Direkt36

Dec 6, 2024 | direkt36.hu | Szabolcs Panyi

The summer of 2018 was a dramatic point in the history of the Hungarian foreign intelligence agency, the Information Office (IO, or IH in Hungarian). Events took place that shed light on unprecedented power struggles within the government. The IH had previously been under the supervision of János Lázár, who led the Prime Minister’s Office for years. However, in the fourth Orbán government, formed after the 2018 election, the office got a new overseer.

May 7, 2024 | direkt36.hu | Andras Szabo

Last spring, there were extraordinary maneuvers around the long drawn-out Paks nuclear power plant expansion project, which has been significantly delayed for years. Although the nuclear sector had not been affected by the Western sanctions imposed on Russia for its attack against Ukraine, there was speculation that this could happen sooner or later.

Feb 29, 2024 | direkt36.hu | Szabolcs Panyi

At one point in his 2024 State of the Nation address, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that “we cannot interfere in other countries’ elections, but we would very much like to see President Donald Trump return to the White House.” The Hungarian government’s stance on election interference has long been characterized by this tension: they talk about Hungary not interfering in other countries’ internal affairs – and state their expectation that others not interfere in Hungary’s – while at the...

Feb 17, 2024 | direkt36.hu | Andras Szabo |Szabolcs Panyi

By 8 February, the whole country was abuzz with the scandal that had broken out six days earlier when it was reported that Hungarian President Katalin Novák pardoned the accomplice of a convicted pedophile, but former justice minister Judit Varga, who countersigned the pardon, seemed completely calm that day. At the Norwegian embassy in Budapest, she met with ambassadors of European countries for a nearly two-hour-long working lunch, the official topic of which was the upcoming EP elections.

Feb 11, 2024 | direkt36.hu | Szabolcs Panyi |Sarkadi Zsolt

Since the publication of this article’s original Hungarian version, Balog acknowledged his role in the controversial presidential pardoning of a convicted pedophile’s accomplice, and stepped down from leading Hungary’s second largest church. Although Katalin Novák has not publicly shared details of the presidential pardon that outraged the Hungarian public and led to her resignation, information obtained from within the Fidesz party and government circles helped clear the picture.