Politics

Yesterday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced that Hungary will close its borders for all passenger transport. The measure is effective from midnight until further notice. Although the borders will be closed, Hungarian citizens and their family members can enter the country and Liszt Ferenc International Airport remains open as well.  The …

The government has decided to double the number of soldiers protecting Hungary’s southern border, the head of the prime minister’s office said on Thursday. The pressure of migration has increased on the border section in question, with an attempt by 80 migrants to break through on Tuesday, Gergely Gulyás said. Five of …

The European People’s Party is likely to postpone its decision on Fidesz’s membership. However, given the events of recent weeks, Orbán’s party will probably leave, nonetheless. Many believe that with the departure of the Hungarian ruling party, several other political groups will join them, costing many seats for the EPP. …

“A solely values-based foreign policy dispensing with pragmatism … will necessarily lead to a policy unable to broker a compromise,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at his annual international press conference on Thursday, answering a question. Orbán said reaching compromise was the only way in foreign policy to achieve results, adding that …

The price of climate protection must be paid by those destroying the climate, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interviewpublished by pro-Fidesz daily Magyar Nemzet on Tuesday. The largest, richest states and the largest international companies are primarily responsible for the climate crisis, Orbán said in his interview. “They must …

Ambassador Cornstein, in an accidental meeting with CNN, praised Viktor Orbán and said that he is ” the perfect partner to have a dance with here.”  The news team bumped into the ambassador in a restaurant in the Hungarian capital. While the Embassy previously declined interviews, after his dinner, Cornstein went …

Europe can only be saved if it “returns to the source of its real values: its Christian identity”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Tuesday at the opening of an international conference on persecuted Christians. “Those we are helping now can give us the greatest help in saving Europe,” the prime minister …

The European Parliament’s (EP) Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) did not declare a conflict of interest for the new French, Hungarian, and Romanian Commissioner designates at its meeting on Tuesday, according to Hungarian Fidesz MEP József Szájer, the only Hungarian member of the committee in Brussels. Thus, the approval process for Olivár Várhelyi …

Turkey is instrumental in stopping the “wave of millions of migrants” on their way towards Hungary and Europe, although the Hungarian opposition cannot or will not understand that, Prime minister Viktor Orbán told public Kossuth Radio on Friday. Any attempt to remove Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s from office would be in …

European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen has approved Thierry Breton and Olivér Várhelyi as the nominees for her administration from France and Hungary, respectively, after previous candidates were vetoed by European lawmakers, euronews.com reported Tuesday. EC President-elect Ursula von der Leyen (photo: Olaf Kosinsky / Wikipedia) The French businessman …

Russia considers Hungary an important partner in supplying gas to Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Budapest on Wednesday. The mechanism allowing Hungary and Russia to cooperate at the highest level has been in place for several years now and has …

Hungary’s interest lies in the improvement of cooperation between the West and Russia, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest on Wednesday. Hungary also benefits if relations between western and eastern Europe, NATO, and Russia are good, the prime minister said. Orbán …

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó met leaders of Russia’s national gas company Gazprom and Russian nuclear energy giant Rosatom for talks in Budapest on Wednesday. After talks with Gazprom’s chief executive Alexei Miller, Szijjarto said that Hungary’s gas supplies had “never been this secure” and added that “for the first time …

It is in Hungary’s interest that Turkey releases migrants towards Syria rather than in the direction of Europe, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told public radio on Friday. Turkey hosts some three million migrants, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to “let them out” if Europe fails to take over …

Hungary’s revolution of October 23, 1956 was commemorated in several US cities and a ceremony was heldin Washington on Monday. “We Hungarians, a people of freedom being of a small country but a great nation, dared to say from time to time: enough of tyranny; and we dared to confront much …

The government is ready to “cooperate with all mayors and local councils that are themselves ready to cooperate,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in parliament’s opening autumn session on Monday. Referring to the recent local elections, Orbán said that “everybody, regardless of party affiliation, must work for Hungary and the Hungarian …

The 2019 municipal elections brought great surprises.  Although Fidesz won the majority of the municipals, they lost Budapest and a great number of Hungary’s largest cities; thus, the opposition alliance has proven that it is still alive and that the ruling parties can be defeated. There’s not that much for …

Apart from certain important cities, the country remained orange in general, while in Budapest, the joint opposition scored a much-awaited and in certain districts, a very surprising victory. Analysts agree this might bring a new era in domestic politics. No pollster predicted Gergely Karácsony’s victory. What is more, his triumph was rather …

Voters will decide in Sunday’s local elections if their towns and cities have able leaders, the prime minister said on Sunday, after he cast his ballot in Budapest’s 12th district. Speaking to reporters, Viktor Orbán said he had voted for István Tarlós, incumbent Budapest mayor, and asked the city’s residents to follow …

This year’s municipal elections promise to be exciting in many ways. The government parties intend to win everywhere in the country, but for the first time in years, members of the opposing political camp have made their response: extensive cooperation across the country that hasn’t been seen before. As a …

According to political analysts, the upcoming municipal election might have the highest stakes out of all the local elections since the regime change in Hungary.  Although not necessarily for government parties, more likely this year’s municipal election will be decisive for the whole Hungarian opposition. The fate of these political …

Less than two weeks before the 2019 local elections, we take another dive in and gather the most recent pollsters regarding the approval rating of the Budapest mayoral candidates. Many of them predict an extremely close competition while others indicate a clear Fidesz win.  A possibly close competition Looking at …

Hungary has in recent years postulated a political and state model: it has constructed a Christian democratic state, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at a meeting of the national-conservative Brothers of Italy (FdI) party in Rome on Saturday. This model works and is successful, Orbán said. The political success is obvious: Hungary’s …

With the local elections just around the corner, we take a look at the chances of mayoral candidates in Budapest. Will Fidesz supported István Tarlós win his third consecutive term on October 13 or this time joint leftist opposition candidate Gergely Karácsony will defeat the incumbent mayor? Also, what are the chances …

István Tiborcz, Hungarian Prime Minister VIktor Orbán’s son-in-law made his debut on the list of the top 100 wealthiest businessmen at the 32nd place. According to napi.hu‘s assessment, he is worth 35 billion Forints (~€107 million) and he is the youngest person on the list. István Tiborcz’s wealth grew mostly …

Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs confirmed to origo.hu that: US President Donald Trump had invited Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for a working visit in Washington on 13 May. The meeting will be about energy security, US-Hungarian defence cooperation and bilateral relations, and questions of security in the region. Earlier, …

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, speaking at a conference on migration in Budapest, called for swift action to be taken on migration and border protection and he also called for European unity. “We must act now,” Orbán told the Budapest Migration Conference organized by the Mathias Corvinus Collegium. If European policymakers …

Hungaryʼs governing populist party Fidesz has been suspended by the centre-right European Peopleʼs Party (EPP), the biggest political grouping in the European Parliament, after a vote triggered by what many member parties see as Fideszʼs defiance of EU policies and EPP values, according to breaking reports Wednesday evening. In an …

Artists, sicientists, civilians protect against the fragmantation of the Hungarian Science Academy Budapest, Roosevelt tér. In their opinion the government does not have the task of defining the thoughts and thinking of citizens and also not to highlight the goals of scientific research

Budapest is before mayor election. ( Now the mayor of Budapest is Tarlós István, a FIDESz-man) The opposition had a succesful pre-selection to pick out a common candidate for the biggest democratic opposition parties. Karácsony Gergely won. He is the leaderof the left-green Párbeszéd party and the mayor of Zuglo …