Latest news with #Tisza
Budapest Times
7 days ago
- Politics
- Budapest Times
While Tisza claimed to speak for Hungary, Voks 2025 listens
Tisza's effort was packaged as a grassroots initiative and framed as a bold move to include the public in decision-making. And yet, its execution raises far more questions than it answers. There was no official oversight. No transparency about who voted, how many participated, or how the data was verified—if it was at all. Participants had to submit personal information to a party with known foreign ties. Most notably, the question of Ukraine was quietly slipped into the end of a longer survey, with no context or explanation of the associated risks. In truth, it was a commissioned exercise—something made all the more obvious by how swiftly President Zelensky seized on the result to proclaim: 'See? The Hungarians support Ukraine's EU membership.' A remarkably transparent piece of political theater. If the goal was genuine consultation, why avoid the full picture? Why omit the clear and pressing concerns? Ukraine's accession is not some symbolic gesture. It carries consequences: billions redirected from Central European development, the dismantling of EU agricultural subsidies as Ukraine's massive farmland enters the system, public health threats, and increased security risks from organized crime and weapons trafficking. Not to mention the political instability of fast-tracking a country still at war. These are not fringe concerns. They are well-documented, widely discussed, and of direct relevance to Hungarian citizens. And yet, Tisza's 'referendum' passed over them in silence. Why? Perhaps because the answer had already been decided. The party's leadership has repeatedly voiced support for Ukraine's accession, and its MEPs have publicly embraced Brussels' agenda. What the vote offered was not a national conversation, but a tool to generate headlines. A figure. A claim that Hungarians 'support' something they were never fully informed about. Meanwhile, Voks 2025 gives the Hungarian people the opportunity to decide for themselves, something others would prefer to avoid. Every citizen receives a direct question, unfiltered and unambiguous, and is invited to respond through a process that is legal, verifiable, and backed by precedent. No need to give up personal data. No murky numbers. Just a clear opportunity to be counted. Over 1 million have already voted. That figure alone reveals where public engagement truly lies. What's also clear is that some would prefer this question not to be asked at all. The same voices that celebrated the Tisza vote now cast doubt on Voks 2025, as if a national consultation were somehow dangerous. But if there is nothing to hide, why fear an honest answer? The reality is simple. One vote asked people to sign off on a conclusion already drawn. The other trusts them to draw their own. The stakes are high. Hungary's future is on the table. And Voks 2025 ensures it stays in Hungarian hands.
Saudi Gazette
7 days ago
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Orban accused of using Ukraine spy row in fight for political survival
BUDAPEST — A spate of arrests, diplomatic expulsions and public humiliations has plunged relations between war-torn Ukraine and its prickly Nato neighbor Hungary to a new low. At the heart of the row are accusations that Viktor Orban's Fidesz government in Hungary is using the spat to fight his main political rival, the opposition Tisza party, which leads in the polls ahead of 2026 elections. Earlier this month, Ukraine's SBU security service announced the arrest of two Ukrainian citizens accused of spying for Hungary. According to the allegations, backed by video and audio evidence, the man and woman were in the pay of Hungarian military intelligence, preparing for Hungarian military action in Ukraine. Hungary then expelled two Ukrainian diplomats and Ukraine followed suit in a tit-for-tat response that has further damaged already sour relations. Hungary also arrested a Ukrainian citizen and accused him of spying. Orban is widely seen as Russia's closest ally in the European Union, and his government has broken ranks with his European partners by maintaining trade and opposing sanctions on Russia, refusing to allow the transit of weapons, and comparing Ukraine to Afghanistan. Now he has accused Kyiv of trying to "vilify" his country. All eight million Hungarian households recently received a questionnaire from the government, dubbed "Vox 2025", inviting them to reject Ukraine's EU membership. Under a year ago, Orban presented himself as the only person on the planet other than the Pope, who was trying to secure an unconditional ceasefire. But his critics depicted his so-called peace mission to Kyiv, Moscow and other capitals as an attempt to reward Russian aggression. The day after Orban met Russia's Vladimir Putin, Russian missiles struck the Ohmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv. Three days later, the leader of the Tisza Party in Hungary, Peter Magyar, brought $40,000 of Hungarian medical aid to the hospital. Opinion polls suggest Magyar could oust Orban from power next April. The man who drove the Tisza leader to Kyiv, Roland Tseber, is now a target of Fidesz attempts to accuse the Hungarian opposition party of betraying Hungary. Roland Tseber came across as a fresh-faced, hard-working politician when I met him at a Ukrainian refugee center in Uzhorod in April. He was helping distribute medical aid from Hungary, working with Hungarian doctors and psychologists who have supported internally displaced Ukrainians from the eastern war zone, since 2022. His troubles began within weeks of Peter Magyar's visit, he told me. Ukraine arrests two over alleged Hungarian spy plot In August, he heard he was banned from Hungary and, at Hungary's insistence, from the whole Schengen zone of the EU, without explanation. Tseber's letter to the Hungarian embassy in Kyiv went unanswered. The leader of the far-right Our Homeland party in the Hungarian Parliament, Laszlo Toroczkai, labeled him a "terrorist". Mate Kocsis the leader of the Fidesz faction in the Hungarian parliament, has called him a "Ukrainian spy", long in the sights of Hungarian counter-intelligence. "I reject all such accusations which try to link me to intelligence activities of any kind. This is ridiculous. I'm a Transcarpathian politician who works honestly and openly for his homeland and for Hungarian interests," Mr Tseber told me in a phone interview. As an elected, independent councillor in the regional assembly of Transcarpathia, who sits in the political group of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's Servant of the People party, he meets politicians of all shades, he says, including the deputy Hungarian Foreign Minister, Levente Magyar. "I'm a Ukrainian politician and I meet with everyone. This whole situation is ridiculous. They want to drag me into this spy story. But anyone with any common sense can understand that this is absurd." The weakest link in the Hungarian government's narrative is that if he was really on the radar of Hungarian intelligence, government politicians and Peter Magyar as a Member of the European Parliament would have been warned to stay away from him. The dwindling Hungarian community in Transcarpathia has become collateral damage in the Ukraine-Hungary row. In Ukraine's last census, in 2001, their population was 150,000, but latest estimates suggest their number has since halved to 70-80,000. Dozens have lost their lives, fighting for Ukraine against Russia. Another twist in the story is that a former Hungarian chief-of-staff, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, who's now a prominent Tisza party politician, has come under attack from government-controlled media. The government alleges that "a former senior figure in the defence sector" - an apparent reference to Ruszin-Szendi - was in contact with Ukrainian intelligence. Ruszin-Szendi hit back, alleging a smear campaign. "I am a decent Hungarian citizen who has worn the uniform since the age of 14. I am shocked and saddened to know that what I and my comrades have done for our country is worth so much for you," he addressed the government on Facebook. Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Viktor Orban has portrayed himself as a man of peace, and won the April 2022 election with a promise to keep Hungary out of the war in Ukraine. However, a speech from 2023 that has only just been leaked by Peter Magyar tells a very different story. Defence Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky was recorded saying a year after the war in Ukraine began that the government had decided to break with the peace mentality and move to "phase zero of the road to war", with a combat-read Hungarian army. This was the same year that many experienced Atlanticists such as Ruszin-Szendi were sacked as part of a "rejuvenation" of the military. They were replaced by officers loyal to the government's pro-Moscow stance. — BBC
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Orban accused of using Ukraine spy row in fight for political survival
A spate of arrests, diplomatic expulsions and public humiliations has plunged relations between war-torn Ukraine and its prickly Nato neighbour Hungary to a new low. At the heart of the row are accusations that Viktor Orban's Fidesz government in Hungary is using the spat to fight his main political rival, the opposition Tisza party, which leads in the polls ahead of 2026 elections. Earlier this month, Ukraine's SBU security service announced the arrest of two Ukrainian citizens accused of spying for Hungary. According to the allegations, backed by video and audio evidence, the man and woman were in the pay of Hungarian military intelligence, preparing for Hungarian military action in Ukraine. Hungary then expelled two Ukrainian diplomats and Ukraine followed suit in a tit-for-tat response that has further damaged already sour relations. Hungary also arrested a Ukrainian citizen and accused him of spying. Orban is widely seen as Russia's closest ally in the European Union, and his government has broken ranks with his European partners by maintaining trade and opposing sanctions on Russia, refusing to allow the transit of weapons, and comparing Ukraine to Afghanistan. Now he has accused Kyiv of trying to "vilify" his country. All eight million Hungarian households recently received a questionnaire from the government, dubbed "Vox 2025", inviting them to reject Ukraine's EU membership. Under a year ago, Orban presented himself as the only person on the planet other than the Pope, who was trying to secure an unconditional ceasefire. But his critics depicted his so-called peace mission to Kyiv, Moscow and other capitals as an attempt to reward Russian aggression. The day after Orban met Russia's Vladimir Putin, Russian missiles struck the Ohmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv. Three days later, the leader of the Tisza Party in Hungary, Peter Magyar, brought $40,000 of Hungarian medical aid to the hospital. Opinion polls suggest Magyar could oust Orban from power next April. The man who drove the Tisza leader to Kyiv, Roland Tseber, is now a target of Fidesz attempts to accuse the Hungarian opposition party of betraying Hungary. Roland Tseber came across as a fresh-faced, hard-working politician when I met him at a Ukrainian refugee centre in Uzhorod in April. He was helping distribute medical aid from Hungary, working with Hungarian doctors and psychologists who have supported internally displaced Ukrainians from the eastern war zone, since 2022. His troubles began within weeks of Peter Magyar's visit, he told me. Ukraine arrests two over alleged Hungarian spy plot In August, he heard he was banned from Hungary and, at Hungary's insistence, from the whole Schengen zone of the EU, without explanation. Mr Tseber's letter to the Hungarian embassy in Kyiv went unanswered. The leader of the far-right Our Homeland party in the Hungarian Parliament, Laszlo Toroczkai, labelled him a "terrorist". Mate Kocsis the leader of the Fidesz faction in the Hungarian parliament, has called him a "Ukrainian spy", long in the sights of Hungarian counter-intelligence. "I reject all such accusations which try to link me to intelligence activities of any kind. This is ridiculous. I'm a Transcarpathian politician who works honestly and openly for his homeland and for Hungarian interests," Mr Tseber told me in a phone interview. As an elected, independent councillor in the regional assembly of Transcarpathia, who sits in the political group of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's Servant of the People party, he meets politicians of all shades, he says, including the deputy Hungarian Foreign Minister, Levente Magyar. "I'm a Ukrainian politician and I meet with everyone. This whole situation is ridiculous. They want to drag me into this spy story. But anyone with any common sense can understand that this is absurd." The weakest link in the Hungarian government's narrative is that if he was really on the radar of Hungarian intelligence, government politicians and Peter Magyar as a Member of the European Parliament would have been warned to stay away from him. The dwindling Hungarian community in Transcarpathia has become collateral damage in the Ukraine-Hungary row. In Ukraine's last census, in 2001, their population was 150,000, but latest estimates suggest their number has since halved to 70-80,000. Dozens have lost their lives, fighting for Ukraine against Russia. Another twist in the story is that a former Hungarian chief-of-staff, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, who's now a prominent Tisza party politician, has come under attack from government-controlled media. The government alleges that "a former senior figure in the defence sector" - an apparent reference to Ruszin-Szendi - was in contact with Ukrainian intelligence. Ruszin-Szendi hit back, alleging a smear campaign. "I am a decent Hungarian citizen who has worn the uniform since the age of 14. I am shocked and saddened to know that what I and my comrades have done for our country is worth so much for you," he addressed the government on Facebook. Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Viktor Orban has portrayed himself as a man of peace, and won the April 2022 election with a promise to keep Hungary out of the war in Ukraine. However, a speech from 2023 that has only just been leaked by Peter Magyar tells a very different story. Defence Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky was recorded saying a year after the war in Ukraine began that the government had decided to break with the peace mentality and move to "phase zero of the road to war", with a combat-read Hungarian army. This was the same year that many experienced Atlanticists such as Ruszin-Szendi were sacked as part of a "rejuvenation" of the military. They were replaced by officers loyal to the government's pro-Moscow stance.
BBC News
28-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Hungary's Orban accused of using Ukraine spy row in fight for political survival
A spate of arrests, diplomatic expulsions and public humiliations has plunged relations between war-torn Ukraine and its prickly Nato neighbour Hungary to a new the heart of the row are accusations that Viktor Orban's Fidesz government in Hungary is using the spat to fight his main political rival, the opposition Tisza party, which leads in the polls ahead of 2026 this month, Ukraine's SBU security service announced the arrest of two Ukrainian citizens accused of spying for to the allegations, backed by video and audio evidence, the man and woman were in the pay of Hungarian military intelligence, preparing for Hungarian military action in Ukraine. Hungary then expelled two Ukrainian diplomats and Ukraine followed suit in a tit-for-tat response that has further damaged already sour relations. Hungary also arrested a Ukrainian citizen and accused him of spying. Orban is widely seen as Russia's closest ally in the European Union, and his government has broken ranks with his European partners by maintaining trade and opposing sanctions on Russia, refusing to allow the transit of weapons, and comparing Ukraine to he has accused Kyiv of trying to "vilify" his eight million Hungarian households recently received a questionnaire from the government, dubbed "Vox 2025", inviting them to reject Ukraine's EU a year ago, Orban presented himself as the only person on the planet other than the Pope, who was trying to secure an unconditional his critics depicted his so-called peace mission to Kyiv, Moscow and other capitals as an attempt to reward Russian day after Orban met Russia's Vladimir Putin, Russian missiles struck the Ohmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv. Three days later, the leader of the Tisza Party in Hungary, Peter Magyar, brought $40,000 of Hungarian medical aid to the hospital. Opinion polls suggest Magyar could oust Orban from power next man who drove the Tisza leader to Kyiv, Roland Tseber, is now a target of Fidesz attempts to accuse the Hungarian opposition party of betraying Hungary. Roland Tseber came across as a fresh-faced, hard-working politician when I met him at a Ukrainian refugee centre in Uzhorod in April. He was helping distribute medical aid from Hungary, working with Hungarian doctors and psychologists who have supported internally displaced Ukrainians from the eastern war zone, since 2022. His troubles began within weeks of Peter Magyar's visit, he told me. In August, he heard he was banned from Hungary and, at Hungary's insistence, from the whole Schengen zone of the EU, without explanation. Mr Tseber's letter to the Hungarian embassy in Kyiv went unanswered. The leader of the far-right Our Homeland party in the Hungarian Parliament, Laszlo Toroczkai, labelled him a "terrorist". Mate Kocsis the leader of the Fidesz faction in the Hungarian parliament, has called him a "Ukrainian spy", long in the sights of Hungarian counter-intelligence."I reject all such accusations which try to link me to intelligence activities of any kind. This is ridiculous. I'm a Transcarpathian politician who works honestly and openly for his homeland and for Hungarian interests," Mr Tseber told me in a phone interview. As an elected, independent councillor in the regional assembly of Transcarpathia, who sits in the political group of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's Servant of the People party, he meets politicians of all shades, he says, including the deputy Hungarian Foreign Minister, Levente Magyar."I'm a Ukrainian politician and I meet with everyone. This whole situation is ridiculous. They want to drag me into this spy story. But anyone with any common sense can understand that this is absurd."The weakest link in the Hungarian government's narrative is that if he was really on the radar of Hungarian intelligence, government politicians and Peter Magyar as a Member of the European Parliament would have been warned to stay away from him. The dwindling Hungarian community in Transcarpathia has become collateral damage in the Ukraine-Hungary row. In Ukraine's last census, in 2001, their population was 150,000, but latest estimates suggest their number has since halved to 70-80,000. Dozens have lost their lives, fighting for Ukraine against twist in the story is that a former Hungarian chief-of-staff, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, who's now a prominent Tisza party politician, has come under attack from government-controlled media. The government alleges that "a former senior figure in the defence sector" - an apparent reference to Ruszin-Szendi - was in contact with Ukrainian intelligence. Ruszin-Szendi hit back, alleging a smear campaign. "I am a decent Hungarian citizen who has worn the uniform since the age of 14. I am shocked and saddened to know that what I and my comrades have done for our country is worth so much for you," he addressed the government on the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Viktor Orban has portrayed himself as a man of peace, and won the April 2022 election with a promise to keep Hungary out of the war in a speech from 2023 that has only just been leaked by Peter Magyar tells a very different Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky was recorded saying a year after the war in Ukraine began that the government had decided to break with the peace mentality and move to "phase zero of the road to war", with a combat-read Hungarian was the same year that many experienced Atlanticists such as Ruszin-Szendi were sacked as part of a "rejuvenation" of the were replaced by officers loyal to the government's pro-Moscow stance.
Arab News
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Hungarian opposition leader Magyar walks to Romania, courting ethnic Hungarians
BUDAPEST: Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar walked across the border to Romania on Saturday after a week-long journey, in a attempt to win support of the ethnic Hungarians in Romania and appeal to conservative voters in the run-up to the 2026 elections. Magyar's center-right Tisza party emerged last year to mount the most serious challenge to nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban since he rose to power in 2010. Most opinion polls now put Tisza ahead of Orban's Fidesz party with the next parliamentary elections due in early 2026. No date has been set yet. Carrying Hungary's national flag, Magyar walked across the border on Saturday morning with a group of supporters. 'We are not going (to Romania) to escalate tensions or to cause any harm to our Hungarian brothers and sisters living there. We are going there to express our solidarity,' Magyar said on May 14 when he set out on foot in hiking gear. On his way to the border, Magyar stopped in small towns to talk to rural voters, who have traditionally supported conservative Orban. Orban's government provides financial support to ethnic Hungarian communities in Romania and in 2014 granted the right to vote to Hungarians living abroad. In the last election in 2022 94 percent of these voters supported Fidesz. The latest poll by the Publicus think tank, published on Friday, showed Tisza with 43 percent support among decided voters in Hungary while Fidesz had 36 percent. Magyar announced his march on May 12 after Orban flagged he could cooperate with Romanian hard-right presidential candidate George Simion ahead of the May 18 election there. The RMDSZ party representing ethnic Hungarians in Romania, said Simion's win would pose a threat to minorities' rights and urged its voters to support centrist Nicusor Dan who ended up winning the vote.
