Latest news with #Magyar
Euractiv
3 days ago
- Business
- Euractiv
Hungary's Orban says he will not back EU budget unless funds released
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán threatened on Saturday to torpedo the European Union's new seven-year budget unless Brussels unlocks all suspended EU funds. The nationalist leader has for years clashed with Brussels over issues including migration, LGBTQ rights, and what critics see as eroding democracy in Hungary. The EU has suspended billions of euros earmarked for Hungary while a rule-of-law dispute drags on. "The approval of the new seven-year budget requires unanimity and until we get the remaining (frozen) funds, there won't be a new EU budget either," Orbán said in a speech at a summer university in the Romanian town of Baile Tusnad. The European Commission has proposed a €2 trillion EU budget for 2028-2034, with a focus on economic competitiveness and defence. Orbán also criticised the EU for supporting Ukraine and accused Brussels of planning to install a "pro-Ukraine and pro-Brussels government" in Hungary at next year's vote. He also accused EU leaders of risking a trade war with US President Donald Trump's administration that Europe "cannot win." "The current leadership of the EU will always be the last to sign deals with the United States and always the worst deals," Orbán added, urging a change in the bloc's leadership. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will meet Trump on Sunday in Scotland in search of a trade deal. Orbán, who has dominated the past four national elections, faces a tough new opposition challenger Peter Maygar. His centre-right Tisza party has a firm lead over the ruling Fidesz in most polls at a time of economic stagnation. Magyar told a rally on Saturday that Hungary must be firmly anchored in the EU and NATO military alliance, and promised to secure all suspended EU funds if his party wins in 2026. "Hungary is an EU member and our relations as allies cannot be built on a political style of putting a spoke in the wheel," Magyar said, adding that while Tisza cannot support the proposed EU budget in its current form, it would be open to negotiations. "We need to make a clear and firm decision that our place has been and will be in Europe," Magyar said, criticising Orbán's close relations with Russia. (de)
Straits Times
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Main challenger to Hungary's Orban begins campaign tour on a canoe
Find out what's new on ST website and app. Peter Magyar, leader of the opposition TISZA party, shoots a water gun while canoeing on the Tisza River as he starts his 80-day tour of the country in Tokaj, Hungary, July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Marton Monus TOKAJ, Hungary - Hungary's main opposition leader Peter Magyar set off on a campaign tour in a canoe on Wednesday saying his Tisza party could go it alone without needing allies to defeat nationalist Prime Minister's Viktor Orban in the 2026 election. Magyar's centre-right party has a firm lead over the ruling Fidesz in most polls and poses the biggest political challenge to Orban in his 15-year rule at a time when the Hungarian leader is struggling to boost an inflation-hit economy. Speaking in the eastern town of Tokaj before an 80-day tour of the countryside, Magyar said Hungary was in a downward spiral with the economy stagnating and public services crumbling. He is promising a "Hungarian New Deal" to revive the economy with massive investment, EU funds and more predictable policies if his party wins next year. "Tisza will sign an alliance, a coalition with Hungarian people ... we will not be signing some kinds of behind-the-doors deals," Magyar told reporters beside the Tisza river. The energetic 44-year-old lawyer and former member of Orban's circles burst into Hungarian politics early last year. He cited polls showing Tisza was on course for a convincing win in 2026 by going alone. No date is yet set for the vote. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Over 600 Telegram groups in Singapore selling, advertising vapes removed by HSA Singapore 2 weeks' jail for man caught smuggling over 1,800 vapes and pods into Singapore Singapore Jail for man who fatally hit his daughter, 2, while driving van without licence Singapore Primary 1 registration: 38 primary schools to conduct ballot in Phase 2A Singapore ComfortDelGro to introduce new taxi cancellation, waiting fee policy Singapore Here comes the sun: Less rain, more warm days in second half of July Singapore Instead of overcomplicating COE system, Govt has ensured affordable transport for all: SM Lee to Jamus Lim Singapore Baby died after mum took abortion pills and gave birth in toilet; coroner records an open verdict TOUR OF ORBAN'S POLITICAL HEARTLAND Orban said in a Magyar Nemzet podcast earlier this week that unlike his Fidesz, Tisza was a "digital political movement" and not an established party, and he was calm about the election as his government's performance spoke for itself. Magyar will tour small villages and towns, where Fidesz has been strongest in the past four elections which Orban swept with landslides. From Tokaj, he paddled off in a canoe towards the village of Tiszaladany and then Tiszalok later on Wednesday. Orban is expected to deliver a keynote speech on July 26 as an informal election campaign gathers speed even without a date. The government launched massive tax cuts and a large-scale subsidized housing programme in recent weeks. REUTERS
Budapest Times
16-07-2025
- Business
- Budapest Times
State Secretary: Government presses Brussels to reach deal with Washington on tariffs
Levente Magyar, a state secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the Hungarian government expects the European Commission to reach an agreement with the United States that would prevent planned punitive tariffs within two weeks. After a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on Monday, Magyar warned that the punitive tariffs would have serious economic consequences. The ministers at the meeting discussed the state of play of trade negotiations after the announcement in Washington, DC, at the weekend of a planned 30pc tariff on European imports from August 1. Magyar said the measure was a 'serious escalation' and blamed the European Commission for failing to reach a fair agreement with the Americans that would protect European interests. 'We expect the Commission to come up with a way to reach an agreement with the Americans in the coming two weeks to avoid the 30pc punitive tariff, because if that materialises, it will hurt European competitiveness and have an extraordinarily negative impact on Hungary,' he added. 'We are not willing to let Hungary, Hungarian businesses and Hungarian workers pay the price for the Commission's mistakes,' he added.
Budapest Times
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Budapest Times
State Secretary: Hungary and Germany to rebuild bilateral political and diplomatic ties
Levente Magyar, the state secretary of the foreign ministry, said in Berlin that Hungary and Germany will work intensively in the upcoming period to rebuild bilateral political and diplomatic ties that in recent years 'went off the rails mainly for ideological reasons'. Magyar said Hungary-Germany relations, with the government led by Friedrich Merz taking power in May, have turned a new leaf. Merz's government, he added, had ditched the policies of its predecessor and was now showing openness towards Hungary in respect of several issues.
The Star
12-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
Hungary's opposition flags 'New Deal' to kickstart stagnating economy
Peter Magyar, leader of the opposition from TISZA party, delivers a speech during the party congress in Nagykanizsa, Hungary, July 12, 2025. REUTERS/Marton Monus NAGYKANIZSA, Hungary (Reuters) -Hungary's opposition leader Peter Magyar said on Saturday his Tisza party will launch a "Hungarian New Deal" to revive the stagnating economy with massive investment and predictable policy if it wins elections next year. Magyar, whose centre-right party has a firm lead over the ruling Fidesz in most opinion polls, poses the biggest political challenge to nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who after 15 years in power finds himself struggling to boost the inflation-hit economy. The risk of steep U.S. tariffs on EU imports also looms large over recovery prospects and Saturday's announcement of 30% tariffs on the EU by President Donald Trump is bad news for the Central European country. Magyar announced his Hungarian New Deal plan to supporters at his party's congress in the western city of Nagykanizsa. "We need economic growth, investments, predictable financial and economic policy in Hungary," Magyar said, adding that Tisza would crack down on corruption and buy back state assets that he said had been stolen over the past 15 years. The main pillars of Tisza's plan will be a major healthcare reform with additional funding of 500 billion forints ($1.5 billion) annually, a large-scale rental flat and home construction programme, a modernisation of state railways using EU and national funds, and investments in energy efficiency for households and in education. Magyar, a former government insider who burst into Hungarian politics last year, again pledged to unlock some 20 billion euros of suspended EU funds that Hungary has not received for years due to clashes between Brussels and Orban over a perceived erosion of democracy and corruption -- accusations that Orban denies. The parliamentary election is set to take place early next year, though no date has been set. In June parliament passed Orban's 2026 election year budget, including steep tax cuts for families, a key demographic group for Fidesz. "People are fed up with this regime. And Tisza is a kind of 'collecting party' which stood behind all this (discontent). People want change," said Edit Piroska Borsi, a retired teacher at the congress. ($1 = 341.6200 forints) (Reporting by Krisztina Than; Additional reporting by Krisztina Fenyo; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
