We have defended Hungary's interests – the prime minister Viktor Orbán said in Brussels, pointing out that EU heads of state and government agreed on a new budget.  ​

It was worth fighting for financial subsidies not to be tied to ideological expectations during the pandemic, the Minister of Justice wrote on her Facebook page.  

PM Viktor Orbán was in Warsaw on Tuesday for talks with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Jarosław Kaczynski, deputy prime minister and the head of the ruling party Prawo I Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice) ​  

Current, strict coronavirus-related restrictions will be kept in place until January 11 – Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Monday. He added, that December 31 would be no exception, with a ban on New Year’s Eve parties. ​  

This is the official, English transcript of Prime Minister Orbán's response to EPP group leader Manfred Weber, who  stated in an online press conference on December 3 that the "rule of law mechanism", is not being set up expressly against Hungary and Poland. ​

Letter of Tamás Deutsch to Members of the EPP Group ​ Budapest, 4 December 2020 Honourable Colleagues,

Hungary insists that the economic issue of the EU budget and the recovery fund must be separated from the rule of law regulation that has led to political debates – said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Kossuth Radio. ​

It was up to the EU’s German presidency to find a solution to the impasse – said Justice Minister Judit Varga, the first Hungarian to receive the institute’s Custos Virtutum award, during online debate – hosted by the Wacław Felczak Polish-Hungarian Cooperation Institute – on linking rule of law conditions to the payment of EU funds.

The government in Budapest has ordered local councils not to increase local and municipal taxes next year. Further, according to the finance ministry local councils must not introduce any new tax. ​

The light trams are back in Budapest and will illuminate the capital of Hungary up until January 6, 2021.  The tradition of decorating trams in Hungary began in 2009. Since then the Advent Light Trams have become an indispensable part of Budapest. This year the light trams have nearly 40,000 LED lights covering them.

Polandʼs economy rebounded in the third quarter after the relaxation of COVID-19 containment measures, final data published by the Warsaw-based Central Statistical Office (GUS) revealed on Monday.  ​  

An ideologically based justification for penalties flies in the face of European values and treaties – says Judit Varga, the Hungarian Justice Minister and laureate of the Guardian of Virtues award, in an interview with "Do Rzeczy" weekly ​