Tag: Viktor Orban

Hungary plans to pay back its IMF loan early and called on the fund to shut its Budapest office in what could be a symbolic move by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government to display its economic sovereignty.

Members of the European Parliament failed to unite behind a report calling on Budapest to remove a constitutional amendment that critics say restricts democracy and basic rights in Hungary. EurActiv reports from Strasbourg.

European political parties must act responsibly and not give cover for members of their own political parties, British MEP Graham Watson, president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, tells EurActiv.

Hungary's decision to change its constitution and limit the power of its top court is a forthright challenge to the European Union, and the uncomfortable truth in Brussels is that little can be done to rein Budapest in quickly.

Thousands of Hungarians protested in central Budapest on Saturday (9 March) against imminent changes to the country's constitution which they fear would curb democratic rights, echoing worries this week from the European Union and the United States.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has warned that Europe risks falling into a “no-man’s land” between the emerging east and the US and called for closer European links with Russia.

Hungary appears to be a special case as EU leaders gather today (22 November) for a special summit on the Union’s 2014-2020 budget. Under the budget proposal by Council President Herman Van Rompuy, the country may lose about 30% of its cohesion allocations - “a huge political problem” for Budapest.

Hungary needs an IMF/EU financing agreement and will agree with international lenders but the lenders' initial set of policy proposals are unacceptable, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told public radio today (7 September). Before that, he “unfriended” the IMF on Facebook and posted a video slamming its demands.

Hungary's plan to nationalise E.ON is the latest instance of the Orbán administration's efforts to consolidate control over the country's energy and utilities sector. The operation is expected to cost nearly €2 billion at a time of challenging economic problems for the country, writes Stratfor.

Bulgaria and Romania are set to fail their biggest test since their accession on 1 January 2007 with the forthcoming publication of crucial progress reports on the reform of law enforcement.

The European Commission will suspend an infringement procedure over the independence of Hungary's Central Bank today (25 April), clearing the way for an international financial aid plan for Budapest. However, it will simultaneously take Hungary to the European Court of Justice over data protection and judiciary issues.

Far from showing unease about his many critics who accuse him of an authoritarian drift, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Brussels yesterday (23 April) that his country should be seen as a "laboratory" for transforming the EU economically and politically.

The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe is an essential tool to examine the controversial laws in Hungary in an unbiased way, argues Françoise Pons from Club Grande Europe.

Commission President José Manuel Barroso indirectly told Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán today (16 March) that he lacks understanding of what democracy is. Barroso responded through a spokesperson to a statement by Orbán, who compared the EU to the USSR.

In what appears as an escalation of tensions between Brussels and Budapest, the European Commission has opened the second stage of two infringement procedures against Hungary for government interference in the judiciary and in the data protection authority. The next step could be a referral to the European Court of Justice.

The European Parliament has decided to draw up a report on whether EU laws and values are respected in Hungary, after Budapest passed controversial state reforms that are widely seen as undemocratic. MEPs will later decide whether to activate Article 7 of the EU Treaty, which is used to investigate breaches of EU values. 

Hungarian flag-carrier Malév ceased operating early today (3 February), ending 66 years of almost continuous service, after its planes were held overseas for unpaid debts. Last month the Commission ordered Hungary to recover multi-million state aid to the national carrier.

The manoeuvres of the Hungarian Fidesz party to reconstruction national institutions has sunk the country into a deep political crisis. It is a sad example for the EU given the critical times that the bloc is going through, argue several influential Hungarians.

A meeting between European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, aimed at bridging differences over Hungary's controversial state reforms, ended up inconclusively yesterday (24 January). Meanwhile, finance ministers opened the way for sanctions to be imposed on Budapest over its deficit.

Within the turmoil of allegations over authoritarian and undemocratic practices, Hungary celebrates the centenary of the birth of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War II, writes Zsolt  Németh, Hungary's state secretary of Foreign Affairs.