European debates tend to ignore the fact that Hungarian politics—sometimes peculiar and certainly unusual to many Western observers—is not meant to curb liberties or enable oppression but, on the contrary, to further freedom and efforts to attain it.

Warsaw eagerly supported the USG commitment to increase American military presence in the region right from the start, as the country has been pushing for a stronger stance on Russia for years. With the additional 1,700 US troops that Poland welcomed this year, now there are 10, 000 American soldiers stationed in the country.

Demonstrating that the bond between the two states is more than just political declarations or self-interested cooperation, Hungary is marking the Day of Hungarian–Polish friendship with a series of cultural events across the country.

Press reports have claimed that the Hungarian Football Association successfully argued to UEFA that the disputed imagery represents unity among Hungarian communities across all borders, and displaying it is not an act of racism. Playsport.ro, however, obtained a letter sent by UEFA General Secretary Theodore Theodoridis to his counterpart at MLSZ, Márton Vági, in which he clarifies that the images in question are still not permitted.

Hungary managed to stay above the EU average with a fertility rate of 1.61 in 2021. This is also a sizable increase compared to the 1.23 figure the country reported in 2011.

Hungary did not veto a joint EU statement on Putin’s arrest warrant, the MFAT’s spokesperson stated on Monday evening. ‘Hungary has taken note of the ICC decision and does not wish to comment on it in any way,’ Máté Paczolay said.

Minister Navracsics reminded that the metro reconstruction was carried out in cooperation between the Hungarian government, the Municipality of Budapest and the European Union. Approximately two-thirds of the cost of the renovation was covered from EU funding and one-third has been financed from domestic sources, the minister added.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade was in Brussels to take part in the European Humanitarian Forum, where he talked about the excessive efforts Hungary has made to help over 1 million Ukrainian refugees, and another 1 million persecuted Christians around the world.

Both Nézőpont Intézet, typically associated with the governing party, and Medián, generally viewed as closer to the opposition, put Fidesz ahead of the strongest opposition party, the Democratic Coalition (DK), by over 35 percentage points.

Foreign Minister Szijjártó welcomed the fact that Hungary and France have a cooperation based on common sense, and also reminded that French companies make up the sixth-largest investor community in Hungary. In the past eight years, 34 major French corporate investments have received financial support from the government.

The payment of EU funds allocated to Hungary in the 2021–2027 budget cycle was suspended in December 2022. The suspension, however, does not mean a loss of resources. In other words, the path is clear for Hungary: defying the political headwind, it can set a model for the EU as a whole, as to how its financial interests can be protected by means of the rule of law.

In a Facebook post on Friday afternoon, Fidesz’s parliamentary group leader Máté Kocsis said his party is backing Finland’s accession and that the vote in parliament to ratify it would be held on 27 March.

Originally, the Romanian Football Federation awarded a 3-0 victory for Sepsi OSK after the game played in late January had to be called off due to anti-Hungarian chants from the visiting Craiova fans. However, the decision was overturned on appeal and the match had to be replayed — which Sepsi won by an even bigger margin on the pitch, 4-0…

‘We believe in connectivity, relationships, and cooperation based on mutual respect. I think the Organization of Turkic States is an excellent example of all this because it includes Caucasians, Central Asians, and Europeans, and we all know how to cooperate with respect,’ Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told the audience at an event in Ankara, Turkey.

As customary, this year, too, all major party leaders in Hungary delivered remarks. The messages of the various politicians on the lessons for today of Hungary’s revolutionary and heroic past could not have been more diverse.

At the meeting, the parties agreed to strengthen cooperation. They also shared the view that government support needs to be provided in order to protect Hungary’s strategically important automotive industry and preserve jobs.

‘Every investment that started with the support of the Hungarian government will be completed, whether it is the construction of a kindergarten, nursery, school, university, community spaces, or the renovation of a church.’

The Prime Minister reminded that when asked what gives higher meaning to finite life and to the homeland, Petőfi provided the answer: ‘Stand up, Hungarian! Shall we be slaves or free? Long live the free and independent Hungary!’

As part of the new cooperation agreement between the two institutions, each year four researchers from the Heritage Foundation will visit Budapest and work with the Danube Institute as visiting researchers.

As part of the ‘DiscoverEU’ programme within the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme, more than 212,000 tickets have been distributed in the previous seven application rounds, and almost 25,000 Hungarian applicants have been allocated nearly 5,000 passes.

The Orbán administration has committed to spending at least two per cent of the country’s GDP on defence by the end of 2024, a commitment made in 2014 by all NATO members but something many NATO countries have not yet honoured. Hungary, in fact, is set to achieve the two per cent threshold by the end of this year, before the deadline.

The working dinner was held at the Élysée Palace, where Macron received the Hungarian Prime Minister in front of the press at around 7:30 p.m.

The Strasbourg-based Council of Europe welcomed the positive changes in Hungary since ECRI’s latest report adopted in 2015. However, ECRI also expressed concern about legislative changes that in their view ‘seriously undermine the human rights of LGBTI communities’ and about measures taken during the emergency period declared during the coronavirus pandemic.

By law, the Anti-Corruption Task Force prepares a report by 15 March each year and submits it to the government, which discusses the proposals within two months. If a proposal is rejected, the government informs the task force’s chairman of the reasons for its decision. This year’s full document will soon be available on kormany.hu.

‘The pro-peace stance of Hungarians remains unchanged and the majority reject proposals that carry the risk of making peace impossible,’ Századvég wrote in an analysis of the responses to their recent poll.

In his regular Friday morning interview on public radio, the Prime Minister said that he believes this is the closest the world has ever been ‘to a localised war turning into a world war’.

Gergely Gulyás stated that the government believes that it is necessary to prepare for a protracted war and that economic difficulties persist due to the sanctions. He added that Hungary’s position is clear: Hungary condemns Russian aggression and provides humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

‘Today I filed a counterclaim to the Court of Justice of the European Union over the infringement procedure on Hungary’s Child Protection Act. We continue to stand by our conviction and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union that education is a national competence and that parents have the right to decide on the upbringing of their children,’ Justice Minister Varga announced on Facebook.

The Center for Fundamental Rights carried out a survey in the wake of recent scandals involving underage victims. Here’s what they found.

The train carrying around 1,000 Ferencváros fans to the Europa League match in Leverkusen was stopped by German police at the Czech-German border. According to one witness, the fans were told they pose a threat to Germany.