By UME
Hungary
- Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced the upcoming expansion of the Lego factory in Nyíregyháza (northeast of the country) on Friday June 18, after the Danish toy manufacturer invested 149 million euros and created 250 jobs. “The investments of leading international companies prove that Hungary offers an excellent environment for high-quality production … therefore Hungary wants to keep taxation in the hands of the state and take advantage of the competitive advantage offered by low taxes,” said Szijjártó.
- In response to the passing of an anti-pedophile law by the Hungarian parliament on June 15, the eco-socialist community in the Bavarian capital Munich – where the Germany-Hungary European Championship game took place on June 23 – demanded that the UEFA Munich Stadium – The Allianz Arena – should be illuminated in the colors of the LGBT community for the game “as a sign of solidarity with the oppressed Hungarian LGBT community”, a request that UEFA refused.
- Regarding the many negative reactions, especially from Brussels, after the adoption of the anti-pedophile law, the EU Commissioner for Transparency and Values, Věra Jourová, wanted to note that “in view of the many Hungarian concerns, the European Commission believes that that there are no visible efforts by the Hungarian authorities to protect European values […] The Commission is now examining the law and assessing whether it violates EU law […] The Commission is ready to work with Poland and Hungary as we always advocate honest dialogue and cooperation in the event of any legal conflict or dispute. But we are ready to use all means at our disposal if necessary.
- At the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday (June 24th) the heads of government of some EU member states sharply attacked Hungary because of the anti-pedophile law. The liberal Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo called it “primitive”, while his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte said: “In the long term, the goal must be to bring Hungary to its knees on this issue. They have to recognize that they are either members of the European Union and thus share a community of values with us, or they have to leave the Union ”, an assessment also shared by Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, who personally said to Viktor Orbán:“ I am homosexual and the grandson of a Jew. ”For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron said,
- On Wednesday 23 June, the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, chairman of Fidesz, and Katalin Novák, Minister for Family and Deputy Chairwoman of Fidesz, met Georgia Meloni, chairman of the Italian nationalist party Fratelli d’Italia, in Brussels Cooperation could begin in the context of a reorganization of the right-wing political groups in the European Parliament after Fidesz left the EPP Group (European People’s Party), to which he had belonged since Hungary joined the European Union.
- During his press conference on Friday, June 25th, French President Emmanuel Macron explicitly admitted clear differences of opinion between the Western and Central European governments. “We have a big problem. All the countries of the 2004 enlargement [Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic] clearly do not share our values […] There is an east-west divide ”with“ a rise in illiberalism in Societies that fought against and emerged from communism […] For decades we thought that liberal democracy was such an attractive model that people would come to it spontaneously, like after the fall of the wall […] anything works Not”.
- The Hungarian President János Áder has decided to submit the Housing Act, passed by Parliament on June 15th, to the Constitutional Court to review the constitutionality of an amendment affecting the rental of apartments and premises.
Poland
- The Polish Constitutional Court’s examination of the application by the Supreme Court Disciplinary Chamber, which questions the right of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) to order the suspension of its work, has been postponed to July 14. The postponement follows, among other things, the rejection – at her own request – because of the well-founded suspicion of bias of Judge Krystyna Pawłowicz because of incriminating public statements about Ms. Silva de Lapuerta, Vice-President of the European Court of Justice. Ms. Pawłowicz was replaced on June 17th by her colleague Stanisław Piotrowicz.
- Polish MEP Adam Bielan and his supporters officially announced the creation of a new political party, the Republican Party (Partia Republikańska, PR) on Sunday 20th June, which will take place this weekend at the Palladium Theater in Warsaw in the presence of the PiS -Chairman Jarosław Kaczyński held its constituent congress. This new party, a split from Jarosław Gowin’s Porozumienie party, chaired by Adam Bielan himself, has six MPs in the Sejm (members of the PiS faction) and is a new member of the coalition of the United Right.
- According to industry experts who fear the formation of a “speculative bubble”, there is currently a very sharp rise in property prices in Poland, which is up to 14% this year in a city like Łódź. “Customers buy practically everything, including apartments in poor locations and in poor condition,” the real estate consultant Tomasz Błeszyński is quoted by the daily Rzeczpospolita.
- The case of hacking the messengers of Polish VIPs is drawing ever wider circles and is said to have affected over 150 people. According to a statement by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of national security, the cyberattacks targeted “key Polish officials, ministers and MPs from various political directions”.
- A so-called “equality march” was organized in Warsaw on Saturday 19th June by gay organizations under the auspices of Rafał Trzaskowski, the mayor of the Polish capital, whose website announced that “June is the time of visibility of LGBT + people and solidarity with minority communities as well as the promotion of equality and solidarity ”. Trzaskowski, who personally took part in the march, said: “The heart of a smiling and open Poland beats here”. This homosexual demonstration, in which there were various rather baroque scenes – such as the “wedding ceremony” of two men,
- During a visit to Wysokie Mazowieckie (Podlachia – northeast of the country) as part of the promotion of the “Polish Order” program, the Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the PiS, Jarosław Kaczyński, announced a “civilizational leap” for his country in the coming years: “We have to build again, but above all we have to build. That is the main part of our plan to catch up with Europe in average per capita income by the end of the decade […] If we achieve the goals of the Polish agreement and if those who are now betting on kidnapping against our interests fail Then the Poland in which the majority of Poles live – the Poland of villages and small towns – will change massively and for the better in a decade. “
- As part of the international campaign for LGBT claims in Poland – as in other Central European countries – the US Ambassador to Poland, Bix Aliu, said on the embassy Twitter account that “according to the Open For Business report, the lack of inclusion of LGBTQI + communities Poland, Hungary, Romania and Ukraine costs more than 8.6 billion dollars a year… Protecting the human rights of LGBTQI + people also means more prosperity for everyone. ”Open For Business is an association of 36 US companies who advocate LGBT issues.
- A new episode in the Polish ombudsman soap opera in which the Sejm – in which the PiS and its allies have a majority – and the Senate – in which the opposition has a majority – still cannot agree on the election of a new right-back . On June 18, the Senate therefore rejected the candidacy of Lidia Staroń – an independent senator who was previously a member of the PO (2005-2015) – whose candidacy had been approved by the Sejm three days earlier.
- The President of the European People’s Party and former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania, the highest Romanian civilian honor, on Friday, June 25th. “Thanks to President Iohannis and my dear Romanian friends, I feel even more motivated to continue serving the Polish-Romanian friendship, our common Europe and the ideals we share: freedom, solidarity and simple human decency,” he said.
- After the departure of three PiS MPs (Zbigniew Girzyński, Małgorzata Janowska and Arkadiusz Czartoryski), the tax increases planned in the program of the so-called “New Polish Order”, which will primarily affect small businesses, and the segregation between vaccinated and unvaccinated people did not agreed, the United Right has just formally lost its absolute majority in the Sejm. However, this loss is relative as it would not necessarily lead to a vote against the government, which can also count on the goodwill of the MPs of the Kukiz’15 parliamentary group.
Slovakia
- Slovak Prime Minister from 2012 to 2018 Robert Fico did not mince his words and fired a shot at the anti-Covid vaccines. He announced that he would not be vaccinated and strongly condemned opening up vaccination to children and adolescents.
Czech Republic
- On the evening of June 24th, a tornado wreaked havoc in several villages in the Hodonín region (Göding – in south-east Moravia) and left behind a landscape of indescribable devastation. Hundreds of people were injured and at least five died, entire villages were destroyed, around two thousand buildings were damaged and tens of thousands of houses were without electricity. Given the extent of the destruction, which Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš described as “apocalyptic” from Brussels, where he is attending the EU summit, rescue units have arrived from Slovakia, Austria and Hungary and continue to support their Czech colleagues. The D2 motorway between Brno and Breclav (Lundenburg) had to be closed due to overturned electricity pylons. “It’s like a war,” the director of the Hodonín Hospital, Antonin Tesarik, was quoted as saying by the local press. Interior Minister Ján Hamácek and Deputy Prime Minister Alena Schillerová visited the crime scene
Slovenia
- 25.6.
Slovenia celebrates 30 years of independence. On the occasion of the national holiday, a national celebration was held in the evening on Republic Square in Ljubljana to mark the assumption of the EU Council Presidency by Slovenia, which was preceded by solemn sessions of the National Assembly and the Slovenian Council of Ministers. An open day is taking place in the Presidential Palace.
The national holiday, which is also a public holiday, recalls the events 30 years ago when the then Slovenian Assembly adopted the key documents for Slovenia’s independence on June 25, 1991. Independence was solemnly proclaimed a day later on Republic Square, with the flag of the newly founded country waving on a flagpole in front of the National Assembly. The joy did not last long, however, because the next day a 10-day war of independence ensued.
The groundbreaking events were remembered at the events on Friday, including the central national celebration that took place at 9:00 p.m. on the Republic Square. The first part of the event was held by the President of the Republic, Borut Pahor, with welcoming speeches by the Prime Ministers of Austria, Croatia and Hungary as well as the Italian Foreign Minister. In the second part, Prime Minister Janez Janša and the President of the European Council Charles Michel spoke to the audience to welcome the assumption of the EU Council Presidency by Slovenia. - 24.6.
After meeting his Slovenian counterpart Anže Logar in Ljubljana, Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva said that Portugal would be the next country in the EU Council Presidency to hand over a large number of files to Slovenia. Among them, he highlighted the validation of the EU’s national recovery and enlargement plans, an importance that was also emphasized by Mr Logar. At a joint ministerial press conference, Santos Silva highlighted the validation of the national recovery and resilience plans among the dossiers that the current Portuguese Presidency will hand over to its successor Slovenia in exactly one week. Like Logar, he expressed the expectation