Polish MEPs Anna Brylka and Tomasz Buczek from the Konfederacja party have officially joined the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, further strengthening the faction led by Viktor Orbán. With their addition, the group now comprises 86 members from 13 countries, and aims to unite right-wing forces in the EP to challenge the dominant centre-right and centre-left factions.
‘We Hungarians have learned from South Korea’s success story that a strong economy cannot be built without a firm commitment to our values; thus, we have combined our traditions with technology,’ Balázs Orbán stated at the Hungary-Korea Forum. The political director of the Hungarian Prime Minister welcomed the deepening economic cooperation between the two countries at the event, which marked the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Parties belonging to Patriots for Europe (PfE) are achieving electoral successes one after the other: first, Andrej Babiš’s ANO party secured a major victory in the Czech regional and senate elections, followed by Herbert Kickl’s FPÖ emerging as the leading party in the Austrian parliamentary elections. These results indicate that the preferences of the European electorate align closely with the vision of the political group co-founded by Viktor Orbán, which continues to gain strength day by day.
Viktor Orbán paid an official visit to North Macedonia, where he also attended a joint meeting of the Hungarian and North Macedonian governments. Discussions focused on the Balkan country’s EU accession and the fight against illegal migration. The Hungarian PM stated that it is in the EU’s vital interest to complete the integration of the Balkan region as swiftly as possible.
In a recent podcast, Balázs Orbán drew a comparison between the 1956 Revolution and the war in Ukraine. His remarks, taken out of context and misinterpreted, were swiftly exploited to smear the government of Hungary. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán responded by stressing that the war in Ukraine must not be allowed to overshadow the memory of the heroes of 1956, and that Hungary’s position must always be articulated accurately and unambiguously.
In his speech at the Ludovika University campus in Budapest Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Hungary has taken over the rotating presidency of the EU Council in uniquely hard times. He warned about Europe’s decreasing level of competitiveness, and stressed Hungary’s need to remain economically neutral. He nailed down that Hungary needs to conduct itself on the new bipolar global economic stage based on its own national interests.
At the annual Kötcse gathering of conservative political and cultural elites Viktor Orbán shared that an action plan has been drafted for a ‘peace budget’ that will involve wage hikes, as well as more government support for families and for businesses.
In his interview on The Tucker Carlson Network with Darryl Cooper, Carlson shared his perception of three major right-wing political figures he has interviewed, Viktor Orbán, Donald Trump, and Vladimir Putin. He believes that as opposed to how the mainstream media likes to portray them, none of them are particularly radical, rather ‘sincere nationalists’ who ‘want to do the best for their countries’.
US Ambassador David Pressman has once again criticized the Hungarian government, this time targeting Viktor Orbán’s peace mission. According to Pressman, no one is truly following the Hungarian Prime Minister’s efforts for peace, which he characterized as ‘appeasement’.
The first Tusványos speech that became famous across the Western world was delivered a decade ago in 2014. In the international, and especially Western media, the speech became (in)famous for using the phrase ‘illiberal democracy’ for the first time. Talking about competitiveness in a globalizing world Orbán said: ‘We are trying to find the form of community organisation, the new Hungarian state, which is capable of making our community competitive in the great global race for decades to come.’
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