On Monday, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told the Salzburg Europe Summit that Europe should work together to achieve peace, stem waves of illegal migration, and restore the community’s economic competitiveness.
A statement from the foreign ministry quoted Szijjártó as referring to the war in Ukraine, the mass migration facing the continent for the past ten years, and economic questions “seen in a strongly ideological light” in the European Union.
“What do we suggest as in line with the EU’s interest? This will not be the mainstream position. We believe that Europe is interested in driving Ukraine’s development toward peace. Europe has an interest in reining in the waves of migration at last. Europe also has an interest in making economic decisions based on common sense,” he said. The Hungarian government, he added, “supports all initiatives aimed at peace in Ukraine. We will do everything to preserve national sovereignty and economic neutrality.”
Concerning the war in Ukraine, Szijjártó said that as opposed to sending more weapons to Ukraine, adopting further sanctions, and enabling Ukraine to use their weapons against targets in Russia, “talks should be launched, and in the end, we should find a peaceful solution to save human life.” While “the first approach has simply not worked … the second should be given a chance … (we should) try and concentrate on ways to make peace and (ways) to avoid prolonging the war,” the minister said.
Szijjártó said Hungary was currently under EU sanctions “for protecting the EU’s external borders”. He said Hungarian authorities have recently prevented over 500,000 illegal entry attempts. He noted that under international law, refugees could be granted temporary asylum in the first safe country after fleeing their homeland. “There is no word about second, third … tenth safe country,” he added. “Unless we return to the foundations of international law, we will never be able to protect the continent’s security,” he warned.
Szijjártó said “a possible new economic Cold War” and the world falling into new blocs were “a great threat” and sharply contrasted with Hungary’s interests. He added that Hungary continues to be interested in connectivity, a “civilised cooperation” between East and West.
Hungary is one of three countries in the world in which all three of Germany’s leading carmakers have plants. At the same time, five of the largest battery makers in the East have committed to have production in Hungary, Szijjártó said. “If we put artificial obstacles in the way of companies dominating the continent’s economic performance, we could cause huge problems, while the competitiveness of the EU has become even weaker than before,” he warned at the Salzburg Europe Summit.
The Hungarian Counter-Terrorism Centre has raided a pub in Pest, where young people were planning an armed attack on 23 October, the commemoration of the 1956 events, according to US intelligence. The six young people detained included a mixture of boys and girls.
According to Telex, a group of young people was preparing to carry out an armed action on the upcoming national holiday of 23 October. The US Secret Service brought this to the attention of the Hungarian authorities about two weeks ago.
In possession of the information, the Counter-Terrorism Centre raided the Legenda Pub in the 16th district of Budapest, arresting and detaining six young people.
The detained young people were a mixture of girls and boys, but none of them were found to be carrying sharp weapons, only airsoft and deactivated weapons.
The owner of the Legenda Pub told Index that the youths were not yet inside the club but were on their way when the SWAT team intercepted them. They could see what was happening through the window, but they did not know what was happening.
Responding to a question from Index on Monday about the planned armed attack, the government information centre (KTK) said that over the weekend, the Hungarian services received information from their US counterpart that young people were discussing in an online group about a planned operation involving protected persons in the near future.
It also turned out that the photos and information shared in this forum during the monitoring revealed that the young people organising the action were planning to acquire and use weapons. “In view of the international events of recent months, when several leading politicians have been attacked with weapons, the Hungarian services and the Counter-Terrorism Centre are paying special attention to monitoring such information and taking the necessary measures”.
The fate of the arrested young people is not yet clear, but we will be sure to share it with our readers as soon as we have new information.
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The foreign minister said on Monday that the Hungarian presidency of the Council of Europe will significantly accelerate EU enlargement by promoting the Western Balkans’ accession.
Accession chapters with Montenegro
The ministry cited Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó as saying on Facebook after talks with Montenegro’s EU affairs minister Maida Gorcevic that four accession chapters are expected to be closed with Montenegro in December.
He said one of the most important targets of the Hungarian presidency is to speed up the accession process in the Western Balkans.
“We are at the threshold of another success, because we expect to close four chapters of talks with Montenegro in December, which is a great achievement considering that the last time an accession chapter was closed was two years ago,” he said.
“Speeding up the accession process is a matter of credibility from the point of the European Union because the Western Balkans countries have been waiting for the possibility of membership for an average 15 years,” Szijjártó added.
“In the past years, we would always hear from our western European friends that EU membership must be based on the merits of the individual candidate countries”, he said.
“The reality, however, is that the merits of Western Balkans countries have been repeatedly neglected,” Szijjártó added.
“It would be good if everyone understood that the European Union needs new impetus, freshness and new energies, and the Western Balkans countries can provide all these,” he said.
A representative of the National Economy Ministry participated in International Product Safety Week in Brussels, a three-day conference of decision-makers, national authorities, consumer organisations, and industry leaders in mid-October.
The ministry said product safety is “among the most important priorities” of Hungarian and European Union consumer policy while acknowledging the “serious challenge” posed to oversight authorities by expanding online marketplaces. It noted that over three-fourths of dangerous products originate outside of the EU.
The ministry said that the EU’s new General Product Safety Regulations, which will be in force from December, aim to offer a high degree of protection online and in conventional marketplaces. It added that the appropriate application of the EU’s legal framework, coordinated efforts by national oversight authorities, and cooperation between tax authorities are “indispensable” for resolute measures against Asian online marketplaces in the broad European interest.
The National Economy Ministry pointed to the importance of constructive dialogue, such as that with Chinese authorities, and an action plan to advance online marketplace compliance.
The biennial meeting, International Product Safety Week, involved over 600 experts from 70 countries who discussed topics such as the role of product safety in the circular economy, steps to address risks related to developing digital technologies, eliminating discrimination, and the importance of international cooperation.
The ministry, in charge of consumer protection, said it was “in full agreement” on the need for a high-level oversight authority to defend Hungarian households’ interests online and in brick-and-mortar shops.
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A high response rate in the government’s National Consultation public survey will strengthen Hungary’s sovereignty, Balázs Hidvéghi, the parliamentary state secretary of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office, said on Sunday.
A high response rate will give the government the strength it needs to represent Hungarian independence and the country’s right to make its own decisions on important issues, Hidvéghi said in a video message. He said that in recent years Brussels had tried to force its position on Hungary on numerous issues, and now it wanted a “cold trade war” and to decide “who we can or cannot trade with”.
“This is against Hungary’s interests,” he said. “Our interests lie in trading freely with both the West and the East because that’s how we can outpace the EU average growth rate.” He said the economy was not an ideological issue and required neutrality. The new National Consultation survey, Hidvéghi said, will cover topics like family tax benefits and the 13th month pension.
He said that while Brussels wanted to solve demographic and labour market challenges through mass migration, the Hungarian government believed in supporting families with children and doubling family tax breaks. Also, he added, while Brussels called for scrapping the 13th-month pension, the Hungarian government believed it should be made permanent.
The opposition Socialist Party elected Imre Komjáthi as its leader at the party’s congress on Saturday.
Komjáthi, a former co-leader of the party who on Saturday was elected for a two-year period, told a press conference after the vote that the party congress chose Lajos Korózs to be the deputy chairman and István Hiller the head of the national board. Komjáthi said the congress marked the start of the Socialist Party’s 2026 election campaign.
Imre Komjáthi. Photo: MTI/Hegedüs Róbert
“We will be the human voice of Hungarian political life,” Komjáthi said. “The Socialist Party will be the left-wing conscience of Hungarian political life.” Komjáthi, who is also an MP, told MTI that his party’s most important promise was that it would have a parliamentary group after the 2026 election. The first step towards achieving this, he added, was finding their 106 individual candidates. He said that having visited the party’s local chapters around the country over the last two years, he was aware of the state of the party, adding that the starting point was “promising”.
Komjáthi said 2026 was “too far away” for the party to be concerned with forming alliances, adding that in the summer they had reached out to the left-wing parties and movements that were “finding their place”. The Socialists, he said, wanted to be a home for these left-wing movements, but “time will tell if this will evolve into an electoral party or an umbrella organisation”. He said he will nominate a new party director who is not a politician at the first meeting of the party’s board. Komjáthi and Ágnes Kunhalmi resigned as the Socialists’ co-leaders in June over the result of the European Parliament and local elections.
The Democratic Coalition (DK) will field candidates in all 106 individual constituencies in the 2026 general election, Ferenc Gyurcsány, the leftist opposition party’s leader, said on Saturday.
DK will start announcing their candidates in early November, Gyurcsány said at an event marking the 13th anniversary of the founding of the party. In his speech streamed online, Gyurcsány called out Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for controlling “our common narrative” and said that today, only the Democratic Coalition could deliver a “credible narrative”.
He said the reason for the opposition’s loss in the 2022 election was not that they had joined forces but rather that they had not had their own shared story. Gyurcsány said Hungary’s interests lay in making Europe stronger, arguing that it was through Europe that Hungary could participate in the global competition. He said Hungary was a sovereign country, but also called for strengthening Europe’s sovereignty.
He called for the establishment of a new alliance of democracies that espouse Western values. Klára Dobrev, the party’s MEP, said she was proud that DK had never compromised on the kind of Europe, Hungary and world it represented.
The Tisza Party is working to revive the Visegrád Group and supplement it with the rest of the countries of Central Europe, Péter Magyar, the leader of the opposition party, said at the congress of the New Slovenia – Christian Democrats party in Ljubljana on Saturday.
Tisza Party’s press service said Magyar was in agreement with German MEP Sven Simon and Matej Tonin, the leader of New Slovenia, that Slovenia, Hungary and Germany needed change as soon as possible and advocated a strong Europe built on sovereign member states that respect each other, as well as the protection of European Union borders and the strengthening of European competitiveness.
“Speaking as the leader of the Hungarian opposition, Péter Magyar said it was becoming apparent in more places in Europe that Hungary was not equivalent with Viktor Orbán,” the Tisza Party said in its statement.
European leaders will “remain on the wrong path”, serving economic interests over communities, without the guidance of religious communities, the state secretary for church and minority relations said in Budapest on Friday.
Miklós Soltész told a conference organised as part of Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the European Union that selfishness had come to the fore in Europe’s leadership, and “ideologies that are twisting the interests of the created world” had emerged.
He said the EU’s migration policy also threatened the continent, arguing that it aimed to address the bloc’s labour shortage problems instead of the EU providing unconditional help to migrants’ countries of origin. Cardinal Péter Erdő, the Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, highlighted the changes seen in the legal handling of religion and religious communities in certain European countries.
He said that in certain countries religious education had been turned into education about religion and a “cultural offer” suggesting not just civic equality and equal human dignity, but also the “relativity of religious belief”. Bishop József Steinbach, president of the Synod of the Reformed Church in Hungary, said the biggest challenge in Christian service was reaching those who had completely different views of the world.
Andor Grósz, the head of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities Mazsihisz, said that since Hamas’s terrorist attack against Israel a year ago, anti-Semitism in many countries had reached a high not seen for decades. But while surveys showed that 76 percent of Jews in the EU avoided wearing clothing that could be identified as Jewish, the Jewish community in Budapest felt safe to practise their faith because the Hungarian government guaranteed their safety.
Somebody in the Budapest mayoral office made a shocking error by inviting the Russian and the Belarusian ambassadors to the planting of the Tree of Peace. Regularly, the two diplomats are not invited by the Budapest leadership to any of their events. Now, the Belarusian came, but several NATO and EU member states boycotted the celebration. Karácsony apologised.
Planting Tree of Peace with Russian diplomats in Budapest?
Michael Wallace Banach, apostolic nuncio to Hungary, and Gergely Karácsony, the Mayor of Budapest, plantedthe “Tree of Peace” on Margaret Island. However, several NATO and EU member states boycotted the celebratory event. Karácsony said in his short speech that the tree symbolises their commitment and unbroken desire for peace.
However, Karácsony’s office invited the Russian and the Belarusian ambassadors to the event. After Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the diplomats of the two states were persona non grata on such occasions. Several NATO and EU member states spotted the unwanted attendees when checking the recipients. Lots of them were outraged reading the names.
Gergely Karácsony speaking at another event. Photo: FB/Karácsony
Karácsony’s office apologises
Therefore, on Tuesday, they agreed on an event held at the Czech embassy in Budapest not to participate in Karácsony’s tree planting. Some NATO and EU member states attended the event. Szabad Európa wrote that for example Paul Fox, the ambassador of the United Kingdom, was among the attendees. The Belarusian ambassador was also there; however, probably his Russian colleague understood there was only a technical error and did not go.
Later, Karácsony’s office highlighted that there was an administrative mistake. They apologised and cleared that Karácsony’s condemnation concerning the Russian aggression in Ukraine is unchanged.
The Budapest Chain Bridge in the colours of the Ukrainian flag on 25 February, 2024. Photo: FB/Karácsony
NATO and EU diplomats do not boycott other events in Budapest
On the other hand, Hungary’s Foreign Affairs Ministry always invites the Russian and Belarusian ambassadors to all events. For example, they held a traditional harvest for diplomats in the Tokaj Wine Region. Based on Szabad Európa’s information, diplomats from the Russian and Belarusian embassies participated in it. None of the embassies boycotted the event though they tried to keep their distance from their Russian and Belarusian colleagues at least while taking photos.
Furthermore, NATO, EU, Russian and Belarusian diplomats participated in the traditional “diplomatic run”.
Szabad Európa asked the British and the Russian embassies for comment but they have not received an answer yet.
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Péter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party, on Friday said Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was like the captain of the Titanic, “driving the ship into an iceberg then lying to the passengers about how he’ll steer it in their interest.”
Commenting on Orbán’sradio interview on Friday, Magyar accused Orbán of “turning Hungary into the poorest and most corrupt country of the European Union and then styling himself the future saviour of the homeland.”
While “lying” that Tisza would bring migrants into the country, “Orbán and his government let 2,000 imprisoned people smugglers go, turned the issue of residency bonds into a business, are building a migrant camp and they flooded rural Hungary with more than 100,000 Asian migrants,” Magyar told MTI in a statement.
Orbán “is also lying about peace while they are building weapon, armoured vehicle and ammunition factories, sent hundreds of Hungarian troops to civil war-torn Chad, and their closest allies in the Patriots for Europe party group are actively supporting weapon deliveries to Ukraine,” Magyar said.
Photo: FB/Magyar
The government was “one of the main helpers of Asian and global multinational companies” and their flawed policies had put Hungarian companies in impossible situations, Magyar said. “They squandered 1,000 billion forints of public funds on Asian investments of battery and EV plants alone,” he said. Meanwhile, mom-and-pop businesses are drowning under tax and administrative burdens, he said.
At the same time, Orbán “has turned members of his family and friends into trillionaires, even as 3 million Hungarians, 100,000 children among them, live under the poverty line,” he said.
“The time of lying is over, it is over, Mr. Prime Minister,” Magyar said.
According to the latest polls, the difference between Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party and Orbán’s Fidesz decreased to only 2%.
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National Economy Minister Márton Nagy met with China Development Bank President Tan Jiong on Friday, his ministry said.
The sides discussed joint projects Hungary and China are undertaking in the areas of infrastructure, energy, digitalisation and e-mobility. They also exchanged views on deepening the sovereign financial cooperation in the Chinese-Hungarian Cooperation Framework.
Nagy said ties between Hungary and China, including in the areas of financing cooperation, had “never been better”. Hungary strives to establish economic ties based on mutual respect that benefit all sides, and China and Chinese financial institutions are very important partners in that endeavour, he added.
Illustration. Deputy FM Levente Magyar at the China International Fair. Photo: MTI
He acknowledged China’s strengthening role in global financing and the country’s increasing weight in global investments. Hungary has become the number one destination for Chinese investments in Central and Eastern Europe, and the country aims to enhance its role as a bridge for capital, know-how and technology from the East and the West, he added.
He said Hungary was counting on Chinese financial institutions in implementing infrastructure projects in the framework of the government’s economic development strategy, including the V0 railway bypass around Budapest, a rapid rail line connecting Liszt Ferenc International Airport with the centre of the capital, and upgrades of infrastructure at crossings along the border with Serbia. He said the upgrade of the Budapest-Belgrade rail line, another project backed by Chinese financing, was expected to finish in the summer of 2025.
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Admitting Ukraine to NATO would cross a Hungarian “red line” since this would lead to a third world war, the foreign minister said, briefing parliament’s foreign affairs committee on Thursday.
Ukraine’s NATO accession is crossing “red line”
The accession of Ukraine at war would lead to a direct confrontation between Russia and the alliance, Péter Szijjártó, said in response to MPs’ questions.
Several allies had encouraged Ukraine to believe in its prospective NATO membership, which he called “a humiliation of Ukraine” since in closed NATO sessions it was generally agreed that “this is not possible”.
Meanwhile, he said Hungary opposed military advisers from the European Union in Ukraine because sending them would lead to escalation.
Péter Szijjártó. Photo: MTI
Also, he said Hungary rejected extending the review period of the sanctions against the Central Bank of Russia from six months to three years, because doing so would raise public expectations of a never-ending war “which we find unacceptable”.
The USA continues to trade with Russia
When it comes to punitive measures that may harm national interests, Hungary objects to sanctions on, for example, natural gas and nuclear fuel, adding that many slammed Hungary in this regard, yet European imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) had grown by 11 percent in the first half of the year, while France alone had increased Russian LNG import volume by 110 percent.
Regarding Russian crude, he said Hungary vetoed the EU measure to ban crude imports, and Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia had won an exemption accordingly. Meanwhile, India, “if I recall correctly”, increased Russian crude oil imports twenty-fold, while Europe’s oil imports from India had tripled, he added.
Last year, Szijjártó said, the US continued to rely on Russian supplies of uranium, yet Hungary was accused of being pro-Russian in light of the project to expand its Paks nuclear power plant in which US, German, French, and Austrian subcontractors worked alongside Russian nuclear contractor Rosatom.
The primary goals of Hungary’s foreign policy are to promote peace, protect national sovereignty and preserve the country’s economic neutrality, Szijjártó said. Speaking at a hearing of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Szijjártó said Hungary had been paying the price of the war raging in Ukraine for two and a half years.
“After a thousand days, the European political elite should realise that the question is not what we think about the war, because everyone knows that exactly; the question is how to ensure peace, or more precisely, which path will lead to peace the fastest,” he said. The minister said the pro-war stance followed so far had failed, and weapons deliveries had not brought the end of the conflict closer, so it would be time to give pro-peace policy a chance in order to avoid escalation and a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia.
He insisted that outside of the “transatlantic bubble”, pro-peace forces were in the majority, and Hungary was also part of this majority, even if those who held this position were called “Putin’s puppets or Kremlin propagandists” in Europe. Szijjártó went on to point to what he considered attempts to limit national sovereignty in many parts of the world, including Hungary.
The EU wants to say who and how should govern in Hungary
“Last week, we all had the chance to watch the debate in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where the wish of who should be in government, who and how should govern in Hungary, was expressed more clearly and more shamelessly than ever before,” he said. “I believe that such an attempt at open intervention is unprecedented, even in the recent history of European politics, and must be rejected as firmly as possible. It is not up to international political actors, Manfred Weber or Ursula von der Leyen, to decide who governs in Hungary, but Hungarian voters,” Szijjártó added.
Finally, the minister touched on the issue of trade neutrality, reiterating that Hungary was against the formation of blocs and against launching a new trade “cold” war. Instead, was is interested in connectivity and creating trade ties, he said. He cited Hungary as an example of the growth potential held by civilised East-West cooperation, insisting the country had become a key hub for Eastern and Western economies thanks to its “pragmatic, patriotic foreign policy”.
Foreign minister presented economic neutrality policy to WTO deputy DG
Szijjártó presented the Hungarian government’s strategy of economic neutrality to World Trade Organization (WTO) Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang in Geneva on Wednesday, his ministry said in a statement. In a post on social media after the meeting, Szijjártó said some of the biggest players in global politics and world trade had taken decisions that could lead to the outbreak of an “economic cold war”.
“This flies in the face of Hungary’s interests. The Hungarian economy is export-oriented, Hungarian companies are competitive at the international level, and their export performance is increasing from year to year, so it is in Hungary’s interest for world trade and the global economy to operate without impediment,” he added. “We have shown in recent years how much we can profit from a civilised cooperation between East and West,” he said, adding that Hungary had become a “meeting point” for investments from the East and West.
He pointed to the “unhindered cooperation” between German and Chinese automotive industry companies in Hungary and said the success of entire European economies depended on such cooperation. Szijjártó said the WTO deputy director-general had approved of Hungary’s strategy of economic neutrality, calling it “the right way”. That strategy produces economic growth, creates jobs and higher wages, Szijjártó added.
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Opposition Momentum politician András Fekete-Győr will transfer his parliamentary mandate to fellow party member and former MEP Katalin Cseh in light of a criminal case that has been dragging on for over six years, the party said on Thursday.
The statement cited Fekete-Győr, commenting on his sentencing, as saying: “I am the first person to receive a political conviction in the period since post-communist transformation, for protesting against the slave law [a 2018 law that law extended overtime employers could demand from 250 to 400 hours while allowing them to delay payment by three years] … in a way that the power-holders didn’t like.”
He said that he had received a suspended prison sentence from “the regime”, even though he had not harmed anyone or caused any material damage. The case, he added, revealed how “politically motivated, sham criminal proceedings work in the [PM Viktor] Orbán regime”.
Photo: www.facebook.com/Cseh Katalin
Momentumcalled it “unprecedented since post-communist transformation” that a lawmaker had lost their mandate for protesting against those in power.
The war in Ukraine cannot be won using the victory plan of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, “we can only lose with this”, and Hungary will not be a part of it, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told public broadcaster Kossuth Rádió on Friday.
Danger of war in Europe is near, says Orbán
Orbánsaid the EU was split into two groups on the war: “there is us and the others”. Hungary had said at the start of the war that it would not participate in the war effort, “while the rest of the EU countries are in it”, he said. While the EU is not in direct conflict with Russia, it is behaving like a warring party, Orbán said, adding that Hungary had made it clear at the beginning that this was a flawed strategy, “this war cannot be won, we need negotiations”.
The aim should be as swift an end to the war as possible “so as few as possible die, so Ukraine loses as little territory as possible, and Hungary and Europe can return to peaceful life … so we don’t have to burn billions of dollars and euros in this war, so we don’t have to impose sanctions and ruin European trade and the energy system, creating soaring energy prices and inflation…” Orbán said.
Photo: MTI
“And now, the other 26 countries of the EU are hearing in amazement that President Zelenskyhas a victory plan. Why, what did he have so far?” “What they had for a plan so far turned out to be a plan for defeat, and they are now trying to replace it with a victory plan,” Orbán said, adding that Hungary would not participate in that. Commenting on press reports on Ukraine planning to develop a nuclear bomb, Orbán said what he had heard from Zelensky “did not sound like Ukraine seriously thought they could develop into a nuclear power”. At the same time, “the possibility alone is frightening,” he said.
“Everyone feels” that the danger of the war erupting in Europe is near, and that is a fertile soil for “such half-information”, Orbán said. Secret services are working on ascertaining whether Ukraine has such plans, he added.
Brussels want to appoint their own Hungarian government
On EU politics, Orbán said the Europe envisioned by the European People’s Party would be bad for Hungarians, adding that Brussels wanted to appoint a government of its own to replace the current Hungarian administration.
Commenting on an image released by the EPP featuring the prime minister with text that reads “Time to go”, Orbán said that one of the reasons behind this could be Hungary’s position on the war. Orbán noted that he had proposed that the German chancellor and the French president begin talks with the Russians “either on their own or Europe’s behalf before the Americans arrive on the scene”.
PM Orbán and President Macron. Photo: MTI
He said the EPP “took things up a notch” in the last European Parliament debate where it had announced that it wanted to replace Hungary’s government with one belonging to their own grouping so that it could “pursue policies that are to Brussels’ liking, like taking in migrants, entering the war, accepting gender ideology and scrapping the child protection regime in Hungary”.
Orbán said the EPP also had “a lot of economic demands”, such as that Hungary should not “tax their multinationals or torment their banks”. Hungarians will decide on their leaders at the next elections, “until then, we need to work rather than campaign and ensure the success of our non-Brusselite policies in economics and foreign affairs,” Orbán said.
Russian position improved, Ukraine’s worsened
Since the start of the war, Russia’s position had improved and Ukraine’s worsened, “so it’s a good idea that we should negotiate from a position of strength, but we are weak; the victory plan is about us becoming strong at some point, but we’re losing the war right now.”
While all European countries have a war strategy, Hungary has a peace strategy, Orbán said, calling for a “peace or at least a ceasefire, and concluding the conflict with the smallest possible losses and the best possible perspectives.”
Orbán said the EU was currently facing the biggest challenges in areas that Hungary had found answers to, pointing to migration, the utility price caps and the war in Ukraine as examples. “What we are doing in Hungary is more or less what the European people would like to see at home, but their governments are doing the opposite.”
With the leaders of the Patriots for Europe. Photo: MTI
Everyone in Europe today oppose migration
Orbán said everyone in Europe today opposed migration, and apart from European governments no “normal person” supported it. “They’d give an arm for conditions related to migration to be the way they are in Hungary,” he added.
“But there’s no migration crisis here because we don’t let [migrants] in while they’re banging their head against a wall thinking how could they have been so careless to let in millions of migrants whom they can’t do anything about now, and they just keep coming,” the prime minister said.
He said the situation was similar when it came to utility prices, with Europeans asking how it was possible that Hungarian families had the lowest electricity and gas bills.
Meanwhile, when it came to the Russia-Ukraine war, Europeans, he said, were asking why it was that their own governments were “up to their neck in the war” while Hungary was pro-peace like most of the European people.
Orbán said Hungary served as an example for Europeans in opposition to their own governments, which left those governments in an uncomfortable situation.
He said he tried “not to provoke” the other European governments on this issue “so that they leave us alone”, but European leaders felt “that this is not merely about Hungary, but also that they could make changes to their Europe policy, economic policy, military policy, energy policy and migration policy”.
Hungary needs to pursue its own economic policy
“The biggest problem with us is that we’re successful,” he said, citing the examples of economic growth and the issue of migration.
Orbán said this meant that Hungary “unwittingly poses a challenge to EU countries with bad policies”, and this also increased Hungary’s weight in the bloc. Noting that he met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week and is scheduled to meet French President Emmanuel Macron the next, Orbán said “Hungary’s way of doing things and its success clearly increases its weight in foreign affairs.”
“I think our influence is greater than what the country’s size and actual economic and military strength would warrant,” he said.
Meanwhile, the prime minister said the next National Consultation surveying Hungarians on issues related to the economy would allow the foundations of a new economic policy to be laid.
Orbán said Hungary needed to pursue its own economic policy and augured “amazing” macroeconomic data in the first quarter of 2025. He added that the government’s 21-point action plan would give new impetus to the economy.
New National Consultation
He said Europe could not or did not want to adapt to the changing world, but Hungary, which could adapt quickly, had adopted a policy of economic neutrality that would put it ahead in the race, if that policy was affirmed in the National Consultation.
He acknowledged that a new economic policy came with difficulties, some risk and much work, and said digging in would require Hungarians’ support for pursing a policy that was particular to the country’s own needs.
Orbán said that in the event of a war, the government’s economic policy plans would “stay in the desk drawer”. He said they were “praying and rooting” for former US president Donald Trump’s victory in next month’s presidential election, and they trusted that Hungary could avert getting dragged into the war.
Orbán said another foundation of the government’s economic policy was keeping Hungary “a migrant-free area”. He said migration did not just come with a threat of terrorism, crime and tensions, but also cost a lot. He added that Hungary had been fined by Brussels for not letting in migrants, but letting them in would be a far greater financial burden.
Orbán also noted the government’s plans to introduce wage hikes, make housing cheaper, doubling family tax breaks for children, and support for small and medium-sized businesses.
Europe’s competitiveness deteriorated
He said the new economic policy would have a noticeable impact on everyday life next year if Hungarians gave it their backing in the public survey.
Orbán said that while Europe’s competitiveness had deteriorated recently, China’s and the US’ had improved, but Europe was responding with isolation and tariffs. The prime minister said this was the wrong approach, and Hungary’s economic policy was based on connectivity and trade neutrality.
“We must trade and compete with everyone and find a way to participate in every competitive international company; and we must cooperate so that Hungary can also get a share of the large amount of economic profits generated in the world,” Orbán said.
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Árpád János Potápi, the state secretary in charge of policies for Hungarian communities abroad, has died unexpectedly at the age of 57.
Potápi died unexpectedly, Hungary’s leaders shocked
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán bade farewell to Potápi on Facebook, saying: “Árpád Potápi fought for all Hungarians and now he’s gone to rest. God bless you my friend! I will miss you!”
Deputy prime minister Zsolt Semjén and Fidesz group leader Máté Kocsis also bade farewell to Potápi.
Potápiwas born in Bonyhád in 1967, he acquired a primary school teaching degree at Juhász Gyula College in Szeged in 1991, and graduated from Budapest’s Eötvös Loránd University with a degree in history in 1994, the government website kormany.hu said.
He got involved in politics in 1993, becoming a lawmaker in 1998 and a ruling Fidesz deputy parliamentary group leader between 2011 and 2014. Since 2014, he was state secretary in charge of policies for Hungarian communities abroad.
Political and civil organisations from Transyalvania also bade farewell to Potápi on Facebook.
Photo: MTI
Transylvanian Hungarians also say farewell
Hunor Kelemen, the leader of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) said Potápi had been “an old friend” who “shaped policies for Hungarian communities abroad actively and persistently over the past decade and a half”.
The Hungarian Alliance of Transylvania (EMSZ) said Potápi had served the nation’s common goals and “Transylvanian Hungarians could always rely on him under any circumstances”.
The Transylvanian Hungarian Public Culture Association (EMKE) said Potápi had considered support for the ethnic Hungarian civil organisations in the Carpathian Basin not only a job but his vocation.
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The European Union must change its current “war strategy” to a “strategy of peace”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Brussels on Thursday, calling for a ceasefire and peace talks.
Orbán demands ceasefire and peace talks
Speaking ahead of a working breakfast of the Patriots for Europe party group, Orbán said the EU summit later on Thursday was shaping up to be “a difficult day, with three battles”.
The first “battle” would be on the war in Ukraine, Orbánsaid, noting that President Volodymyr Zelensky was scheduled to present his “victory plan” to the summit. “We don’t officially know it yet, but we heard what he said yesterday in the Ukrainian parliament. That is more than frightening,” Orbán said.
Orbán said he was “sometimes the only one” to urge a change to the EU’s war strategy, “because we are losing this war right now”. He slammed the EU’s strategy, saying that the bloc “has entered this war with a badly planned, badly executed strategy based on flawed calculations”.
Patriots for Europe. Orbán in the centre. Photo: MTI
“We are obviously losing the war on the frontlines. So we need change… I don’t mean more war, more dangerous and longer-range weapons, but that we should replace the strategy of war with a strategy of peace. Ceasefire and peace talks,” Orbán said.
Orbán urged Macron and Scholz to start talks with the Russians
Zelensky’s words to the Ukrainian parliament on Wednesday pointed in the opposite direction, Orbán said. Therefore, Orbán said he was urging German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanual Macron to start talks with the Russians, “to find a way out of this situation”.
PM Orbán and Macron. Scholz in the background. Photo: MTI
“The battle on migration” would also be significant, Orbán said: “Many of us want to change migration regulations.”
He called it “unacceptable” that Hungary “is being penalised for protecting the EU’s borders”.
An increasing number of member states are pointing to a migration crisis, “we need change”, Orbán said.
Orbán said the EU would also try to push through economic measures “that would floor Hungarian families”, including tax hikes, scrapping the utility price caps, a pensions system reform and scrapping the 13th month pension.
“I have a duty to reject that and protect the most important elements of the current economic policy which are protecting families,” he said.
The working breakfast will focus on preparing for the summit and on organising the party family, Orbán said.
He said the PfE had gone through the “baptism by fire” during the presentation of the Hungarian presidency’s programme to the EP. “We stood up for each other, they helped me protect Hungary.”
On a yesterday working dinner, Orbán met with PfE’s leadership, as well as Andrej Babis, the head of the Czech ANO party, Jordan Bardella of the French Rassemblement National, Matteo Salvini of Italy’s Lega, and Geert Wilders, the head of the Dutch Freedom Party, Bertalan Havasi said.
‘Historic” Patriots for Europe meeting in Brussels, says Fidesz MEP
It is “a historic event” for the Patriots for Europe (PfE) party group to have their first ever “summit”, showing that “we are present, we are strong and will be getting stronger, with our voice getting louder”, Kinga Gál, an MEP of ruling Fidesz, said in Brussels on Thursday.
Speaking ahead of a working breakfast of the PfE, Gál, who is the group’s first vice president, told Hungarian journalists that the summit offered an opportunity for the group’s members to consult about the topics of the current EU summit and “define strong messages”.
She said in connection with migration that “Europe is bleeding from a thousand wounds also in that regard. Thousands keep arriving day by day, young, fit and healthy people standing in line just like an army,” she said.
“We must act to achieve the goal that the protection of EU borders is getting financial support instead of a fine,” Gál said.
“The possibility of withdrawing from the [EU’s] very bad and flawed migration pact and suspending its implementation must also be examined,” she said.
She expressed hope for progress on the issue of migration, saying that despite changes in the situation, the EU’s migration policy was still the same as in 2015.
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The Patriots for Europe (PfE) has “a great significance” in the European Parliament, and the cooperation between Fidesz and the French Rassemblement National (RN) is especially important within the party group, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s minister of foreign affairs and trade, said in Paris on Wednesday.
Speaking ahead of a meeting with RN president Jordan Bardella, he said that the party is an ally of the Hungarian government, and sits with Fideszand the Hungarian Christian Democrats (KDNP) in the third largest party group of the European Parliament.
At the meeting, Szijjártósaid, according to a ministry statement, that they would mostly review Europe-related political issues, as several of the two parties’ approaches to challenges facing the continent were similar.
Marine Le Pen (c) and RN president Jordan Bardella (l1) with PM Orbán (r2) in Brussels. Photo: FB/Jordan Bardella
The two parties agree on border protection and tightening migration regulations, which “could remedy one of Europe’s greatest problems, the migration crisis,” Szijjártó said. “Europe’s external borders must be protected, and it must be made clear that entry to Europe is only possible through legal and regulated channels; immigration must be stopped rather than managed,” he said.
Europe of nations
“Also, we both believe in a Europe of nations, and are protecting our sovereignty. Unfortunately, we had to face many attacks from Brussels on that score. Our sovereignty would definitely suffer, if the requirement of unanimous decision was scrapped on issues where it is currently in place,” he said.
That would turn the EU into “the alliance and server of a few large member states, and midsize and small countries would have no other choice but to agree with them.”
Hungary, on the other hand, wants to represent its own interests in the EU, he said.
RN is the largest party in PfE, and Fidesz gives the only prime minister in the group, Szijjártó noted.
“It’s the same on the matter of foreign affairs. I am the only one representing the PfE in the Foreign Affairs Council, so cooperation with the party group is especially important when it comes to working in the EP and the European Council,” Szijjártó said.
Energy cooperation between Hungary, France ‘outstanding’
Cooperation between Hungary and France in the area of energy is “outstanding”, Szijjártó said after a meeting with Agnes Pannier-Runacher, the French energy minister, in Paris on Wednesday. In a statement issued by his ministry, Szijjártó said energy was “the most successful area of bilateral cooperation” between Hungary and France, adding that the sides were “in full agreement” on the use of nuclear energy.
He augured a “dramatic” increase in demand for electricity to power heating and cooling systems, industrial capacity and electric vehicles. Nuclear energy is the “only affordable, safe and stable” means to meet that demand, he said. “Without nuclear energy, there can be no green transition in Europe, and without nuclear energy, there can be no economic competitiveness on the continent,” he added.
He pointed to the establishment of a coalition of European countries that use nuclear energy and see the issue as one “based on facts and science” not as an “ideological, political or philosophical” question. French companies are playing a “key role” in the expansion of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant, delivering the control system as well as the generators and turbines, Szijjártó said.
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