tens of thousands of people, the speakers essentially echoed the expectation of the majority of Hungarians that the government come up with adequate responses to the clemency scandal.
The two-day parliamentary group meeting of Fidesz–KDNP began with a speech by Viktor Orbán on Wednesday. The gathering holds particular significance, given that the selection of the candidate for the head of state is on the agenda.
‘This scandal is a self-inflicted catastrophe for Fidesz. The prime minister plainly understands this, and is taking concrete steps to reform. Yet the idea that the political and cultural Left in Hungary is trying to capitalize on this crisis to sell itself to the Hungarian people as the real protectors of children is a farce—and a dangerous one.’
Balog’s resignation was prompted by a recent scandal that caused public outrage where former President Katalin Novák granted clemency to an accomplice of a convicted paedophile. Novák resigned on 10 February after the events, closely followed by the resignation of former Minister of Justice Judit Varga.
Our editor-in-chief’s take on the resignations of Katalin Novák and Judit Varga, and what they entail for Hungarian conservatives.
Katalin Novák and Judit Varga have resigned in the wake of the scandal surrounding the presidential pardon. Such accountability would be deemed unthinkable on the left, where politicians continue to evade responsibility.
President Novák announced her resignation on Saturday afternoon. Subsequently, Judit Varga, the former Minister of Justice also returned her parliamentary mandate.
Both Minister of EU Affairs János Bóka and MP and former Minister of Justice Judit Varga have strongly asserted that Hungary will not give in to the EU’s ‘blackmail,’ and will not approve additional funding to Ukraine through a common loan under the threat of additional EU funds being withheld.
In a telephone interview with Hungarian state news agency MTI, Judit Varga, referring to Ukraine’s planned EU integration, highlighted that the Western Balkans countries have been waiting for EU membership for two decades, and called for an approach based on merit in the accession process, avoiding double standards and expedited pathways.
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.
It didn’t take long before the familiar anti-Hungarian voices of Brussels echoed once again in the New Year. Now, yet again, the goal is to obstruct Hungary’s rotating EU Council presidency.
The Hungarian Prime Minister and his team are clearly in a creative mood: they have published a funnily irreverent Star Wars-themed TikTok video, built on some key sentences in Viktor Orbán’s 23 October speech.
Varga, who the Sunday Telegraph notes is set to run in the European Parliament election next year as ruling Fidesz’s lead candidate, said the difference between asylum and migration must be carefully considered. ‘Asylum is a human right, but migration is not,’ she said.
Speaking at the exhibition, Tristan Azbej highlighted that while Christian communities in the Middle East are still in a difficult situation, the persecution of Christians is most serious in western parts of Africa, with Islamic State and other jihadist groups threatening communities. In Nigeria alone, some 3,000 Christians are killed each year, therefore Hungary Helps has decided to focus its activities on that region.
In a recent op-ed published on NewsMax, CASEPAC Executive Director Bryan Leib expressed his conviction that support for Israel and the Jewish people ‘starts at the top,’ reminding that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán tweeted his condemnation of the brutal attack by Hamas as soon as news of it broke. Orbán also stood up for Israel’s right to self-defence, he noted, stressing that all of this is refreshing, especially when he sees antisemitism growing in America, and thousands of Americans taking to the streets to support Hamas.
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 Hungarian justice minister stated that the cost of environmental protection should not be imposed on the poorest countries or the most vulnerable members of societies, but primarily borne by major polluting countries and corporations.
Her first trip to Texas was motivated by the desire to ‘strengthen cooperation among conservatives across continents,’ the justice minister said, stressing that ‘We need to make friendships, get to know each other, and find common ground…While there might be differences in the details, when it comes to fundamental principles, I believe we understand each other.’
Brussels is requesting an additional €98 billion in contributions from member states. Hungary does not approve of this contribution. As Gulyás pointed out, this request raises the question: how have Ukraine and the EU spent their funds so far? ‘Where is the money?,’ he asked. He also posed the same question to Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, who is embroiled in a campaign finance scandal while he is also claiming that his city is nearing bankruptcy.
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 Hungarian government has recently announced a significant legal initiative: under the Hungarian Council presidency, the creation of a new rule of law assessment procedure overseeing EU institutions could be put on the agenda.
At a conference on Monday, Justice Minister Judit Varga assured everyone that the separation between the judiciary and executive power is enshrined in law in Hungary. She also opined that the current ‘crisis of confidence’ between Hungary and the EU is caused by the continuous unjustified attacks on the country over the years, and not the supposed faults in Hungary’s justice system.
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!’
The fate of a sum of 13.2 billion EUR is at stake in the political and legal debate between the European Commission and the government of Hungary. Parts of the regular EU cohesion and post-COVID recovery funds are being withheld, as the Commission has issues with the state of the rule of law in Hungary. The new law, to enter into force on 1 July, aims to resolve the deadlock.
In her remarks, Minister Varga paraphrased the words of Robert Schuman, one of the founding fathers of the European Union, who said that Europe will either be Christian or not be at all.
The event featured, among others, former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Croatian MP Stephen Bartulica, and Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga. Minister Varga called Hungary ‘an island where freedom still lives’; while referring to the Brussels bureaucracy and mainstream media as ‘an octopus with 100 tentacles that we have to fight’.
The second annual CPAC Hungary is taking place on 4–5 May at the Bálna shopping and cultural centre in Budapest. The featured speakers include Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Minister of Justice Judit Varga, former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, cable news anchor Tucker Carlson, former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, and former Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša.
The Justice Minister announced on social media that the government will submit further, child protection-related legislative proposals to the National Assembly in the autumn. ’Hungary will have the strictest child protection regulations in Europe because there is no compromise in child protection,’ she wrote. She also pointed out that more and more evidence is emerging that the Hungarian opposition had accepted 4 billion forints in ‘mysterious’ foreign donations to represent foreign interests and policies in Hungary.
Monday’s negotiations were a very important milestone in building trust between the EU and Hungary, Judit Varga said, who added that she does not expect any new conditions from the European Commission regarding the Hungarian justice package.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.