On June 16th, 1989, a young man named Viktor Orbán held a speech watched by hundreds of thousands of his compatriots. The occasion was the reburial of Imre Nagy, who as a Prime Minister had been the leader of Hungary’s 1956 uprising against the Soviets.
On Wednesday, 11th October I sat on a remarkable podium at the „Budapest Forum”, a conference organized by the City of Budapest, run by mayor Gergely Karácsony, in order to combat „authoritarianism” and „defend democracy”.
I grew up in Western Europe, but live and work in Budapest. Sometimes, Western friends ask me how it compares to other great cities I lived in – say, Paris or Berlin.
While Hungary stands accused of „Rule of Law” deficiencies, Germany’s leftwing goverment has just passed a law that may well end up costing citizens their jobs, if they disagree with the government.
Words don’t come easy when trying to understand the ever more chaotic political landscape in Germany. Maybe it helps to compare some parties to works of literature.
Think tank founder Gerald Knaus proposes to fine Poland 5,2% billion Euros for not implementing an ECJ ruling. In fact, there are no clear rules for imposing fines. This must change.
The EU can inflict murderous financial punishment on states who don’t implement rulings of the European Court of Justice. This instrument has never been used to really hurt a member state – but legally, it can. Poland may soon become the first country to feel the pain. The political consequences could be disastrous for all concerned, including the EU itself.
German authorities began tracking „politically motivated crime” in 2001. In 2020, more such crimes were registered than in any year before. Social tensions are rising.
Populism has become a dirty word in politics, although in its original meaning it should be an elementary democratic virtue. What the People (“populus”) want, expect, express, should be part of the political discussion in any democracy.
Saurabh Sharma is the president and co-founder of American Moment, an organization dedicated to helping young American conservatives build their careers and fill positions of influence.
Podcast with Bimba – Fourth episode with Rizvika: Studying as an Indonesian PhD student in Hungary and reflecting on both Hungarian and Indonesian education.
With the most appreciated contribution of Mr. Alexandre de Sousa Carvalho from the University of Coimbra, the Votes&Seats podcast series gladly issues its episode on the March 2024 Portuguese early legislative election.
In most English-speaking countries schools are swamped with government pressures to help solve whatever the problems of the moment happen to be. The image of schools preoccupied with these sorts of issues is not going to help our main objectives.
Austria plays a major role in the development of the international and European space initiatives and has charted out a unique place within space law and industry. Through both the Austrian Space Agency and the Austrian Outer Space Act, Austria uses its outer space activity to support and maintain its own sovereignty.
New political divides have emerged in recent decades. In many countries, it is now education and not social class that most accurately predicts how people will vote in elections.
