‘The worst thing that can happen right now in France is the disunity of the right-wing parties, because if they stand united, they really have the best opportunity ever to change the course. It is not going to be an easy task, after a forty-year inaction in which even bringing up the issue of illegal immigration and insecurity was outright branded as extreme right-wing rhetoric. Albeit this is still happening, it is having less and less effect on a large part of the right-wing electorate, as they have got used to the labelling, and now even mock it.’
Hungary’s performance greatly improved in the second half, but it was not enough to level the scoreline, which ended 3–1 to Switzerland. In the group’s other game Germany easily beat Scotland 5–1 in the tournament’s opening match last night.
‘The lessons from Molnar’s book about Bernanos remain fresh today. The “fascist temptation” has not disappeared, but only appears in new forms…Bernanos’s prophecy is interesting because there are still today, and probably always will be, movements that call for a radical break with the past, and announce a return to the “pure source”, with the creation of an imagined future order or return to a past order and hierarchy that has not yet been corrupted.’
‘A friend of ours, a hoof trimmer, told us that farms where farmers say they are ready start to die in a short time. It’s terribly boring to get up, milk, and manure and not know anymore why you’re doing it. So we have goals that inspire us, that keep the farm alive.’
Manfred Weber, President of the European People’s Party, stated that the door is open for new opposition leader Péter Magyar’s party to join the European Parliamentary political group, but that he is not the sole decision-maker. The Hungarian Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP) has announced that it will leave the EPP if the Tisza party joins the group.
The recount, which was conducted publicly, and began this morning in the aula of the NVB headquarters, was concluded in the afternoon, but the members of the National Election Commission deliberated for hours afterwards, before finally announcing the result at around 8 p.m. It turned out there were indeed hundreds of ballots invalidated erroneously which should have been considered valid, as Vitézy and his team suspected. The recount established that ultimately Gergely Karácsony received just 41 more votes than Dávid Vitézy.
After being elected to the European Parliament, Italian Antifa Ilaria Salis walked free on 14 June, as Hungarian police released her from house arrest due to the immunity granted to MEPs. This news is both outrageous and terrifying, given the devastation Salis and her associates are believed to have caused, destroying the lives of innocent people in Budapest.
Commenting on the European Court of Justice’s recent ruling against Hungary, Professor Allan opined that the Court’s ‘interpretive approach to reading the underlying legal materials is living constitutionalism on steroids.’ He added: ‘If it were an American court or a Canadian court doing it, I’d say they’re making it up at the point of application, they’re just making the law up. When that starts happening it’s very difficult to know how to deal with it.’
Green and progressive parties suffered major losses in the European Parliamentary elections. According to an analysis by the Climate Policy Institute, this was in part due to the green policies pushed by these parties that put most of the burden of the green transition onto the general populace.
US Ambassador David Pressman is being true to his own self: in a recent interview he accused the Hungarian government of lying, stating that during the campaign before the European Parliament elections, government politicians falsely claimed that NATO would drag Hungary into the war in Ukraine.
‘If everyone agrees on everything, it presents a strange vision of a democratic society,’ remarked German journalist Ralf Schuler during the launch event of his latest book, published in Hungarian by the Center for Fundamental Rights. The book delves into the themes and perils of the herd mentality that is increasingly prevalent in Western societies, drawing comparisons with the era of socialism.
Orbán criticized the European Court of Justice’s fine as influenced by Soros, and reiterated Hungary’s refusal to comply with Brussels’ demands on immigration. He underscored Hungary’s right to decide whom it allows within its borders, stressing that Brussels should not dictate Hungary’s immigration policy.
In his remarks at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium Donald Trump Jr stated that American conservatives regard the Hungarian Prime Minister as a great leader who puts ‘Hungary first’. In his address and the subsequent discussion the businessman touched upon the upcoming American elections, US domestic politics, and global issues, including the Middle Eastern conflict and the war in Ukraine.
The150th school has now joined the cadet training, launched in 2017. The Cadet Programme of the Hungarian Defence Forces is one of the most successful programmes in the defence sector.
‘It is debatable whether the COP negotiations themselves achieve much, given that a global consensus is typically only possible when the wording is so vague as to mean anything, which is closer to meaning nothing than something…What is clear, however, is that COP has been co-opted by the very form of political economy that provoked its existence. Much like Dubai itself, this is the sort of event that only late-stage capitalism might produce—a monument to the branding-industrial complex. One cannot help but sense that in its contradictions and shallow affect, COP is less a cure for what ails us, but rather a symptom of the problem to be cured.’
‘Else than the Azov militia, the most well-known example of radicals fighting in Ukraine is that of Denis Kapustin (also known as Denis Nikitin), the leader of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), who led multiple raids into Russia from Ukraine. According to POLITICO, Kapustin is regarded as ‘one of the most influential neo-Nazi activists’ in today’s era. The praise these military formations received in the West for their reckless actions in Belgorod, without recognition of the dangers of their radical ideology, also feeds into Russian propaganda and helps it draw a parallel between the alleged past and present support the West gives to Nazis.’
Viktor Orbán exchanged views with his guest on the future of Hungarian-American relations, illegal migration, and the peace-making possibilities for ending the Russian–Ukrainian war, Bertalan Havasi said.
Before the decision, Karsai had a conversation with Gergely Gulyás, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office, who argued that, as a religious person, he could not support the taking of a human life.
The European Court of Justice has ordered Hungary to pay €200 million for ‘failing to respect’ EU law regarding procedures for granting international protection and returning illegally staying non-EU nationals. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called the decision outrageous and unacceptable.
The festival will feature productions made for cinema, television, and streaming platforms in various genres; overall, around a hundred Hungarian films will be screened in Veszprém, Balatonfüred, and Balatonalmádi at a total of twelve venues.
The European Commission is planning to impose unprecedentedly high punitive tariffs on all-electric cars imported from China. The plan has elicited strong objections from several member states, including Germany and Hungary.
Four days after the EP elections, the Center for Fundamental Rights held a press conference analysing the implications of the results. They concluded that there was a significant increase in the support of the political right in the EU, and this fact will reshape European politics.
Budapest mayoral candidate Dávid Vitézy argued that the unusually high number of invalidated ballots are grounds for a recount. 24,592 votes were tossed out in the election, while incumbent Gergely Karácsony only won the extremely tight race by 324 votes.
Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, was found guilty in federal court of lying on a form about being a drug addict while purchasing a handgun and of illegal possession of a firearm. Meanwhile, potential juror misconduct could result in a mistrial in President Trump’s case.
‘From a sovereigntist standpoint, we need a rule of law conception that doesn’t concede any authority over domestic affairs to supranational organizations and international bureaucracies. Eurocrats instrumentalize courts to promote their federalist agenda through seemingly neutral rulings about the rule of law. A sovereigntist approach to the rule of law should also include the protection of national courts’ authority. We need a rule of law conception that protects national constitutional identity.’
Within the HUMDA national championship, the ORB and ORC fields will start with 62 participants on Friday afternoon, while 35 competitors in ORB 2 and 3 will conclude their races by noon on Friday. Additionally, eight Trabant 601s will compete in the Zwei Takt Memory support race.
Luca Mórocz, who came to the U.S. in 2017 as a Hungarian American Coalition (HAC) intern and has worked as a foreign exchange diplomat at the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs assigned to the U.S. State Department’s Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, is currently living and studying in Washington, D.C., organizing various HAC events and a leadership training program. In the interview she talks about her experience in the US, her professional career, and shares her thoughts regarding the challenges of youth engagement Hungarian organizations in the United States face while introducing her new project, the HYPE Network.
A turnabout in the Hungarian stance seems unlikely at the moment. The Hungarian government has consistently vetoed further military assistance to Ukraine as well, and will most probably not change course regarding Ukrainian accession to the EU either under the Hungarian rotating presidency.
Hungary are going to their unprecedented third consecutive European Championship after an unbeaten qualifying campaign. They are regarded as the clear underdogs against Germany, the slight underdogs against Switzerland, and the slight favourites against Scotland in their group by bookmakers. Meanwhile, England have the best chance of winning the tournament according to the bookies, ahead of teams such as France, Spain, and hosts Germany.
Hungary has received assurances from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that it will not have to participate in military action outside its territory. Stoltenberg and Viktor Orbán held talks in Budapest on Wednesday, during which, in addition to discussing the war, Hungary’s significant contribution to the functioning of the defence alliance was also highlighted.