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Analysts say tactic of cooperation against nationalist parties appears to be working
A narrower-than-expected win for Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) and a serious setback for Hungary’s governing Fidesz show eastern Europe’s illiberal nationalist parties are not entirely invincible, analysts and commentators have said.
“It looks like this may be a small step in the right direction – but it’s clear the opposition still has an awful lot of work to do,” said Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.
Gergely Karacsony’s victory is one of many defeats across Hungary for Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party
The candidate backed by several opposition parties has been elected mayor of Budapest, in a blow to nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party.
With 74% of the votes counted in Budapest, Gergely Karacsony was leading Istvan Tarlos by 50.1% to 44.8%. Shortly after, Tarlos, the ruling party incumbent, conceded defeat on Sunday night.
As justice minister, László Trócsányi oversaw laws that put Hungary and EU in conflict
Viktor Orbán’s choice for Hungary’s EU commissioner faces “a very rough ride” in the European parliament, as MEPs warned that the Hungarian government’s record on the rule of law could not be ignored.
The nominee, László Trócsányi, described as an executor of Orbán’s will, was Hungary’s justice minister from 2014 until elected to the European parliament in May.
Hungarian PM invokes far-right ‘great replacement’ theory at Budapest demography summit
Procreate or face extinction: that’s the message from central European leaders to their shrinking populations, as across the region rightwing governments implement so-called “family first” policies to incentivise childbearing.
Hungary’s government is holding an international summit on demography in Budapest this week, being attended by several regional leaders and delegations from dozens of countries in an attempt to trumpet their investment in family policies.
On 19 August 1989, Hungarians and Austrians gathered in friendship at the border, paving the way to unification
When the end finally came for the Iron Curtain, it was not bulldozers or hammers that struck one of the first decisive blows, but a picnic.
Thirty years ago this Monday, on 19 August 1989, thousands of Hungarians and Austrians gathered at the border fence between the two countries, which also marked the dividing line between the Communist bloc and the west. They had come for a “pan-European picnic” of solidarity and friendship across the Iron Curtain, as momentum for political change increased and the Eastern bloc regimes struggled to keep up with rising popular discontent.
PM Viktor Orbán and his spokesman launch series of attacks on Finnish presidency
Finland has pledged to pursue a hearing into alleged breaches of the rule of law by Hungary’s far-right government after a campaign of vilification led by the prime minister, Viktor Orbán.
Campaign linked to Sziget festival criticised by senior member of ruling Fidesz party
Advertisements by Coca-Cola relating to a popular music festival in Hungary that promote gay acceptance have prompted a boycott call from a senior member of the conservative ruling party.
The posters are timed for the week-long Sziget festival – that takes the theme of “Love Revolution” and starts on Wednesday in Budapest – and show gay people and couples smiling with slogans such as “zero sugar, zero prejudice”.
Michael Minden says we must grapple with the different realities of those who think and feel not as we do
I agree with Natalie Nougayrède’s point that “universalism is not a dirty word” (Hong Kong’s struggles are ours too, Journal, 19 June), but I don’t think it is “beautiful” either.
As I understand it, it entails a challenge to all of us to assume responsibility for our condition. This cannot be achieved by affirming values as universal because they belong to our particular vocabulary (“basic human aspirations”, “fundamental rights and freedom”, “essential, individual rights”, etc). It can only be achieved by grappling with the different realities of those who think and feel not as we do.
Sunday’s ceremony comes as PM stands accused of trying to rewrite Hungarian history
Only a few hundred people were present to commemorate the anniversary of the execution of Imre Nagy on Sunday morning in Budapest, a far cry from 30 years ago when his reburial drew more than 100,000 people to the city’s Heroes Square.
Nagy, a communist reformer, had wanted to implement a less hardline version of communism, but Moscow sent in tanks in 1956 to crush the revolt. He was arrested and hanged on 16 June 1958.
Academy will be managed by nationalist government in unprecedented move
The Hungarian government is moving to bring the country’s umbrella scientific research organisation under its control, in what scientists in the country and globally say would be an unprecedented assault on academic freedoms.
The far-right, anti-migration government of Viktor Orbán has sought to increase its control over numerous sectors of society since it came into office in 2010, including putting financial pressure on independent media outlets, harassing and taxing NGOs that work on issues such as migration, and moving to centralise historical research.
On a rare trip to Europe, Myanmar leader and Hungary PM discuss issue of ‘growing Muslim populations’
From her failure to speak out against ethnic cleansing to imprisoning journalists, the reputation of Aung San Suu Kyi in the west has taken a battering in recent months.
But the leader of Myanmar has found a new ally in far-right, staunchly anti-immigrant Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán.
Captain of larger vessel that collided with tourist boat is detained after sinking in which seven have been confirmed dead
The captain of a vessel that collided with a tourist boat on which seven people died has been arrested by police as the search continued for 21 people still unaccounted for after the disaster on the Danube in Budapest.
The 64-year-old captain of the larger ship, the 135-metre four-storey Viking Sigyn, is suspected of endangering water transport leading to a deadly mass accident. In line with Hungarian laws, the suspect, a resident of Odessa, was identified only as Yuriy C.
Sightseeing boat was by the Hungarian parliament building when it collided with another vessel
Seven South Koreans have died after a sightseeing boat sank in the Danube, close to the Hungarian parliament building in central Budapest, Hungarian and South Korean officials have said.
Thirty-three South Koreans were onboard the boat when it collided with another vessel, South Korea’s foreign ministry said. The 26-metre tourist boat was also carrying two Hungarian crew members.
Council of Europe’s damning report says human rights violations must be urgently addressed
Europe’s top human rights watchdog has accused Hungary’s government of violating people’s rights and using anti-migrant rhetoric that fuels “xenophobic attitudes, fear and hatred”.
A damning report from the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Dunja Mijatović, concluded: “Human rights violations in Hungary have a negative effect on the whole protection system and the rule of law” and should “be addressed as a matter of urgency”.
After giving a commencement address and quoting Robert Mueller - you know, the man whose investigation he oversaw - Rosenstein went on to speak at the annual meeting of the Greater Baltimore Committee, where he continued to make waves.
Ex-Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein in a speech in Baltimore tonight is defending his handling of the Mueller probe and taking aim at ex-FBI director James Comey.
Rosenstein also says: “Based on what I knew in May 2017, the investigation of Russian election interference was justified.”
In his prepared remarks, Rosenstein said Trump, “did not tell me what reasons to put in my memo,” but noted what the special counsel report had said. He said he did not include what Trump wanted because it was not relevant, and he did not have personal knowledge of what Comey had told Trump.
Rosenstein said he “did not dislike” Comey but that Comey took steps that were “not within the range of reasonable decisions” during the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Rosenstein suggested that if he — rather than Trump — had been in charge, “the removal would have been handled very differently, with far more respect and far less drama.”
Hungarian singers allegedly signed paper to bypass stipulation of all-black cast
The Hungarian State Opera has come up with a dubious way around a stipulation that George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess be performed by an all-black cast: it is allegedly asking its white, Hungarian singers to sign a paper saying they identify as African-American.
The company first put on the opera a year ago, leading to a spat with the Gershwin estate, which stipulates the opera should only be performed by a black cast.
Exclusive: Survey of 14 countries show some Europeans now favour “emigration controls”
Southern and eastern European countries are more concerned about emigration than immigration, according to a wide-ranging survey of attitudes in 14 EU countries.
In Spain, Italy, Greece, Poland, Hungary and Romania, six countries where population levels are either flatlining or falling sharply, more citizens said emigration was a worry than immigration, according to the poll by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
Government campaign to boost birth rate features pair from photo that went viral
It was meant to be a poster extolling the virtues of a strong family. But eagle-eyed Hungarians, or indeed anyone who has used social media over the past year, have noticed a small problem.
The latest advert in the Hungarian government’s campaign to boost “traditional” families and increase birth rates features a photograph of a couple who achieved fame for memes depicting infidelity, or at least a distracted partner.
Hungarian PM’s anti-EU attitude is alienating centre-right European People’s party
Viktor Orbán could face renewed calls for his expulsion from the European People’s party (EPP) at a gathering of the powerful centre-right bloc next month.
The Hungarian prime minister and his Fidesz party will be on the agenda of the EPP political assembly on 20 March, an event intended to approve the group’s manifesto before European parliament elections in May.