Category Archives: Hungary

Why the EU budget summit is a test of European democracy

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Viktor Orbán’s threat to block funds and membership to Ukraine strikes at the heart of decision-making in the bloc

In the past three years, European leaders have weathered Brexit, the pandemic and the energy crisis, but it turns out that the biggest threat to the EU’s unity and security has come from within.

All week, ministers and EU leaders have been closing ranks to try to prevent the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, from derailing plans to greenlight the start of EU membership talks with Ukraine and a new €50bn (£43bn) facility to help the country pay its bills over the coming years.

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EU leaders hope to face down Viktor Orbán over Ukraine funds veto

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Hungarian prime minister has threatened to block extra €50bn and also Ukraine’s EU membership plans

EU leaders hope to face down the Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán and keep their promise to find another €50bn (£43bn) for Ukraine despite his threat to veto extra funds during a crunch summit.

“There is no [one] plan B, there are plan Bs and if need be, we can go to Z,” said one diplomat, expressing the determination of the EU to ensure Orbán’s threats are not a barrier to Ukraine securing much-needed financial and military assistance to fight Russian invasion forces.

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Republicans to meet allies of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán on ending Ukraine aid

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Hungarian appearance at two-day event part of Orbán’s transatlantic attempt to bolster Russia’s war

Allies of Hungary’s far-right prime minister Viktor Orbán will hold a closed-door meeting with Republicans in Washington to push for an end to US military support for Ukraine, the Guardian has learned.

Márton Ugrósdy, the deputy state secretary for the prime minister’s political director’s office, and Attila Demkó, a leading pro-Orbán academic, along with members of the Hungarian embassy in Washington, will on Monday begin a two-day event hosted by the conservative Heritage Foundation thinktank.

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Ukraine’s Hungarians in spotlight as Orbán threatens to block EU accession

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In Hungarian-majority villages in Zakarpattia region, many feel little connection to the war and side with Hungarian leader

In the village of Bodalovo, the clock in almost every home is set to Budapest time. The televisions are tuned to M1, Hungary’s main government-controlled news channel, which portrays the world as seen by the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán. The language spoken on the street, in the church and at the school is Hungarian.

Yet Bodalovo is in the far western corner of Ukraine. It is one of numerous villages in the Zakarpattia region populated almost entirely by ethnic Hungarians. And as Orbán threatens to veto plans to begin EU accession negotiations for Ukraine next week, Ukraine’s small Hungarian community is in the spotlight.

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EU must not ‘appease’ Viktor Orbán by unfreezing billions earmarked for Hungary

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Commission may be prepared to to give Budapest €10bn after leader threatens to derail EU plans to open accession talks with Ukraine

The European Commission has been urged not to “appease” Viktor Orbán by unfreezing billions of euros for Budapest, as the Hungarian prime minister threatens to derail EU plans to open accession talks with Ukraine and grant Kyiv fresh aid.

The Hungarian government’s moves in recent years to undermine independent institutions, as well as concerns about corruption and alleged misuse of European funds, have led Brussels to withhold over €27bn (£23bn) earmarked for Hungary.

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Orbán accused of trying to silence all critics in Hungary with new law

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Proposed law to create ‘sovereignty protection office’ is designed to undermine opponents, civil society groups warn

Hungary’s leading civil society groups have accused Viktor Orbán of trying to “silence all critical voices” in the country after proposing legislation to create a “sovereignty protection office” investigating foreign influence.

For years, the Hungarian prime minister has promoted a narrative that external forces are trying to undermine his government and prop up his opponents.

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Sweden must join Nato soon to ward off Russian threat, says defence minister

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Exclusive: Pål Jonson unable to give timeline for completion of membership process but confident it will happen

Sweden must become a full member of the Nato military alliance “as fast as possible” to ward off the threat from Russia, the country’s defence minister has said, as impatience builds in Stockholm over its slow path to accession.

Pål Jonson said that he was unable to put a timeline on the completion of Sweden’s Nato approval process buthe was confident that Turkey and Hungary, the two remaining members left to ratify the country’s membership, would do so eventually.

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Not possible to return asylum seekers who arrived from Russia, Finnish president says – Europe live

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Sauli Niinistö calls for close cooperation on border security during visit to Poland

Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, has congratulated Javier Milei and invited the new Argentinian far-right libertarian president to visit Israel to open an embassy in Jerusalem.

Milei has previously said he would move the location of Argentina’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “I don’t care if I’ll be criticized by world leaders. I truly believe that’s the right thing to do,” he said in a recent interview with the Times of Israel.

It’s obvious that Argentina needs a change. It was unacceptable that one of the most prosperous countries in the world should keep falling year after year into the same thing.

I wish the new government every success and I want them to know that they can count on Madrid, where we’ve worked to defend freedom from day one and where we’ve looked after so many Argentinians who have fled, terrified, from Peronism …

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Hungarian plan to target foreign influence fuels NGO and media fears

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Campaigners say ‘sovereignty’ law is further step by Viktor Orbán to silence critics and solidify control

Hungarian rights advocates have raised fears over new legislation that they say could put more pressure on independent media and civil society groups.

The draft bill, which Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party is expected to submit on Tuesday, is set to propose creating a new office tasked with investigating activities that threaten Hungary’s “sovereignty”.

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Hungary sacks museum chief for not enforcing under-18s ban at LGBTQ+ exhibition

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László Simon dismissed after National Museum allowed children to visit a World Press Photo show

The director of Budapest’s National Museum has been fired from his role over a contentious anti-LGBTQ+ law that he himself voted for when he was a member of parliament.

Hungary’s government on Monday dismissed director László Simon after his museum allowed under-18s to visit a World Press Photo exhibition featuring images of LGBTQ+ people, despite laws banning the “promotion of homosexuality” to minors.

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Hungary anti-LGBT law sees under-18s barred from World Press Photo exhibition

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Prestigious show contains one set of images with LGBTQ+ theme, prompting a far-right lawmaker to file a complaint with the cultural ministry

People younger than 18 have been barred from visiting this year’s World Press Photo exhibition in Budapest after Hungary’s rightwing populist government decided that some of its photos violate a contentious law restricting LGBTQ+ content.

The prestigious exhibition, being shown at Hungary’s National Museum in Budapest, receives more than four million visitors from around the world every year. Showcasing outstanding photojournalism, its mission is to bring visual coverage of a range of important events to a global audience.

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Antisemitism is deeply ingrained in European society, says EU official

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Remarks by rights chief come as civil society groups warn of a rise in antisemitism amid Israel-Hamas war

Antisemitism is a “deeply ingrained racism in European society” that poses an existential threat to the continent’s Jewish community and the fundamental aims of the European Union, an EU official has warned.

Michael O’Flaherty, the director of the bloc’s agency for fundamental rights, said it was worrying that only a third of the general population considered antisemitism a big problem, when there was no doubt “dramatic moments in our societies trigger antisemitic responses”.

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Emmanuel Macron condemns Viktor Orbán meeting with Vladimir Putin

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French president says Hungarian leader’s meeting risks weakening European unity against Russia

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has condemned the Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán’s recent meeting and handshake with Vladimir Putin.

“In the situation we are in with Russia, we should not use these bilateral contacts to negotiate things about ourselves that would weaken our unity [on Ukraine],” Macron said after a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

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Orbán is lonelier than ever on the European stage – but he’s still got cards to play

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The defeat of Poland’s Law and Justice party and Turkey moving towards ratifying Sweden’s Nato bid have further isolated Hungary’s PM

Viktor Orbán is more isolated than ever – but he is still fuelling frustrations across Europe.

The Hungarian leader, one of Europe’s most prominent far-right politicians, has long been an outlier on the European stage. But, as he arrives in Brussels on Thursday for a summit of EU leaders, he will be even more lonely than usual.

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Orbán to give speech as government tries to release EU funds suspended over rule-of-law concerns – Europe live

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Hungary marks anniversary of 1956 revolution as European parliament investigates whether it has made progress on democratic standards

European parliament members representing the centre-right European People’s Party, Socialists and Democrats group, centrist Renew Europe group and the Greens will speak today in Brussels about whether they believe Hungary has done enough for the EU to unfreeze billions in funding currently suspended over rule-of-law concerns.

They will be focusing on a 13 billion euro pot of money earmarked for regional development and frozen until Budapest can show it has implemented reforms safeguarding judicial independence.

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European leaders seethe over Putin-Orbán meeting

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Czech president calls on western capitals not to fall for Russian leader’s tactic to break European unity

European leaders must not “fall” for the tactics of Vladimir Putin, the Czech president, Petr Pavel, has said, two days after Hungary’s prime minister shook hands with Russia’s leader.

Viktor Orbán, in a rare move for the leader of a country that belongs to the EU and Nato, met Putin in Beijing on Tuesday for what the Hungarian leader’s office described as a discussion on energy cooperation and peace.

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EU leaders clash with Hungary over proposed laws on migration

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Viktor Orbán used provocative language at summit, saying EU had gone ahead without his or Poland’s support

EU leaders have clashed again with Hungary after the country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, insisted at a summit in Granada that it would not support proposed laws to deal with migration.

Poland also joined the protest, accusing Brussels of imposing a “diktat” on other member states regarding the proposed laws that would apply in the event of a sudden refugee crisis such as that of 2015, when more than 1 million people arrived in the EU from Syria and beyond.

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EU summit statement adopted without migration paragraph – as it happened

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EU’s 27 leaders have adopted statement at Granada but planned section on migration has been left out, senior EU diplomat confirms

The Irish leader, Leo Varadkar, said in Granada this morning that the EU should accelerate its enlargement process.

I’m very ambitious about enlargement. I think some countries, particularly some of the countries in the Balkans, have been asked to wait too long. I think we should speed it up. But I also think we need to be honest and realistic with people about how long it takes. You have to meet certain standards to join the European Union.

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George Soros foundation’s retreat from Europe could ‘turn off the lights’ for human rights

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Activists fear the billionaire’s legacy will be lost as his Open Society Foundations curbs its activities across the EU

He survived the Nazi occupation of his native Hungary, made a fortune on Wall Street and became one of the most steadfast backers of democracy and human rights in the eastern bloc.

But human rights activists and independent media fear the legacy of billionaire philanthropist George Soros, 93, could be about to be undone in his homelands, as his donor network announced it will curb its activities across the EU from 2024.

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‘Gut-churning’: anger as Hungarian president addresses major women’s rights conference

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Katalin Novák, an anti-abortionist and promoter of pro-natalist policies, spoke at the opening of the Women Deliver conference in Rwanda

Some leading delegates at a women’s rights conference in Rwanda have expressed shock at the appearance there of the Hungarian president, an anti-abortionist criticised for an anti-equality stance.

Katalin Novák, an important player in the international “anti-gender movement”, was invited by the Rwandan government to speak at the Women Deliver conference in Kigali this week, where reproductive rights is one of the areas under discussion.

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