The European Commission launched the so-called Article 7 sanctions procedure, which can see a country lose its voting rights in the European Council, in 2017 against Poland under the previous Law and Justice government. The move came after the government introduced reforms which the EU’s top court found violated rule-of-law standards. When Prime Minister Donald … Read more
Almost all Hungarians see Novák, despite her head-of-state status, as a mere puppet under the longtime prime minister. Orbán, after all, is the one calling the shots as far as politics in this Central European state is concerned. The other person hit by the turmoil is Judit Varga, a Hungarian lawmaker who was to lead … Read more
While it was well known that Novak had pardoned some two dozen people ahead of Pope Francis’ visit to Hungary in April 2023, it was only recently disclosed that one of the people who benefitted from the measure was the deputy director of a children’s home who was convicted for covering up for a sexual … Read more
While the European Parliament was unable to send a delegation to monitor polling stations as it has in previous years, the chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s foreign affairs committee, Grigory Karasin, told local media the polls were being organized effectively and could even act as a model for Russia’s own presidential election later this … Read more
In 2024, the right wing surge in the polls seems bigger and bolder, with one predicting the nationalist right and far right could pick up nearly a quarter of seats in the European Parliament in June. Even if the center-right — currently tipped to come first in the election — refuses to form a governing … Read more
Eickhout spearheaded the faction’s efforts on the Green Deal legislative package, notably pushing for stricter Euro 7 emissions rules and a ban on the sales of new combustion engine cars by 2030. The EU eventually settled on a 2035 end date. Reintke, who became the political group’s co-leader in 2022, has been particularly active on … Read more
Look back on the party’s history. The leaders who put the nation’s interests first and governed from the center did so with distinction: Disraeli, Stanley Baldwin, Winston Churchill, Harold Macmillan and, yes, Margaret Thatcher too. When they went populist, it didn’t work. Who remembers the first Tory populist Andrew Bonar Law, who went full protectionist, upending … Read more
Lex is Latin for law and the AP derives from the initials of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković — specifically from leaked WhatsApp communications featuring Gabrijela Žalac, a former minister of regional development and European Union funds in Plenković’s ruling Croatian Democratic Union coalition. Žalac is under investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office for alleged … Read more
This includes issues in the awarding of public contracts, restrictions on academic freedoms, a “child protection law” widely viewed as homophobic and the treatment of asylum seekers. The row over the so-called child protection law has turned into legal action, as 15 member countries and the European Parliament have joined a lawsuit brought by the Commission … Read more
If you want to join NATO, come and talk to me — that’s Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s latest message to his Swedish counterpart. “Today I sent an invitation letter to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson … for a visit to Hungary to negotiate on Sweden’s NATO accession,” Orbán tweeted today. Orbán’s remarks come amid growing … Read more
