Hungarian Conservative

After Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated on Wednesday that Ukraine was ready to negotiate with Russia if Moscow ‘acts in good faith’, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded on Thursday that Russia was willing to negotiate with Ukraine even if Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains president. Viktor Orbán’s peace mission has undoubtedly contributed to these positive developments towards peace, and the Hungarian Prime Minister could play a crucial role in mediating further talks.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that Ukraine is ready to negotiate with Russia if Moscow acts in good faith, following his meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi. Kuleba’s visit to China sheds new light on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s peace mission: Orbán could play an important role in organizing the next peace conference, where Kyiv would welcome Russia’s participation.

After a long time, Europe has the opportunity to take its future into its own hands, restore its long-lost prestige, and promote peace in Ukraine. Instead, Brussels has initiated a childish vendetta against Hungary over Viktor Orbán’s peace mission. Missing such opportunities out of hubris and pettiness demonstrates the utter incompetence of the EU leadership.

Despite the series of peace plans formulated over the last years, the positions of the presidents of the warring nations, Zelenskyy and Putin still look irreconcilable. As Prime Minister Orbán highlighted on numerous occasions, however, ‘peace won’t happen of its own accord’ and ‘without dialogue it is very difficult to see how they will move in the direction of peace’.

‘Thanks be to God He did not let them kill him,’ said the Hungarian prime minister in his regular public radio interview this morning. Viktor Orbán expressed hope that this means God has plans for the president.

‘If Europe wants peace and wants to have a decisive say in the settlement of the war and the end of the bloodshed, then a change of direction must be worked out and implemented now,’ Balázs Orbán said in an interview with Magyar Nemzet. The political director of the Hungarian Prime Minister discussed Viktor Orbán’s recent peace mission and also commented on the attempted assassination of former US President Donald Trump.

As expected, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is continuing the peace mission he started in Kyiv last week at the NATO summit in Washington, DC. Meanwhile, the defence alliance is increasing its support for Ukraine, with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg calling the path to NATO membership for the war-torn country irreversible.

Eight prominent British and American public figures have published an open letter in the Financial Times calling for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks in Ukraine. According to one of the authors, their letter was influenced by Viktor Orbán’s peace mission launched last week.

In his regular Friday interview with public Kossuth radio Orbán emphasized that Hungary, as the rotating president of the European Union, does not have the mandate to negotiate peace in the Russo–Ukrainian war on behalf of the EU. However, he can assess the situation to understand each party’s position.

US Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman first praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for his trip to Kyiv, then harshly criticized him for ‘overtly and tirelessly’ supporting Donald Trump in the US presidential election race. According to Pressman, the partisan politicization of bilateral relations is dangerous and detrimental to the US– Hungarian relationship.

After late-night talks, EU leaders have decided on the top jobs of the EU, with Ursula von der Leyen preparing for a second term as President of the European Commission, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas as the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and former Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa as President of the European Council. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán criticized the pact between the EPP, S&D, and Renew, which disregards the will of the voters, calling it a ‘coalition of lies and deceit’.

After ten years, NATO will have a new Secretary General: outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. As head of government, Rutte has often criticised Hungary, but he has promised to honour the agreement between Viktor Orbán and Jens Stoltenberg that Hungary will stay out of NATO’s mission in Ukraine.

The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) has recently published a book about a new proposed foreign policy approach towards the Russo⁠–⁠Ukrainian war by the US, which was reviewed by Zoltán Koskovics, a geopolitical analyst for the Center for Fundamental Rights in Magyar Nemzet.

The European Union will support arms shipments to Ukraine using a portion of the frozen Russian assets. The foreign ministers of the Member States decided on this issue on Monday, excluding Hungary from the decision-making process. Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó described the decision as a ‘shameless disregard of European rules’.

Orbán criticized the European Court of Justice’s fine as influenced by Soros, and reiterated Hungary’s refusal to comply with Brussels’ demands on immigration. He underscored Hungary’s right to decide whom it allows within its borders, stressing that Brussels should not dictate Hungary’s immigration policy.

‘Today, we must achieve what Prime Minister István Tisza could not: prevent Hungary from being drawn into another European war,’ Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stressed in his speech on the Day of National Unity. 4 June marks one of the darkest days in Hungarian history: signed on this day in 1920, the Treaty of Trianon caused Hungary to lose about two-thirds of its territory and one-third of its population.

Facebook has deleted the recording of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s speech from public television’s page, with the absurd allegation that the video shared symbols associated with ‘dangerous’ individuals and organizations. Orbán spoke at the Peace March held on Saturday, discussing peace in Ukraine and the upcoming European elections.

According to information from POLITICO, EU leaders and some member states want to punish Hungary by giving the country a weak portfolio in the next European Commission. Hungary currently holds the position of Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, but tensions between Brussels and Budapest are rising due to Hungary’s resistance to Ukraine’s accession.

Former US President Donald Trump, the current Republican presidential candidate, spoke about Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in a recent interview, praising the latter’s pro-peace stance on the war in Ukraine. Pro-peace voices are needed more than ever in Europe, as Western leaders prepare for the crucial June elections amid a state of war psychosis.

Foreign pro-Palestinian demonstrators disrupted a conference in Budapest on Tuesday where Israel’s ambassador to Hungary Jakov Hadas-Handelsman was also speaking. At around the same time, anti-Israel graffiti flooded the Hungarian capital. For many months, such phenomena were unknown in Hungary, but now it seems that the conflict and hatred are being imported from abroad.

While talking at the Sedona Forum, US Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman called Hungary’s pro-peace approach to the Russo-Ukrainian war ‘a proposal for capitulation’. In response to him, the political director for the Prime Minister of Hungary Balázs Orbán asked: ‘Has the US strategy really been that effective over the past two years?’

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary needs economic relations, not ideological ones, with both East and West in terms of future high technologies.

‘Hungary insists on following its own path: it stands up for its sovereignty, it defends families, its borders, and its economy. At the same time, it is open to the world, and wants to engage with all players around the globe, which includes skilfully attracting investments from the East, including Asia. But it does not want to lecture other countries; it does not want to be on bad terms with other countries, and it does not want to get into ideological debates. It wants growth, it wants security, and it wants peace.’

The Hungarian government stated in a mass email sent to citizens that it is not willing to take part in NATO’s reportedly planned mission in Ukraine, which would encompass military training and the coordination of arms shipments.

Gergely Gulyás, the minister leading the Prime Minister’s Office, stated on Thursday that Hungary does not want to participate in NATO’s mission in Ukraine. He reiterated the government’s unchanged position: the war cannot be resolved on the battlefield, and peace talks are urgently needed.

During the interview, the Prime Minister remarked that Europe is playing with fire, teetering on the brink between peace and war. He criticized European leaders for two years of indecision regarding strategy and sanctions, drifting not from war towards peace but from peace towards war. He expressed deep concern for the future of Europe, stating it is extremely dangerous.

‘Our fate has become one with that of the European Union not only because of integration, but also for geographical, economic, cultural and civilizational reasons. If the ship sinks, we sink with it. Of course, it is our duty to do everything we can to prepare a good lifeboat, but tossing and turning in a lifeboat in stormy seas is not the same as on an ocean liner. Therefore, the wisest thing to do is to remove the captain before he steers Europe’s ship into an iceberg. And the opportunity to do so is just now, more than twenty years after our accession.’

Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky stressed Hungary’s interest in maintaining dialogue and preserving the CEE region’s historically influential role. He noted the necessity of Central Europe’s voice and opinion to be heard, especially now.

At a press conference ahead of Day 1 of CPAC Hungary 2024, Director General Miklós Szánthó of the Center for Fundamental Rights shared that this year’s conference will be bigger than ever before, as the organizers are expecting a record number of 3,000 attendees, including 500 foreign guests. The event will attract 80 speakers from all six continents.

Regarding the war in Ukraine, the Prime Minister’s political director stressed the urgency of diplomatic talks, highlighting their potential to save lives and mitigate the risk of a global conflict.