Hungary begins its six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 July during a period of extraordinary circumstances and challenges. During its presidency, Hungary aims to focus on seven priorities to answer the EU’s most pressing economic, security, and social issues.
‘This is why the model pioneered by Viktor Orbán and Fidesz matters so much to Western conservatives. Orbán understood a long time ago that powerful private actors—especially George Soros and his Open Society Foundations—exercise disproportionate power over Hungarian affairs, or at least seek to do so. Similarly, public institutions that have been captured by illiberal progressives operate as if they have a natural right to evade scrutiny and accountability. And if leaders of the political Right are too shackled by their right-liberal convictions to take the fight to them, why shouldn’t the cultural socialists do whatever they think is necessary to win?’
Rally Hungary set a goal to improve the event’s environmental performance, which was so successful that it received the FIA’s two-star rating (three stars being the maximum) in 2024.
The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) has recently published a book about a new proposed foreign policy approach towards the Russo–Ukrainian war by the US, which was reviewed by Zoltán Koskovics, a geopolitical analyst for the Center for Fundamental Rights in Magyar Nemzet.
Mattia Zaccagni’s last-minute banger gave the Hungarian national team a better chance of qualifying for the knockout stages of the European Championship in Germany. If England beat Slovenia tonight, the Hungarian team will advance to the last 16 of the continental tournament.
Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah threatens to use Syrian refugees as a political weapon while also warning Cyprus of a possible attack if the island nation assists Israel militarily. The group’s ability to manipulate refugee flows and its readiness to use military force against EU member states necessitate an effective and coordinated response from the European Union.
‘If we Europeans want to keep up with the Americans, we Europeans must become great again,’ Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán emphasized in an interview with German newspaper Berliner Morgenpost. PM Orbán also praised former US President Donald Trump for his pro-peace stance regarding the war in Ukraine, and spoke about his beloved sport, football, as well.
On 21 June a joint press conference was held by UAE Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri and Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó. During the conference, an agreement to deepen bilateral relations through agricultural cooperation was announced. The ministers also highlighted the significance of the New Millennium Centre construction project in Budapest, which is backed by a substantial investment of 5 billion EUR from the UAE.
Alan Walker’s newly announced European tour will include a stop in the Hungarian capital of Budapest. The 26-year-old Norwegian DJ-producer, known for partially covering his face on stage, will perform at the László Papp Budapest Sports Arena on 12 March 2025.
Kriszta Mwajas, a woman of Kenyan origin, defeated the long-reigning incumbent Miklós Németh by just one vote. She told the Hungarian tabloid Blikk that she thinks there is no need for party politics in a small town like hers. Instead, she wants to involve everyone who has something to offer to better the lives of those living in Pócsmegyer.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the idea of unification between the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches came to the fore, and Protestants who sympathized with this idea tried to make it even more visible to the public by wearing clothing similar to the cassock worn by Roman Catholic priests.
The mandatory discount system together with the online price monitoring effectively contributed to the government’s goal of first reducing inflation to a single digit and then bringing it back to a low level of around 4 per cent.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary intends to put forward a significant plan during its EU presidency called the European Competitiveness Pact. He believes that Europe’s biggest problem at the moment is the decline in competitiveness.
‘In short, the post-Brexit era and the Conservative majority government have not changed anything in the UK. The British continue to have problems with illegal and massive immigration, problems in the economy, and they still have not regained their much loved and longed for sovereignty. Likewise, the Labour Party did not bother to take up ‘the cultural battle’; they dropped all gender laws and only focused on the economy, albeit unsuccessfully.‘
Two elections this week at the Council of Europe will determine the institution’s future orientation. On Tuesday, 25 June the new Secretary General of the Council of Europe will be elected for a five-year term. On Wednesday, 26 June three new judges for the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will be elected for a nine-year term. Senior Research Fellow at the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) Nicolas Bauer points out the risk of a leftist takeover.
The European Union will support arms shipments to Ukraine using a portion of the frozen Russian assets. The foreign ministers of the Member States decided on this issue on Monday, excluding Hungary from the decision-making process. Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó described the decision as a ‘shameless disregard of European rules’.
Pro-Palestinian gender studies students disrupted the graduation ceremony of the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna. The students accused the university administration of supporting the genocide allegedly perpetrated by Israel. These events mirrored the pro-Palestinian protests observed on US campuses.
In a hard-fought match, Hungary consistently appeared closer to taking the lead, with the opponent being saved by the goalpost once in each half. In the last moments of the ten-minute extra time, following a quick counter-attack, substitute Csoboth scored the decisive goal from a pass by Roland Sallai, keeping Hungary’s hope of advancing to the round of 16 alive.
‘Is it any surprise that the recent Dutch national elections were won by Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party? Is it surprising that the Dutch are fed up with uncontrolled—and, frankly, uncontrollable—immigration? Who would want to live in a country where there are about three bomb attacks every day? Who would want to run a business or open a shop in such a country? Make no mistake: this is the future from which Orbán is trying to save Hungary.’
According to Prime Minister’s Political Director Balázs Orbán, the EU presidency is an opportunity that can be utilized to make Europe stronger and to represent Hungarian national interests as effectively as possible at the EU level.
‘A successful republic, according to Machiavelli, is characterized by laws that are lived by rather than frequently amended. While no system of governance can achieve absolute perfection, a stable republic can achieve a functional balance. For him Rome serves as a historical exemplar of such a system, where laws were respected and adhered to, placing communal benefits above personal gain, thus prudently managing both public and private affairs.’
‘Before the term “liberal” became ideological, it referred to much more general, non-political characteristics: open-mindedness, generosity, and the like…Liberalism, however, marked the triumphant beginnings of modernity, which aimed to create a political morality called “the conception of rational choice as the generator of political order”.’
‘According to the main line of progressivists, the struggles of history lead to a just or more just society, just as science eventually overcomes “superstition”. Ironically, today’s supporters of the ideology of progress are often those post-Christian materialists who believe that religion…is also nothing more than a kind of “superstition”, even if this superstition is somewhat more complex, has moral lessons and has contributed constructively to “the democratic roots of Europe”. On the other hand, we can find many explanatory arguments as to why the idea of progress in a general sense applied to the human world or human nature can actually be considered a superstition—that is, a contra-factual idea that is completely opposed to the self-image of modern natural scientific thought.’
The Gospels of Abba Garima, an illuminated gospel book divided into two volumes discovered in 1950, were originally thought to be composed just after the first millennium, or at least centuries after the death of the itinerant monk Garima. Yet recent radiocarbon dating carried out at Oxford University suggests a date between 330–650 AD, thus opening the possibility that they were actually formed by Abba Garima himself, which would pre-date the then earliest illustrated scriptural manuscript of the Rabbula Gospels (c. 586 AD, Laurentian Library, Florence) from Syria.
To address the housing shortage, nearly 1 million dwellings were built under the housing programme between 1961 and 1975, 300,000 of them in Budapest; and a large part of the country’s population still lives in the apartments built during that period to this very day. Despite the difficulties and the negative aspects, anyone who has lived in or visited a prefab will never forget it. Public housing cannot be said to be entirely negative or positive, can be loved or disliked, but it is a legacy from the past that defines who we are.
‘Although the Pechenegs have no visible identity, they are part of the Hungarian nation to this day: their medieval history may have ended, but they have played an important role in Hungarian ethnogenesis. Great clans of Pecheneg origins, like the Tomaj, rose to high nobility, exemplifying self-sacrifice when it came to defending the country from foreign invaders.’
‘Is dominance good or bad? What is the relationship between dominance and democracy? What are the main reasons for dominance? Concerning the last question, the authors argue that—besides the already investigated causes, such as the electoral system—five aspects explain Fidesz’s dominance: the view of the past, the image of the nation, the perception of democracy, leadership, and the party’s role in the party system (and in relation to the opposition). The central part of the book elaborates on these five aspects, focusing on Fidesz and two additional international examples of dominant parties in each chapter.’
Ambassador Orsolya Zsuzsanna Kovács, who has been serving as the diplomatic envoy of Hungary in Warsaw since 2017, has been awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta Commander’s Cross by President Andrzej Duda of Poland.
The staging of the musical version of one of the most popular young adult fiction works ever written in Hungarian, titled Be Faithful Unto Death, was a major undertaking and a dream come true for the initiator of the project, Bernadett Csizmadia. The show was performed on the 50th anniversary celebration of the Széchenyi Hungarian School and Kindergarten of New Brunswick, NJ.
A film drama about taxi hyenas; a documentary about one of the greatest masters of Hungarian animation, Attila Dargay; a feature film about a doctor working in an intensive care unit; and an experimental short film titled Flódni have received production support from the television committee of the National Film Institute (NFI).