‘According to the European Commission, Ukraine has made significant progress on its enlargement path, so much so that it has already met the conditions to open clusters on fundamentals, external relations, and the internal market…Berlaymont does not rule out the feasibility of Ukraine’s accession by 2028.’

A new analysis from the Center for Fundamental Rights claims the governing Fidesz–KDNP coalition maintained a strong lead in October, while the TISZA Party continued to struggle amid controversies over data leaks, policy proposals, and public communications.

Democrats outperformed polling in both New Jersey and Virginia: Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger are now the governor-elects in the two states, respectively, both winning by wide margins. Even scandal-ridden Jay Jones won his race for Attorney General for Virginia by a decent amount. What does this mean for President Trump and the Republicans?

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is set to meet President Donald Trump in Washington on 7 November, with energy cooperation expected to dominate the talks. According to Index, the two governments have worked for months on a deal involving American nuclear technology and gas exports that could fundamentally reshape Hungary’s energy strategy.

‘Trump’s EO perhaps instinctively draws from the historical lesson: that love of one’s country is not a limitation of freedom—it is a precondition of a nation’s survival.’

Hungary expects a broad agenda at the upcoming Washington meeting between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and US President Donald Trump, including the war in Ukraine and future cooperation in defence, energy, and the economy, according to Orbán’s political director.

‘Germany faces a stark choice between continued strategic drift and fundamental transformation. The half-measures of constrained realism will prove no more effective than the delusions of values-based idealism when confronted with determined opposition…Only genuine sovereign realism…offers the possibility of effective foreign policy in the age of great power competition.’

The European Commission is considering legal action against Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia for refusing to lift bans on Ukrainian agricultural imports. Beyond its legal implications, such a move could once again unite the Visegrád countries against what they perceive as Brussels’ disregard for farmers’ livelihoods and national economic sovereignty.

Liberal-centrist D66 might have narrowly won the Dutch elections ahead of Geert Wilders’ PVV, with 16.9 per cent to 16.7. Both parties are projected to win 26 seats, signalling a major loss for PVV. The outcome illustrates how right-wing populists across Europe often confront structural barriers and mainstream pushback preventing genuine policy transformation on critical issues such as mass migration.

‘The fact of the matter is that the apocalyptic scenario Democrats warned of in case Donald Trump was re-elected never materialized. After some market turmoil caused by President Trump’s tariff frenzy in the spring, things smoothed out real quick. The Democrats found themselves in desperate need to manufacture a crisis just to get the voters’ attention.’

Marcin Tulicki’s new documentary on the takeover of Polish state media under Donald Tusk premiered in Budapest on Monday. During the panel discussion that followed, Gergely Gulyás criticized the European Commission’s approach to rule of law issues, while Zbigniew Ziobro claimed that Tusk’s government operates ‘with EU approval’ despite undermining judicial independence.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is set to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington next week, amid debates over new US sanctions on Russian oil. The visit follows Italian newspaper La Repubblica’s claim that Orbán called Trump’s decision a ‘mistake’—a claim disproven after the full recording was released, showing he made no such criticism and spoke only about Hungary’s energy needs.

‘“Religious Zionism”…keeps unsettling end-of-history pieties about confining faith and observance to the margins of the public square and smoothing out the nation state’s ethno-religious edges. Yet instead of cool-headed assessments precisely when it holds the keys to governability…the rise of this national-religious bloc of parties is often met by incurious moral hysteria.’

‘Spain, France, and the UK have inherited not only migrants from their former colonies but also the cultural consequences of how those empires were built.’

The planned Trump–Putin summit in Budapest has exposed how modern diplomacy is waged through information warfare. Leaks, denials, and anonymous sources have flooded the media, as Brussels and Kyiv intensify efforts to block the meeting—fearing that a deal might emerge outside their control.

The US Supreme Court, currently holding a 6–3 conservative majority, might appear to favour President Trump. However, conservatives often support a strict, limited reading of the Constitution. Many analysts therefore expect the Court to strike down his tariffs as unconstitutional. In that case, the decision can (and should) be softened by a long stay to avoid a market crash.

The Danube Institute hosted a high-level discussion on the EU’s future, where Balázs Hidvéghi, Stefano Arroque, Daniel Hinšt, and Péter Kruzslicz agreed that the bloc’s growing centralization has created a structural crisis. Speakers urged reform, respect for sovereignty, and a return to the principle of subsidiarity.

Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ) has surged to an unprecedented 38 per cent in a new Market Institut poll—the highest level in its history—cementing its lead ahead of the governing coalition parties. The result underscores a broader rightward shift across Europe, as patriotic forces from Germany to the UK continue to gain ground.

‘In its LGBTIQ+ strategy, the Commission proposes to include hate speech in the…list of serious crimes—all to “better protect” the LGBTIQ community. This would not only mean that the 27 Member States would need a common approach to defining what constitutes “hate speech” but also that all EU countries would be required to fight against such crimes collectively.’

German Green MEP Daniel Freund has lodged a criminal complaint against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, alleging an attempt to hack his email using spyware. Freund—long a vocal Orbán critic—claims Hungarian intelligence was behind the attack.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Hungary is globally recognized for its commitment to peace, following his attendance at the Gaza ceasefire signing in Sharm el-Sheikh. He also announced an upcoming meeting with US President Donald Trump to discuss economic and political cooperation.

Following his breakthrough Gaza peace deal, US President Donald Trump now seeks to replicate the success in Ukraine. Ahead of his Friday meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump remains confident he can broker an end to the war—even as Kyiv pushes for Tomahawk missiles and Moscow warns of escalation.

The Trump administration has launched its long-awaited crackdown on Antifa, opening FBI investigations and contacting victims of Antifa-linked violence. Amid the pressure, Rutgers University professor and Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook author Mark Bray—dubbed ‘Dr Antifa’ by students—has reportedly fled the United States for Europe.

‘What the GOP should watch in the two elections this year in Virginia and New Jersey is the margins. If they can keep both elections within a couple of points of the 2024 presidential results, that would show electoral strength for President Trump and his presumptive successor, Vice President JD Vance.’

Renew Europe chief Valérie Hayer has demanded that Ursula von der Leyen ‘use her power to act’ over reports of an alleged Hungarian spy network in Brussels tied to Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi. Hungarian officials strongly denied the story, calling it a foreign-funded smear campaign designed to damage Budapest ahead of next year’s election.

Former US President Barack Obama invited two critics of the Orbán administration in Hungary, Sándor Léderer and Stefánia Kapronczay, to talk about ‘fighting authoritarianism’ in a video he posted on his social media. Reactions to the video have been mostly negative on X, with users accusing President Obama of trying to pressure Hungary and Poland to open their borders.

The US Supreme Court is set to hear a second round of oral arguments in the case Louisiana v Callais, which might decide that drawing congressional districts based on race is unconstitutional. If so, solid Republican states in the South would have the ability to create a handful of new districts favourable to the GOP ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Brussels is set to investigate claims that Hungarian intelligence officers spied on EU institutions and sought to recruit an official while stationed at Hungary’s permanent representation between 2015 and 2017. The move comes eight years after the alleged network was dismantled—and just 6 months before Hungary’s general election.

‘The debate on the motions took place on Monday, followed by the vote on Thursday. The Patriots criticized the Commission’s trade deals: not only the EU–US deal, which introduced high tariffs on European exports, but also the Mercosur agreement, which opens European markets to cheap agricultural products from Latin America.’

What could be Europe’s future: a decline, or a new golden age? How imminent is the Russian threat to Europe? How does Sweden view Hungary’s fight for sovereignty? We asked former Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt about Europe’s bright or dark future at Brain Bar 2025 in Budapest.