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.
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.
The strengthening of bilateral relations has led to increased participation of Hungarian companies in Uzbekistan. A notable instance of this involvement is the successful acquisition by OTP Bank of a majority share in Ipoteka Bank, the fifth largest bank in Uzbekistan, in December 2021. This year’s Business Forum in Tashkent further deepened the participation of Hungarian companies in the Uzbek market through 137 business-to-business (B2B) and government-to-business (G2B) meetings. These meetings spanned several sectors, including banking, finance, agriculture, transport and logistics, mechanical engineering, pharmaceuticals, and water management, among others.
The HDZ-led coalition won 34.4 per cent of the votes in the general election, while the Rivers of Justice got 25.4 per cent of the vote, with a turnout of 62.3 per cent. These results give a hint as to what the outcome of the upcoming European Parliament elections may be. (In the EP HDZ is part of the European People’s Party, while SDP is a member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D).) Precedent shows that if two elections are held shortly after each other the party that won the first election is likely to slightly improve its vote share in the subsequent election.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is in a stable but very serious condition after he was shot at point-blank range by a 71-year-old perpetrator, described as a poet and political activist in media reports, on Wednesday afternoon. The international community responded with shock to the news of the attempted assassination, as world leaders expressed their support for Slovakia.
After months of negotiations, it appears that a right-wing government may soon be established in the Netherlands. Although Geert Wilders will not serve as the head of government, Viktor Orbán’s ally will still have a significant influence on the Dutch administration, given that he leads the largest party in parliament.
Russian President Vladimir Putin supports Beijing’s four-point peace plan for Ukraine, presented in April. However, peace seems further away than ever since the war’s outbreak, as Western leaders have adopted an increasingly aggressive stance ahead of the European elections.
The European Commission has introduced an unprecedented proposal for sanctions: punitive measures targeting Russian liquefied natural gas. Hungary opposes the new sanctions package for fear that it may risk destabilizing the European energy market and drive up prices.
Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, is keen on starting accession negotiations with Ukraine before the Hungarian presidency for fear that Hungary might impede the process. However, considering the upcoming European Parliament elections, it is unlikely that talks will begin in the next month and a half.
The Chinese President emphasized that during their discussions with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán they agreed that China and Hungary have always been good friends, trusting each other, assisting one another, and striving to establish mutually beneficial relationships.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.
