Free Republic

Last Thursday the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to express its concern over Hungary’s scheduled presidency of the EU Council. The deplorable state of Hungarian democracy is by now widely known. Since 2010, prime minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party have systematically undermined the principles and institutions that underpin democratic governance. They have worked to curtail EU values such as academic freedom, gender equality and LGBTI+ rights, most recently in their copy-paste Russian law, which bans the visibility of the LGBTI+ community in public spaces. A core principle of any democracy is free and fair elections. Under Orbán’s leadership, this...

The Democrats in the United States should focus on their own country instead of trying to impose their leftist ideology on the rest of the world, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said. Speaking with the Bloomberg news agency in an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha this week, Hungary’s populist-nationalist leader stressed the importance for countries such as the United States to respect the cultural identity of others, particularly for the left-wing Democrat party, which despite professing tolerance as a virtue seems to often struggle to embody it themselves. “I would say that the American Democrats are far...

Viktor Orbán’s Hungary continues to withstand attacks by pro-LGBT, pro-war EUHungarian Prime Minsiter Viktor Orbán has warned that if Europe does not find a balance between international collaboration and national sovereignty, it will find itself 'under the wheels of a bureaucratic juggernaut abusing its power.'(LifeSiteNews) — In a week which saw news of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s plan to blow up Hungary’s main oil pipeline, a Hungarian Member of the European Parliament took to the airwaves to denounce a campaign of “show trials” by the European Union – against the pro-family country. Speaking to Hungarian outlet Kossuth Radio on March 15,...

In a week which saw news of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s plan to blow up Hungary’s main oil pipeline, a Hungarian Member of the European Parliament took to the airwaves to denounce a campaign of “show trials” by the European Union – against the pro-family country. Speaking to Hungarian outlet Kossuth Radio on March 15, Fidesz MEP Tamás Deutsch said that the EU’s Commission was colluding with left-wing pressure groups in withholding EU development funds from Hungary. “I trust that the Commission will not maintain this unlawful state,” Deutsch told Kossuth Radio, summarizing a perception that “We, Hungarians, have had to...

Hungary has blocked the disbursement of the eighth instalment of the European Peace Facility (EPF) for arms to Ukraine. Hungary blocks Ukraine from getting EUR 500M for weapons The instalment to be disbursed is worth EUR 500 million. It was due to be paid next Monday. The Italian newspaper ANSA reports that Hungary did not approve the grant because it demanded guarantees that the EPF would not use the money exclusively to arm Kyiv, but would maintain its “global horizon” in the future. The European Peace Facility was created by the European Council to help Member States better strengthen international...

“If Donald Trump were president of the US, Ukraine and Europe would not be inflicted by war,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told the CPAC conference now under way in Budapest.“Return, Mr. President, make America great again, and bring us peace,” the prime minister said.Meanwhile, Orbán said “the essence of illegal migration is to destroy the international community, to unravel the cultural basis necessary for the operations of a nation state.”“The woke movement and gender propaganda have the same objectives,” Orbán added. “Just like communism used to do, they cut the nation into artificial minorities and then incite antagonism between them;...

With recent measures to sanction the Hungarian government coming from the U.S. and the E.U., can we expect a grassroots movement for democracy to break out?Orbán’s electoral victoriesHungary has been consistently attacked by the European Commission. The Hungarian government of Viktor Orbán is described as anti-democratic, corrupt, and repressive.Yet Orbán has won a record four elections, winning a “supermajority” in parliament.This electoral success — and growing popularity — is perhaps explained by the policies of his party. So are the actions taken against it.Family and nation firstHis party, Fidesz, is openly Christian, and has been heavily criticized for passing laws...

Recently, I was on vacation in Budapest, Hungary, taking one of those bus trips of the city. Our guide was a young lady, probably mid-20's, who spoke excellent English but had always lived in Budapest. We drove by a major university and she said that a college education was free in Hungary. When we drove past a large city bus stop, she quickly pointed out that it, too, was free. Finally, we drove past a large hospital where I was told that medical care was free. Curious, I asked her what her income tax rate was and she relied that...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán appeared concerned by the prospect of Ukraine entering NATO this week, reacting forcefully to comments from Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg saying that the country's "rightful place" is in the bloc.Orbán responded to a Politico article on Stoltenberg's comments, simply exclaiming "What?!"Hungary, under Orbán's leadership, has become something of an outlier among NATO countries in terms of its response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Budapest maintains close ties to Moscow and the country is highly dependent on Russian energy.The country has not provided arms to Ukraine, unlike most of the bloc, Politico reported. The outlet noted...

Samantha Power, the current administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), announced in February 2023 that she was in Budapest, Hungary, to support “democratic institutions” and “civil society.” Hungary, a member of the EU and NATO, has a democratically elected government presently spearheaded by conservative and pro-life Prime Minister Viktor Mihály Orbán, who won reelection to an unprecedented fourth term in a 2022 landslide victory. Notably, Orbán’s government has refrained from backing the U.S.-led strategy to exacerbate the Russia-Ukraine crisis since the latter’s onset in 2022. Additionally, Orbán’s government rejects the globalist principles of open immigration, same-sex marriage,...

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on a Hungary-based bank linked to Russia, marking a new low point in Hungary’s relationship with Washington. The U.S. Treasury Department announced the penalties, which will target the International Investment Bank (IIB), a controversial institution located in Budapest with ties to the Russian state. The bank’s presence in Hungary has drawn the ire of Western officials, who fear it could be used for Russian intelligence operations inside Europe. Speaking to reporters in Budapest on Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman said Washington had repeatedly shared information with Hungarian counterparts about how...

After Austria and Hungary, Bulgaria has also joined the minority group of European Union countries that refuse to send weapons to Ukraine, news and opinion portal Mandiner reports [link at URL]. Bulgaria has declared that it will not take part in the EU’s joint ammunition purchase program, nor will it supply fighter jets or tanks to Ukraine, Euronews reports. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev is under enormous pressure from opposition parties, but he has said he stands by his position. ... Although many of its Western allies accuse Hungary of siding with Russia in the war based on its firm stance...

NICOSIA – Nearly a half-century after Turkish invasions seized the northern third of the island – where it keeps some 35,000 troops still – Cyprus’ new President Nicos Christoulides said more will be spent on defense. He said that 2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product of 26.42 billion euros ($28.41 billion) – about 52.8 million euros ($56.77 million) would be spent on the Armed Forces in different areas. That comes as the United States is lifting a decades-long arms embargo that held down Cypriot defense while Turkey was buying American arms without conditions and has a huge military advantage...

The U.S. has reportedly decided not to invite two of its allies to the ‘Summit for Democracy,' which is touted as President Biden’s hallmark foreign policy initiative. The U.S. government is inviting around 120 countries to join its 'Summit for Democracy' next week. But two NATO allies, Turkey and Hungary, aren’t going to get a call. The snub is likely to inflame tensions between the U.S. and its two NATO allies even further. ...

Charges for aiding and abetting the murder of thousands of Hungarians during the Nazi occupation of Hungary during World War II are being prepared by Hungarian prosecutors against 92-year-old Hungarian-American businessman George Soros. According to a source at the prosecutor’s office in Budapest, Hungary, Soros is expected to be charged with “knowingly and willfully” aiding and abetting the murder of Jewish Hungarians in Budapest from September 1942 to January 1943. The government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been working to bring historical crimes committed by Hungarian Nazi collaborators to justice, and it is believed that Soros has been using...

There is a proliferation of U.S.-funded, supposedly free journalism organizations and training courses linked to various left-wing opposition newspapers in Hungary, according to the Hungarian civil rights group, Tűzfalcsoprt (Firewall Group). (snip) While the web of supporting organizations has not yet been fully untangled, Hungarian domestic intelligence agencies have already determined that NGOs funded by billionaire oligarch George Soros along with U.S. state and state-linked organizations were involved in funding the opposition’s election campaign. This information was included in the report of the Hungarian domestic intelligence agency, the National Information Center, which was submitted to Hungary’s parliament on Jan. 20,...

Hungary's far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban snubbed Wednesday's meeting in Warsaw with President Joe Biden and the other Bucharest Nine leaders after insisting Donald Trump was the only person who could broker peace with Vladimir Putin. Orban has been an outlier on the war in Ukraine, chiding the European Union for prolonging the conflict and saying in October that only former U.S. President Donald Trump could negotiate a deal between the Ukrainians and Russians to end the conflict. 'This is going to sound brutal, but hope for peace goes by the name of Donald Trump,' Orban said at the time,...

“When Russia launched its attack, the West didn’t isolate the conflict but elevated it to a pan-European level,” Orban said. “The war in Ukraine is not a conflict between the armies of good and evil, but between two Slavic countries that are fighting against one another. This is their war, not ours.” Under the slogan “Peace and Security,” Orban’s nearly hour-long address focused largely on the conflict in Ukraine, which is approaching its one-year mark, Feb. 24.

The Hungarian government is demanding an apology from the Biden administration after US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a high-level UN summit on antisemitism earlier in the month that a vandalized Holocaust memorial honoring Raoul Wallenberg was located in Hungary. Listing recent antisemitic incidents – including a Molotov cocktail being thrown at a synagogue in New Jersey, a Russian missile hitting a synagogue in Ukraine, and a Jewish cemetery being vandalized with a swastika – Thomas-Greenfield told the ‘High-Level Side Event on Globalizing Efforts to Combat Antisemitism’ that a “Holocaust memorial was vandalized in Hungary,” Breitbart reported....

It's never a good thing when Samantha Power says she's in town, and ready to help:Great to be here in Budapest with @USAmbHungary where @USAID just relaunched new, locally-driven initiatives to help independent media thrive and reach new audiences, take on corruption and increase civic engagement. pic.twitter.com/xeMgRulU0J — Samantha Power (@PowerUSAID) February 9, 2023 "Locally driven initiatives". Right. According to a US Embassy press release, here's why the USAID Administrator was here: I remind you that Hungary is a democratic country that is a member of the European Union and the NATO alliance. It is led by a government that...