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Hungary

World Congress of Families XI meeting, Budapest Congress Center, May 27, 2017, Budapest, Hungary.

Home front: Part II

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into the World Congress of Families, an organization that has helped shape and share a reactionary agenda among conservatives across the globe.

Pastor Gábor Iványi, one of Hungary’s best-known religious leaders, stands in his office near a photograph.

This pastor officiated Orbán’s wedding. Now he’s one of his fiercest critics.

Sacred Nation
The Great Synagogue of Dohány Street in Budapest, Hungary.

‘Nothing Orbán says is by accident’: Jewish leaders in Hungary grapple with anti-Semitic tropes in politics

Sacred Nation
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks during a panel discussion with a white blurry background.

Orbán portrays himself as a ‘defender of Christianity.’ Critics aren’t so sure.

Sacred Nation
Roma radio presenter Szandi Minzari and co-host Melanie Nagy are both divorced, single mothers who speak about taboo issues in Hungary's Roma community.

A new Roma radio station gets people talking about taboo issues in Hungary

Arts, Culture & Media
Hungarian PM Viktor Orban arrives for the an extraordinary meeting of EU leaders to discuss Ukraine, energy and food security in Brussels

Hungary’s Orban wins exemption in EU Russian oil embargo

Energy

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban wins significant concessions with the EU, allowing his country to continue purchasing Russian crude, despite the bloc saying that it plans to cut off 90% of Russian oil imports by the end of the year.

A train passes by Republika Power Plant in town of Pernik, Bulgaria, April 21, 2022. The only nuclear power plant, generating over a third of Bulgaria’s electricity, runs on uranium from Russia.

EU proposes oil ban after bloc’s largest economy drops opposition

Ukraine

Germany has now been able to slash its dependence on Russian oil since the war in Ukraine started in February. But Hungary and Slovakia — still heavily reliant on Russian oil — still oppose the deal.

Woman in white fencing gear trains with her coach standing behind her wearing black

‘It never feels routine,’ says Hungarian fencer Aida Mohamed, on her 7th Olympic Games

Tokyo Olympics

Aida Mohamed says she’s putting in longer hours and she’s more experienced, but she’s as excited now as her first time at the Olympics in 1996. She joined The World’s host Marco Werman to talk about her fencing career and the bubbling anticipation as the Tokyo Games begin.

The Allianz Arean in Munich is shown illuminated in the colors of the rainbow with the night sky in the background.

UEFA declines Munich application for rainbow-colored stadium

Sports

German soccer clubs are banding together to display rainbow colors during the country’s match against Hungary at the European Championship after UEFA rejected host city Munich’s plan to do the same.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is shown wearing a blue suit and orange tie while speaking at a podium with two microphones.

Hungary’s parliament overhauls higher education amid outcry

Global Politics

Hungary’s parliament on Tuesday voted to transfer state assets worth billions of dollars into foundations that will control many of the country’s public universities and cultural institutions, a move opposition figures have decried as a theft of public funds.