Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s administration was forced to respond after an ex-cabinet minister was caught on tape alleging that the government’s most powerful minister had meddled in a graft probe. On the recording released Tuesday, former Justice Minister Judit Varga could be heard saying that aides of Antal Rogan, Orban’s chief of staff, had … Read more
Putin won a personal-best 87 percent support in Russia’s three-day presidential election, which ended Sunday. The results were dismissed as “obviously not free nor fair” by a White House National Security Council spokesperson. The last time he won the presidency, in 2018, Putin received congratulations from many EU countries, including Austria, Hungary, Greece, Spain, Italy, … Read more
“Russia will remain the most significant and direct threat to the Alliance for the foreseeable future,” he wrote. Iohannis would be the first NATO chief from a country that was once in the Soviet bloc, but he faces an uphill struggle to edge out Rutte. The U.S., Britain, France and Germany — the four biggest … Read more
France moves to make abortion a constitutional right amid rollbacks in US and Europe POLITICO Europe France to enshrine abortion rights in constitution as a ‘guaranteed freedom’ FRANCE 24 English Why Macron hopes abortion rights are a political winner BBC.com French Senate votes to enshrine abortion in constitution, a world first The Washington Post French Senate votes to enshrine … Read more
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban confirmed that his country will remove the last obstacle to Sweden’s NATO accession after the Nordic country agreed to sell Gripen jet fighters to Budapest. The Hungarian parliament will take the “necessary decisions” to ratify the Nordic country’s NATO accession early next week, Orban said at a press conference with … Read more
Berlin’s endorsement follows an intense 24-hour diplomatic campaign to shore up support for the Dutchman, amid ongoing hesitation from a group of around 10 countries including in Eastern Europe as well as Hungary and Turkey. POLITICO first reported on Wednesday that two-thirds of NATO’s allies now support Rutte. The U.S. declared its backing for the … Read more
After attending school in Finland and later the U.S., Belgium and the U.K., Stubb entered politics in 2004 as a member of the European Parliament. He hit the Finnish big time in 2008 when — to his own surprise — he was named foreign minister. Praised by allies for his high-energy approach to politics, he was … Read more
The European Commission launched on Wednesday legal action against the so-called “sovereignty law” recently passed by the Hungarian parliament. ADVERTISEMENT The legislation, spearheaded by Viktor Orbán’s ruling party and approved by the parliament in mid-December, empowers the state to investigate people and organisations suspected of undermining the country’s sovereignty, with potential convictions of up to … Read more
After months of delay, Orbán officially backed Sweden’s candidacy in January, but it still needs to be validated by the Hungarian parliament. The parliamentary vote should be a formality, as Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party holds a comfortable majority. But Fidesz leaders on Monday demanded that Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson first visit Budapest before the … Read more
“Then Hungary would suffer Armageddon,” he added. The prime minister said he had “no doubt” that the document, reported about in the Financial Times, was authentic. “Knowing Brussels, they’re capable of it,” he said. Orbán has engaged in tense negotiations to extract concessions from the rest of the bloc in exchange for his support for … Read more