Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán highlighted new government measures and plans regarding Hungary’s upcoming EU presidency, the Europe Summit, and recent Brussels policy interventions. He also addressed issues such as economic policy shifts and a national consultation on migration, speaking on public Kossuth Radio.
‘The post–1989 period has not been free from debates and conflicts on how Hungary could and should assert its national interest while integrating into the Western order. The Left has been anxious about not integrating into and aligning with the “developed” West fast enough, while Conservatives have feared the loss of tradition, identity, and national consciousness in the melting pot of accelerating globalization.’
The Patriots for Europe EP group held their first summit on Thursday in Brussels. The meeting was attended by all the leaders of the PfE parties and took place ahead of the European Council summit scheduled to discuss the war in Ukraine, migration, as well as key economic policies, all of which Hungary differs on with most member states.
‘At the end of this struggle, we will turn Paris around, reclaim Warsaw, and become the largest political force in Europe. Then we will take control of Brussels politics and restore Europe to greatness—strong, prosperous, and free once again,’ Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán emphasized in his speech at Matteo Salvini’s League rally.
Polish MEPs Anna Brylka and Tomasz Buczek from the Konfederacja party have officially joined the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, further strengthening the faction led by Viktor Orbán. With their addition, the group now comprises 86 members from 13 countries, and aims to unite right-wing forces in the EP to challenge the dominant centre-right and centre-left factions.
James Carafano is a leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges, an accomplished historian and teacher, as well as a prolific writer and researcher. He currently serves as Senior Counselor to the President and E.W. Richardson Fellow at The Heritage Foundation. He sat down with conservative outlet Mandiner while he was in Budapest for the Fourth Danube–Heritage Geopolitical Summit in September.
The European Commission is allocating approximately €10 billion in aid to flood-affected countries in Central and Eastern Europe, but Hungary is notably absent from the list. The reason is somewhat paradoxical: Hungary has been so effective in its protective measures that the resulting damage is expected to fall below the threshold required to qualify for the EU Solidarity Fund.
EU Member States are soon set to vote on the introduction of punitive tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China. In the informal vote held in July, only four member states opposed the measure, while 11 abstained. Now, it falls to Germany and Hungary to lead the effort to shift positions and prevent an unnecessary trade war with China.
‘For those whose hearts beat on both sides of the Atlantic, the more productive consideration is what this election signifies for U.S.–Poland relations. Poland, like the United States, is bitterly divided between cosmopolitan urban areas and more conservative and religious exurbs and rural areas. After eight years of single-party Law & Justice rule, Polish conservatives are momentarily weak and banking heavily on a second Trump administration.’
‘From a sovereigntist standpoint, we need a rule-of-law conception that does not concede any authority over domestic affairs to supranational organizations and international bureaucracies. We need to keep an eye on the bigger picture and understand that these discussions are very much related to the future of the European community. Eurocrats instrumentalize courts to promote their federalist agenda through seemingly neutral rulings about the rule of law.’
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.