Hungary's PM questioned in theft case

PM Magyar presents 'substantive defence' in phone theft case

Hungary’s prime minister, Péter Magyar, has been questioned as a suspect in a case involving the alleged theft of a phone at a Budapest nightclub in 2024. Magyar announced on Facebook that he was questioned by the Central Investigative Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday evening. He denied any involvement in the case. The prosecutor’s office confirmed that Magyar had been questioned as a suspect and said he had presented a substantive defence. The case relates to an incident at the Ötkert nightclub, shortly after Magyar was elected to the European Parliament. Prosecutors alleged that, after an argument with a man who was filming him without his consent, Magyar took the man’s phone and later deliberately dropped it into the Danube river.

Magyar described the questioning as the result of “political provocation” on Facebook and accused the authorities of applying a double standard. He asked why former prime minister Viktor Orbán had not been questioned in connection with the “cash transport” case, or Ádám Matolcsy and his associates over the scandal at Hungary’s central bank, before concluding: “What tyranny!” The prosecutor’s office had requested the suspension of Magyar’s parliamentary immunity on the same day it made similar requests concerning former ministers Miklós Seszták and Balázs Hankó, who have since been arrested in separate corruption cases. Parliament voted to suspend all three politicians’ immunity at an extraordinary session on 28 September. Magyar had himself requested that his immunity be lifted.

Russia expels Hungarian diplomats "as a reciprocal measure"

Russia has ordered several Hungarian diplomats to leave the country within two weeks in retaliation for Hungary’s expulsion of ten Russian diplomats earlier this month. The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Hungary’s temporary chargé d’affaires, Gábor Gergics, on Thursday morning to inform him of the decision, which affects staff at the Hungarian embassy in Moscow and the country’s consulates general in St Petersburg and Kazan. On 8 September, Hungary’s foreign minister, Anita Orbán, announced that 10 Russian embassy staff would be expelled for activities deemed incompatible with diplomatic status under the Vienna Convention. Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, had warned that its response would be “harsh and painful”."As a reciprocal measure, a group of staff members from the Hungarian Embassy in Moscow and the Hungarian Consulates General in St ⁠Petersburg and Kazan must leave the territory of the Russian Federation within two weeks," the ministry said

Although Budapest has not officially confirmed that the Russian diplomats were engaged in espionage, András Rácz, deputy director general of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs, said there "activities were incompatible with diplomatic status". The expulsions may also have been intended to signal a change in Hungary’s approach to Russia and reassure western allies about their foreign policy shift. During Viktor Orbán’s governments from 2010 to 2026, Hungary publicly expelled only one Russian diplomat before then: in 2018, in solidarity with the UK after the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.

Budapest among contenders to host 2036 Olympics

Two-thirds of Hungarians would support Budapest hosting the 2036 Olympic and Games, according to a September survey by the Medián Public Opinion and Market Research Institute. The poll, commissioned by the Hungarian Olympic Committee, surveyed a national sample of 1,000 people, supplemented by a further 500 respondents in Budapest. The International Olympic Committee said on Tuesday that six other countries had also expressed interest in hosting the 2036 event.

Interested parties must submit information on their proposed hosting concepts to the relevant IOC committee by the end of November, with strategic discussions with the IOC executive board due to begin next March. The committee will then narrow the field of candidates and, after November 2028, hold targeted negotiations with those selected. It will also consult interested parties about the 2040 and 2044 games. The host city for the 2036 Olympics will be chosen at the IOC’s 2029 general assembly.