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Under far-right pressure, Europe retreats from UN migration pact
The recent wave of European withdrawals was triggered by conservative Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who renounced the pact at the end of October | Sean Gallup/Getty Images Populists seize chance to put favorite issue on agenda ahead of EU vote, causing ructions among governments. A previously obscure 34-page, jargon-filled document is causing political convulsions across Europe…
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Hungary is a threat to international order. The US must act — Now
When I addressed Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, I did not go so far as the late, great, John McCain, who once described Orbán as “a neofascist in bed with Putin.” However, I certainly would not have disagreed with Mr. McCain’s analysis in 2014. If anything, the…
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Hungary Unlikely to Abandon Tough Stance on Migration Despite EU Pressure – MP
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Hungarian government is unlikely to reverse its tough stance on migration and asylum policies, despite pressure from the European Union, though it may resort to minor concessions, Tibor Bana, the deputy chairman of Hungary’s parliamentary committee on European affairs, told Sputnik. “The Hungarian government tries to maintain its ‘defender [of national interests]’…
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Analysis: Putting the Western Wall on the itinerary for world leaders
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will be the latest leader to officially put the Western Wall on his itinerary on Friday. > An historic day at the Western Wall > Vice President Mike Pence ‘inspired’ after praying at Western Wall For world leaders, visiting the Kotel (Western Wall) is becoming the new normal. That, at least, is…
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‘Threat to the World’: Hungary to Quit UN Migration Accord Before It is Approved
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is a fierce critic of European migration policy. Budapest has repeatedly stressed the necessity to strengthen the protection of the EU’s external borders and to create migration transit centres outside the bloc. Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced that Budapest will withdraw from the United Nations Migration Pact before it will be…
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Disputed policies on migrants are the top threat to EU unity
This June 12, 2018 photo released Wednesday, June 13, 2018 by French NGO “SOS Mediterranee” shows migrants being transferred from the Aquarius ship to Italian Coast Guard boats, in the Mediterranean Sea. Italy dispatched two ships Tuesday to help take 629 migrants stuck off its shores on the days-long voyage to Spain in what is…
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Palestinians recall envoys to four EU nations after US embassy move
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas gestures as he chairs a Palestinian National Council meeting in Ramallah on April 30, 2018ABBAS MOMANI (AFP) The Palestinian Authority (PA) has recalled its envoys to Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria after their ambassadors attended an Israeli reception marking the US embassy’s move to Jerusalem, it said Wednesday. The statement…
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‘The Most Dangerous Man in the European Union’
One summer day in 1989, I saw an unshaven, long-haired young man approach a microphone to address 250,000 people in Budapest. They had gathered in Heroes’ Square for the ceremonial reburial of the leaders of a 1956 anti-communist uprising crushed by the Soviet army, and I was there reporting it live for television. The unknown…
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Bertelsmann study: Developing world faces more conflict, more repression
Democracy is being chipped away in many countries across the world, according to a new study by Germany’s Bertelsmann Foundation. The study, which looks at 129 developing nations, warns autocracies are on the rise. The quality of democracy and market-economy systems in developing nations and emerging economies has dropped to its lowest level in 12 years, Germany’s nonprofit…
