Category: Current

HUNGARIAN FOREIGN POLICY AFTER THE CORONAVIRUS

“What is the trend and magnitude of the changes Hungarian foreign policy will be forced to implement as the world emerges from the coronavirus crisis? Are we going to be compelled to make any radical changes at all? Or is it rather the case that the pandemic merely amplifies already

THE RULE OF LAW DEBATE – CAN GERMANY GET HUNGARY OFF THE HOOK?

“‘Rule of Law’ has become the battle cry of our times in the arena of European politics. Accompanied by spectacular rhetorical theatrics of leading politicians whenever the media are around, the ‘RoL’, as it is often abbreviated, looks set to become the object of new EU rules aiming to discipline

THE COMISSION’S EU BUDGET PROPOSAL HAS BEEN OVERRULED

“The Eurozone was already in a fragile condition when the coronavirus pandemic struck, so at the instigation of France and Germany, a major €750 billion support and recovery fund was established by the EU to tackle the challenges posed by the pandemic. €390 billion of this stimulus package, which is

LEGAL AND IDEOLOGICAL DILEMMAS REGARDING THE ISTANBUL CONVENTION

Ever since the Polish Minister of Justice, Zbigniew Ziobro, announced at a press conference towards the end of July 2020 that Poland wished to withdraw from the agreement commonly known as the Istanbul Convention, debates over the legitimacy of the document signed in the Turkish metropolis in 2011 have again

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY IN A TIME OF PANDEMIC – PART I–II

Part I: Under the Impact of the First Shock, Mid-March* Millennia of human history have shown that serious epidemics are often accompanied by political uncertainty: they can redraw political frontiers, realign priorities, or even provoke war and revolution. In recent decades, however, it had seemed as though we were escaping

LOCKDOWN DIARY, BUDAPEST – 20 APRIL 2020

“‘Ghost trains’ and ghost buses are the most visible and oddly comforting -expression of Budapest’s lockdown. Because ‘essential workers’ still have to get to and from work, and the other city-dwellers may have good reasons to move around the city, the regular train and subway services are running as before,