Viktor Orbán has been successfully playing a big power game in the last decade, punching far above his weight. But his image as a negative hero in the Western World has clearly backfired now, with Orbán using the Covid-19 pandemic as a pretext to complete his authoritarian regime. Orbán’s moves are not purely the domestic political problems of Hungary – an authoritarian state within the EU could be deadly dangerous for the entire project. Germany has a very important role to play in the current situation. 

The corona pandemic has exposed and further exacerbated various built-in inequalities and unsustainable structures of how we organize the economy and social life globally, from seasonal agricultural work to elderly care – and this is also true for gender relations in Hungary.

In the last three months it has become crystal clear that, among other matters, the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary has taken its toll on a peculiar subject – the rule of law itself.

On the evening of 24 July, a crowd of 10 000 -15 000 people gathered in front of the office of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to show their solidarity for the journalists who had resigned that very same morning from the largest remaining independent Hungarian news portal. In Hungary, demonstrations tend to draw no more than five thousand people, so the protest's size was surprising, especially since there is nothing new or shocking in democratic institutions being under heavy fire in Hungary.

“Shall we occupy the university?” “Yes!” cheered a roomful of applauding students from Hungary’s University of Theatre and Film Arts (SZFE), surrounded by the sound of drums, over a week ago. They then proceeded to block the entrance with the red and white stripes that have since become the symbol of a resistance movement supporting the autonomy of the SZFE and standing up against a further attack by Viktor Orbán’s conservative, nationalist Government on the freedom of art, culture and education in Hungary.

In 2020, we celebrate 75 years of the UN, the intergovernmental organization that, since its formation, aimed to maintain international peace, security, and a protection of human rights. Silke Voß-Kyeck, an expert on the United Nations and rapporteur for Forum Menschenrechte, explores the correlation between finances and human rights protection within the UN for the 75th anniversary of the organisation.

Albin Kurti was Prime Minister of Kosovo from February to June 2020, when his government was toppled. Viola von Cramon-Taubadel is the European Parliament's rapporteur for Kosovo. Walter Kaufmann spoke to both of them about the domestic political situation in Kosovo, the rule of law and EU integration.

In the early hours of September 9th something rather expected happened. The Moria Refugee Camp on the Greek island of Lesbos was engulfed in flames, just a few hours after the announcement of the detection of 35 cases of coronavirus in the camp. The camp, which for years was a place of degradation of human dignity on the eastern border of the European Union, was almost completely destroyed. The EU Member states can no longer be inactive - they all share the responsibility for this disaster.

The disputes over the Aegean Sea clearly constitute the “core” of Greek-Turkish relations. Each side claims to be exclusively in the right, and that the other side is always being provocative and in the wrong.