Remix News

Tag: Hungary

  • Poland ranks close to the top in EU military spending

    Defense spending for countries in the European Union has been increasing since 2014, with Poland ranking near the top of the list, according to the latest report from Eurostat.

    The Eurostat report indicates that the 27 EU member states (excluding the UK) spent a combined total of almost €162.5 billion on defense in 2018, compared to €137 billion in 2014.

    The data shows that 2.6 percent of government spending is allocated to defense. The 2018 figure represents approximately 1.2 percent of GDP, which is less than the 2 percent which the United States expects of its NATO allies.

    In 2018, only Latvia, Estonia and Greece spent 2 or more percent of their GDP. Poland spent 1.6 percent of GDP on defense, which was far above the EU average and put Poland at the top of the list.

    According to the Polish government, Poland is currently spending 2 percent as of 2020 and plans to increase that amount to 2.5 percent of GDP.

    Poland recently made a major purchase of F-35 stealth fighters that cost the country $4.6 billion. Poland’s armed forces are currently conducting massive military exercises with the United States and other countries in Eastern Europe for the Defender-Europe 2020 program.

    France and Italy also found themselves among the highest spenders, apart from the smaller EU states. Germany was 16th with only 1.1 percent and Spain, Hungary and Czechia did not even pass the 1 percent mark.

    Defense spending compared to GDP does not tell the whole story. Smaller countries rank high in that category, but they are small enough that the amounts themselves are much lower than France’s or Germany’s spending.

    France and Germany spent the most on their armies overall, at €41.3 and €35.5 billion respectively. Italy spent €22 billion.

    Spain, the Netherlands and Poland came after Italy. According to Eurostat, Poland spend €8.1 billion on its defense, putting Poland above Norway (€6.3 billion), Sweden (€5.6 billion) and Switzerland (€4.8 billion).

    Ireland spent only €4.6 million and Malta only €3.3 million. Luxembourg, Cyprus and Slovenia did not even pass half a billion.

    Hungary opened the list of countries which spend at least €1 billion on defense.

     

  • PM Orbán celebrates as nationalist ally Janša wins parliament vote to form Slovenia’s next government

    Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán congratulated his Slovenian nationalist ally Janez Janša after the Slovenian parliament voted 52 to 31 authorizing him to form a new government.

    Janša now has two weeks to set up a cabinet that in turn also needs to be approved by parliament.

    “Thrice is the Slovenian truth,” Orbán wrote to Janša on his Facebook page, a variation on the saying “Thrice is the Hungarian truth” or third time’s a charm as the English saying goes.

    “Good luck, my friend!”, he concluded, posting a picture of a previous meeting of the two sitting alongside one another.

    Orbán was referring to the fact Janša has already been prime minister of Slovenia between 2004 and 2008 and later from 2012 to 2013.

    Although Janša’s Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) party won the 2018 election with the largest number of seats (25) in the 90-seat national assembly, he was unable to form a majority government in the fragmented legislature, which currently has nine parties and representation from both the Hungarian and Italian ethnic minorities.

    Eventually, the former actor and comedian Marjan Šarec, the leader of the second-placed party with 13 MPs, formed a minority left-wing government, which collapsed last month after the resignation of Finance Minister Andrej Bertoncelj citing “irreconcilable differences” over Šarec’s healthcare reform plans.

    Following a month of horse-trading, last Wednesday President Borut Pahor assigned Janša with the task to form a new government.

    Title image: Orbán’s congratulatory Facebook post.

  • PM Orbán releases short political Western-style video clip

    Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán released a short, Western-styled video clip of the latest question-and-answer session in the Hungarian Parliament, illustrating the tone of the debate and the questions he had to face.

    Borrowing the title of Enzo Barboni’s 1972 spaghetti western “Man of the East”, starring Terence Hill, the 1:47-long clip cuts from a windmill water pump to a panoramic image of the Hungarian Parliament, to the assembly floor and Orbán’s answers to the questions from the opposition.

    The video also features a sepia-colored grainy image style and the evocative music of the de Angelis brothers.

    “The climate crisis has reached [right-wing opposition party] Jobbik, it’s melting like an iceberg,” Orbán says in one excerpt from the debate and “I know you hate us, but that shouldn’t blur your vision in case of such obvious statistical facts.”

    Both were responses to questions by opposition faction leaders.

    Title image: Starting image of the “Man of the East” Orbán videoclip. (source: Viktor Orbán’s Facebook page)

  • For a Pole, there is nothing sweeter than Hungarian spring: opinion

    Spring is coming, and do you know why? It is because the next Great Journey to Hungary, organized by Poland’s “Gazeta Polska” clubs, is nearly upon us, and this year Poles will jointly celebrate the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.

    I’m serious when I say that the moment I get on the train and I meet my friends from the clubs each year is like waking up from hibernation. In a world of increasingly unbearable politics, where it is easier to get kicked in the ankle than to see a genuine smile, I need this journey just as I need fresh air.

    Even though our travels to Hungary are still two weeks away, hundreds of participants have already signed up, and the organizers say that there are no free spaces left, which is totally unsurprising.

    Whoever has at least once breathed Hungarian spring, seen the Hungarian parliament in the March sun, and seen a Hungarian kiss the Polish flag… Well, it is nearly too much to put into words.

    This is much more fun for me than official parties, galas, banquets, and other overtly serious events. This will be a special trip, however, as we must discuss and mobilize ourselves before the May presidential elections in Poland.