However, Szijjártó continued to promote the policy in his keynote speech on Thursday, addressing the conference audience in Russian. In his 14-minute speech, Szijjártó did not mention Ukraine once, nor did he speak specifically about the war — saying only that “Europe and Hungary are facing one of the most serious conflicts since World War … Read more
Closeness between the two leaders began to build in 2016, when Viktor Orbán was the first European leader to call Trump “a better option” in the presidential race against Hillary Clinton. Their bromance further blossomed as they praised each other when they met at the White House in 2019. Even after Capitol Hill was stormed … Read more
He added: “I also want to congratulate the Georgian government on that while enforcing pro-European politics, you didn’t allow becoming a second Ukraine. We greatly value the PM’s devotion to this idea, and I’m confident Georgia will be well-suited to join the EU by the end of this decade.” Orbán was echoing Georgian Dream’s preelection … Read more
Their parties were both in the conservative European People’s Party in the European Parliament, both had cut their teeth in the anti-communist opposition in the late 1980s, and both had often encountered each other as they rose through the ranks in their respective countries. “Being in the same EU party and sharing a passion for … Read more
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán accused the European Union on Wednesday of trying to establish a “puppet government” in Budapest, and urged Hungarian citizens to defy Brussels like they confronted the Soviet army in 1956. “Brussels has announced that it will get rid of Hungary’s national government. They have also announced that they want to … Read more
Magyar was in attendance at the Ötkert nightclub in downtown Budapest in the early hours of June 21 when he got into a heated argument with another guest. According to a police report obtained by Hungarian news portal Telex, a guest at the club was filming Magyar dancing with women. Magyar objected, and an argument … Read more
“Even the chancellor woke up, so I said, ‘welcome to the club,’ because he is pushing for the borders to be protected,” Orbán said about German leader Olaf Scholz. “There is only one step left for Western European leaders to take — and it’s not a particularly difficult one intellectually: If they say that borders … Read more
Belgium has nominated Lahbib as its pick for Ursula von der Leyen’s new European Commission. She is known for her tough stance on Budapest: During Belgium’s EU presidency, for example, Lahbib urged EU governments to consider moving forward with a procedure to strip Hungary — which took over the presidency in July — of its … Read more
“Energy security is a matter of national security! That’s why I’m going …” the Hungarian foreign minister wrote in an early morning Facebook post, ending the sentence a few hours later: “… to St. Petersburg.” After his three-hour meeting with Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller — who has been sanctioned by the United States and United … Read more
That has now drawn a furious response from the Hungarian consortium, Ganz-Mávag Europe, which confirmed Friday it would withdraw its bid for Spanish train-maker Talgo — while launching a withering attack and legal threats against the Spanish veto. Ganz-Mávag Europe, which is 55 percent owned by the Hungarian train manufacturing group Magyar Vagon and 45 … Read more
