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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Hungarian ambassador summoned amid national uproar at treatment of Ilaria Salis, accused of attacking neo-Nazis
Italy’s government has said that authorities in Hungary went “too far” in putting in chains an Italian woman who is awaiting trial for allegedly attacking neo-Nazis.
Italian ministers summoned Budapest’s ambassador in protest on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Hungarian parliament yet to sign off on application despite repeated promises not to hold up process alone
Viktor Orbán has said he will urge the Hungarian parliament to sign off on Sweden’s Nato bid “at the first possible opportunity”, as diplomats said Hungary’s allies were “exasperated” by the country’s foot-dragging.
Sweden applied to join Nato in May 2022, but its accession was delayed as Turkey and Hungary strung out the ratification process.
Continue reading...France, Poland and Austria among nine countries where radical rightwing parties predicted to finish first
Populist “anti-European” parties are heading for big gains in June’s European elections that could shift the parliament’s balance sharply to the right and jeopardise key pillars of the EU’s agenda including climate action, polling suggests.
Polling in all 27 EU member states, combined with modelling of how national parties performed in past European parliament elections, shows radical right parties are on course to finish first in nine countries including Austria, France and Poland.
Continue reading...Rights of lone minors were not protected, with some deported and others left homeless for months
Spain, Greece and Hungary have been rebuked by courts for failing to protect the rights of children.
It adds to a string of recent rulings that have reprimanded countries across Europe over the treatment of lone minors who are seeking asylum.
Continue reading...Vote leaves Hungary as only country still to ratify application made in response to Russian invasion of Ukraine
The Turkish parliament has given its long-awaited approval to Sweden’s membership of Nato, bringing the Nordic country significantly closer to joining the western military alliance after months in limbo.
Three months after Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, submitted a bill on approving membership to parliament, MPs voted in favour of ratifying it late on Tuesday night.
Continue reading...Hungarian PM met a who’s who of rightwing leaders on his travels in 2023, as critics point to failures at home
Europe’s pariah prime minister, Viktor Orbán, is jetting across the globe in search of friends.
Hungary, an EU and Nato member that has been backsliding on democratic norms for more than a decade, has become even more isolated in the western club over the past months. Orbán has irritated allies by blocking a much-needed EU financial aid package for Ukraine, while Hungary’s parliament has dragged its feet on ratifying Sweden’s bid to join Nato.
Continue reading...President under fire after announcing he will run for election as MEP in June and will stand down if he wins
The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, has said he is running as an MEP in June’s European elections and will stand down if elected, sparking a race to replace him or risk the role reverting to Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán.
“I have decided to run in the European elections in 2024,” Michel told Belgian media late on Saturday. The former Belgian prime minister has served as chief of the EU Council, the group of government leaders of the 27 EU member states, since 2019.
Continue reading...French president accuses Hungarian PM of being dishonest to the public about his reasons for vetoing aid
Viktor Orbán must not be allowed to take the EU “hostage”, Emmanuel Macron has said, after the Hungarian prime minister blocked a €50bn EU aid package for Ukraine in the early hours of Friday.
As leaders of the European Union start working on the details of Plan B to raise the money through cash and loans, the French president said Orbán was being dishonest to the public about his reasons for vetoing the financial package and would ultimately come around.
Continue reading...Bloc’s leaders decide to open negotiations after hours of talks as Viktor Orbán says Hungary does not want to take part in ‘bad decision’
The Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, told reporters at the summit this morning that the European Commission unfroze part of Hungary’s EU funding yesterday because “the rules are the rules”.
Addressing today’s summit, he said:
I’ve been attending European Council meetings for six or seven years now.
This is probably one of the most important ones that I’ve attended, precisely because of the big decisions we have to make in relation to Ukraine: a financial decision and also a decision on whether to begin negotiations.
Continue reading...Commission says Hungary has fulfilled set of judiciary reforms while critics say funds could have been unlocked to persuade Orbán to stop blocking Ukraine-related decisions
The leaders of major political groups in the European parliament have sent a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, outlining their objections to unfreezing EU funds for Hungary.
In the letter, seen by the Guardian, the political group presidents wrote:
We would like to express our deep concern as regards the imminent positive assessment of the Hungarian judicial reforms and their fulfilment of the four judicial milestones set out in the horizontal enabling condition under the Common Provisions Regulation.
In our view, the horizontal enabling condition referring to the independence of the judiciary has not been fulfilled.
We are most concerned about the implementation requirement regarding the strengthening of the National Judicial Council.
We need to live up to our commitments on Ukraine and continue to be a reliable and strong partner. We must provide Ukraine with continued and sustainable political, financial and military support and, in particular, come to an agreement on providing €50bn for its long term stability.
We also have to agree to open accession negotiations with Ukraine, thereby giving it a necessary signal and bringing it yet closer to our European family.
A pivotal European Council lies ahead of us. Now is the time for decision-making. I call on you all to come equipped with a spirit of compromise, a sense of collective responsibility, with the union’s interests and values at the forefront of your minds.
Continue reading...