Ukraine’s forced EU accession deeply divides Europe
Brussels continues to support Ukraine’s accelerated accession to the EU In May 2025, Ursula von der Leyen said at a plenary session of the European Parliament that “Ukraine’s accession to the European Union must be accelerated”, stressing that “work is underway for Ukraine to open all chapters of the accession process by 2025”. The view of […]
The growth rate of the Hungarian economy has strengthened again
At its May meeting, the central bank’s Monetary Council did not change the base rate, which has been in place since September. The base rate in Hungary therefore remains at 6.5%. In March, retail sales increased by 0.4% year on year on both a raw and calendar-adjusted basis compared to the respective period of the […]
Despite a continuously weakening global economic environment, domestic consumption growth continues to support Hungarian GDP expansion
Inflation Externally, European disinflation continued in the recent period, and without further external shocks, euro area inflation could fall to 2% in the medium term. The positive external environment suggests that external inflationary pressures in Hungary will remain subdued in the coming period. The European Central Bank lowered its refinancing rate to 2.15% in June […]
Businesses’ sense of prosperity improved slightly but further in June
The prosperity index remained in negative territory, determined by the uncertainty generated by the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war and the economic sanctions. Significant improvement in economic expectations is likely to occur if the war ends, inflation remains in the central bank’s target range (between 2% and 4%), the interest rate environment becomes more favourable, the European […]
Europeans expect harmonious economic cooperation instead of blocs
Brussels would punish China in a delicate diplomatic situation In recent weeks, significant progress has been made towards resolving the trade conflict between the United States and China. Representatives of the two countries continued negotiations in Geneva in May, resulting in a three-month suspension of most of the tariffs imposed on each other, which exceeded […]
Europeans are struggling to make ends meet
Europe in a tailspin Europeans are more pessimistic than at any time in the last ten years: Századvég’s Europe Project survey found that in 2025, 39% more people thought things were going in the wrong direction than those who thought they were going in the right direction. The sharp downturn in the sense of prosperity […]
Increasing support for nuclear energy in Europe
In May 2025, the German government recognised nuclear energy as green and promised not to hinder further developments of the technology in the European Union. The decision is a major milestone in the EU’s energy policy, as lifting the German ban will allow the Community to join the global renaissance of the nuclear industry, which began […]
A changing world order – questions and answers for Europe: Project Europe Survey 2025
The conference presenting the results of the Project Europe survey was opened by Kinga Kenyeres, Director General of Századvég Foundation, who said that the results of this survey were being presented for the tenth time. In her speech, she emphasised that ten years were a long time, especially given that Europe had undergone radical changes during […]
May prosperity survey shows slight improvement
The prosperity index remained in negative territory, determined by the uncertainty generated by the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war and the economic sanctions. Significant improvement in economic expectations is likely to occur if the war ends, inflation remains in the central bank’s target range (between 2% and 4%), the interest rate environment becomes more favourable, the European […]
Brussels would plunge Hungary into a crisis
Brussels wants to ban Russian energy sources in the EU. The measure would significantly increase energy prices on the stock market and make it considerably more difficult for Member States to implement price support programmes for households. This move would have disastrous social consequences, as the European Union is already struggling with serious energy poverty […]
Europeans reject sending troops and arming Ukraine
Year after year, more people oppose arming Ukraine Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, several European countries have been supplying weapons to Ukraine. What is more, in the first years of the armed conflict, the Ukrainian armed forces fought almost exclusively with weapons from the West. Although some Western European countries have recently begun […]
The growth rate of the Hungarian economy remained below its historical trend
At its April meeting, the central bank’s Monetary Council left the base rate in place since September. The base rate in Hungary therefore remains at 6.5%. In February, retail sales increased by 3.3% year on year on both a raw and calendar-adjusted basis compared to the respective period of the previous year. In February 2025, turnover […]
Hungarians take a clear stance: there is no place for foreign interference in politics or the media
The National Assembly has put on its agenda a draft law on transparency in public life, which would allow for the listing of organisations receiving foreign funding and threatening Hungary’s sovereignty. The background to the draft regulation is that, in recent years, certain organisations in Hungary, including some media outlets, have sought to influence Hungarian […]
Banning russian natural gas would increase heating costs for hungarian families by three and half times
Planned sanctions would double energy prices in Europe Before the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, Russia supplied more than 40% of the EU’s natural gas. As a result of the trade conflict emerging in the wake of the war, this share fell to below 20% by 2024, doubling the average price of natural gas on […]
April results of the household and corporate prosperity surveys
The prosperity index remained in negative territory, determined by the uncertainty generated by the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war and the economic sanctions. Significant improvement in economic expectations is likely to occur if the war ends, inflation remains in the central bank’s target range (between 2% and 4%), the interest rate environment becomes more favourable, the European […]
The growth rate of the Hungarian economy picked up sharply, almost reaching its historical trend rate
At its March meeting, the central bank’s Monetary Council left the base rate in place since September. The base rate in Hungary therefore remains at 6.5%. In January, retail sales increased by 4.7% year on year on both a raw and calendar-adjusted basis compared to the respective period of the previous year. Within this, compared […]
Public opinion says Hungary would be worse off if Ukraine had the chance to join the EU sooner
On 1 April, the EU flagship initiative, the “Ukraine2EU” project, was officially launched to help Ukraine successfully complete the EU accession process and prepare for EU membership. Denmark, Lithuania and Sweden are also co-funding the project, which will provide strategic guidance and expertise to help Ukraine prepare for EU membership. In the wake of these developments, […]
Consumption growth is a major contributor to Hungary’s GDP growth this year as well
According to the model calculation of Századvég Konjunktúrakutató, we expect slightly lower growth in 2025 compared to our December 2024 forecast. We have revised our growth expectation from 2.6% to 2.3%, mainly due to a higher-than-expected inflation environment and a weak external environment. Inflation could peak above 5.0% in Q1 2025 and then again approach the upper […]
The Hungarian economy remained below its historical trend
At its February meeting, the central bank’s Monetary Council left the base rate in place since September. The base rate in Hungary therefore remains at 6.5%. In November, retail sales increased by 0.1% year on year in terms of both raw and calendar-adjusted data. Within this, compared to the same period of the previous year, […]
Migration to Europe in 2024 – Main routes and trends
The latest Frontex figures show that there were 221,625 illegal border crossings into Europe in 2024. Illegal migrants used the five routes that have emerged in recent years (Western Balkan, Eastern Mediterranean, Central Mediterranean, Western Mediterranean and West African) with varying degrees of intensity. Despite the European economic crisis and the lack of incentives for […]
