Hungary

2021 will be the year when the financial crackdown on opposition cities will gain momentum. No self-restraint can be expected in this regard.

Hungary had a scandal-ridden month in the EU. As the new EU budget is connected to rule of law, Hungary fought it tooth and nail, claiming it’s not about corruption but Soros and immigrants.

The COVID-19 pandemic has served as an opportunity for many to intensify attacks on national and international norms and standards, including further weakening of checks and balances, broadening of corruption, and undercutting media freedom.

While most EU member states are primarily concerned with tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis, the Hungarian and Polish governments’ are focusing on opposition to the EU\'s plan to \"promote gender equality and women’s empowerment\".

On December 10, 2020, two representatives of the member organizations cooperating within the 4liberty.eu network took part in a webinar organized by the European Liberal Forum (ELF) devoted to the topic \"Rule of Law: At What Cost?\".

In the interest of further prosperity of Poland and well-being of its citizens, we are protesting against the unjustified undermining of the importance of the rule of law, the benefits of our membership in the European Union and the presence of foreign investors in Poland.

Dóra Dúró, deputy leader of the Our Home Movement (“Mi Hazánk Mozgalom” far-right, national-radical mini-party), tore up and then shredded the book “Meseország mindenkié” (Storyland is for everyone) at a press conference in September.

In recent months, the University of Theater and Film Arts in Budapest (SZFE) became the new target of the Hungarian government’s culture war. The experiences of the institution’s response may change the nature of future demonstrations.

The necessity of a reformed Hungarian higher education system became clear in the 2000s: after the regime change in 1990, the number of higher education students was increasing heavily, which decreased the quality of higher education and the value of university diplomas.

The pandemic can rule the agenda, but it cannot rule the ideology. This is the main lesson of the past few days in Hungary. The government has introduced restrictions and a crisis management plan, while PM Viktor Orbán has began writing the new chapter of the Hungarian ideological-cultural war in the meantime.