Free Republic

BRUSSELS — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen waited less than a day after Hungary voted Viktor Orbán out of office to call for the EU to get more power over national governments to force through foreign policy decisions. Governments should be able to push through EU policies ― on issues that could include sanctions on Russia and funds for Ukraine ― by majority rather than allowing individual nations to wield a veto, she told reporters in Brussels. Under Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister for 16 years, Hungary has often blocked foreign policy decisions. “Moving to qualified majority voting in...

Hungarian Member of European Parliament Péter Magyar has been hailed by leading globalists on both sides of the Atlantic for his convincing victory over Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during Sunday’s parliamentary elections; however, it remains unclear how the supposed centre-right politician will govern in Budapest. Just two years after splitting from Orbán’s Fidesz party, Péter Magyar, 45, whose Tisza (Respect and Freedom) Party rocketed from relative obscurity to victory on Sunday, is set to be elevated from a lowly MEP role to the highest government office in Hungary after securing enough votes for a super majority in the Országgyűlés parliament....

Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed the UK must rejoin the EU if the US leaves NATO, as US President Donald Trump has threatened to pull away if the pact does not support his Middle East war. Trump, a fierce critic of the defence bloc, has been left unimpressed by fellow members and their refusal to get involved in his war with Iran. The Ukrainian leader said that in order to bolster Europe's defence against Russia, the UK ought to reset relations with the continent. Zelensky said on Friday: 'If the United States truly thinks about withdrawing from NATO, then European security...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán conceded defeat Sunday in the country’s parliamentary election, calling the result "clear" and "painful" as partial vote counts showed a decisive win for opposition leader Péter Magyar.

Greetings from Ukraine. I was supposed to spend last night in Budapest, but by early afternoon there was a palpable sense on the streets that something big was coming. So I figured I'd rather take my chances with Putin's incoming drones than hordes of Hungarian hotties high on their impending liberation from the Orbán terror. Because of some or other incident on my preferred TransCarpathian frontier post, I was obliged to detour via south-eastern Slovakia. Pleasant, if you're interested, and I encountered a nun in a full-length habit, which I don't think I've seen on a Montreal street in half-a-century....

Viktor Orbán has conceded in a speech to supporters, telling them: "The result of the election is clear and painful."

Current results here:

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán speaks during a press conference next to President of the European Council António Costa (C) and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (R) following the European Council meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels on December 19, 2024. “What bothers Brussels is not just that Hungary stands out, but that this alternative could become popular among a majority of Europeans over time.” Zoltán Kiszelly is a Hungarian political analyst currently serving as Director of the Center for Political Analysis at the Budapest-based Századvég Foundation. We talked to him about the Hungarian elections...

Richard Schenk heads the Democracy Interference Observatory (DIO) at MCC Brussels, a project dedicated to tracking the ways in which European institutions, Brussels-funded networks and certain political actors intervene in national campaigns across the European Union. In recent months, the observatory has focused much of its work on Hungary. Two days before this weekend’s parliamentary elections, Schenk argues that Budapest has become the main laboratory for a new form of European political pressure: less visible than in previous years, more sophisticated and, above all, built on regulatory, financial, and media instruments. For him, Hungary is no longer simply a conflict...

Orbán offered his support to Putin, likening his assistance to that of a mouse helping a lion in a well-known Hungarian fable, according to a phone conversation transcript obtained by news agency Bloomberg. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán reportedly offered Russian President Vladimir Putin his friendship and assistance, including by hosting peace talks in Budapest, in a phone call last year adding to concerns about Hungary's ties with Moscow. The news was first reported by US news agency Bloomberg on Tuesday, citing a transcript from a bilateral call in October 2025 from the Hungarian government. “Yesterday, our friendship reached such heights...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared a 32-hour ceasefire in Ukraine over the Orthodox Easter weekend, following an earlier call from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a pause in some of the hostilities to observe the holiday. Putin's decree, released by the Kremlin, orders Russian forces to observe a ceasefire starting at 4 p.m. Saturday and lasting until the end of Sunday. Zelenskyy proposed earlier in the week that each side stop targeting each other's energy infrastructure over the holiday, saying he made the offer through the United States, which has been mediating talks between delegations from Moscow and...

Russia is ready to contribute to resolving ​the Iran conflict and President Vladimir ‌Putin is continuing to talk with regional leaders, Kremlin spokesman ​Dmitry Peskov said on ​Thursday. "The president is continuing these ⁠contacts, and if our ​services are somehow required, we ​are, of course, ready to make our contribution to ensuring that ​the military situation transitions ​to a peaceful course as soon as ‌possible," ⁠Peskov told reporters. Peskov was responding to a question about U.S. President Donald Trump's speech ​to the ​nation ⁠about the Iran war and his separate ​comment that he was ​considering ⁠pulling the United States out...

General or partial assessments of the number of victims in the war in Ukraine reveal the high human cost of an armed conflict unprecedented in Europe in the last eight decades. With estimates of nearly two million military casualties, it is reminiscent of the worst conflicts experienced in the 20th century on the Old Continent. The most conservative figures — around half a million deaths on the Ukrainian side — are five times higher than those of the Balkan War (1992-1995), which totaled 100,000, of whom 13,500 were civilians. The Ukrainian Commissioner for Missing Persons in Special Circumstances has just...

Russia will refer women who choose not to have children to psychologists in an attempt to reverse the country’s worsening demographic crisis. Under guidelines overseen by the health ministry, women who answer negatively to questions in a medical history survey about whether they intend to have children will be encouraged to seek psychological support. “It is recommended to send the patient to a consultation with a medical psychologist with the goal of forming a positive attitude towards having children,” according to the advice. Men who take the same medical history questionnaire will not face questions about their plans to have...

The Great Russian Lockdown — Putin Turns His Country Into a Cage!

"He really left us with a very deep impression about the principles that, without ceasing to be an earthly man, he promoted in the international arena," the Russian diplomat said. On Friday, Russian Federation's Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov evoked the historical figure of Commander Hugo Chavez, the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution whose death anniversary Venezuelans will remember next Sunday. "We pay tribute to Hugo Chavez, who passed away 10 years ago, leaving a deep mark not only in the history of his country and Latin American, but also in the history of the world community," Lavrov said, pointing...

Russia has been expanding its intelligence sharing and military cooperation with Iran, providing satellite imagery and improved drone technology to aid Tehran’s targeting of U.S. forces in the region, people familiar with the matter said. Russia is trying to keep its closest Middle Eastern partner in the fight against U.S. and Israeli military might and prolong a war that is benefiting Russia militarily and economically. The technology provided includes components of modified Shahed drones, which are meant to improve communication, navigation and targeting, the people said. Russia has also been drawing on its experience using drones in Ukraine, offering tactical...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer to meet and find common ground, after the US president's repeated criticism of the UK prime minister. In an exclusive interview with the BBC after talks with Sir Keir, the Ukrainian president said that while he would not tell Trump what to do, the pair should meet to "re-load the relationship". A war ignited by US and Israeli strikes on Iran has spilled into a diplomatic row after Trump's reprimanding of the Nato allies and Starmer's supposed lack of military action. Zelensky warned against division among western leaders...

President Trump threw his support behind Mark Levin amid the radio host’s bitter back-and-forth feud with podcaster Megyn Kelly. Trump praised Levin as a “truly Great American Patriot” who was “somewhat under siege by other people with far less Intellect, Capability, and Love for our Country,” in a Truth Social post late Sunday. Levin is “far smarter than those who criticize him but, above all, he is a man of Great Wisdom and Common Sense who truly loves our Country,” Trump wrote. Levin and Kelly traded personal attacks online over the weekend, in what has been a broader ongoing rift...

IRAN’s new supreme tyrant has reportedly been flown to Moscow for leg surgery “personally offered by Putin” after suffering serious injuries during airstrikes.