Photo taken by Gokturk-1 observation satellite showing the stuck container ship Ever Given in the Suez Canal in Egypt on 27 March 2021

The Need to Recalibrate European Foreign Policy Thinking

‘By being responsive to changes at the system level, multilateralism can contribute to maintaining peace during the shifts in the balance of power that we are currently living through. Europe’s peoples would benefit from it, as would their governments’ reputation and diplomatic standing in the world.’

Orbán Scores Major Wins in Trump Meeting: Sanction Exemptions, Deals and More

US President Donald Trump approved a full sanctions exemption for Hungary on Russian oil and gas imports during his White House meeting with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in what both sides called a new era of US–Hungarian cooperation. The leaders secured multimillion-dollar deals on nuclear energy, defence, and space technology.

Márton Ugrósdy  PHOTO: Tamás Gyurkovits/Hungarian Conservative

Now We Have President Trump on Our Side — An Interview with Márton Ugrósdy

What will be the main topics of Viktor Orbán’s 7 November White House meeting with Donald Trump? Can he secure an opt-out on energy, and how will Hungary’s connectivity strategy hold up if global powers clash? We spoke with the Deputy State Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office about the potential new deals between Trump and Orbán.

Hungarian Students Taken for Conscription in Ukraine Released

Four Hungarian students from the Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian University detained for conscription have been released, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó confirmed on Wednesday. He said the students were exempt from service under Ukrainian law and that Budapest had maintained constant contact with local authorities.

Hungary-Led Multinational Special Ops Forces Command Reaches Full Capability

‘A significant milestone in Central European defence cooperation has been reached as the Regional Special Operations Component Command, led by Hungary, has officially achieved full operational capability. The command brings together the special operations forces of Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia…’

Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock gives a speech at the presentation of the Guidelines on Feminist Foreign Policy in the Weltsaal of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, Germany, 1 March 2023

Fixing Germany’s Sovereignty Deficit: The Case for Sovereign Realism

‘Germany faces a stark choice between continued strategic drift and fundamental transformation. The half-measures of constrained realism will prove no more effective than the delusions of values-based idealism when confronted with determined opposition…Only genuine sovereign realism…offers the possibility of effective foreign policy in the age of great power competition.’

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission

The Great European Delusion and the Dawn of Realist Foreign Policy

‘Our world has changed, the international order has transformed, and every actor is trying to adapt. With the end of unipolarity, the hegemony of liberal foreign policy also ended…Free trade has given way to protectionism; moralizing, value-centric diplomacy has given way to transactional realism. However, this recognition apparently eludes the European Union.’