In 2020, a year in which poverty deepened due to the global pandemic, as opposed to the decreasing trend of the previous decade, the relative income poverty rate was 12.7 per cent in Hungary, compared to the EU average of 16.5 per cent.

Of course, violations of the rule of law must not lead to corruption or abuse of power in the member states. However, a schematic “transfer” of the institutions that serve the rule of law to the EU level could particularly endanger the essence of the rule of law.

The cardinal’s arrest ‘indicates the downward trend in respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights in Hong Kong. Although Cardinal Zen has been released on bail, his situation remains precarious’.

Hungarian conservatism promotes the idea that every country should accept the social, cultural, and political differences of other nations, respect their particular values and acknowledge that the actions of any given nation are based on their particular interests.

If both elites (those of the West and of Central Europe, respectively) are ready to follow a more pragmatic political action plan, and rely on a less exclusive and lecturing linguistic regime, we can avoid the worst case scenario, which is the split and break-up of the Union, and a potential internal conflict within Europe.

The family policy managed to stop the decline in fertility rates, which characterized Hungary since the 1980s. The last time in Hungarian history, when married couples had more than two children on average was in 1979, while fertility rate in Hungary was permanently above 2 only in the 1950s.

The rule of law debates could have a drastic effect on the future of the European Union. The systematic transfer of institutions serving justice and enforcing the rule of law to the European level may endanger democracy and in particular the original concept of the rule of law.

The European Union’s current administration of refugee affairs can safely be called both flawed and obsolete.

It is our position that the Russian troops must be withdrawn from the occupied territories. Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the human and minority rights within its borders must be restored.

We have to approach contemporary problems with humility and a commitment to ever-greater freedom – which should be a goal in itself.

‘Most of the pitfalls in social ethics, political theory and education are due to a misunderstanding of the ontological character of love.’

Those wishing to see a fully secularised European Union and who seek to ultimately undermine religion cannot help but tremble now that Hungarians overwhelmingly gave Viktor Orbán a mandate to safeguard and promote Christian democracy.

The fundamental question of the media war whether the public broadcast media should be critical or supportive of the government, still holds relevant questions for today.

The Swedish and the Finnish people should be given the opportunity to have a say in as to whether their countries should join a US-led military alliance and give up centuries of neutrality.  

Some experts warned European countries more than a decade ago that their energy supply was based on ‘thin ice’ which could make the European Union vulnerable in a situation of geopolitical tension. But the EU has still not woken up from her “sleeping beauty” dream, and this mistake could be a serious blow to green hopes.

Christian political theology rejects the optimistic Enlightenment belief in progress, for it seeks to remember those who have fallen out of collective memory, itself defined in the modern age by the myth of progress. Remembrance is one of the most important concepts in Christianity.

A recent leak from the US Supreme Court suggests that the body is preparing to repeal Roe v. Wade, which would allow significant changes in the abortion laws throughout the country, casting it into political and social turmoil once again.

‘If you really think climate is a problem, you invest in nuclear power plants. But they don’t want that.’

Given their considerable numbers, Roma could be a decisive force in Hungarian politics, however, due to the fragmentation of their political leadership, in the last thirty years Roma representation has not left any significant mark on Hungarian public life.

The social dynamics set into  motion under state socialism continues to have a lingering negative impact even today. Around 55 per cent of the Hungarian Roma live in villages or towns with a population of less than 50 thousand people.

The war is now two months old, and notwithstanding continual efforts by the  UN Security Council to stop the fighting, such collective security efforts have achieved very little if nothing at all.

While the initial European position on the Russian energy threats seemed like a unanimous ‘No’, now – without no apparent short-term alternatives – more and more countries prepare to pay in roubles which will likely create tensions with those who still refuse.

Representing several Hungarian American associations, Adelbert Balunek explained the significance of the Holy Crown, saying that it represented ‘1,000 years of Christian, independent, sovereign rule in Hungary.’

The Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest presents a new, exciting exhibition of the enigmatic works of the renowned Dutch painter of the late Middle Ages. This is one the most significant Bosch exhibitions worldwide in the last fifty years.

According to Joch, there is a kind of clash of civilizations behind the clash of worldviews in Europe. Today the most controversial issues are the redefinition of marriage, legal and illegal immigration, and the military arming of Europe. Basically, a sharp cultural division can be perceived in this matter between Western and Eastern Europe.

While realism is defined explicitly, Christianity is not. Nevertheless, several crutches could lead us to understand Bennett’s theological perspective. He helps us in this effort when he plainly rejects ‘post-Kantian idealism that represents the pride of autonomous reason’.

In Islam, society is ordained to be passive and socially underdeveloped, because the sharia-based tenets, whether officially incorporated or not within a modern-day constitution of a country, prevail.

To sum up, there are the so-called ideological ‘leftists’ who are in power in much of Europe, including Berlin and Paris, and there are the pragmatic ‘rightists who are in power in the Visegrád Group countries, especially in Budapest and Warsaw, but, for the time being, they are in opposition to most of Europe.

When multi-billion-dollar companies decide to play moral judges in American politics, they rarely expect lawmakers to take a real stand against it. But Florida is different – with a governor who is clearly getting ready for 2024.

Carl von Clausewitz advised that “According to our idea of a people’s war, it should, like a kind of nebulous vapoury essence, never condense
into a solid body; […]. Still, however, on the other hand, it is necessary that this mist should collect at some points into denser masses, and form threatening clouds from which now and again a formidable flash of lightning may burst forth.