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Oct 18, 2024 | balkaninsight.com | Edit Inotai

The OECD’s working group on bribery said it had decided to cancel a high-level mission to Budapest scheduled for October 15-16 after the Hungarian government failed to secure sufficient representation of ministers and senior officials for the meeting. The mission was to focus on the lack of tangible progress in addressing long-standing recommendations, including some that date back more than a decade.

Oct 15, 2024 | balkaninsight.com | Edit Inotai

The letter followed an October 7 document signed by 17 European governments, including the Czech and Slovak ones, calling for a “paradigm shift” in the bloc’s migration policy, a strengthening of the external borders, and a radical toughening of the return procedures for asylum seekers who’ve had their applications turned down.

Oct 9, 2024 | balkaninsight.com | Edit Inotai

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told the European Parliament on Wednesday that the EU needs to change and vowed that his country “would be the catalyst for this change”. In his address to the plenary to present the goals of Hungary’s six-month presidency of the Council of the EU, which is already halfway through its term, Orban deployed his typical rhetorical tactics of painting a doomsday scenario for Europe in order to offer up his solutions as the “saviour of Europe”.

Sep 20, 2024 | balkaninsight.com | Edit Inotai

An earlier poll on foreign policy attitudes of Hungarians conducted by Zavecz Research in March and published by the Budapest-based think tank Policy Solutions, backs up this negative image and even takes it a step further: 51 per cent of Hungarians see Ukraine (the victim of an unprovoked attack by Russia) as a threat to Hungary, markedly up 16 per cent from last year. In fact, the survey found that Ukraine is perceived as the main threat to Hungary, with Russia coming in second.

Sep 17, 2024 | balkaninsight.com | Edit Inotai

Critics say there is no rational argument for Hungary to send troops to Chad, one of the world’s poorest countries and uncharted territory for Hungarian diplomacy. Hungary has no business interests in the region and there are no Hungarian communities there. Not to mention the costs and the risks of such a mission. The government, however, claims the mission is in line with its commitment to fight migration.