Section: The Budapest Times (Hungary)
European solution please!
Should, thanks to the friendly neighborhood United States, the situation in Ukraine escalate again, Hungary can of course be fully confident that the Americans will unwaveringly offer their financial assistance to solve the expected refugee problem, to compensate Hungary for the unavoidable trading losses and, if it comes to energy supply issues,...
Merkel visit a political failure
From a diplomatic aspect, the joint press conference by the German chancellor and the Hungarian prime minister revealed some disagreements over the concept of illiberal democracy, the treatment of NGOs and the media. Left-leaning think-tank Political Capital provides a flash analysis. Chancellor Merkel’s visit was a highly anticipated event...
Note on a visit
On February 17, Vladimir Putin is going to visit Hungary. This visit reflects the hectic state of foreign policy of the current government. As it is, owing to the visit’s narrow latitude, it has to legitimise the situation of Russia after the Ukrainian crisis. In addition, the visit outlines the foreign course that Hungary got onto, owing...
Putin visit date set
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Hungary on February 17, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó has announced. Szijjártó said Hungary urges the mediated end of the fighting in Ukraine without delay, based on the Minsk agreement on resolving the crisis, adding that Hungary’s interest is to have a strong and stable...
PM, opposition jostle ahead of Merkel, Putin visits
Pending visits by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin are in “different phases”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has told public radio. Merkel’s visit has a date and agenda set but Putin’s is only planned, with no decisions yet on the time or topics to be discussed. Political and economic cooperation with...
Their guess is as good as anybody’s
Pokorni could have a bad year The opinion blog of news portal 444.hu, Véleményvezér (opinion leader), predicted in early 2014 the year’s important issues. As their predictions were correct in many cases, here are their thoughts for 2015. Will Viktor Orbán be overthrown? No. Even the prime minister has admitted that his position seems...
PM warns Ukraine: our energy security comes first
Hungary is ready to help out Ukraine but it cannot compromise its own energy security, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Dunaújváros on Monday. “Ukrainians can rely on us,” Orbán said but added that “we cannot help others if doing so would mean giving up our own energy security”. He argued that in summer Hungary was in a position to supply...
Conflict in Ukraine is very uncomfortable for Budapest
Natural gasdependence of European countries on Russia (Russian gas as a percentage of total pipelineimports)Countries from top to bottom: Finland, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, Netherlands, Ireland Even if the European Union is only planning economic sanctions in the third round of...
Joining EU may be a false dream
Gabi is 26 years old, she was born in the Carpathian Ukraine and she grew up there. Even today she calls the territory a “Mecca of tolerance” with love in her voice, because so many ethnic groups are living there that in the end everybody is a minority. “The current territory of Ukraine belonged to five different countries in...
Tsar Putin and his Crimea theft
The Földessy couple on the conflict in Ukraine: “Noeconomic sanctions will stop Putin.” The world had learned only now that the conflict had reached this stage what kind of influence Russia had on Ukraine, she says. Moscow had not been prepared for the friendly resistance that was the right way to react, that was why it had answered...
