That idea "sounded so lame and ridiculous that we refrained from reporting it", Szabolcs Panyi, one of Hungary's leading investigative journalists, wrote on X last month. "We were wrong."
On Monday, under that Trumpian banner, Hungary took on the sixmonth rotating presidency of the EU council of ministers. As well as a spell in the diplomatic limelight, Viktor Orbán's government will be setting the EU agenda for the rest of the year.
EU diplomats are downbeat, but resigned to Hungary's six months in charge. Since Orbán returned to power in 2010, going on to win four consecutive terms, democratic values, the rule of law and press freedom in Hungary have withered, according to numerous independent bodies.
The Hungarian government, a long-term spoiler of EU decisions, has become an even more difficult partner since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. "I think [the Hungarian presidency] is a fiasco for the European Union," said the French Green MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, who is standing down from the European parliament after five years as its lead on Hungary and the rule of law.
Denne historien er fra July 05, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Denne historien er fra July 05, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Friendship interrupted
They were best mates. Then one had a baby, while the other struggled to conceive. They share their brutally honest takes on what happens when motherhood affects friendship
KERNELS OF HOPE
During the siege of Leningrad, botanists in charge of an irreplaceable seed collection, the first of its kind, had to protect it from fire, rodents-and hunger
A new horizon' The inverse link between cancer and dementia
Scientists have long been aware of a curious connection between these common and feared diseases. At last, a clearer picture is emerging
Across the universe
Samantha Harvey won the Booker prize with a novel set in space. Yet, she says, Orbital is actually 'a celebration of Earth's beauty with a pang of loss'
Frank Auerbach 1931 -2024
Saved from the Holocaust, this artist captured the devastation of postwar Britain as ifits wounds were his own but he ultimately found salvation in painting
Seven lessons I've learned after 28 years as economics editor
Margaret Thatcher was Britain's prime minister and Neil Kinnock was leader of the Labour party.
Droughtstricken dam leaves economies powerless
A ll is not well with the waters of Lake Kariba, the world's human-made lake largest A punishing drought has drained the huge reservoir close to record lows, raising the prospect that the Kariba Dam, which powers the economies of Zambia and Zimbabwe, may have to shut down for the first time in its 65-year history.
Let this be the end of these excruciating celebrity endorsements
I wish celebrities would learn the art of the French exit. But they can't, which is why Eva Longoria has announced she no longer lives in America. \"I get to escape and go somewhere,\" she explained.
Alive, but unable to thrive under absolute patriarchy
Since the Taliban returned to power, women and girls have tried defiance, but despair at their harshly restricted lives
‘It's tragic’ Reflection in the wake of Amsterdam violence
Carrying signs scrawled with messages urging unity, they laid white roses at the statue of Anne Frank, steps away from the home where her family had hidden from Nazi persecution.
