Displaying items by tag: Viktor Orban

Hungary's ruling party, Fidesz, has submitted a resolution opposing Ukraine's accession talks with the European Union (EU). Fidesz, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, cited concerns about the treatment of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine, particularly regarding language rights and education. The resolution calls for a halt to Ukraine's EU accession process until these issues are resolved. Hungary has been critical of Ukraine's policies towards its Hungarian minority for years, and this move adds to the ongoing tensions between the two countries. Ukraine has been seeking closer ties with the EU, but Hungary's opposition could complicate those efforts. On 7 December, Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff called for a meeting between Orban and Zelensky, in an attempt to resolve the problem before next week’s meeting of EU states.

Prime minister Viktor Orbán believes Europe can be saved if it returns to its ‘real values, its Christian identity.’ He said, ‘We Hungarians believe that Christian culture is the cornerstone that holds the architecture of European civilisation in place’. Hungary differs from Europe in its attitude to illegal immigrants. While resisting the influx, it tries to help people to live and thrive in their own countries by rebuilding schools, hospitals and dwellings in troubled parts of the world and providing education at Hungarian universities for young people. Orbán has said, ‘Hungarian people and their government believe that Christian virtues provide peace and happiness to those who practise them. This legacy obliges us to protect Christian communities persecuted across the world as far as we are able.’ Hungary also bans the teaching of homosexuality in schools, which Emmanuel Macron says is ‘not in line with Europe’s values and what Europe is’. The country has moved from Soviet domination through post-communist chaos to Christian democracy.

As countries around the world take sides in Russia's war against Ukraine, Hungary is the only country in the region refusing to help Ukraine fight Russia. That means no military aid or weapons shipments across its borders despite personal pleas from President Zelenskyy. Hungary said, ‘This is not our war, so we want to and will stay out of it.’ Viktor Orban, Hungary’s president, is widely seen as Putin's European ally. He has sought neutrality in the war despite Hungary’s membership of NATO and the EU. He is threading a middle road between friendliness with Russia and belonging to these organisations because Russia supplies 90% of Hungary's raw energy needs. So he has blocked the EU from imposing sanctions on Russian energy imports - Europe's weapon to put pressure on Putin. ‘Cheap Russian oil is more important for Hungarian politicians than Ukrainian blood’, said the Czech Republic's defence minister.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban won his fourth term in Hungary’s general election. In his victory speech, Orban said, ‘We never had so many opponents, Brussels bureaucrats, the international mainstream media, and the Ukrainian president.’ He has close ties with Moscow and has banned transferring arms to Ukraine. Victory for Orban means a headache for the EU. In 12 years of tenure, he has rewritten the constitution, filled the top courts with his appointees, and changed the electoral system to his advantage. During campaigning, the opposition's catchphrase was ‘Orban or Europe’ complaining he had isolated Hungary from the European mainstream, from consensual democracy, fairness and decency. Hungary is isolated in the EU and NATO - but neither institution will ostracise him. They want to show Russia Western unity so he will remain an unpredictable thorn in their side. Orban said Hungary would pay Russia in rubles for gas – other European countries have ruled it out.

This week, Viktor Orbán was elected for a third consecutive four-year term as Prime-Minister of Hungary.  In 1989, he addressed 250,000 people in Budapest calling for free elections and the withdrawal of Soviet troops. He became famous in Hungary and abroad overnight. The right-wing populist now leads Hungary towards the return of ethnic nationalism and deep-rooted corruption. He eliminated constitutional safeguards, successfully reshaped the state in his own image, and is considered to be a potential threat to the EU. He has been described  by the European Stability Initiative as the ‘most dangerous man in the European Union’. A Pew Research poll in 2016 ascertained, ‘Hungarians were the most likely to believe ‘refugees would increase terrorism in their country’. Orban pioneered what scholars describe as either ‘half democracy in decline’ or ‘soft autocracy;’ merging crony capitalism with right-wing rhetoric. He flatly rejects accusations of impropriety of the sources of his allies’ enrichment. Opposition speakers in parliament repeatedly complain that he has become not only the most powerful but also the richest millionaire in Hungary.

Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orbán has called Christianity the ‘last hope’ for Europe, as the continent struggles to integrate millions of Muslim migrants who have fled their countries of origin. Orbán also accuses some Western European governments of facilitating the ‘decline of Christian culture’, and paving the way for Islam's advance. In his annual state of the nation speech he warned these nations that they will be overwhelmed with Muslim migrants and their culture will drastically change for the worse. He said that if millions of young Muslims move north, large European cities will have a Muslim majority. The prime minister is expected to win a third term when Hungarians go to the polls in April. Pray for an end to the fear of declining Christian culture, and for Muslim refugees to have divine appointments with Christians in European cities and encounter Christ.