Voter turnout high in Hungary as hard-line Viktor Orban aims for 3rd consecutive term as prime minister

BUDAPEST — Hungarians went to the polls Sunday in a pivotal election widely seen as measure of the state of democracy in the eastern periphery of the European Union. In a member state often seen as an ascendant autocracy, turnout was high as voters endured long lines to have their say on the future of their country.

The reelection of Viktor Orban, Hungary’s staunchly anti-migrant, strongman prime minister, and his right-wing Fidesz party is almost certain. The question is whether he can pull off a two-thirds supermajority in parliament, a legislative carte blanche that in the past has allowed him to enact drastic changes to the constitution, attempt to influence the judiciary and crack down on his critics.

A high turnout could spell trouble for Orban’s grip on power as he attempts to serve his fourth overall term. Even in gerrymandered districts, more votes for opposition candidates will be added to party totals, which could then undermine the presence of Fidesz in parliament. Virtually all polls suggest that Orban will remain head of the government, but political analysts are uncertain as to the meaning of Sunday’s high turnout.

As he cast his ballot, Orban couched the election in existential terms: “What’s at stake is Hungary’s future,” he said. But opposition leaders wasted no time in heralding the highest rates of turnout since 2002, when Orban was thrown out of power in an election in which passions ran high. His political rebirth in 2010 heralded the dawn of a new hard-line conservatism that his challengers hope Sunday’s election will curb.

Israel backs Hungary, says financier Soros is a threat

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's foreign ministry has issued a statement denouncing U.S. billionaire George Soros, a move that appeared designed to align Israel more closely with Hungary ahead of a visit to Budapest next week by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Soros, a Hungarian-born Jew who has spent a large part of his fortune funding pro-democracy and human rights groups, has repeatedly been targeted by Hungary's right-wing government, in particular over his support for more open immigration.

In the latest case, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has backed a campaign in which Soros is singled out as an enemy of the state. "Let's not allow Soros to have the last laugh" say billboards next to a picture of the 86-year-old investor, a campaign that Jewish groups and others say foments anti-Semitism.

Soros, who rarely addresses personal attacks against him, has not commented on the billboards. But Hungarian Jewish groups and Human Rights Watch, an organisation partly funded by Soros, have condemned the campaign, saying it "evokes memories of the Nazi posters during the Second World War".

Many posters have been defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti, including the words "stinking Jew" written in magic marker.

Israel's ambassador to Hungary issued a statement denouncing the campaign, saying it "evokes sad memories but also sows hatred and fear", an apparent reference to Hungary's part in the deportation of 500,000 Jews during the Holocaust.

But hours after the ambassador made his comments over the weekend, Israel's foreign ministry issued a "clarification" saying that Soros was a legitimate target for criticism.

"In no way was the statement (by the ambassador) meant to delegitimize criticism of George Soros, who continuously undermines Israel's democratically elected governments," said foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon, adding that Soros funded organisations "that defame the Jewish state and seek to deny it the right to defend itself".

A spokesman for Soros's Open Society Foundations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (ontinueReading

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Related: Netanyahu accused of supporting antisemites over Soros campaign

Germany stops sending refugees to Hungary due to poor treatment

TheLocalde - Germany said Tuesday it is refraining from transferring asylum seekers to Hungary under EU rules until Budapest gives assurances that the migrants would not be systematically detained.

Under the so-called Dublin rules, asylum seekers are meant to be sent back to the first European country they registered in.

But the United Nations and rights groups have urged EU nations to suspend transfers to Hungary after Budapest introduced a law in March to detain all asylum seekers.

Germany's interior ministry said in a directive to the migration office that "in cases of Dublin transfers to Hungary, an assurance must be sought ensuring that the transferred person would be accommodated in accordance with EU norms".

"Without such a reassurance from the Hungarian authorities, the transfer should not take place," the ministry added, confirming a report published in German regional media group Funke.

Germany had initially waived Dublin rules for Syrian refugees at the height of the migrant influx in 2015.

But after the arrival of around one million people, public misgivings grew, forcing Chancellor Angela Merkel to take steps to limit the arrivals.

Last year, the figure dropped sharply to 280,000, largely due to the closure of the Balkan overland route and a fragile EU-Turkey deal to limit the mass influx.

Germany, along with other EU nations, also began sending back asylum seekers to Greece from mid-March as they assessed that conditions there have improved.

But concerns then turned to the situation in Hungary, after its parliament on March 7 approved plans to confine asylum seekers in camps.

Official figures show that Germany sent back 11,998 asylum seekers to their first port of call in the EU last year, including 294 who were returned to Hungary.

Austia-Hungry Forever? Right-wing candidate for president of Austria wants to unite former Habsburg lands

Budapestbeacon) - Norbert Hofer, the candidate of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) in next month’s re-run presidential elections, wants Hungary to join a new alliance consisting of former members of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

The far-right politician believes Central European countries with similar cultures, including Austria, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, and the Czech Republic, should form a new bloc within the European Union.

(Apart from the Romanian autonomous region of Transylvania, the Serbian autonomous region of Voivodina, and the Banat of Temes, which was divided between Serbia and Romania after the First World War, neither Serbia nor Romania ever belonged to the Habsburg empire. Nor is it clear what parts of modern-day Poland, Ukraine, or Bosnia Hofer has in mind for his Anschluss. –ed.)

“Austria was in an alliance with these countries during the time of the Monarchy, and I hope that we will easily agree on a platform, that way we will have greater weight in the European Council,” said Hofer in an interview with Swedish paper Dagens Nyheter.

(In point of historical fact, the House of Habsburg ruled over the constituent lands of the Austrian and later Austro-Hungrian empire until the end of the First World War. Any “alliance” was either dynastic in nature or involved military occupation.-ed.)

Hungary’s pro-government media has increasingly been paying attention to Austria’s far-right—and to the FPÖ’s ideas for a new regional bloc. Hungarian state-run news wire MTI ran the story, which was picked up by Hungarian pro-government online news site 888.hu, pro-government newspaper Magyar Idők , and pro-government newspaper Magyar Hírlap.

The renewed focus on the Austrian far-right’s proposal came just as the Hungarian government was in Serbia for a two-day joint session with its Serbian counterparts.

The FPÖ has already attempted to convince the country’s legislature that the country should join the Visegrad alliance of Hungary, Slovakia, the Czechia, and Poland, but the proposal was rejected in October.

Apparently, the party has raised its sights from the Visegrad countries of Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic to all of Vienna’s former imperial subjects.

Hofer raised the idea of an alliance in the past, but over the past few months he has begun actively trying to turn his vision into reality. (FullText)

Hungarian PM Orban urges EU to build an army of its own

WARSAW, Poland — Hungary's prime minister urged the European Union on Friday to make security a priority and build an army of its own.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban spoke in Warsaw before heading into talks on EU's future with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and leaders of three other central European nations. The talks, in preparation for an EU summit next month, focused on security concerns and migrants.

"We must give priority to security and so let's start setting up a joint European army," Orban said.

He was seconded by Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, who said building a joint army will not be an "easy project" but added that the 28-nation EU needed better cooperation on defense issues and border protections.

Poland's Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, meanwhile, called for setting up a European border guard to protect the external border.

Merkel said many security projects have been neglected, like registering travelers into and out of the visa-free Schengen zone.

Earlier in the day, Orban told Hungarian state radio that Hungary will build a new, "more massive" fence on its southern border to defend against a possible surge in the number of migrants. He has previously called migrants "poison."

Merkel's meeting in Warsaw with the leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary came ahead of an EU summit in Bratislava, Slovakia, next month without Britain. One of the main topics was to discuss Britain's vote to leave the group.

The four central European nations have been critical of many EU policies, including ones pressing for nations to accept more migrants. They are also pushing for changes that would give individual EU members more leeway, saying that the EU's rigid policies have led to the British departure.

Merkel said holding a summit at a place different than Brussels will give EU leaders a better feeling for "what makes Europe." (FullText)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban Says Migrant Crisis Is Germany’s Problem

(wsj.com) - Hundreds of migrants seeking to reach Germany rushed trains at Hungary’s main international rail station on Thursday after police stopped manning the door, as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban blamed Europe’s migration crisis on Berlin.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected the criticism, saying her country is doing what all European Union member states should be by taking in refugees in need of protection. Ms. Merkel said she agreed earlier in the day with French President François Hollande that the EU needs binding quotas to distribute refugees fairly.

Tensions have been rising within the bloc as it struggles to deal with thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa, underlining competing national interests amid warnings that the bloc’s cherished policy of border-free travel is at risk. Hungary—on the bloc’s edge—has emerged as a key transit point for people seeking to reach wealthier states where they believe they will have better prospects.

Mr. Orban took a defiant stance during a news conference at the European Parliament in Brussels, where he was holding a series of meetings with top officials. He said he was abiding by EU rules in seeking to register migrants before allowing them to pass into another EU country and is considering the deployment of the army to protect Hungary’s borders with non-EU member neighbor Serbia. He brushed off calls for Hungary to reconsider its rejection of a fairer redistribution system for refugees across the bloc.

“The problem is not European, it’s German. Nobody would like to stay in Hungary, neither Slovakia, Poland or Estonia,” Mr. Orban said after talks with European Parliament President Martin Schulz. “All of them would like to go to Germany.”

The hidden frontline of Europe's migration crisis

(Telegraph.co.uk) June 30 2015 - Dressed only in a thin white polo shirt and jeans, Ashraf, a 17-year-old from Damascus, shivers in the rain next to the dense Serbo-Hungarian forest where he has lived without food and water for three days. His exhausted father holds up a handful of grass: “For three days now we’ve had nothing else to eat but this.”

Ashraf, who set out from Syria with his father in November, has just been caught after crossing into Hungary from Serbia, with the aim of reaching Germany. He and around 60 compatriots, including families with babies and a dozen children under 10, were captured by Hungarian police and rounded up between a forest and an industrial estate.

“We are good people, my father is an electrician. I want to be a dentist. Germany needs us, we are good people,” Ashraf says.

He and his father, like thousands of others, passed through Turkey, Greece and Macedonia. They walked for seven hours a day, for seven months.

According to government statistics, they were among at least 61,000 migrants who have entered Hungary this year, up sharply from 43,000 in all of 2014. This is more refugees per capita than any other EU country apart from Sweden. Around 95 per cent of them cross from Serbia, which is not a member of the EU but has started accession talks.

As a gateway to both the EU and the Schengen passport-free zone, Hungary has become the hidden front line of Europe’s migration crisis. Its government wants to ensure that Ashraf is among the last to enter the country via this route. Hungary – the first nation to dismantle its borders before the collapse of Communism in 1989 – is planning to erect a 110-mile long, 13ft-high barbed wire fence along its border with Serbia. The plan has outraged the United Nations and the EU. Natasha Bertaud, a European Commission spokesman, said last week: “We have only just torn down walls in Europe: we should not be putting them up.” Full Story