Serbia has been taking active steps for several months to diversify the sources and directions of crude oil supplies to the country’s only operating refinery in Panchevo. Due to sanctions imposed on Russia, the plant is currently unable to import crude oil from that country. However, the government in Belgrade is in favor of building a pipeline linking Serbia and...
More →On December 1, 2021, the Hungarian National Assembly adopted a resolution on the organization of a nationwide referendum. It is to be held on the same day as parliamentary elections. However, parliament is likely to extend the state of extreme danger soon. This means that at the moment, it is impossible to establish the date of these proposed events.
More →The Hungarian authorities, while expressing their solidarity with the countries affected by the migration crisis on the border with Belarus (namely Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland), do not recognize Alexander Lukashenko’s responsibility for causing it. The events on the eastern borders of the European Union did not in any way affect the Hungarian involvement in relations with the...
More →On September 27, 2021, Hungary signed a new natural gas supply contract with Russia, which would de-facto prevent the import of this commodity from any other location. The signing of the agreement is part of a consistent policy of the Viktor Orbán government, which is based on closer cooperation with Russia. The suggested alternatives (e.g., supplies from Azerbaijan) have so far...
More →On September 8-9, 2021, President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda paid an official visit to Budapest. It was the sixth visit of the Polish president to Hungary since 2015. During that six-year period, the presidents of Poland and Hungary met as many as 12 times, both as part of bilateral visits and in meetings of the Visegrad Group. Polish-Hungarian relations have been very...
More →On Monday, September 6, 2021, the groundbreaking ceremony for the national drug factory (nemzeti oltóanyaggyár) in Debrecen took place. The factory is to be launched next year and is also to produce vaccines against COVID-19, including the Russian Sputnik V and Chinese Sinopharm vaccines. The investment is expected to increase Hungary’s security in the face of the current...
More →“Renew Europe” is the slogan of the Hungarian V4 presidency, which started on July 1, 2021. It will last until June 30, 2022. The activities of the Hungarian presidency are to be based on three pillars: stability, reopening, and cooperation.
More →On November 10, 2020, a draft amendment to the Hungarian Constitution was submitted. Justice Minister Judit Varga submitted the bill with significant but politically controversial changes to the Constitution to be processed while Hungary struggles with the COVID-19 pandemic and the state of danger (article no 53 in Fundamental Law) being reintroduced. State of danger again. Due to...
More →On November 8, Viktor Orbán sent a letter to the leaders of Germany, Slovenia, and Portugal, as well as to the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council, informing them that if the EU budget and the Next Generation EU fund, dealing with the rule of law, where would be a Hungarian veto. A few days, later this veto was formalized during the...
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