Category Archives: Hungary

Xi Jinping to visit France, Hungary and Serbia amid EU trade tariff row

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China’s president arrives as EU anti-subsidy investigations and tensions over espionage, Ukraine and Taiwan continue

China’s president, Xi Jinping, is to visit Europe next week for the first time in five years, in a tour that will take in the unlikely trifecta of France, Hungary and Serbia.

The visit comes as China pushes to avoid a trade war with the EU, while attitudes towards Beijing in the bloc are hardening after multiple spying scandals and China’s ongoing support for Russia in the war in Ukraine.

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‘Waiting for Trump’: Viktor Orbán hopes US election will change his political fortunes

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Exclusive: Hungary’s PM and EU’s most isolated leader says he is pursuing ‘friendship with everybody’ – particularly the former US president

Europe’s most isolated leader was beaming.

Standing in a hallway in Brussels, Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, spoke excitedly about the politician he hopes will change his political fortunes – Donald Trump.

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Hungary’s political challenger says his ‘vision’ can defeat Orbán

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Péter Magyar building centrist movement that has visibly shaken ruling party he dramatically broke with

A political newcomer who is causing headaches for Hungary’s government has said his experience as a regime insider can help him succeed where other opposition figures have failed, citing his “crazy” rise in the polls and “vision” as signs that change is possible.

Fourteen years after the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, returned to power and put the country on an illiberal path, some Hungarians had lost hope that his hold on power could be eroded.

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Tens of thousands protest in Hungary against Viktor Orbán’s government

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Former ruling party insider Péter Magyar leads march to parliament building in Budapest

Tens of thousands of people have turned out in downtown Budapest to protest against the government of Viktor Orbán.

Protesters marched to parliament in the unusually warm spring weather, some of them shouting “We are not scared” and “Orbán, resign”.

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Two local staff at Hungary embassy fired after Bolsonaro video leak – report

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Footage showing former president spent two nights apparently hiding from potential arrest at mission was leaked to media

The Hungarian embassy in Brasília has reportedly fired two Brazilian employees after the leaking of security footage that revealed how Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro had spent two nights “hiding” inside the mission.

According to the network CNN Brasil, the sackings were punishment for the embarrassing leak to the New York Times which prompted a political outcry in Brazil and calls for Bolsonaro’s arrest.

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Brazil summons Hungarian envoy to explain why Bolsonaro hid in embassy

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Former Brazil president spent two nights at legation after two close aides were detained in February over alleged coup plot

Brazil’s foreign ministry has summoned the Hungarian ambassador to explain why the South American country’s embattled former president Jair Bolsonaro spent two nights “hiding” at Hungary’s embassy in Brasília last month as federal police investigators closed in on some of his closest allies.

Security footage obtained by the New York Times showed that in early February – four days after two Bolsonaro aides were arrested on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the Brazilian government – the rightwing populist took shelter in the embassy, a short drive from the presidential palace Bolsonaro once occupied.

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EU nature restoration laws face collapse as member states withdraw support

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Brussels vote cancelled after it became clear law would not pass final stage with majority vote

The EU’s nature restoration laws appear on the verge of collapse after eight member states, including Hungary and Italy, withdrew support for the legislation.

The laws, which have been two years in the making and are designed to reverse decades of damage to wildlife on land and in waterways, were supposed to be rubber-stamped in a vote on Monday.

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Four killed at Hungarian rally after race car crashes into spectators

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  • Car appeared to lose traction before sliding off road
  • Two people, including a child, sustain serious injuries

A rally car veered off the road and crashed into a group of spectators in Hungary on Sunday, killing four and injuring several others, police said.

The accident occurred during a race between the towns of Labatlan and Bajot near the Danube River in northwest Hungary, the Komárom-Esztergom County police said in a statement.

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Populist parties’ divisions jeopardise chances of setting European agenda

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Survey shows supporters of nationalist parties hold widely differing views on EU membership, migration and support for Ukraine

Populist and nationalist parties fighting the European elections in June are deeply divided on almost all key issues, according to a survey, in a finding that questions their chances of defining the bloc’s agenda even in the event of a predicted far-right surge.

However, the report, by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), also said pro-EU parties risked mobilising the Eurosceptic vote if they continued to ape hard-right policies rather than coming up with persuasive alternatives.

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Furious Hungary summons US envoy over Biden’s ‘dictatorship’ comment

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US president said Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, is ‘looking for a dictatorship’ after Orbán met with Trump in Florida

Hungary summoned the US ambassador over comments by the US president, Joe Biden, who said the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, wants a dictatorship.

The Hungarian leader traveled to Florida on Friday for talks with Donald Trump during a visit in which he did not meet with anyone from the Biden administration.

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Biden criticises Trump’s Mar-a-Lago meeting with Orbán

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US president told supporters Hungary’s premier was looking for dictatorship

Joe Biden has criticised his election rival Donald Trump for meeting Viktor Orbán, saying the Hungarian premier was “looking for dictatorship”.

Orbán travelled to Florida on Friday to meet his “good friend” Trump. Orbán has frequently expressed hope for the Republican’s return to power.

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Sweden finally joins Nato after nearly two-year wait

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Hungary dropping opposition allows historically neutral country to become member, cementing alliance’s control of Nordic region

Sweden has officially became the 32nd member of Nato, in a landmark moment for the historically neutral country and the western military alliance.

Stockholm’s ratification process was finally completed in Washington as Sweden and Hungary, the last country to ratify Sweden’s membership, submitted the necessary documents after a drawn-out process that has taken nearly two years.

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Sweden will complete its ‘long farewell to neutrality’ with Nato accession

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For Swedes it means a dramatic change of national identity, while the alliance gets greater control of the Baltic Sea

Just a few short months ago, Sweden’s Nato membership seemed a very long way from being a done deal. Having submitted its application to join in May 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it seemed at times as though Stockholm might be left hanging interminably. While Finland, which had applied to join the alliance at the same time as its neighbour, became a member at record speed last April, Sweden got stuck in a diplomatic quagmire.

Last summer a series of Qur’an burnings in Sweden inflamed ties with Turkey, making a “yes” from Ankara look unlikely and at times inconceivable. And as recently as September, Viktor Orbán’s government was embroiled in a public war of words with Sweden over criticism of Hungary’s democracy and teaching in Swedish schools. Late last month, after Turkey’s parliament had given Sweden the green light, the Hungarian prime minister was still pushing for negotiations in a public letter to his Swedish counterpart, Ulf Kristersson.

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China offers to deepen security ties with Hungary

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Beijing’s move comes at a time when Budapest’s relationship with its EU and Nato allies is at a low point

China has offered to deepen security cooperation with Hungary, underscoring Budapest’s warming ties with Beijing just as Hungarian officials snubbed a visiting delegation from Washington.

Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, met China’s minister of public security, Wang Xiaohong, on Friday.

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Tens of thousands protest in Budapest over sexual abuse case pardon

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Viktor Orbán under pressure as turmoil continues a week after the presidential pardon was revealed

Tens of thousands of people protested in Budapest on Friday at the biggest rally against Viktor Orbán’s government for years, after a sexual abuse case pardon by President Katalin Novák caused public uproar and led to her resignation.

The conservative Hungarian prime minister, who has been in power since 2010, has sought to defuse the week-long scandal that brought down two of his key political allies, the president and the former justice minister, Judit Varga, but it has continued to dominate domestic media.

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Hungary’s president resigns in unusual setback for ruling party

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Katalin Novák stepped down after pardoning a man convicted of helping cover up sex abuse

The Hungarian president has announced her resignation over her decision to pardon a man convicted of helping cover up a sex abuse case at a children’s home as the controversy posed a challenge for Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán.

The pardon decision was made last year but only caught the public’s attention over the past days after a report by the local news site 444.hu, which was met with outrage, leading Hungary’s opposition to call for Katalin Novák to step down.

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Orbán boycotts parliament session called to ratify Swedish Nato bid

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Hungary remains alone in holding up Stockholm’s accession despite PM’s promises not to be last to ratify

Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party has boycotted a session of parliament called by the opposition to ratify Sweden’s Nato membership, even as a group of western ambassadors arrived in the building to urge a vote.

For months, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, repeatedly promised his counterparts within Nato that the country would not be last to sign off on Sweden’s membership.

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EU agrees €50bn package for Ukraine as Viktor Orbán bows to pressure

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Hungarian prime minister, who had vowed to block the funding, relented after series of 11th-hour meetings

A robust and united position among EU member states convinced Viktor Orbán to end his “blackmail” and support a €50bn (£43bn) funding package for Ukraine, European prime ministers have said.

The Hungarian prime minister, who had been vowing to block the funds since December, performed one of the fastest U-turns seen at a leaders’ summit after six weeks of brinkmanship.

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‘Orbán fatigue’ as EU leaders gather to push for €50bn Ukraine package – Europe live

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Meeting in Brussels as 26 heads of state try to persuade Hungarian leader to back aid

As leaders prepare for the summit, last-minute talks are ongoing to convince Hungary’s Viktor Orbán to sign off on a funding package for Ukraine.

Charles Michel, the European Council president, posted a photo of talks with Orbán.

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EU leaders enter showdown with Viktor Orbán over €50bn Ukraine package

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Member states hope to persuade Hungary to remove its block on funding at Brussels emergency summit

EU leaders have returned to Brussels for a second showdown in two months with Hungary’s Viktor Orbán over his refusal to sanction a new €50bn assistance package for Ukraine.

A mixture of frustration and anger prevailed in the city as leaders arrived for dinner on Wednesday night on the eve of the emergency summit, with aides lamenting the failure of the Hungarian PM to shift position since December, when he first blocked the funds.

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