Hungary

BUDAPEST, May 16 (Reuters) - Hungary has not received any new serious proposal from the European Commission regarding oil sanctions on Russia since a visit of the Commission president to Budapest earlier this month, Hungary's foreign minister said on Monday on his Facebook page.

BUDAPEST, May 14 (Reuters) - Hungary's President Katalin Novak at her inauguration ceremony on Saturday condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and said her first trip would take her to Poland, in an apparent gesture to mend relations with Warsaw.

Hungary's rejection of sending weapons shipments to neighbouring Ukraine and its opposition to a planned European Union embargo on Russian oil imports has weighed on relations between Budapest and Warsaw, whose two nationalist governments have been long-time allies in the EU.

BUDAPEST, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Hungary's first female President Katalin Novak gave a message of hope and unity in her inauguration ceremony here on Saturday.

"In addition to the responses given to pandemics, security threats and economic challenges, I am hopeful that we shall still have strength for further constructions in the future," she said in front of the Parliament building.

Novak vowed to stand above party lines during her upcoming years in office.

BUDAPEST, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Katalin Novak, the first female president of Hungary, took office here on Tuesday.

Her predecessor, former head of state Janos Ader, greeted the new president at the entrance to the Sandor Palace, the residence of the Hungarian president.

Ader and Novak marched together on the red carpet up to the entrance of the residence, where they entered together.

The Parliament elected Novak as President of Hungary on March 10.

Following her election, Novak said that she wanted to be a "President of peace."

BUDAPEST, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Hungary's government cannot responsibly support the European Commission's new package of sanctions against Russia in its current form as it would "destroy" the country's security of energy supply, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said on Wednesday.

The European Union (EU) will phase out Russian crude oil imports within six months and refined products by the end of the year, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday, announcing the sixth package of sanctions against Russia.

BUDAPEST, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The recently elected Hungarian parliament held its first session here on Monday, electing its key officials.

Laszlo Kover, a founding member of the governing Fidesz party, was re-elected Speaker of the parliament. He was first elected to the position in 2010 and re-elected in 2014 and 2018.

The parliament also elected six deputy speakers.

President Janos Ader opened the new parliament for the third and last time, as his mandate will expire in a few days and he will be replaced by Katalin Novak, Hungary's first female president.

Xinhua: Zahony, a town that locates within 100 km to five borders with five countries in northeastern Hungary, has become an important hub for China-Europe freight trains to enter the EU.

Norbert Csomos, managing director of MAV-REC Railway Engineering Cooperation Ltd., has witnessed the development in Zahony, where the first container train from China arrived in July 2017.

VIENNA, May 2. /TASS/. Hungary is against introduction of a ban on Russian oil and gas supplies to the European Union, head of the Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyas said on Monday.

"We should not introduce sanctions from which we will suffer in the first instance, rather than those we would like to subject to sanctions," Gulyas said, cited by the Hungarian information web portal Origo.hu.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — As Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban prepares to continue his autocratic governance of Hungary for another four years, he faces a shattered opposition at home but an increasingly isolated position abroad, where his flouting of democratic standards and approach to the war in Ukraine has riled the European Union and other nations.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Polls opened across Hungary early Sunday as voters in the Central European country faced a choice: take a chance on a diverse, Western-looking coalition of opposition parties, or grant nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban a renewed mandate with a fourth consecutive term in office.

The contest is expected to be the closest since Orban took power in 2010, thanks to Hungary’s six main opposition parties putting aside ideological differences to form a united front against his right-wing Fidesz party.