Category Archives: Hungary

Kyiv demands apology after PM Orbán wears scarf showing parts of Ukraine as Hungarian

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Ukraine and Romania voice displeasure with Hungarian prime minister for wearing scarf showing Hungary’s pre-world war one territory

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán came under pressure to apologise after posting a video of himself at a football match wearing a scarf that depicted historical Hungary, including parts of Ukraine and neighbouring countries.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said on Tuesday Kyiv would summon Hungary’s ambassador “who will be informed of the unacceptability of Viktor Orbán’s act”.

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Hungary: portrait of pro-fascist wartime judge rehung in supreme court

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Return of Jenő Szemák’s portrait seen as ‘strong symbolic message regarding the current political climate in Hungary’

A portrait of a far-right judge who served Hungary’s fascist wartime government has quietly been returned to the walls of the country’s highest court.

One senior judge told the Guardian he was appalled by the decision to hang a portrait of fascist sympathiser Jenő Szemák in the supreme court, saying that it sent “a strong symbolic message regarding the current political climate in Hungary”.

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Hungarian judges face media ‘smears’ after meeting US ambassador

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Colleagues come to defence of pair subjected to ‘coordinated attack’ over meeting last month

Hungary’s leading judges have launched a defence of two colleagues who say they have faced a “full-scale smear campaign” by state-supporting media after the pair met the US ambassador.

The US embassy in Budapest has also spoken out against a “coordinated media attack” on the judges that it said was “an effort to instil fear” in anyone wishing to engage with the US government.

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Dutch MEP says illegal spyware ‘a grave threat to democracy’

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European Commission wears ‘velvet gloves’ when dealing with spyware used on citizens, says chief of inquiry on hacking software, including Pegasus

The senior MEP leading an inquiry into spyware has accused the EU commission of ignoring the “grave threat to democracy” posed by the use of the technology, and national governments of failing to co-operate with her investigation.

The Dutch liberal MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld said there was illegal use of spyware in Poland, Hungary, Greece and Spain and suspicions about Cyprus, while other EU member states made it easy for the “shady” industry to operate.

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Finland and Sweden call on Hungary and Turkey to ratify Nato applications

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Erdoğan demands action against ‘terrorist’ Kurdish militants as Nordic pair maintain united front

The prime ministers of Finland and Sweden have urged Hungary and Turkey to approve their countries’ applications to join Nato, but Ankara insisted it would not lift its objections without further extraditions of suspects it considers terrorists.

The two Nordic nations applied to join the US-led defence alliance in May, jettisoning decades of military non-alignment in a historic policy shift triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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EU may suspend €7.5bn in funding from Hungary amid corruption fears

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European Commission proposes withholding funds as it awaits ‘gamechanger’ reforms from Orbán government

The EU’s executive arm has proposed suspending €7.5bn in financing for Hungary, as it awaited potential “gamechanger” anti-corruption reforms from Budapest.

The EU and Hungary have been at loggerheads for months, with Brussels suspecting the government led by nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán of undercutting the rule of law and using EU money to enrich its cronies.

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Hungary tightens abortion access with listen to ‘foetal heartbeat’ rule

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Fears move will pave way for more restrictions in country where terminations are widely accepted

Hungarian women seeking an abortion will be obliged to “listen to the foetal heartbeat” before they can access the procedure, according to a new decree issued by the government of the far-right prime minister, Viktor Orbán.

The new regulation is due to come into force on Thursday.

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Hungary approves construction of two Russian-built nuclear reactors

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Work to begin in coming weeks in move that emphasises ties between Viktor Orbán and Vladimir Putin

Hungary has announced that the €12.5bn (£10.6bn) construction of two nuclear reactors by Russia’s Rosatom will begin in the coming weeks after regulators approved the project.

The war in Ukraine has not deterred Hungary’s interest in the project to add to the four reactors already operating at the Paks plant outside Budapest.

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Hungary sacks weather chief after forecast forces fireworks cancellation

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Minister fires head of National Meteorological Service after storms it predicted would hit Budapest missed the capital

The Hungarian government fired the head of the national weather service and her deputy, two days after a fireworks display to celebrate a national holiday was delayed for fear of storms.

Technology minister Lazlo Palkovics, under whose remit the National Meteorological Service (NMS) falls, relieved president Kornelia Radics and her deputy Gyula Horvath from their duties on Monday, but did not provide a reason. The ministry did not immediately return AFP’s call for further details.

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Volunteers sail Roman boat replica along Danube to Budapest

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Boat built by Friedrich-Alexander University as part of EU-funded history project visits Hungary’s capital

A replica of a Roman-era boat of the kind that once sailed along the Danube from Germany to the river’s delta at the Black Sea is cruising in Hungary this week, stopping along its journey in the Hungarian capital, Budapest.

The Danuvia Alacris is crewed by volunteers wearing Roman tunics and the expedition is part of an EU-funded project to raise awareness of the region’s Roman past.

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Gazprom has increased gas supply to Hungary, says official

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Russian state-owned firm delivering more gas through TurkStream pipeline than ‘contractually obliged’

Gazprom has ramped up flows to Hungary through the TurkStream pipeline that transports gas via Bulgaria and Serbia, a Hungarian foreign ministry official has said.

The Russian state-owned company started delivering more gas than it was contractually obliged to on Friday, Menczer Tamás, an official in Hungary’s ministry of foreign affairs and trade, wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday.

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Viktor Orbán’s grip on Hungary’s courts threatens rule of law, warns judge

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Csaba Vasvári’s claims of ‘overreach’ follow freeze on EU funds over concerns about judicial independence

Viktor Orbán’s government is “constantly overreaching” its authority to sway the courts, a senior judge has said, in an intervention that will deepen alarm about the rule of law in Hungary.

In rare comments that lift the lid on the Hungarian government’s assault on judicial checks and balances, Csaba Vasvári, a senior judge at the Budapest metropolitan court, told the Observer that he and his colleagues on the bench “have been witnessing external and internal influence attempts” for several years. Vasvári, who has worked as a judge for 18 years, is a spokesperson for the National Judicial Council, a self-governing body that has been battling to defend judges’ independence for more than a decade.

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Vandalised Mayer-Marton mural in Oldham church granted Grade II-listed status

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Crucifixion mosaic and fresco saved from destruction after two-year campaign

A stunning mural created in a Catholic church by a Jewish refugee from the Nazis has been saved from destruction, decay and vandalism after being granted Grade II-listed status by the UK government.

The Crucifixion, by the leading 20th-century artist George Mayer-Marton, is a rare combination of mosaic and fresco standing almost 8 metres (26ft) high, taking up an entire wall inside the Holy Rosary church in Oldham.

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EU agrees plan to ration gas use over Russia supply fears

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Despite most energy ministers backing the scheme the EU was forced to water down proposals

The EU has been forced to water down its plan to ration gas this winter in an attempt to avoid an energy crisis generated by further Russian cuts to supply.

Energy ministers from the 27 member states, except Hungary, backed a voluntary 15% reduction in gas usage over the winter, a target that could become mandatory if the Kremlin ordered a complete shutdown of gas to Europe.

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Viktor Orbán sparks outrage with attack on ‘race mixing’ in Europe

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Hungary’s far-right prime minister says countries where races mingle are ‘no longer nations’

Hungary’s far-right prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has lashed out against the “mixing” of European and non-European races, in a speech that immediately drew outrage from opposition parties and European politicians.

“We [Hungarians] are not a mixed race … and we do not want to become a mixed race,” said Orbán on Saturday. He added that countries where European and non-Europeans mingle were “no longer nations”.

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Canadian swimmer says she was drugged at world championship event

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Mary-Sophie Harvey says a ‘four-to-six hour window where I can’t recall a single thing’ left her with a concussion and rib sprain

A Canadian swimmer has said she was drugged at a recent world championship event in Budapest, leaving her with a concussion and rib sprain.

Mary-Sophie Harvey said on her Instagram account that she was drugged on the final night while celebrating in the Hungarian capital and that there was a “four-to-six-hour window where I can’t recall a single thing”.

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Luxembourg PM’s same-sex husband seated next to Viktor Orbán at summit

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Hungarian leader was criticised by Xavier Bettel in 2021 for introducing homophobic law

The dozens of invitees were carefully seated along the lengthy table, flanked by columns fashioned out of Bagnères marble and surrounded by paintings from Spain’s Francisco de Goya.

As photos of the Nato dinner at Spain’s royal palace filtered out, many were swift to spot what one Spanish news site described as the image of the summit: the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, seated next to Gauthier Destenay, the first same-sex spouse of a leader of an EU member state.

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EU leaders say gas unlikely to be part of new round of Russia sanctions

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Estonian PM says gas sanctions would be more difficult because it would affect whole of Europe

EU leaders suggested Russian gas was unlikely to be part of the next round of sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s war machine, hours after agreeing a historic but incomplete oil embargo.

After nearly a month of wrangling, the EU agreed to ban 90% of Russian oil imports by the end of the year, with an exemption for Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. These landlocked central European countries, heavily dependent on Russian oil, can continue being supplied via the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline for an indeterminate period.

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EU to debate ban on Russian oil in face of Hungarian opposition

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A deal to placate Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, could allow pipeline imports via Ukraine

The EU is debating whether to water down a ban on Russian oil imports to placate Hungary’s leader, Viktor Orbán, who is blocking the latest European sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s war machine.

The bloc could compromise by banning Russian oil arriving in tankers but allow pipeline imports, a proposal that would allow Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to continue being supplied via the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline that runs through Ukraine.

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Office for Students chair didn’t know he was sharing platform with far-right journalist

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James Wharton says he didn’t know Hungarian talkshow host Zsolt Bayer was speaking at rightwing event

The chair of England’s university regulator, who was criticised for participating in a conference in Hungary on the same platform as a notorious far-right journalist accused of antisemitism, has said he did not know who he was appearing alongside.

James Wharton, chair of the Office for Students (OfS), addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference (Cpac) via a video message last Friday, on the same day as Zsolt Bayer, a talkshow host who has called Jews “stinking excrement”, referred to Roma as “animals”, and used racial epithets to describe Black people.

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