Europe

Hungarian sparkling wine production continues to lead the way

champagne Etyek Gergely Gulyás

Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, attended the 5th Champagne Conference and Festival in Etyek, near Budapest, on Thursday.

In his address at the event, Gulyás praised Hungarian growers’ efforts over the past one to two decades “to make Hungarian champagne competitive with France’s Champagne” and said Hungarian products were doing well in an international competition.

While Europe in general drinks less wine, “drinking champagne has become the trend in Hungary,” which gives impetus to the sector, Gulyás said. But the young generations “tend not to prefer the beverages their parents and grandparents used to like” which poses a great challenge to producers, he added.

Russian Embassy on textbook scandal: 1956 is a complex issue

Putin Orbán Russian gas disgraceful role

In Russia, Vladimir Putin has written a new history book on 1956, when rebellious radicals, former soldiers of fascist Hungary, took up arms and committed mass murder. The textbook concludes that the Russian withdrawal from Hungary was a mistake.

Russian embassy says no problem

“Modern Russia has an unchanging respect for the historical memory of the Hungarian people and recognises that there are complex issues in our common history, including the events of 1956. Therefore, we have always approached the issue with great caution and care, not allowing it to be used for political purposes and to examine the events of the past from today’s perspective, out of historical context,” the Russian Embassy in Budapest commented on the textbook scandal.

Eleventh-graders in Russia can learn history from a new textbook produced under the supervision of Vladimir Putin’s adviser Vladimir Medinsky. The book has several problems for Hungarians. Stalin is being rehabilitated and Putin is being portrayed as the saviour of the country, writes 444.hu.

In a Facebook post, the Russian embassy labels Meduza, who first wrote about the content of the textbook, a liar. According to them, the newspaper “specialises in the production and dissemination of anti-Russian fake news, for which it is rightly considered a foreign agent in Russia“.

Hungarians are outraged

The book has caused outrage in Hungary. Opposition parties reacted to the case and even the Foreign Ministry expressed its views.

Áron Máthé, deputy chairman of the National Remembrance Committee (NEB), told InfoRadio that what is written in the Russian history textbook is undoubtedly a falsification of history from a Hungarian point of view.

Hungarian freedom, as the 1990 Memorial Act makes clear, was born from the blood of the martyrs of 1956. “It’s like when we didn’t let go of ’48, we didn’t let go of ’56. It is such a bedrock. Our whole 20th century revolves around ’56, that’s the axis!”

The director of the Petőfi Literary Museum also finds it outrageous. “Inhuman dictatorships are still inhuman and remain dictatorships if someone starts to cosmeticise them afterwards. 1956 has already been called a counter-revolution (by Hungarians, no less), and that too was a desecration of our heroes,” said Szilárd Demeter.

“Russia still sees itself as an empire, and Central and Eastern Europe as its own sphere of interest,” said Ildikó Repárdszky, vice-president of the Association of History Teachers.

The Democratic Coalition accused the author of the textbook of falsifying history, while the president of Momentum wrote a letter to Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, writes napi.hu.

Jobbik is also calling on the Foreign Minister to ask the Russian Ambassador to the EU. “We will not tolerate anyone talking about the 1956 revolution and its heroes in a humiliating way.”

Fidesz: Money Hungary is entitled to cannot be given to other countries

european union eu flag hungary

Hungary needs budgetary and legal guarantees from Brussels ensuring that the country remains the sole recipient of the funding it is entitled to under the EU’s educational, research and cohesion support schemes, the EP group of Fidesz MEPs said on Wednesday.

In a statement, the group said “the European Commission still owes an answer on the whereabouts of the monies yet unpaid in reconstruction and development funding to member states”.

The group noted that the EC proposal requesting a contribution of an additional EUR 75 billion to the current seven-year budgetary framework was still on the agenda whereas “we still don’t know how much money had been allocated to Ukraine … and how those monies had been spent”.

Further, the group seeks to know “why the interest on the loan taken out by the EU has doubled” while several member states has not received a single cent in reconstruction funding, said their statement.

According to the statement, MEP Andor Deli said at the EP’s budgetary committee meeting on Wednesday that their group would submit amendment proposals to the 2024 community budget aimed “to solidify the protection” of funds Hungary is entitled to. “It must be prevented that those funds earmarked for Hungary should be given to other countries or spent on different purposes.”

Deli also stated the Fidesz group’s commitment towards the EU integration of Western Balkan countries. “We therefore propose increasing the pre-accession funds for the candidate countries in 2024 which would send an important message to all of their citizens,” Deli told the meeting.

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FM Szijjártó: Hungarian government most sovereign in Europe

szijjártó tranzit festival

Hungary’s government has the strongest legitimacy in Europe, enabling it to conduct the most sovereign foreign policy in the continent and focus exclusively on national interests, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said at a festival in western Hungary, on Saturday.

There is great uncertainty in world politics but despite this, Hungarian foreign policy’s scope is broad, determined by geography and national aims, with the government able to look at these solely from its own standpoint, the ministry cited Szijjártó as saying at the Tranzit Festival held in Tihany.

Hungarians who elected the government voted for guaranteed security and for national interests to be enforced in the “new world order”, he said.

Its policies are also morally justified, as the government has never taken steps to prolong the war and has not contributed to a single death, he said.

“The legitimacy of Hungarian foreign policy is unique in Europe, simply because the Hungarian government has the strongest mandate in Europe,” he said.

Szijjártó slammed the EU for being dragged into a “spiral of sanctions” against Russia. “We are having trouble finding a sector isn’t subject to sanctions yet.” Sanctions against Russia are harming the EU and not bringing the end of the war closer, he added.

He also condemned weapon deliveries, saying they only caused more deaths and a risk of escalation.

The financial, migration and health-care crises of the past decade, along with the war in Ukraine, have upended the previous global state of affairs, and are likely to bring about an era of “unrest, jostling and a fight for position” in international politics, he said.

The elections of the past years have shown attempts to influence the results against every party that does not represent the globalist liberal side, he said. “The only country where those attemps failed is Hungary,” he said.

Meanwhile, the EU’s competitiveness has plummeted, and it’s losing out because “it has let itself be provoked into a race with the US for who gives more military support to Ukraine,” he said.

As a result, the price of gas in the US is now one-seventh of that in Europe, and electricity in China is by two-thirds cheaper, he said.

The “remarkably misguided” policies of the EU are also leading to blocs being formed in the world, he said. “This may be good for the bloc leaders but not for the countries caught in the middle,” he said, calling for “civilised” cooperation between East and West.

The government does not follow this stance because they are “the agents of one force or the other”, but because this is in the nation’s interest, he said. “Those now accusing us of being pro-Russia watched idly as half the continent suffered under Russian dictatorship for decades.”

Meanwhile, Hungary has managed to stay on its feet and even to grow economically, despite the recent crises, he said.

Szijjártó said it was “important” for Hungary to grasp the opportunities offered by the “revolutionary change in the car manufacturing industry”. “We now have the fourth largest capacity for manufacturing electric batteries in the world, and will jump to second place once investments currently under way are completed. We will be second behind China, and this will mean a guarantee for the Hungarian economy to stay on a growth path in the coming years,” he said.

“Without plants coming to Hungary, the jobs of hundreds of thousands of Hungarians would be at risk, as the Hungarian car manufacturing industry employs 170,000 people directly employs three-and-a-half to four times as more indirectly,” he said.

Unfair practices are also employed in the battle for those investments, he said, citing attempts to mislead ordinary people and incite anxiety by making dishonest claims about the impact of such investments. “It is an extremely dishonest movement, and opposed to national interests, to mislead people … resulting in such factories being built in Germany, France, the US and Sweden,” he said.

Budapest revealed as the fourth-best autumn getaway destination in Europe for 2023!

Budapest view winter autumn

DiscoverCars.com has created a ranking of the best Autumn getaway destinations for the second year in a row. Barcelona was revealed as the top destination for 2023.

DiscoverCars.com have ranked the best destinations in Europe for an Autumn getaway. This is the second year they have completed this ranking, they used the same ten cities plus five new locations to visualise how the results have altered over the past twelve months.

To do this, they explored factors such as the average cost of hiring a rental vehicle for a week and the number of budget hotels in each city. The destinations were then scored out of 120 and ranked accordingly.

As DiscoverCars.com ranked these cities last year, we are able to make comparisons between the two rankings.

First, let’s remind ourselves of 2022’s results, the top five locations for an Autumn getaway last year were:

  1. Budapest

  2. Barcelona

  3. Lisbon

  4. Berlin

  5. Copenhagen

Speaking on the rankings, Aleksandrs Buraks at DiscoverCars.com said:

‘’Summer may be coming to an end but that doesn’t mean holidays have to also. Our annual ranking of the top Autumn getaway destinations yielded some interesting results – particularly with no location retaining its position from last year’s ranking.

‘’Our inclusion of five new cities was useful for further comparison between countries, as we wanted to give travellers as many options as possible when considering the location of their next Autumn escape.

Now that we’ve familiarised ourselves with the previous ranking, it’s time to see how the top five have altered over the past twelve months.

The top five destinations for a European Autumn getaway were:

  1. Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona improved on its 2022 result by moving up one spot to take first place. The Spanish city received a score of 98 out of 120 points. With the highest number of cheap restaurants (1,793) and budget hotels (534), there are certainly plenty to choose from when visiting the Catalonian city.

The average cost of a week-long hotel stay in Barcelona is priced at £981 while plane tickets from Heathrow cost £141 on average during Autumn.

  1. Lisbon, Portugal

Next, Lisbon ranked in second place receiving a score of 94 out of 120 points – also moving up one position from last year’s results. Lisbon is home to 455 budget hotels and has the highest average temperature from September to November out of all cities examined (18° Celsius).

The journey from London Heathrow to Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport costs £148 on average while vehicles are available for hire for £159.

  1. Berlin, Germany

Moving on, in third place is the German capital, Berlin. The city received a score of 89 out of 120 points and improved from 2022’s results where the location ranked in fourth place. Berlin offers visitors a choice of 1,422 cheap eateries and 360 budget hotels throughout the city.

Additionally, the average cost of a week-long hotel stay totals £827 while the average amount of daylight throughout Autumn is 10.7 hours.

  1. Budapest, Hungary

In fourth place is Budapest – the top-rated destination 12 months ago. The city received a score of 85 out of 120 points. Budapest has an average of 56mm of rainfall during the Autumn months, the second lowest out of all cities investigated.

Meanwhile, the average price of a flight from Heathrow costs £160 while a week-long hotel stay is priced at £600 on average.

  1. Gdansk, Poland

Lastly, rounding off the top five is one of this year’s new additions, Gdansk. The Polish city received a score of 81 out of 120 points and ranked above popular tourist destinations such as Amsterdam and Florence.

Gdansk has the lowest amount of rainfall (51mm), the cheapest car rental costs (£124) and the cheapest hotel prices on average (£526) making it a great option for a getaway this Autumn.

Completing the top ten, the remaining cities in order were; Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Bilbao, Bordeaux and Bruges.

autumn getaways 2023 budapest
Budapest came in 4th on the list of the best European Autumn getaways in 2023. Source: discovercars.com

Hungarian opposition calls for west-facing orientation

Gisela of Hungary and Stephen I

Opposition parties called on the government to strengthen European values and Hungary’s west-facing orientation on the national holiday of 20 August, named after state-founder king Saint Stephen.

The Democratic Coalition said in a statement that Hungarians had been a European nation ever since the founding of the state, yet currently “instead of our natural allies, only eastern dictators are willing to engage in dialogue with the Hungarian government”.

“When the Hungarian government is the only one in Europe that roots for Europe’s defeat in a war, we can be sure that they have let us down and our nation has been made to leave the path marked for us at the founding of our state,” it added.

Co-leader of the Socialists Ágnes Kunhalmi said in a statement that when Saint Stephen had chosen a west-facing orientation for Hungary, “he made the right decision because instead of building from the past, he chose the future”.

Contrary to this, Hungary’s current regime celebrates from Saint Stephen’s heritage only the power of the state and the inseparable relation of church and state, she said.

Párbeszéd said in a statement that commemorating the founding of the state should not involve “wasteful squandering of money, damaging the environment and health”. The party condemned the 20 August fireworks display, stating that “it is not fireworks that makes a nation great but the multitude of well-educated people”.

Momentum leader and group leader Ferenc Gelencsér said in a video message that it was Hungarians’ decision to belong to the west rather than the east made a thousand years ago which should be celebrated on 20 August. “What we celebrate is that our statehood links us to western democracies instead of eastern dictatorships,” he added.

Orbán meets former Austrian chancellor charged with perjury

sebastian kurz viktor orbán

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán held talks with former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz at his office in Budapest on Monday, the prime minister’s press chief said.

Orbán and Kurz discussed bilateral relations and possibilities for peace in the Russia-Ukraine war, MTI reported.

They also discussed topical issues in European public life and the political representation of national and Christian values, particularly with regard to next year’s European Parliament elections.

According to Euractiv, former conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has been charged with perjury following allegations that he may have been lying to a parliamentary investigation panel.

Orbán in agreement with Kurz:

In the picture, “Hungarian-Austrian summit” is written, despite the fact that Kurz is no longer the chancellor of Austria.

Charges brought against people smugglers who fired shots at Hungarian police

arrest police handcuff gang

Charges have been brought against an international people-smuggling ring, a member of which fired shots at Hungarian police officers with a gas pistol while escaping arrest on the M5 motorway, in central Hungary, last November, the Budapest chief prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.

The four Iraqis and a German and Turkish national operated as part of an criminal organisation in Hungary, Serbia, Germany and Norway specialised in smuggling people to western Europe, primarily to Germany, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement, adding that it sought prison sentences and their expulsion from the country.

In the early hours on 14 November, police tried to stop a van on the motorway near Budapest in which two Iraqis transported 21 Syrian illegal migrants squeezed together in an unventilated compartment without windows. During a police chase the driver’s accomplice fired several shots with the gas pistol in the direction of the officers before coming to a stop, with both suspects fleeing on foot. The accomplice continued to fire in the direction of the police. Nobody was injured in the incident.

Charges against the four Iraqis include participating in a criminal organisation for financial gain, helping people to cross the state border, abusing the smuggled persons, people smuggling while armed. The German and Turkish nationals are charged with acting as accomplices, the prosecutor’s office said.

Hungary’s energy supply secure thanks to Russia

Russian oil transit MOL

Hungary’s energy supply continues to be secure as Russia is still delivering crude oil to Hungary in line with its contractual obligations, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said on Monday.

He said in a post on social media that Europe, including Hungary, still confronted key energy security challenges since imports remained the continent’s main sources of energy, and he referred to “worrying reports” about attacks on energy infrastructure in the war-torn neighbourhood.

Szijjártó said that he had talked by phone with Alexander Novak, Russia’s deputy prime minister for energy affairs, who underscored Russia’s commitment to delivering crude to Hungary, “so the country’s energy supply remains secure”.

Fidesz MEP: Europe would be poorer without Roma community

Roma Holocaust

Europe owes its strength to its diversity, and its history, culture, industry and society would be poorer without its Roma citizens, Fidesz MEP Lívia Járóka said on Thursday in connection with Roma Holocaust Memorial Day.

Social inclusion, the fight against exclusion and promoting social integration are shared responsibilities, Járóka told MTI.

Almost 80 years later, it is still clear that what happened at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp was genocide and a series of crimes against humanity, she said. Innocent European citizens were exterminated on the basis of an exclusionary ideology whose only purpose was organised destruction, she added.

“Millions of lives were taken away, ruined and destroyed,” Járóka said. “Though Europe faced numerous trials over the course of its history, the blood-spattered decades of the 20th century were a methodical attack on our most fundamental values, which must never be allowed to happen again.”

Efforts by European Union member states must serve as the basis of the fight against anti-Roma sentiment, the MEP said, adding that this required committed governments, a supportive majority in society and vital local communities.

August 2 was declared Roma Holocaust Memorial Day in 1972 based on a resolution adopted at the World Roma Federation’s Paris congress. More than 3,000 Roma prisoners killed that night in Auschwitz in 1944 are commemorated on that day.

DefMin: Hungary stands by democratically elected Niger president

Defence Minister Niger

Hungary stands by the democratically elected president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, the defence minister, said on Facebook on Thursday.

“We are closely monitoring developments in Niger”, the minister said. “What is happening is dangerous and concerning,” he added.

“The Sahel region requires special attention because what happens there has a direct impact on the security of Europe, including Hungary, and the region plays a key role in restraining migration,” Szalay-Bobrovniczky said.

“It is our vital interest to strengthen the stability of the region, which is why this is one of the priorities of our EU presidency next year,” he said.

“Just over a month ago, these issues were also discussed with Niger’s defence minister in Budapest,” Szalay-Bobrovniczky added. “The defence cooperation agreement signed at the meeting was intended to provide a framework for this,” the minister said.

Two arrested over shooting of wolf that wandered from Switzerland to Hungary — VIDEO

Wolf

Police have arrested two men in connection with the illegal shooting of a protected wolf which wandered from Switzerland to Hungary earlier this year, the National Investigation Bureau (NNI) said on the website police.hu on Thursday.

The wolf, dubbed M237, had been tracked across Europe through a GPS collar it was fitted with, but in early April the signal was suddenly lost, raising the possibility that the wolf may have died, the NNI said in a statement.

An investigation was ordered into the case against an unidentified perpetrator for causing damage to the natural environment, the statement said.

Investigators concluded that the protected wolf had been shot dead by a group of hunters on April 1 on the outskirts of the border village of Hidasnémeti in the northeast.

The Hungaian perpetrators, one of whom was a professional hunter, removed the GPS collar from the wolf and threw it into the river, the NNI said, adding that the hunters had been aware that they had shot a protected animal. The authorities have yet to find the wolf’s carcass, they added.

The two men were arrested in the early hours of Wednesday morning with the help of counter-terrorism force TEK, as one of them had a legally-owned firearm.

Roma Holocaust Memorial Day marked in Budapest

#mini #statues #Budapest

A commemoration was held in honour of the Roma victims of the Holocaust in Budapest on Wednesday.

Speakers at the Roma Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration organised by Phiren Amenca, a network of Roma and non-Roma activists working against discrimination, and the March of the Living Foundation agreed that what happened during the Holocaust must never be allowed to happen again.

B. Attila Hidvégi, Phiren Amenca’s representative in Hungary, said that the massacre of Roma prisoners in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in August of 1944 had been preceded by the exclusion of and scare-mongering against certain ethnic groups.

The event was also addressed by Erzsébet Ponicsán, pastor of the Lutheran Congregation of Rákospalota and the Bolla Árpád Lutheran Retirement Home, and Endre Varady, associate professor at the Baptist Academy of Theology, among others.

The Council of Europe declared August 2 Roma Holocaust Memorial Day in 1972. Some 3,000 Roma prisoners killed that night in Auschwitz in 1944 are commemorated on that day. About 500,000 Roma are estimated to have been killed in Nazi camps, 23,000 of them in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Huge turnout expected for St. Stephen’s Day – 20 August celebrations

Budapest 20 August fireworks

Hundreds of thousands of punters are expected to take part in St. Stephen’s Day celebrations between 18 and 20 August at 14 venues, Zoltán Kovács, the state secretary for communications and international relations, said on Tuesday.

Preparations for the celebrations of the founder of the Hungarian state are proceeding according to schedule, Kovács told a press conference, adding that the World Athletics Championship and diplomatic events will be taking place in Budapest simultaneously.

Fully 34,000 fireworks will light up the sky from 230 launch points, including the Liberty and Elizabeth Bridges, as well as river barges and pontoons.

As we reported earlier, Budapest will host Europe’s biggest firework show this year at the 20 August celebrations.

Cheap public transport? Travel in Budapest could be one of the most expensive in the region

Tram Budapest public transport

For the first time in 12 years, Budapest is raising the price of public transport tickets. Although the decision seems rational in the current inflationary climate, it still came as a surprise to many. But how do Budapest public transport prices compare to those in other Hungarian towns and other capitals in the region?

Pénzcentrum has now investigated whether the current HUF 350 (EUR 0.91) tickets are really as cheap as the 12 years of stagnant prices suggest, and how affordable the increased tickets will be compared to Hungarian towns and other capitals in the region.

As we reported, the Budapest’s transport company BKK is increasing the prices of public transport tickets in the Hungarian capital. The decision follows a 12-year stagnation in prices. The primary reasons behind their decision was the economic circumstances and the soaring energy prices. BKK said it will continue to respect the regulars, so the prices of passes/season tickets will remain unchanged.

From 1 September, the price of a regular single ticket will rise from HUF 350 (EUR 0.91) to HUF 450 (EUR 1.17). Meanwhile, the so-called on-board ticket/ticket bought on the spot from drivers will increase from HUF 450 (EUR 1.17) to HUF 600 (EUR 1.57). The price of a block of 10 tickets will also follow suit, with one block costing HUF 4,000 (EUR 10.44) instead of HUF 3,000 (EUR 7.83).

How do ticket prices in Budapest compare to other Hungarian towns right now?

Budapest traffic travel
Photo: facebook.com/bkkbudapest

While monthly season tickets are by far the most expensive in Budapest, the capital is in the middle of the pack in terms of the price of a single ticket. In Miskolc and Szeged, a ticket already costs HUF 430 (EUR 1.12), Pénzcentrum writes. Of the 8 largest cities in Hungary, Nyíregyháza and the capital are still the fifth most expensive. In Kecskemét and Győr, a bus ride costs only HUF 250 (EUR 0.65). And, from September, unless provincial leaders decide to raise fares, public transport in Budapest will be the most expensive in the country.

City/town Public transport ticket price (HUF)
Miskolc 430
Szeged 430
Pécs 400
Debrecen 380
Budapest 350
Nyíregyháza 350
Kecskemét 250
Győr 250

Budapest vs other capitals in the region

bkk_bkv_tram_budapest_transport kató_alpár_dnh_
Photo: Alpár Kató / Daily News Hungary

Of course, the price of public transport in the capital is also justified by its infrastructure and the differences in this regard between the countryside and the capital. For this reason, it might be more relevant to compare Budapest with cities of a similar size, and especially with other European cities. Pénzcentrum has now looked at public transport fares in the capitals of the former Eastern Bloc countries, or Central and Eastern European countries, now known by the acronym CEE.

City Public transport ticket prices (HUF)
Riga 567 (90-min ticket)
Ljubljana 492 (90-min ticket)
Prague 471 (30-min ticket)
Budapest 350 (one vehicle)
Sofia 309 (one vehicle)
Zagreb 303 (30-min ticket)
Warsaw 290 (20-min ticket)
Belgrade 287 (90-min ticket)
Bratislava 268 (15-min ticket, no transfer)

It is important to note that the institution of the single ticket (vonaljegy) is slowly becoming a Hungarian phenomenon. Most of the surrounding countries have already completely switched to time-based ticketing. In Budapest, the 30-minute ticket at HUF 530 (EUR 1.38) and the 90-minute ticket at HUF 750 (EUR 1.96) are only worth it if you want to transfer during your journey. The transport companies that opted for these schemes have rationalised the price of time-based tickets: so a 90-minute journey costs HUF 750 nowhere else in our region.

We can see that Riga is the most expensive city in this regard, where only 90-minute tickets are available since the phasing out of the regular single ticket last year. It’s the same in Ljubljana, but there, you only have to pay HUF 492 (EUR 1.28) for a 90-minute trip with unlimited transfers.

Currently, even in Prague, a single ticket is more expensive than in Budapest. In Zagreb, on the other hand, it’s only HUF 303 (EUR 0.79) for a 30-minute transfer. So, unless you’re travelling end-to-end, you’re likely to get a cheaper deal than you would in Budapest. In Warsaw, meanwhile, a 20-minute transfer ticket costs only HUF 290 (EUR 0.76), while in Bratislava a 15-minute ticket costs only HUF 268 (EUR 0.70). However, tickets in this category do not entitle you to a transfer, while a 30-minute ticket that costs 20 cents more does.

Fidesz: Hungary govt seeking ‘alliance, pragmatic ties’ with US Democrats

Gergely Gulyás US

 The Hungarian government is “trying to cooperate with the incumbent Democrat administration of the United States as an ally, in a pragmatic way,” the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said in Washington, DC, late on Wednesday, but added that the Hungarian endeavours were “not always met with openness”.

Speaking to Hungarian public media, Gulyás said that, at the same time, US Republicans “could be considered Hungary’s friends, who think that the successful, conservative government in Hungary could serve as a good example even to them.” He suggested that in case of a “political change” in the US, bilateral ties “could improve a lot” under a conservative US administration. He added, however, that “the will of Americans must be respected” and “whoever is on government, we will try and cooperate”.

Gulyás said Europe’s conservative parties “have abandoned a lot of what they used to represent for decades … in that sense, ideologically, the Republican Party is a lot closer to us, whether it is the gender issue or family policy … we see eye to eye with the Republican Party in those issues.”

Concerning the war in Ukraine, Gulyás said the Republican majority opinion called for an early ceasefire and peace talks. That position is shared by “the currently most popular Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump,” he added.

Referring to the legal proceedings against the former president, Gulyás said it was a “new development” in the US “to use criminal law against a former president and the forerunner for the Republican presidential candidacy over cases which have already been investigated a lot.” He said, however, that “I don’t want to follow the current practices of the US administration and interfere with the domestic affairs of other countries … we hope that America offers the possibility of procedures under the rule of law,” but added that “it seems that these procedures and their timing might be politically motivated.”

During his visit, Gulyás met Republican senators and congressmen, as well as the heads of research institutes.

PM Orbán in talks with Paraguay president

orbán paraguay president

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán held talks with Mario Abdo Benitez, the president of Paraguay, on the sidelines of the EU-CELAC summit in Brussels on Tuesday, his press chief said.

The two leaders discussed topical global affairs, the war in Ukraine and its consequences, as well as the role and opportunities of conservative political forces, MTI reports.

Orbán told the president that Hungary, in “a unique way” in Europe, adhered to fundamental values such as family, nation and faith.

Benitez said the governing party in Paraguay was based on the same footing and deemed the protection of those same values crucial.

Besides politics, the leaders also discussed opportunities to boost bilateral economic and trade relations.

Szijjártó at UN: Despite attacks, Hungary is for peace

szijjártó at un new york

As a neighbour of Ukraine, Hungary stands up for the soonest possible peace and will continue to do so “despite all the condemnation and attacks”, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told a session of the United Nations Security Council in New York.

Szijjártó said Hungarians had “already paid a high price” for the war in Ukraine even though they were “not responsible” for it. It was baffling why Hungary’s arguments for peace were not “the mainstream position”, he said, adding that a resolution to the conflict would not be found on the battlefield but at the negotiating table.

Speaking after his Ukrainian counterpart, Szijjártó said conditions for starting talks aimed at a diplomatic settlement were worsening each day and he warned that “the longer the war lasts and the more weapons [Ukraine] receives, the more people will die and the worse the destruction will be.”

“We want the international community to send more peace than arms,” Szijjártó said.

Also, severing communication channels would equal “the world giving up all hope of peace”.

The minister welcomed “all efforts aimed at peace” such as those of the Vatican, Türkiye and countries in Africa.

Szijjártó noted the significance of the security of food supplies with regard to Africa, and warned that interruptions in the food supply could “easily lead to serious security challenges with global consequences” such as further waves of migration and terrorism.

“How could we cope with multiple security challenges if we cannot cope with a single one?”

The minister said global security had never been as bad in the past 80 years, with certain countries “openly and shamelessly referring to their nuclear capabilities”, while the possibility of a third world war was, he added, higher than ever before.

Szijjártó said the world was “quickly falling into blocs”, adding that “central Europe has very bad experiences” whenever the region was “on the losing side of conflicts between East and West”.

“When we argue for civilised cooperation between East and West … we do so because it is in our national interest,” he said. “And the longer the war lasts, the less of a chance there is [to achieve this].”