Post Tagged with: "Foreign Policy"

Prime Minister Orbán at crossroads. Photo: MTI

Does Hungary’s Orbán pose a national security risk to western democracies?

Professor Charles Gati, in an interview published in Saturday’s Népszava newspaper, observed that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán faces the toughest decision of his political career as he must weigh Hungary’s future place in the transatlantic community, and whether Hungary is, indeed, on the verge of either exiting or being tossed out of the EU, as László Kövér suggested.  “The historical […]

by · October 25, 2014 · Focus
AFP file photo. US President Barack Obama (R) greets Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orb·n at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois, during the NATO 2012 Summit May 20, 2012 . AFP PHOTO Jim WATSON.

Zsolt Németh had warned Orbán that trouble was brewing with the US

Zsolt Németh, the chair of the Hungarian Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee, first realized the real extent of troubles surrounding Hungary’s relationship with the United States when he presented at a conference in Washington D.C. earlier this fall. Mr. Németh spoke fairly candidly with the right-wing Válasz.hu website on Tuesday (the online presence of the Heti Válasz weekly, which was founded under […]

by · October 21, 2014 · Politics
Deputy State Secretary Szabolcs Takács in Ottawa, Canada.

Orbán government’s deputy state secretary met with Democratic Charter’s questions in Ottawa

The Canadian Hungarian Democratic Charter (CHDC) was present at a roundtable discussion hosted by Carleton University’s Centre for European Studies, in Ottawa. The roundtable, held on September 29th, 2014, explored avenues of international cooperation among Visegrád 4 countries. Considering the Orbán government’s overt move away from western-style liberal democracy and nearly constant international controversy, the Charter’s three spokespersons present at the event — […]

by · October 2, 2014 · Diaspora
Solidarity with Ukraine protest in Budapest on August 30th, 2014. Photo: Együtt-PM

Pro-Moscow government silent while Hungarian opposition organizes Ukraine solidarity protest

While the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ parliamentary secretary, Péter Szijjártó, tries to discourage any further European Union sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the Együtt-PM liberal-green opposition party took to the streets of Budapest, in order to protest the second Russian invasion of Ukraine this year. Demonstrators marched to Russia’s embassy in the Hungarian capital and the protest included key […]

by · August 30, 2014 · East
Photo: Paula Slier

Hungarian Foreign Affairs offers milquetoast words on Ukraine

Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued to issue milquetoast statements on the deepening crisis in Ukraine, following confirmation by NATO that Russian forces were operating in the Donetsk region of the country, and had helped pro-Russian rebels open up a second front in the southeast (along the coast of the Sea of Azov) against Ukrainian forces. “We are closely monitoring […]

by · August 29, 2014 · East
Photo: Mr. Orban (left) with Mr. Saakashvili (right)  and "boychik" Péter Szíjjártó  Hungarian foreign minister-designate in the middle.

Did Saakashvili ask for asylum from Orbán?

Last week Georgia’s ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili showed up at Viktor Orbán’s doorstep in Budapest. He came with a video crew. Mr. Saakashvili is in a peculiar situation, he is on the run. He left Georgia in mid-November 2013, two days before his presidential term officially expired. Georgian authorities recently brought charges against him under part three of article 333 of […]

by · August 4, 2014 · East