Skip to main content
Advertisement
Log In POLITICO Pro

Viktor Orbán

Hungary’s illiberal leader can be expected to return a sizeable chunk of MEPs to the next European Parliament, and he’s hoping for a far-right wave. He also wants to get his MEPs into the right-wing ECR group, to sit alongside those of Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and Poland’s Law & Justice — but that is already causing ructions inside the group.
Advertisement
Declassified

EU leaders to Qatar: Where are our jets?

If jets are being handed out by Gulf monarchies, Europe shouldn’t be left out.

May 16, 2025 1:18 pm CET

Romanian wild card George Simion sets Brussels’ nerves on edge

The presidential front-runner’s hostility to Ukraine is creating a rift with fellow European conservatives.

May 15, 2025 4:00 am CET

Hungary stands to lose more EU funds under possible budget rule changes

Brussels is looking into ways to link budget payouts more tightly with rule of law, according to Commissioner Michael McGrath.

May 14, 2025 7:46 pm CET

Orbán’s Fidesz party proposes Russia-style crackdown on Hungary’s civil society

The new bill fits into a pattern of democratic backsliding for the Central European country.

May 14, 2025 10:10 am CET

Fico shakes Putin’s hand as Russia’s war victory parade kicks off

Slovak PM is the only EU leader to attend Red Square festivities.

May 9, 2025 12:07 pm CET

EU gears up for fight with Russian energy holdouts

Brussels will soon tell Hungary and Slovakia to stop dealing with Moscow — whether they like it or not. But the EU’s enforcement plan is fuzzier.

May 7, 2025 4:20 am CET

Europe’s final plan to quit Russian energy: Enlist wary execs

The EU will make its pitch Tuesday, searching for momentum as sanctions stall, the U.S. equivocates and some eye a Russian fuel return.

May 6, 2025 4:22 am CET

Orbán’s man in Brussels stalls Russian energy exit plan

Hungary’s EU commissioner is hindering the plan’s quick approval on Tuesday, despite obligations to act independently from Viktor Orbán’s Russia-friendly policies.

May 5, 2025 4:35 pm CET

The winners and losers from Europe’s largest party’s big bash

With the dust settling on the EPP congress, we take a look at who’s up and who’s down in the EU’s most powerful grouping.

May 1, 2025 3:37 pm CET

The billionaire who wants to Make France Great Again

Pierre-Édouard Stérin is hoping to use his financial firepower to remold French politics in line with his conservative ideals.

April 28, 2025 4:00 am CET

Sacraments and side-chats: Pope’s funeral overshadowed by Trump dealmaking 

Emotional tributes to the popular Pope Francis came amid a diplomatic scramble to meet with the U.S. president.

April 26, 2025 3:32 pm CET

Hungary on EU watchlist over surveillance at Pride

Budapest has opened the door to using AI facial recognition to identify LGBTQ+ protestors.

April 25, 2025 4:30 am CET
Advertisement

Democratic backsliding in Europe holds lessons for America

Authoritarians’ early popularity can delay resistance — but that’s when the real damage gets done.

April 24, 2025 4:01 am CET

Hungary could suspend citizenship to silence dissent

The ambitions of the proposed bill are clear: It’s about targeting civil society, journalists and activists — within Hungary and the diaspora — who refuse to fall in line.

April 23, 2025 4:02 am CET

US lifts sanctions against key Orbán ally accused of corruption

Penalties against Antal Rogan were “inconsistent with U.S. foreign policy interests,” says a spokesperson for top American diplomat Marco Rubio.

April 16, 2025 9:48 am CET

EU countries push to Orbán-proof Russia sanctions

Hungary’s veto power could become meaningless under plans being drawn up by a group of capitals.

April 14, 2025 5:48 pm CET

Trump blinks on tariffs. Can Europe exhale?

Presented by Equinor.

April 11, 2025 6:06 am CET

If the EU is to support media freedom, its members must lead by example

If the bloc hopes to influence the aspiring autocrats in candidate countries, it must establish a strong culture of independent media within its own borders.

April 10, 2025 4:01 am CET

EU must condemn Hungary for ICC exit, Palestinian Oscar-winning director says

Filmmaker Basel Adra also says Brussels should impose fresh sanctions on Israeli settlers violating international law.

April 9, 2025 3:35 pm CET

‘FREE MARINE LE PEN!’ Trump lodges defense of convicted French far-right icon

U.S. president says the embezzlement case on which France’s right-wing figurehead was found guilty sounds “like a ‘bookkeeping’ error to me.”

April 4, 2025 9:57 am CET

Trump tariffs put Europe’s far-right leaders in a bind

MAGA’s biggest cheerleaders struggle to justify “Make America Wealthy Again” measures.

April 3, 2025 2:22 pm CET

Trump: Le Pen’s exclusion from French election is ‘a very big deal’

It is “concerning” when people are barred from politics, U.S. State Department says.

April 1, 2025 12:45 am CET

Marine Le Pen’s allies in Russia and Hungary lash out at guilty verdict

French court ruling blocks far-right figurehead from 2027 presidential run, stoking conservative outrage around Europe.

March 31, 2025 2:29 pm CET

The time has come to punish Orbán, Germany’s next government says

Friedrich Merz’s incoming coalition wants to press the EU to look at withholding funds and suspending voting rights from Hungary, according to a document seen by POLITICO.

March 31, 2025 4:00 am CET
Advertisement