Democracy Digest: Hungary Begins Clear-out of Russian Spies

Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban this week expelled ten Russian diplomats from the country for activities deemed incompatible with the 1961 Vienna Convention, an international treaty governing diplomatic relations between states. The diplomats, who were allegedly working as foreign agents, were the first that Hungary has officially ordered to leave since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. Orban stressed the measure did not mean a break in diplomatic ties with Russia, and that Hungary “intended to maintain dialogue with Moscow while upholding mutual respect and international rules”. Under the previous government of Viktor Orban, Hungary was the only Central European country that did not publicly take action against Russian spies, creating the impression it had become a centre for Russian spying in Europe. Investigative news site VSquare reported in May that one Russian diplomat was swiftly ordered to leave Hungary after the April general election, but the expulsion was not made public at the time. EU countries and the UK have expelled more than 400 Russian ‘diplomats’ since 2022. Russia expert Andras Racz said in an interview that the move “clearly marks the beginning of a new era in Hungarian-Russian relations.” It sends a message both to Moscow and to Hungary’s Western allies, and gives Hungary an opportunity to break out of its diplomatic isolation and restore trust, he said. Russia inevitably threatened retaliation, with Kremlin spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying the response would be “tough and painful”. However, Hungarian experts dismissed the possibility that Russia would cut off oil or gas exports to Hungary and attributed the harsh rhetoric to the upcoming Russian elections.Former PM Viktor Orban accused the new government of misleading voters with its election promises. Orban, who suffered a massive defeat in April and has been unwilling to take up his seat in parliament, fumed that fuel prices are skyrocketing, while the budget deficit and public debt have soared to record levels. Orban is expected to deliver his first major speech in Hungary since the election loss this weekend. His comments appear aimed at fuelling voter disappointment by portraying the new government as already failing to deliver on its election promises, just four months into office. PM Peter Magyar rejected the accusations during a speech in parliament, arguing that the previous government had left behind a staggering economic crisis and should be held accountable for it. The government is nevertheless aware that rising fuel prices – particularly diesel, which has reached around 700 forints (1.80 euros) per litre – are a sensitive issue for society. Public support for the government could begin to wane sooner than expected if the issue is not addressed. The new government of the Tisza party has so far been reluctant to reintroduce price caps and promised more targeted assistance for those hardest hit by the rising prices, but has yet to announce any specific measures. Meanwhile, Hungary’s finance minister said the sharp increase in the budget deficit – an all-time high in Hungary – is only temporary, as the budget had to pre-finance projects funded through the EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund in August, and the money should be reimbursed in December. Nevertheless, the expected 7.5 per cent budget deficit is far from the trajectory that Hungary would need to start its Eurozone accession process. Sectoral lobbying for wage increases has already begun, particularly among employees in the higher-education and police sectors, where salaries are widely regarded as too low. Czech PM Andrej Babis attends a press conference after a Visegrad Group (V4) and Ireland leaders’ summit in Bratislava, Slovakia, 10 September 2026. EPA/JAKUB GAVLAK EU suspends subsidy payments to Czech PM’s business; MPs approve Building Act The European Commission has once again suspended some subsidy payments to the Agrofert group, the giant agro-chemical company founded and formerly owned by Czech PM Andrej Babis, the EU’s executive announced on Tuesday. A spokesperson for the EU Commission said it “considers that the Czech Prime Minister is in a potential situation of conflict of interest in relation to the management of a cohesion policy and agricultural funds”. Babis transferred his shares in Agrofert into a trust fund in February after returning to power – a condition set by President Petr Pavel to formally appoint him. But following months of scrutiny on the exact parameters of the scheme, the EU Commission assessed on Tuesday that “the trust fund set up by Mr Babis does not sufficiently mitigate this situation”. This is in line with a study earlier this year by Transparency International Czech Republic that also found the trust fund did not provide sufficient safeguards to ensure Babis had completely cut ties with Agrofert. The suspension concerns over 3 million euros of subsidies from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. But according to Novinky.cz, these subsidies have already been paid to companies that are part of Agrofert by the State Agricultural Fund, awaiting reimbursement from the EU, meaning the loss is being shouldered for now by the Czech state rather than Agrofert itself. Babis dismissed the EU Commission’s statement, saying: “I am not interested in it and I am not dealing with it. I do not own Agrofert, I will never own it again, and I do not derive any benefit from it.” By 104 votes in favour and 53 votes against, the Chamber of Deputies approved on Wednesday a controversial government-backed amendment to the Building Act, overriding last month’s veto by the opposition-controlled Senate. The bill still has to be signed by President Pavel to come into force. Defending the reform, Regional Development Minister Zuzana Mrazova said the law would introduce a centralised system of state building authorities, significantly cut red tape and speed up the process of obtaining a building permit from the relevant office. It would, for instance, put in place a single consolidated permitting procedure, with the ultimate stated goal of accelerating construction and address Czechia’s housing shortages in the longer term. Opposition politicians were left unfazed, fearing the new simplified system could instead facilitate graft and corruption, with Pirate MP and former regional development minister Ivan Bartos describing it as “a law tailor-made for developers”. “I think we will continue to experience major problems,” he added. Earlier this year, close to 200 architects and professionals penned an open letter calling on lawmakers to reject the proposal, citing worries about environmental impacts, public participation and heritage protection safeguards. Slovak Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová and Lukáš Machala, Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture, during a press conference, in Myjava on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. Photo: TASR – Martin Medňanský Slovak PM pressures prosecutor general to resign; culture minister ousts ally Slovak PM Robert Fico this week called on Prosecutor General Maros Zilinka to resign, accusing him of acting against the government and failing in his duties. Zilinka rejected the demand, describing Fico’s intervention as a “frontal attack on the rule of law”. Fico acknowledged that his coalition cannot legally remove Zilinka, whose seven-year term runs until December 2027, which is after the next parliamentary election. He said his Smer party would instead exert public pressure on him to leave. The immediate dispute concerns several criminal investigations, including the corruption case of former intelligence chief Vladimir Pcolinsky and investigations linked to spending during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fico also accused prosecutors of targeting people connected to his party. Zilinka said he would remain in office until his term expires and warned that political pressure would not change the course of criminal proceedings. “Nobody will dictate to the prosecutor general how and when I should speak, whom I should praise or criticise,” he said. Smer MPs helped elect Zilinka, while his office previously faced criticism for using a provision known as Section 363 to cancel criminal charges in politically sensitive cases, including charges against Fico and current Defence Minister Robert Kalinak. Fico said Zilinka’s refusal to resign would create grounds for a “comprehensive reform” of the prosecution service. Major changes would require a constitutional majority of 90 MPs; the governing coalition currently has 78. Zilinka called reforming the prosecution service simply to remove the general prosecutor a “strange idea of how the rule of law should work” and a “bad idea”. Slovakia’s government on Wednesday dismissed the secretary-general of the Culture Ministry, Lukas Machala, at the request of Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova, after relations between the ministry’s two most influential figures deteriorated. Simkovicova said she no longer trusted Machala and that a minister and secretary-general needed to agree on how the ministry should be run. Machala, who was on holiday when the decision was announced, said nobody had discussed his dismissal with him beforehand. The personnel change follows a dispute at the Arts Support Fund (FPU), which distributes public money to cultural projects. Simkovicova recently removed two board members close to Machala – Adriana Tomicova and Peter Grutka – after they refused to support Frantisek Kornaj as the fund’s new director. In a leaked recording, Kornaj complained that Machala and others had tried to influence decisions and push him towards steps he considered unlawful. Simkovicova said the dispute over the fund was not the reason she dismissed Machala. She also denied that grants of 12,000 euros for Bratislava’s Pride march and 20,000 euros for the Inakost LGBT+ film festival were the main reason. She nevertheless said she opposed using cultural funds for Pride. Machala was one of the ministry’s most influential and controversial officials. He helped draft the 2024 law that abolished public broadcaster RTVS and replaced it with STVR, backed the removal of directors of major cultural institutions, and prompted criticism (and some hilarity) for questioning whether the Earth is round. Maciej Berek signs documents during the appointment of new ministers ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, 24 July 2025. EPA/Pawel Supernak PM ally elected to constitutional court; Poland deepens US-focused rearmament in $4bn deal In the latest chapter of Poland’s rule-of-law saga, the parliament on September 4 elected a new judge to the Constitutional Tribunal – the body which has been at the centre of a decade-long battle between the ruling KO party and the opposition PiS. Prior to his election, the candidate Maciej Berek – who is a lawyer by training – served until August as a minister in Donald Tusk’s government, and his election reignited questions over the government’s pledge to depoliticise the judiciary. Nine rule-of-law NGOs had urged Berek to withdraw his candidature, arguing that replacing PiS-linked judges with someone so closely associated with the current government would undermine efforts to depoliticise the highest court in the land. His appointment also drew criticism from some lawmakers within the governing coalition, particularly because the government itself previously backed legislation that would have prevented politicians from moving directly into judicial posts. Four coalition MPs, including the speaker of the Sejm, Wlodzimierz Czarzasty, voted against Berek. President Karol Nawrocki also expressed doubts about Berek’s candidacy, saying “the last thing the Constitutional Tribunal needs right now is another politician”. He has not said whether he will swear in Berek, opening up the possibility of another institutional clash over the court. The crisis began after PiS took power in late 2015 and moved to install its own judges, while refusing to recognise some appointments and later some tribunal rulings. Restoring the institution’s independence is a central part of Tusk’s government’s rule-of-law agenda, with the PM announcing in August that he plans to wrest control of the court back from PiS this autumn. “I need to be sure in September that our judges enter that building and that everything is in accordance with the law,” Tusk said. “I take 100 per cent responsibility for it, and I really ask that all criticism be directed at me,’ he reiterated, adding: “Yes, it is controversial, but, as I have already said, I have no intention of capitulating on this.” Poland secured another 4 billion dollars in US-backed financing for military purchases, in an effort to take “greater responsibility for Europe’s security”, Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Wednesday. It is the sixth agreement Warsaw has signed under the US’s Foreign Military Financing (FMF) scheme, which provides allies with grants and loans to purchase American weapons, defence equipment, services and training. The latest deal brings Poland’s access to FMF financing to almost 20 billion dollars and can be used both for existing contracts and new purchases of US equipment. The agreement fits a broader Polish rearmament strategy in which American arms occupy a central place. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Warsaw has bought or ordered F-35 fighter jets, Abrams tanks, Patriot air-defence systems, HIMARS rocket artillery and Apache attack helicopters from the US. The latest financing should help speed up those purchases. The scale of Poland’s rearmament has turned it into one of the world’s largest weapons buyers; according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Poland was NATO’s biggest arms importer in 2021-25, with imports up 852 per cent from the previous five-year period. The deal comes amid a domestic dispute over whether EU defence financing could constrain Poland’s ability to keep buying heavily from US and South Korean suppliers. Poland is due to receive 43.7 billion euros under the EU’s SAFE program, but Kosiniak-Kamysz rejected the idea of a choice between the two, saying SAFE and FMF “do not compete with one another; they complement one another”. Poland’s reliance on Washington and Brussels is not exclusive, as South Korea supplied 47 per cent of Poland’s arms imports during that same period.