We can say, albeit cautiously, that 2023 was a year of struggle for many of us, but a year of achievements and success, too. If we take the word ‘struggle’ out of the previous sentence, we could even turn this assessment into a New Year’s wish.
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.
In her speech, President Novák of Hungary recalled the most memorable events of 2023, a year ‘when there was reason to rejoice, to be proud,’ including Pope Francis’s visit to Budapest, the Nobel Prize awarded to Katalin Karikó and Ferenc Krausz, the World Athletics Championships held in Budapest, and the Hungarian national football team’s qualification as group winners for the European Championship.
Building on the hard-earned trust of our readers, we are planning on introducing even more interactive and focused content in 2024—from evolving regional and global geopolitical dynamics to the European parliamentary and US elections, there’s much to explore in the coming year.
The consumption of lentils at midnight on New Year’s Eve or on the first day of the New Year is one of the most widespread Hungarian customs. According to tradition, each lentil symbolizes a coin. Those who partake in lentils on the first day of the New Year are believed to have a full wallet throughout the entire year.
In her address, President Katalin Novák highlighted the difficulties the nation had to confront in 2022 and the resilience Hungarians showed in the face of challenges, and underscored the importance of solidarity and national unity.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.