German politicians from across the political spectrum have expressed their outrage after Hungary's Viktor Orban compared Angela Merkel's policies to the Nazi invasion ordered by Adolf Hitler. “The Germans already sent ...

The European Union has placed human rights, democracy, and the rule of law firmly at the core of its structure, and so its willingness to defend those values is crucial to its credibility. Faced with a deteriorating ...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s speech against anti-Semitism at the World Jewish Congress (WJC) in Budapest on Sunday (5 May) failed to impress organisers, as the far-right Jobbik party staged a rally against ...

The president of a EU-wide network against homelessness has slammed Europe's human rights watchdog for its recent analysis of Hungary’s constitutional changes. “We find it quite shocking that the Venice commission came ...

Hungarian authorities will pass on the cost of EU fines through a tax on its own citizens whenever it breaches EU law. Giving details of the new Hungarian initiative, EU justice commissioner for justice Vivian Reding ...

Alde group leader Guy Verhofstadt in a recent piece in EUobserverdenounces the Hungarian government and all its works. He uses loaded language - “last straw … Orbanization … radically curtailed” - and he calls for ...

The European Commission unveiled a justice scoreboard on Wednesday (27 March) that ranks judicial systems in non-criminal cases across individual member states. Hungary’s judicial system ranks higher in some categories ...

The EU is not only experiencing an economic crisis. Even more worryingly, it is suffering a democratic crisis in its member states, including, among others, Hungary. Since the arrival in power of Prime Minister Viktor ...

An anti-Semitic and Roma-bashing TV broadcaster in Hungary has received the country’s top journalism prize. Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s right-wing government awarded Ferenc Szaniszlo the Tancsics Prize for journalism ...

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday (14 March) brushed aside criticism that recent changes to the constitution would undermine democracy. “Who will be able to present even one single point of evidence, ...

Recent amendments passed by Hungarian lawmakers will restrict advertising campaigns for European Parliament elections. European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso raised the issue last Friday (8 March) in a letter ...

Hungarian lawmakers are set to vote in 14 pages of constitutional amendments on Monday (11 March) which critics say may undermine rule of law. The amendments would curtail the power of the constitutional court and annul ...

“...There is still no date for the hearing, although I have been inquiring monthly in the last 8 months. I do not know anything about my case, I do not get any information. There are many victims in the same situation, ...

Hungarian reform proposals designed to revamp controversial judiciary legislation contain loopholes. Laws that forced senior Hungarian judges into early retirement drew a barrage of criticism from the European ...

EU justice commissioner Vivane Reding announced on Wednesday (12 September) a "justice scoreboard" to rank rule of law in the EU. "I am prepared to come once a year before this house to share with all of you the ...

Viktor Orban has been behaving like a classic realpolitiker: instead of cooperating closely with the EU in its time of crisis, he has chosen to develop contacts with rich and generous regional powers from the East which ...

Lately EU integration seems to have become a wrestling match between those member states large enough to impose conditionality on their partners and those member states large enough to escape this interference. No ...

A Hungarian minister has accused the EU of trying to over-extend its power amid the financial crisis. Gyorgy Matolcsy, the 56-year-old economy minister from the nationalist Fidesz party, said in an op-ed in the business ...

MEPs from across the political spectrum have criticised EU member states Lithuania, Latvia and Hungary, as well as neighbouring Russia, Ukraine and Moldova over an upsurge in homophobia. "The European Parliament ...

Handcuffed and leashed, asylum seekers in Hungary often find themselves in deplorable conditions, says a report released on Tuesday (24 April) by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "They are ...

Hungary's reform of its judiciary system has been thoroughly criticised by the Council of Europe, with aspects of its damning assessment likely to fuel an ongoing quarrel between the European Commission and Budapest on ...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday (15 March) accused the EU of colonialism and meddling in his country's domestic affairs. His words come after Budapest was hit with a €500 million EU funds freeze for ...

EU finance ministers on Tuesday (13 March) approved a controversial funding freeze on Hungary under the bloc's new deficit rules, but some countries, led by Austria, say it was a bit harsh after Spain obtained ...

Finance ministers are on Tuesday expected to approve the freezing of €495 million in funds for Hungary if Budapest fails to bring down its deficit in the coming six months. - the first such move under the EU's ...

The EU commission on Wednesday (7 March) gave Hungary a one-month deadline to change its controversial laws or face court cases in Luxembourg, just as Budapest is struggling to secure a loan from international lenders. ...

Hungary on Wednesday (22 February) was given less than a year to lower its public deficit or have a third of its EU subsidies slashed, amounting to €495 million. It is the first time the EU commission takes such an ...

Hungary sent around a 100-hundred page response on Friday (17 February) to the European Commission concerning three infringement proceedings launched against the country in January. The Commission had cast serious doubt ...

The European Parliament has passed a resolution tabled by left-wing and liberal deputies urging Hungary to respect EU laws and values or risk having the EU assembly start a formal investigation into serious breaches of ...

The European Commission has indicated it is ready to use its nuclear option - Article 7 on political sanctions - against Hungary if it continues to flout EU law. In a testy exchange of views between EU digital agenda ...

EU finance ministers on Tuesday (24 January) warned Hungary it may lose EU funds if it fails to fix its excessive deficit, a problem since 2004. "Hungary cannot face sanctions under the excessive deficit procedure as it ...

Budapest is expected to remain at the centre of EU news this week following a Hungary-dominated last few days in which Brussels started legal action against three Hungarian laws and raised concerns about media pluralism ...

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban defended his country's new constitution before the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday (18 January), saying it is based on fundamental values of democracy and freedom. ...

During his first press conference after winning the the 2010 Parliamentary vote, Viktor Orban noted that "88 percent of the vote at this election went to pro-EU parties and only 12 percent to an anti-European party" - ...

The European Commission has launched legal action against Hungary over its new constitution, amid fears that its right-wing leader has too much control of judges and the central bank. Speaking to journalists in ...

Hungary's Media Act - put out January last year - drew international condemnation, but to little avail. The ruling right-wing Fidesz party now has control over a press that is fast-losing its independence and sense of ...

The EU circus will travel from Brussels to Strasbourg for the first plenary session of 2012 next week - a meeting to be dominated by the mid-term reshuffle of top jobs. German left-winger Martin Schulz - known for his ...

EU condemnation of Hungary is beginning to gather momentum after its leading party, Fidesz rammed through radical amendments to the constitution, putting democratic standards at risk. Among the European Commission's ...

The European Commission has warned Hungary to change parts of its constitution or face legal action amid fears that Prime Minister Viktor Orban is using his large parliamentary majority to undermine the independence of ...

The forint hit a record low against the euro on Wednesday (4 January) and Budapest's borrowing costs spiked as the Hungarian government remained defiant on EU and street protesters' calls to roll back controversial ...

Tens of thousands of Hungarians on Monday (2 January) went on the streets of Budapest in protest against controversial constitutional changes enacted one day earlier by centre-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban, with ...

The European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday (22 December) lashed out at the Hungarian government over plans to seize control of its central bank, the latest in a series of power-grabs by the ruling party amid worsening ...

The European Union and the International Monetary Fund have confirmed that Hungary has approached them seeking “precautionary” assistance as its borrowing costs climb. The bloc and the Washington-based lender on Monday ...