Despite Hungary taking the lead, and two great headers from Barnabás Varga, Hungary have lost to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal 3–2 at home. However, with Ireland also losing in Armenia, Hungary are still well positioned to take second place, and have their chance in the play-offs to win World Cup qualification for the first time in 40 years.
What is at stake in the upcoming Hungarian parliamentary election? What is the importance of Hungary in Europe? Why do European institutions continuously criticize the policies of Fidesz? We asked the Head of the Media School at Mathias Corvinus Collegium about the tense political landscape in Hungary.
With President Trump’s executive order last week, the United States officially has a Department of War again, for the first time since 1947. On that occasion, let’s take a look at the most famous men to serve in the office of Secretary of War before the incumbent Pete Hegseth.
‘We are Generation Remigration and we claim our countries back!’—a slogan turned viral by Eva Vlaardingerboek—is giving Europe’s anti-migration youth a new rallying cry. Backed by influencers across the continent, the movement reflects mounting anger at rising assaults, failed EU border policies, and the political elite’s betrayal.
‘Discussions about returning to a gold-based currency system have become even more pertinent as the BRICS nations are admittedly trying to end their reliance on the US dollar as the global reserve currency.’
‘In [Ige-mige], readers are confronted with cultural and religious tensions, party strife, infrastructure that can hardly be called rudimentary at all, and the fatal combination of Mediterranean laxity, which then leads to the capricious despotism of bus drivers and endless queues.’
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán condemned the sexual assault of two Hungarian women in Sicily by three Moroccan migrants, calling it a result of Brussels’ failed migration policy. Orbán thanked Italy’s Matteo Salvini for siding with the victims, while Italian authorities confirmed the suspects—illegal migrants—had been arrested and placed in pre-trial detention.
Eurojust confirmed that Romanian, Hungarian, and Czech authorities arrested a Moldovan Romanian ex-intelligence chief accused of treason for passing secrets to Belarus. Identified by a Hungarian outlet as Alexandru Balan, he allegedly met Belarusian officers in Budapest in 2024 and 2025.
‘Antisemitic hatred, both online and offline, impacts not only Jewish communities abroad but also Israel’s security. The drastic rise in hate crimes requires comprehensive institutional protection.’
‘Given the sexual curiosity of people today, especially among the youth, there is a pressing need for the Church’s shepherds to speak with clarity on such matters. Regrettably, what we often witness is the ostrich effect at the very best—or rather, the application of the legal maxim: “Qui tacet consentire,” that is: “In their silence, they give consent.”’
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has demanded financial compensation from the European Commission for Hungary’s border protection efforts, telling Ursula von der Leyen that Budapest has blocked over a million illegal migrants since 2015 but has been fined instead of supported by Brussels.
Prime Minister François Bayrou of France has lost the vote of no confidence he called on himself, with the motion passing 364–194, triggering the collapse of the government. He served for less than a year in office. The leader of the left-wing La France Insoumise party has also called on President Emmanuel Macron to resign.
Democrats and the mainstream press face mounting criticism after 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death on a Charlotte train. While shocking footage of the attack emerged, national media coverage remained scarce—prompting Elon Musk, Piers Morgan, and Republicans to denounce the silence as politically motivated.
‘Archbishop Béla Witz visited me and asked me to bring the Holy Right Hand back to Hungary when we travelled to Salzburg. At first, fulfilling this request seemed impossible. But since I am well aware of what St Stephen’s Day means to Hungary, and how closely the presence of the holy relic is tied to its intimacy, I decided to help.’
‘When asked which three areas the European Union should focus on most in the future in order to increase its global political influence, respondents highlighted security and defence policy cooperation, increasing European competitiveness, and achieving energy independence.’
At Fidesz’s annual political season opener in Kötcse, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared that Western dominance is collapsing and only a new EU–Russia security deal can bring peace in Europe. He warned that Ukraine’s EU accession would mean war, sketched a vision of ‘circular Europe’, and outlined his party’s victory plan for the 2026 election.
Hungary’s relations with Ukraine are at a historic low, but Budapest remains open to dialogue, Péter Szijjártó said on Monday. Blaming Kyiv for curtailing Transcarpathian Hungarian rights, he announced that Ukrainian FM Andrii Sybiha will visit Budapest this week despite recent tensions over the Druzhba pipeline and Ukraine’s EU accession.
Hungary is well-positioned to thrive in the AI era thanks to its infrastructure, growing digital skills, and competitive high-tech exports, Minister for National Economy Márton Nagy said at the AI Summit 2025. Warning that the EU is falling behind global rivals, he announced new capital programmes to support Hungarian AI start-ups and a renewed national AI strategy.
Poland’s 2023 election is a warning for Hungary in 2026, as Péter Magyar and his TISZA Party follow the same globalist path as Donald Tusk, risking unpopular policies such as higher taxes, new research from the Hungarian-Polish Freedom Institute claims.
Krisztián ‘Krúbi’ Horváth has told his audience: ‘After we hang him, I’ll give a healing kiss to his belly’ at his concert in Budapest, Hungary, referring to PM Orbán. Previously, another Hungarian hip hop artist staged a mock assassination at one of his concerts, while opposition candidate Péter Magyar had sung about imprisoning Fidesz politicians instead of answering a reporter’s questions.
‘Without Christianity, there are no human rights, nor any democracy. Therefore, Fukuyama’s “Last Man” is not the triumph of human history at all, but quite the opposite: as he puts, that will indeed be the “End of History” for humanity. So, will Fukuyama be proved right in terms of humanism and the fallible fate of the “Last Man”? He has always been right.’
Hungary were up two goals in the first 15 minutes away from home in the World Cup qualifier against Ireland. However, after a red card for goal scorer Roland Sallai, Ireland managed to equalize in the 93rd minute, making it 2–2 and eventually tying the eventful game.
In its ‘Beyond the Óperencia’ series, Magyar Krónika is looking at the meeting points of America and Hungary, and at Hungarians in America, from penniless peasants to political emigrants and soldiers of fortune. In this part, let us continue the story of Joseph Pulitzer, who intervened just in time when the American public and the press were almost on the brink of war.
‘The current epoch marks another revolutionary shift: the digital warfare paradigm, driven by rapid advances in artificial intelligence, cyber capabilities, autonomous weapons, and real-time data integration…It is no longer sheer numbers or tonnage of materiel that decide battles, but information superiority, network resilience, and the speed of decision-making.’
‘Later that same year, on 11 November, Perényi renewed his oath as Guardian of the Crown at Székesfehérvár, pledging loyalty to both the crown and the retainers stationed in the castle. After Ferdinand’s coronation, the crown was kept at Visegrád. However, in 1529, following the castle’s capture, it fell into the hands of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.’
‘80 years after its publication, the message of the novella seems to have lost none of its relevance. Among the challenges of modern governance around the world, numerous phenomena remind us of the dynamics described by Orwell…The rule of law, autonomous institutions, and transparency are not merely theoretical concepts, but safeguards against autocracy.’
‘I walked into the Garfield Scout House and enthusiastically presented my plans—singing, reciting poetry, reading, and analyzing short stories and poems. I was surprised at how excited the second- and third-generation youth became…They were genuinely interested because they had grown up hearing these stories.’
‘Cottee defended cover stories and evasions as part of his work. “Maybe there isn’t a real story at all,” he mused. Hugo Martin wondered aloud if Cottee had found more questions than answers. He admitted that he had, but insisted that the point was to map motives and evasions rather than to hammer out a grand theory.’
Brain Bar 2025 returns to Budapest on 18–19 September, promising two days of world-class speakers and bold debates at the House of Music Hungary. From Ben Lamm’s plans to resurrect the dire wolf to Geoffrey West’s theories on universal growth laws and Tibor Kapu’s insights into space, the festival will explore the future of science, society, and humanity.
PM Viktor Orbán praised Hungary’s Home Start mortgage programme, calling it a success for young buyers, before slamming TISZA’s plans to increase the income tax. Branding candidate Péter Magyar “Little Rooster”, Orbán warned of chaos within the opposition TISZA party and urged Hungarians to resist their tax hikes with 219 days until elections.