Budapest’s historic skyline is about to change dramatically, with the Fidesz-controlled General Assembly of the Hungarian capital approving a 120-meter high skyscraper, even though all opposition parties expressed concern about the lack of consultation and the lack of time to review the plans before the motion was rushed through council. The Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) suggested that investors close to […]
Viktor Orbán is one of the first European leader to secure an invitation to the Trump White House. At least this is what Mr. Orbán says. The Hungarian Prime Minister is known for making grandiose statements and organize publicity stunts. Now Mr. Orbán says that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump invited him to Washington. The interview was published by small Hungarian […]
American President-elect Donald Trump reportedly told Prime Minister Viktor Orbán that he is a “big fan of Hungary,” after which he promised over the telephone to invite the controversial Hungarian leader to the White House following his inauguration. It was mainly Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó who gave us a peek into what apparently transpired in the telephone […]
Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party had, by any standards, a terrible last month or so, yet new polling figures suggest that the popularity of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government did not suffer at all. It was revealed that Ghaith Pharaon, a Saudi businessman wanted by the FBI and Interpol for wire fraud, racketeering and allegedly funding terrorists, conducted business with a company tied […]
The Orbán government surprised the business world on Thursday, including the National Alliance of Employees and Employers, when it declared without any prior consultation that the country’s capital gains tax would be slashed from 19% to just 9% in 2017. Hungary’s dramatically reduced corporate tax rate of 9% makes it even more appealing than the already low corporate taxes paid […]
On November 30, 2016 the Hungarian Diaspora Council will hold its annual meeting in Budapest at the Parliament building with over 100 invitees. The Council will meet with politicians, among them, leaders of Hungary’s neo-Nazi party, Jobbik. Canadian and US citizens of Hungarian origin may end up meeting with neo-Nazis, some of whom have been expelled from North America! (One […]
One of the relatively refreshing aspects of Hungarian politics until recently was that, broadly speaking, the personal lives of politicians were not paraded before the general public, and the public did not seem especially interested in this either. Over the last few years, however, media tied to Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party has rejected this unwritten rule, even to the point of […]
In September Hungary’s Ambassador to Washington Réka Szemerkényi met Senator Jeff Sessions, a Trump confidant, to express Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s admiration and support for Mr. Trump. This summer Mr. Orbán was the first EU’s Prime Minister to endorse Trump. Later when the billionaire’s poll numbers dived, Mr. Orbán’s press chief denied the endorsement, displaying his usual flip-flopping. Now […]
I start to think that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his inner circle have lost touch with reality. Police forces conduct anti-terror training exercises in other EU countries, but it is unprecedented that a night-time police drill is staged as a propaganda tool for a sitting Prime Minister. A couple of days ago Mr. Orbán invited journalists and politicians to […]
By: András B. Göllner As the Hungarian government’s anti-liberal, anti-refugee referendum campaign headed into its home stretch, liberal and progressive leaders from around the world, held their own rally in Montreal, under the patronage of Canada’s Prime Minister, The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau. The location for this gathering of global progressives was Montreal’s famed Ritz Carlton Hotel, and the Musée des […]
