‘We won the first half, 1–0 here. Now, let’s wait for Donald Trump to bring in the second half,’ Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a humorous tone during an interview with M1 public television as he assessed the results of Sunday’s European Parliament and local elections. PM Orbán emphasized that Fidesz defeated both the old and new opposition simultaneously, which he considers a particularly valuable outcome.
The far-left Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra coalition got above the parliamentary threshold in Italy last Sunday, and will delegate Ilaria Salis to the European Parliament. Salis was standing criminal trial in Hungary for allegedly taking part in Antifa’s attack on attendees of an event in Budapest in February 2023, but was now granted political immunity and will escape the charges.
The analysts invited to assess the outcome of the EP and municipal elections noted that the result the ruling parties achieved on Sunday would likely have translated into a two-thirds majority in a parliamentary election.
The long-ruling right-wing Fidesz party won by the third largest margin in the European Parliamentary elections last night, behind the PSD-PNL big tent coalition in Romania and long-time ally Marine Le Pen’s right-wing populist Rassemblement National in France. Fidesz also got the third highest vote share, behind PSD-PNL’s 53 per cent and the Maltese Labour Party’s 45 per cent.
Viktor Orbán expressed gratitude to all Hungarian voters who decided to participate in the dual election. He noted that the turnout for the municipal and European Parliament elections on Sunday was record high in Hungary, reaching 57 per cent.
The highest number of voters was registered in London, with 2,148 voters, of whom 1,765 cast their votes, resulting in an 82.17 per cent turnout.
After a Vitézy lead until after midnight, Karácsony overtook and the results at 4 a.m. showed the closest election in the history of the city. Karácsony ended up winning by as few as 324 votes.
While Vitézy led for a long time, the mayoral elections ended up in Karácsony’s favour. Fidesz took the expected 11 Parliamentary seats.
In this analysis the number of right-wing MEPs who won seats in the 2019 European parliamentary elections are compared to how many seats right-wing parties are predicted to win this year. The countries covered are Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria.
Hungary’s industrial output grew by 6.4 per cent year-on-year in April, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) announced. However, adjusted to working days, the data actually shows a 2.4 per cent decline. In their statement the Ministry for National Economy explained that the Hungarian industry is still being weighed down by a sluggish European economy, curtailed by the war in Ukraine.
Despite slipping slightly from first place according to the exit polls, Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV) managed to significantly increase the number of MEPs it is to send to the EP on the first day of the European elections. PVV will have seven seats in the new EP, with Wilders expressing hope that the official results, to be announced on 9 June, will confirm that his party came in first.
According to the E21 initiative, recently launched with the participation of public, scientific, and economic experts to support Hungary’s green transition, the government’s Energy Efficiency Obligation Scheme incentivizes designated participants in the domestic energy market to save energy. Improving energy efficiency in the Hungarian economy is a vital national interest and contributes to the country’s competitiveness, E21 noted in a statement issued after their meeting today.
The last-minute withdrawal of the Fidesz candidate might propel Dávid Vitézy into the lead only two days ahead of the elections.
After nearly twenty years, Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport is back in the ownership of the Hungarian state. The announcement was made by Minister of National Economy Márton Nagy, who emphasized in a statement that the Hungarian government will work to make the airport one of the best in the world.
Avi Benlolo of The Abraham Global Peace Initiative directed the film which showcases the terror of the villains, and the bravery of the heroes of the fateful 7 October attacks. Before the screening, distinguished guests, such as Israeli Ambassador to Hungary Yacov Hadas-Handelsman made short speeches.
In his first video appearance since being shot on May 15, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico blamed the opposition and George Soros for the attempt on his life. The opposition party Progressive Slovakia swiftly rejected these accusations, stating that Fico’s claims only exacerbate the already tense situation.
The Hungarian MVM Group is set to buy a stake in Shah Deniz, one of the world’s largest natural gas fields, in Azerbaijan. This move will significantly strengthen Hungary’s energy supply and represents another major step towards independence from Russian energy sources.
Despite the significant support Ukraine receives from its Western allies, the Russian military industry seems to be still superior in terms of quantities. According to reports, five Russian responses are received for every shot fired by Ukraine. In addition, Ukraine’s Western allies produce artillery ammunition not only more expensively but at a much slower rate than Russia. According to predictions, in 2024, Russia will be able to produce 4.5 million artillery shells, while the EU and the US together only about 1.3 million.
Hungary’s Honorary Consulate has opened in Monaco, allowing Hungarians to vote in the European Parliament elections on 9 June at a record of 147 foreign locations. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó pointed out the significance of 9 June, calling it possibly the most crucial day in modern European history.
A few days after an Afghan immigrant killed a policeman with a knife and injured several others in Mannheim, another knife attack has taken place in the German city. This time, the victim was a politician from the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Marco Rossi’s men lost to the Irish team who, unlike Hungary, did not qualify for Euro 2024. The Irish scored the winner in the 92nd minute after a quick counterattack following a Hungarian corner, setting the final 2–1 scoreline.
In the first 24 hours after the historic guilty verdict, President Trump’s campaign raised a whopping $52.8 million, according to the announcement of the campaign itself. If this is true, that would be a shattering new record, beating out the $26 million the Biden camp raised in one day in August 2020, after they announced that Kamala Harris would be their Vice Presidential nominee, the first black female candidate on a presidential ticket.
‘Today, we must achieve what Prime Minister István Tisza could not: prevent Hungary from being drawn into another European war,’ Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stressed in his speech on the Day of National Unity. 4 June marks one of the darkest days in Hungarian history: signed on this day in 1920, the Treaty of Trianon caused Hungary to lose about two-thirds of its territory and one-third of its population.
According to the decision of World Athletics (WA), Budapest will be the venue for the first-ever World Athletics Ultimate Championship in 2026. WA President Sebastian Coe said that the decision was made partly because of the success of last year’s World Athletics Championship. In 2026, the Hungarian capital will also host the Champions League final.
Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky announced the purchase of two new German Leopard 2A7HU tanks on his Facebook page. The vehicles will be added to the fleet of the 1st György Klapka Armoured Brigade of the Hungarian Defence Forces.
The editorial board of Hungarian Conservative heartily congratulates Father Mario Alexis Portella, one of our staunchest and most prolific contributors, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his ordination.
Spencer Chretien was the guest of honour at the Center for Fundamental Rights’ latest event, where he talked about the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, aiming to help an incoming new Trump administration. Mr Chetien also spoke about his time in the first Trump administration, President Trump’s trial in Manhattan, and the problems with the liberal bureaucracy in Washington, DC.
Belgium, currently holding the rotating EU Presidency, is urging member states to accelerate the Article 7 procedure against Hungary, which could result in the country losing its voting rights in EU decision-making. Pressure on Budapest over Ukraine has been increasing in recent months; Belgium’s call could be seen as part of this effort.
Facebook has deleted the recording of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s speech from public television’s page, with the absurd allegation that the video shared symbols associated with ‘dangerous’ individuals and organizations. Orbán spoke at the Peace March held on Saturday, discussing peace in Ukraine and the upcoming European elections.
Albeit on Monday the public was informed that only Tibor Kapu and Gyula Cserényi have been selected as the astronauts for the programme, the other two candidates who had been included in the final round of selection, clinical orthopaedic surgeon Ádám Schlégl and aerospace design engineer András Szakály, will nonetheless assist with the work of the HUNOR mission in leading positions on the staff of the mission’s ground-based control centre. As for Kapu and Cserényi, they will soon be sent to the United States, where they will undergo the final phase of their training, supervised and assisted by the US space agency NASA and the private company Axiom Space, Hungary’s international space exploration partners.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.