After 48 hour of offering no commentary whatsoever on a ruling by the European Court of Justice that dismissed both Hungary’s and Slovakia’s complaints about equitably resettling mostly Syrian refugees among EU member states, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán finally spoke to the issue in his usual Friday morning radio interview. The usually loquacious Hungarian prime minister was frugal with his […]
A growing list of prominent Hungarians, including conservatives, are supporting an initiative to launch a national referendum on the adoption of the euro in Hungary. More accurately, the proposed referendum is actually about Hungary joining the EU’s Exchange Rate Mechanism, which is the first formal step in having the euro replace the forint as Hungary’s currency. (The Fundamental Law does […]
Outgoing Dutch ambassador Gajus Scheltema’s suggestion that the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán creates enemies along the same lines as Islamic terrorists sparked a political firestorm in Hungary. Mr. Scheltema said, as part of a response to journalists from the 168 Óra weekly on the risk of terrorist attacks, particularly after Barcelona: “A car attack can occur anywhere in […]
Robert Fico, Slovakia’s prime minister and a left-leaning politician not immune to populism, nationalism and euroscepticism, has distanced himself from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s hard-line anti-EU and anti-western rhetoric. Most crucially: Mr. Fico confirmed that for him, cooperation and a close alliance with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Germany and President Emmanuel Macron’s France is more important than cooperation among the […]
European Union institutions currently based in London, but scheduled to relocate following the United Kingdom’s departure from the EU, are coveted prizes for member states. EU members see these as an important source of new jobs, investment in the local economy and international stature. Hungary, however, is bucking the trend and is uninterested in attracting any EU institution from London […]
Zsolt Bayer, the prominent publicist, the co-founder of the ruling Fidesz party and close confidant of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, announced that Hungary must exit the European Union. He went further, calling the EU “a scalding pigsty.” Mr. Bayer was speaking to the local television station of the northeastern town of Miskolc, where he said: “If the EU continues along […]
Gergely Gulyás, vice president of the ruling Fidesz party, expressed concern that the party which once limited its membership to people under the age of 35 has now lost Hungary’s youth vote. “Success is most certainly rather attractive to young people, but let me exercise self-criticism: even if Fidesz is successful, today it is not appealing enough to young people,” […]
Years ago George Schöpflin applied for a position at the Central European University (CEU) and was rejected. He didn’t get the job, and now he is attacking CEU by claiming that the university is illegitimate because it issues American diplomas without “American academic oversight.” 77 year old George (György) Schöpflin is a confidante of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and […]
The European People’s Party, which is rapidly losing its remaining credibility, is getting a first-hand taste of how Prime Minister Viktor Orbán operates. After the EPP published a strongly worded statement Saturday morning, in which it claimed that the EPP presidium “asked Fidesz and the Hungarian authorities to take all necessary steps to comply with the Commission’s request” about amending […]
Hungary intends to adhere to every request made by the European Commission, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán confirmed on Saturday, in what was a reportedly heated, tense meeting with the European People’s Party, of which Fidesz is a member. The EPP had reportedly raised the possibility of suspending Fidesz membership in the conservative parliamentary group if Mr. Orbán does not amend […]
