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Prime Minister Orbán to UN General Assembly: Step Up Cooperation on the Migration Crisis

Prime Minister Orbán to UN General Assembly: Step Up Cooperation on the Migration Crisis

2015. 10. 08.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York on Wednesday to urge greater international cooperation to manage the current migration crisis. Europe will not be able to handle this burden alone, the prime minister emphasized, and if left alone, Europe will be destabilized. [blog post]

Europe Finally Confronting the Real Problems at the Root of the Migration Crisis

Europe Finally Confronting the Real Problems at the Root of the Migration Crisis

2015. 09. 30.

After months of heated debate in Europe, the question of how the European Union should handle the migration crisis came down to one simple clash of priorities. [Blog post]

Hungary’s Response to the Refugee Crisis

Hungary’s Response to the Refugee Crisis

2015. 09. 22.

The contrast between Kim Lane Scheppele’s denunciation of Hungary’s migration policies (“Orbán’s Police State,” Politico.eu, September 14, 2015) and Melik Kaylan’s balanced commentary (“Spare a Thought for Hungary,” Politico.eu, September 15, 2015) could not be more striking. Scheppele systematically distorts Hungary’s measured and compassionate response to the migration crisis, while Kaylan thoughtfully analyzes the roots of the calamity and challenges readers to empathize with the plight facing Hungary and other countries on the frontlines of Europe’s biggest migration crisis since World War II. [Guest post by Réka Szemerkényi]

Protect the Border!

Protect the Border!

2015. 09. 20.

On Tuesday, September 15th, Hungary completed the protective border fence on its southern frontier with Serbia. Its completion closes the so-called ‘green’ border that has seen more than 170 thousand illegal crossings in 2015, making it the busiest migration route into the European Union and Schengen Area.

Hungary Says Border Protection First, Quotas Second

Hungary Says Border Protection First, Quotas Second

2015. 09. 09.

159,968. That’s the number, as of September 2, of illegal border crossings that Hungary has seen in 2015. That’s more than three and a half times the number that came in all of 2014. Nearly all of those crossings currently take place on Hungary’s southern border with Serbia, which is a southeast border of the Schengen Area, the so-called West-Balkan route. Some 93 percent of these people request asylum even though under the Geneva Convention, asylum seekers do not have to cross the border illegally. They can do it at the official border crossings. [Blog post by András Gyürk]

European Thinking Held Hostage by Delusions and Myths

European Thinking Held Hostage by Delusions and Myths

2015. 08. 22.

If you expect an article condemning EU directives on the well being of poultry or the curvature of cucumbers, you are welcome to turn the page. I will not talk about that. Instead, my focus here is on the delusions that capture European thinking, making the EU look like a fly that, instead of escaping the bottle, crashes into its walls again and again. [Guest post by Tamás Lánczi]

2015. 06. 29.

After Thursday’s debate in the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), an obvious conclusion can be drawn: the left-wing parliamentary groups don’t even attempt to maintain the appearance of objectivity and equal standards in evaluating alleged threats to the rule of law. [Blog post]

This Victor Enjoys the EU’s Special Treatment

This Victor Enjoys the EU’s Special Treatment

2015. 06. 23.

Let us hope the EU will not continue to use double standards and will see that corruption, when based on serious allegations, poses a real threat to European values and stability. [Blog post]

EPP Bureau Meeting in Hungary: Debates Strengthen Our Partnership

EPP Bureau Meeting in Hungary: Debates Strengthen Our Partnership

2015. 06. 16.

At our invitation, the European People’s Party Group chose Budapest as the site for last week’s bureau meeting. When Hungary has been the subject of debate recently in the European Parliament, the positive outcome of the visit came at an important time. The session focused on pressing European matters, particularly economic growth, unemployment and immigration, and its outcomes were encouraging, especially on the issues of tax fairness and data protection. [Blog post by Ildikó Gáll-Pelcz]