The first V4 summit of the year is scheduled for 27 February, with a focus on illegal migration, energy security, and the EU’s strategic objectives. After the estrangement caused by the war in Ukraine, cooperation seems to be back on track, but its future will largely depend on the willingness and ability of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to collaborate.
Katalin Novák and Judit Varga have resigned in the wake of the scandal surrounding the presidential pardon. Such accountability would be deemed unthinkable on the left, where politicians continue to evade responsibility.
One simply cannot put something as complexly different as the Chinese intellectual field onto either the American left–right axis or the West-European ideological taxonomy. Ultimately, the Chinese field is a different world, albeit one that bears affinities with, and shows much interest in, us Western conservatives.
A Woke Europe presents two existential threats to its foundational values and to the sustainability of all that it has contributed to civilization. These two threats are, firstly, ideological and, secondly, a pivoting away from peace and toward militarization.
Minister of Agriculture István Nagy of Hungary shared that the countries of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania sent a letter to the European Commission, urging it to intervene and help mediate the effects of the mass quantities of cheap, low-quality grain from Ukraine entering the European market.
In an interview with public Kossuth radio, Deutsch contended that the Hungarian ‘dollar left’ actively participates Brussels’ illegitimate, coercive behaviour. He referenced former Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, who admitted over a year ago in a radio interview that he had supplied fabricated arguments for political blackmail to the Brussels bureaucracy, which served as the basis for initiating legal proceedings against Hungary.
Once again, European leaders are demonstrating their total inability to adapt to the changed circumstances around Ukraine and make responsible decisions. Instead of a strategic reassessment, they persist with the same misguided policies, pouring arms and money into an unwinnable war.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has called for the creation of a common European army. Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the question of how Europe can defend itself against the threats it faces has become increasingly pressing.
We can say, albeit cautiously, that 2023 was a year of struggle for many of us, but a year of achievements and success, too. If we take the word ‘struggle’ out of the previous sentence, we could even turn this assessment into a New Year’s wish.
The Biden administration has shifted its strategy in Ukraine; a Ukrainian victory is no longer a priority, and instead, Kyiv will be brought to the negotiating table. If, two years ago, the leaders in Washington and Brussels had heeded their common sense—or better yet, listened to the Hungarians—millions of lives could have been spared.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.
