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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday he was convinced that Donald Trump will win another term in November’s U.S. presidential election and has made no plans for any other outcome. “The only reason why I’m sitting here after spending more than 30 years in politics is that I always believe in my plan A,” the nationalist leader told Reuters in an interview in Brussels when asked about the looming U.S. vote. “We have an exceptionally good relationship with Trump. Probably the level of openness and kindness and helping each other will be lower (if Democrat...

The EU’s highest court on Tuesday (6 October) ruled that changes by Hungary to its higher education law which forced a university founded by Hungarian-born US billionaire George Soros to quit the country, was in breach of EU law. The 2017 legislation put the Budapest-based Central European University (CEU), established in 1991 by Soros, under pressure in what became one of prime minister Viktor Orbán’s emblematic battles with the EU. At the time, the university said it had complied with all the new rules, but the Orbán government refused to sign off on allowing the university to stay in the...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán railed against liberal ideology Monday, insisting conservatives must defend schoolchildren from destructive leftist propaganda. There are “irreconcilable differences in education policy” between liberals and conservatives, Mr. Orbán argued in an extended written address, with conservatives focusing on helping children “to be capable of becoming patriots who can carry forward our tried and tested traditions.” The prime minister reserved some of his most pointed language for resisting the left’s push for gender theory in schools.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán says he does not know if he should “laugh or cry” when his national conservative government is attacked by liberals from multicultural countries where “statues are being toppled” and there are “gang wars” in the streets. “Liberal imperialism reigns in western Europe, and they are trying to force their worldview on countries that think differently. American Democrats and often international courts are also involved in this,” said the Hungarian leader, in reference to a recent ruling by EU judges that Hungarian regulations requiring NGOs funded by George Soros and other overseas donors to be transparent...

Hungary supports Beijing’s efforts to prevent Taiwan taking part in the upcoming World Health Assembly (WHA), according to a Chinese statement issued after a telephone conversation between the two countries’ foreign ministers. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi called his European counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, on Thursday, the foreign ministry in Beijing said. During the call, Szijjarto told Wang that Budapest would not support Taiwan’s accession to the World Health Organisation (WHO) ahead of the annual gathering of health ministers from around the world that starts in Geneva on Monday and which Taipei is keen to attend. Hungary “always upholds the one...

BUDAPEST, Hungary - Hungary’s prime minster said Wednesday after hosting a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that good relations with Russia are a necessity because of his country’s geographical location. Analysts see Prime Minister Viktor Orban as Putin’s closest ally in the European Union and Hungary has long advocated for the end of sanctions against Russia for actions in Ukraine, saying they hurt the Hungarian economy. Trade between Hungary and Russia increased in 2018 for the first time since sanctions were put in place. “It’s a simple geographical fact: No country can change its address,” Orban said during a...

At the end of the Second World War, the revered crown of St. Stephen, the first Christian monarch of Hungary, was smuggled out of Austria by the U.S. Army to prevent its falling into Soviet hands. It remained at Fort Knox in the United States until it was handed over to the communist government of Hungary in 1978. The return of the crown was opposed by many in the Hungarian diaspora, especially by those who had fled the country after the brutal Soviet suppression of the uprising in 1956. The reason for the opposition was explained to me by a...

Orbán and Estonian deputy prime minister meet in BudapestBUDAPEST, Hungary (ChurchMilitant.com) - Hungarian President Viktor Orbán's mission to protect Christian culture is moving up toward the Baltic. The Hungarian president met with Mart Helme, Estonian deputy prime minister, minister of the interior and chairman of the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) to build new alliances between Hungary and the Baltic states. The talks occurred in the Carmelite monastery next to the presidential palace in the Castle District of Budapest on July 8. Toward the goal of protecting Christian values, the two leaders agree that national control of external borders...

An analysis of the media campaign to vilify European leaders willing to protect their continent and countries.

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Viktor Orbán. Click image (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Viktor Orbán is the Prime Minister of Hungary, and is a conservative nationalist. He has led the efforts for countries in the eastern European bloc to prevent unregulated mass migration into their sovereign nations, against the will of the neo-communist European Union. Later today, a bonus challenger puzzle will be posted. Watch for it! All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidential spoilers....

FFor months, the European Union’s leaders have waged a fierce battle against Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. They have accused him of targeting minorities and opposition media, and threatened to withdraw Hungary’s voting rights in the E.U. Parliament, and to eject permanently members of Orbán’s far-right Fidesz party from the biggest political grouping in the legislative body in Brussels. Yet none of that has succeeded in softening Orbán’s views — far from it. As his campaign has ramped up for this week’s crucial E.U. Parliament elections, so has his hardline rhetoric — especially his opposition to migrants coming to Europe....

President Donald Trump enjoyed his meeting with Hungary's authoritarian prime minister so much that he likened the Hungarian leader to a twin brother, according to the country’s media reports. As their meeting at the White House came to a close on Monday, President Trump turned to Viktor Orbán and said, “It’s like we’re twins,” U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Cornstein told the Hungarian news outlet 444.hu. During a public press conference that same day, Trump expressed a similar sentiment: “Viktor Orbán has done a tremendous job in so many different ways. He’s highly respected, respected all over Europe. Probably like...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban offered a preview of his meeting with President Donald Trump as the two sat together at the White House Monday, including the protection of Christians around the world. “We are proud that so many Hungarians contributed to the tremendous progress of United States,” said Orban, who expressed that he was very happy to be back at the White House. He said he was there for the first time 20 years ago. Orban added that he had some expectations for meetings with President Trump over the course of the afternoon: First of all to strengthen our...

Trump welcomes Viktor Orbán to White House as Pompeo heads to meeting of EU nations in apparent attempt to soothe relations over Iran deal, 2019

President Donald J. Trump will welcome Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary to the White House on May 13, 2019. Recognizing the longstanding ties between the United States and Hungary, the President and the Prime Minister will discuss ways to deepen cooperation on a range of issues, including trade, energy, and cyber security. As the leaders of NATO Allies, they will also explore opportunities to meet the many national security responsibilities of their two countries and will celebrate Hungary’s 20th anniversary as a NATO member.

Senior Republican and Democratic members of the U.S. Congress told President Donald Trump on Friday they were concerned about Hungary’s “downward democratic trajectory,” ahead of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s visit to Washington next week. “In recent years, democracy in Hungary has significantly eroded. … Under Orbán, the election process has become less competitive and the judiciary is increasingly controlled by the state,” Republican Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch and Bob Menendez, the panel’s top Democrat, said in a letter to Trump. The letter was also signed by Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen. Several Democratic...

Hungary is ready to promote the development of Europe-China relations through cooperation between China and central and eastern Europe, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Beijing at talks with President Xi Jinping on Thursday. Orbán, who is attending the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, expressed firm support for the Belt and Road Initiative, calling it “an opportunity rather than a threat”. Orbán said that “the Hungarian government and people cherish the extraordinary friendship with China” and that Hungary is optimistic about China’s high-tech development and welcomes investment from China. The Chinese president noted that “this...

After being shunned by Obama, Orbán’s meeting with Trump is to focus on ‘bilateral relations’ After years of receiving the cold shoulder from Washington, Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, will visit the White House to meet Donald Trump on 13 May. Hungarian authorities announced the visit on Thursday morning. Orbán’s spokesman Zoltán Kovács wrote on Twitter that “energy security, defense cooperation, bilateral relations and regional security” would be on the agenda. “Today all I can say is that they have invited us and we have accepted the invitation,” said Orbán, when he was asked about the meeting during a...

Andrey Melnikov, the editor of NG-Religii, reports on a conference this week at the Russian Cultural Center in Budapest devoted to the growth of conservative national consciousness in the members of the European Union and the rest of the world. The meeting, which attracted representatives from 24 different countries, is formally the 25th Conference of the International Foundation for the Unity of Orthodox Peoples, a group that, in Melnikov’s words, has “positioned itself as an international conservative organization” which criticizes globalization from the perspective of “fundamentalist Christianity.” The meeting is taking place in Budapest, the Moscow journalist says, because Hungary...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Politicians across the world and across the ideological spectrum like to invoke “family values” when talking about education, the welfare system, taxes and pretty much anything else. But how many of them actually put their money where their mouths are? The current Hungarian government under Prime Minister Viktor Orban prides itself on its conservative platform - low immigration, lots of incentives for marriage and families, and promotion of the nation’s Judeo-Christian heritage whenever possible. Some have panned this as “right-wing nationalism,” but the administration is touting the strong family outcomes that have taken hold over the near-decade...