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European leaders heaped praise on Peter Magyar after his stunning election victory in Hungary, not just for what the vibrant campaigner and the country's next premier might do but who he is not - long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who many saw as a direct threat to the continent's peace and prosperity. The outpouring reflected a deep frustration with Orban across the 27-nation European Union and its institutions. "Today Europe wins and European values win," said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in a post on X on Sunday night. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk exclaimed on social media: "Back together! Glorious victory, dear friends!" Orban's 16-year grip on power has tested the EU system of governance meant to ensure peace through economic and political integration after the ravages of the world wars. Claiming he sought to advance Hungarian's national interests over strategy forged in Brussels, Orban time and again vetoed collective action such as support for Ukraine ...
Hungarian voters on Sunday ousted long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orban after 16 years in power, rejecting the authoritarian policies and global far-right movement that he embodied in favour of a pro-European challenger in a bombshell election result with global repercussions. Election victor Peter Magyar, a former Orban loyalist who campaigned against corruption and on everyday issues like health care and public transport, has pledged to rebuild Hungary's relationships with the European Union and NATO - ties that frayed under Orban. European leaders quickly congratulated Magyar. It's not yet clear whether Magyar's Tisza party will have the two-thirds majority in parliament to govern without a coalition. With 77% of the vote counted, it had more than 53% support to 38% for Orban's governing Fidesz party. It's a stunning blow for Orban, a close ally of both US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Orban conceded defeat after what he called a "painful" electi
Two days before Hungary's closely-watched elections, over 100,000 people filled a sprawling square and adjacent avenues in the capital for a concert featuring dozens of the country's most popular performers a call to action for citizens to cast their ballots on Sunday and vote out the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. More than 50 bands, all performers who have used their music to express dissent against Orban's nationalist-populist government, played one song each during the seven-hour, "system-breaking" concert on Friday. The crowd, largely made up of young people, frequently broke into anti-government chants, including "Ruszkik haza!" or "Russians go home!" It was a refrain from Hungary's 1956 anti-Soviet revolution that has taken on renewed significance as Orban has forged increasingly close relations with Moscow. One attendee, Helena Sugar, 19, said she was drawn to the event by some of her favourite artistes, but that the desire for change was the concert's most ...
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in the Hungarian capital on Monday for meetings with Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his government during which they plan to sign a civilian-nuclear cooperation agreement heralded by US President Donald Trump. Trump has been outspoken in his support for the nationalist Orban in the Hungarian leader's bid for reelection in two months. Orban and his Fidesz party are facing their most serious challenge in the April 12 vote since the right-wing populist retook power in 2010. The stop in Hungary's capital follows Rubio's visit to Slovakia on Sunday, after he previously attended the Munich Security Conference in Germany. Led by Euroskeptic populists who oppose support for Ukraine and vocally back Trump, Slovakia and Hungary represent friendly territory for Rubio as he pushes to shore up energy agreements with both Central European countries. Widely considered Russian President Vladimir Putin's most reliable advocate in the European Union, Orban has
Hungary's pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Orban accused Ukraine on Monday of seeking to meddle in his country's upcoming elections and ordered Kyiv's ambassador to be summoned to the foreign ministry. The step was the latest in Orban's long-running anti-Ukraine campaign as he seeks to convince voters that the neighbouring country, embroiled in a war with Russia since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, poses an existential threat to Hungary's security and sovereignty. Orban, who has maintained close ties with Russia, faces what is expected to be the biggest challenge of his 16 years in power during elections scheduled for April 12. With his right-wing nationalist Fidesz party trailing by double digits in most polls, Orban has campaigned on the unsubstantiated premise that Hungarians would be forcibly conscripted to fight and die on the front lines in Ukraine if his party loses the election. In a video posted to social media on Monday, Orban said Ukraine's political ..
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn is visiting Moscow for energy talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a rare step from a European leader while Russia's war grinds on in Ukraine. The trip to Moscow is the second since last year for Orbn, who is widely considered Putin's closest partner among all European Union leaders. In comments to state media before departing for Moscow early Friday, Orbn said the focus of his talks with Putin would be Hungary's continued access to "cheap Russian oil and gas, resources that have come under sanctions by the US government. Hungary remains among the only EU countries to continue importing large quantities of Russian fossil fuels, and has strongly opposed efforts by the bloc to wean its member nations off Russian energy supplies. Earlier this month, Orbn travelled to Washington for a meeting with US President Donald Trump where he succeeded in securing an exemption to sanctions the Trump administration placed on Russian energy companies Luko
Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday celebrated his country's status as the host of upcoming talks between US President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin, a meeting where the two leaders are expected to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine. Trump on Thursday announced his second meeting this year with Putin, a day before he was to sit down with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. A date for the meeting has not been set, but Trump said it would take place in Hungary's capital, Budapest, and suggested it could happen in about two weeks. Speaking to state radio on Friday, Orban, a close Trump ally and considered Putin's closest partner in the European Union, suggested that his long-standing opposition to the West supplying Ukraine with military and financial aid to assist in its defence against Russia's invasion had played a role in making Budapest the site of the talks. Budapest is essentially the only place in Europe today where such a ...
As the European Union pushes to fully sever its reliance on Russian energy and the administration of US President Donald Trump urges NATO members to abandon Russian oil, one country's populist government stands firm. Hungary and its leader, Prime Minister Viktor Orbn, have long argued Russian energy imports are indispensable for the country's economy and switching to fossil fuels sourced from elsewhere would cause an immediate economic collapse. Orbn, who has long had the friendliest ties to the Kremlin of any EU leader, has vigorously opposed the bloc's efforts to sanction Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and blasted attempts to hit Russia's energy revenues that help finance the war. As the rest of Europe has weaned off Russian energy, Hungary has maintained, and even increased, its Russian imports, insisting no viable alternative exists. But some energy experts as well as Orbn's critics, who see his commitment to Russian energy as a symptom of his affinity
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn said Friday that Hungary will continue to source fossil fuels from Russia despite demands from his ally US President Donald Trump, and that he'd informed the president that dropping Russian energy would be a disaster for Hungary's economy. Hungary remains one of the only countries in Europe to continue purchasing Russian oil and natural gas following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. But Trump, an admirer of the long-serving Hungarian leader, earlier this month called on all NATO countries including Hungary to cease purchasing Russian oil, since he believes the Russia-Ukraine war would end if they did so. In comments to state radio on Friday, Orbn said he recently told Trump that that dropping Russian energy imports would be an economic disaster for Hungary. I told the US president ... that if Hungary is cut off from Russian oil and natural gas, immediately, within a minute, Hungarian economic performance will drop by 4 p
Hungary will replicate a policy announced on Thursday by US President Donald Trump and designate Antifa a terrorist organisation, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday. Antifa, short for anti-fascist, is an umbrella term for loosely affiliated far-left activists and groups that resist fascism, fascists and neo-Nazis, especially at demonstrations. It resembles more an ideology than an organisation, though some have embraced militant tactics. Orban, a right-wing populist and strong Trump ally, said in comments to state radio on Friday that he was pleased by Trump's announcement that he plans to designate Antifa as a major terrorist organisation in the United States. "Antifa is indeed a terrorist organisation," Orban said. In Hungary, too, the time has come for us to classify organisations such as Antifa as terrorist organisations, following the American model. It was unclear what prompted Orban's decision to make the move. Antifascist groups rarely engage in political actions in
Tens of thousands of centuries-old books are being pulled from the shelves of a medieval abbey in Hungary in an effort to save them from a beetle infestation that could wipe out centuries of history. The 1,000-year-old Pannonhalma Archabbey is a sprawling Benedictine monastery that is one of Hungary's oldest centres of learning and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Restoration workers are removing about 100,000 handbound books from their shelves and carefully placing them in crates, the start of a disinfection process that aims to kill the tiny beetles burrowed into them. The drugstore beetle, also known as the bread beetle, is often found among dried foodstuffs like grains, flour and spices. But they also are attracted to the gelatin and starch-based adhesives found in books. They have been found in a section of the library housing around a quarter of the abbey's 400,000 volumes. This is an advanced insect infestation which has been detected in several parts of the library, so the en
European Union lawmakers will hold a confidence vote Thursday on the head of the bloc's powerful executive arm, Ursula von der Leyen, with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban leading calls for her to be ousted. The censure motion, the first at the European Parliament in over a decade, was brought against the European Commission president by a group of hard-right lawmakers. To pass, it requires a two-thirds majority vote in favour. Von der Leyen could be forced to resign if she loses, but she is virtually guaranteed to win as most of the political groups in the assembly have signalled they would vote against the motion. She is not expected to attend the vote in Strasbourg, France. The motion contains a mix of allegations against von der Leyen including text messaging privately with the boss of COVID-19 vaccine maker Pfizer, misuse of EU funds and interference in elections in Germany and Romania. Orban said on Facebook that the vote will be the moment of truth: on one side the ...