Europe

I think it is paywalled. If you do not use bypass paywall, see it below:

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told Vladimir Putin during a phone call in October that he was willing to go to great lengths to assist the Russian president, including to help settle the war in Ukraine by hosting a summit in Budapest.

“Yesterday our friendship rose to such a high level that I can help in any way,” Orban said, according to a Hungarian government transcript of the call reviewed by Bloomberg. “In any matter where I can be of assistance, I am at your service.”

To underline the point, Orban recalled a children’s story he said was popular in Hungary. The Aesop fable involves a mouse freeing a lion caught in a net after it had earlier spared the rodent’s life. The remark drew a laugh from Putin, the transcript shows. Spokespeople for Orban and Putin didn’t immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.

The relationship between Orban’s government and the Kremlin is coming under increasing scrutiny as Hungarians prepare to vote in an election this weekend, with opinion polls indicating that Putin’s closest ally in the European Union could be ousted after 16 years. Hungary opposes aid to Ukraine, while Orban’s campaign is portraying President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as an enemy of the state.

The brief call between Orban and Putin, which took place around noon on Oct. 17 and whose content is being reported for the first time, provides further evidence to suggest that helping Russia is a policy that comes from the very top of government.

The two men spent much of the discussion sharing their appreciation for each other, and also for Donald Trump. Both had spoken to the US president the previous day about the potential summit in Budapest, which ultimately didn’t happen.

Trump has endorsed Orban and US Vice President JD Vance will visit Budapest Tuesday as the election campaign enters the final stretch.

In the call, Orban described the friendship with Putin as having strengthened since it first began in the Russian leader’s home city of St. Petersburg in 2009.

“The more friends we make, the more possibilities we have to resist our adversaries,” said Orban, according to the transcript, which was corroborated by a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing confidential talks. The Hungarian premier lamented that he and Putin hadn’t been able to meet regularly in person as they had before the Covid pandemic.

Putin was then effusive over Hungary’s “independent and flexible” stance on his war against Ukraine. “It is incomprehensible to us that such a balanced, middle-ground position only generates counter arguments,” said the Russian president, according to the transcript. An anti-Ukraine campaign poster in Budapest.Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg

Some European leaders hit out at Hungary last week after a consortium of investigative news outlets, including The Insider and VSquare, published a leaked recording of a call between Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, involving removing a Russian billionaire’s sister from the EU’s sanctions list. Szijjarto dismissed the story as the work of foreign intelligence services tapping his calls and said that it’s no secret that he opposes the EU’s sanctions policy.

That report followed one in the Washington Post, citing a European security official, that Szijjarto would regularly brief Lavrov on private discussions in Brussels between EU foreign ministers.

Revelations of just how closely Hungary keeps Russia informed and works to advance its interests comes at a critical time.

Opposition leader Peter Magyar, a former insider in Hungary’s ruling elite, has vowed to steer Hungary back toward the European mainstream and away from Moscow should he prevail in Sunday’s election. Orban, meanwhile, has made anti-Ukraine messages the central theme of his campaign.

His government is obstructing a critical €90 billion ($104 billion) loan to Kyiv and last month authorities seized currency that was being transferred from Austria to Ukraine overland via Hungary. The country also continues to import Russian energy while the EU phases it out.

Orban and Putin spoke by phone as recently as March 3, where the Russian leader hailed “Hungary’s principled stance” on Ukraine, according to a Kremlin transcript. They also exchanged views on progress in agreements reached when Orban visited Putin in Moscow on Nov. 28. Orban noted then that it was their 14th meeting.

The main purpose of the October call, according to the transcript reviewed by Bloomberg, was to discuss the possibility of Hungary hosting a US-Russia meeting that had been floated at the time.

“Orban expressed willingness to lay the groundwork for holding a possible Russia–United States summit in Budapest,” according to an official readout released by the Kremlin after the call, which was in Hungarian and Russian, and lasted less than 15 minutes with translation.

According to the transcript of the call reviewed by Bloomberg, Putin walked Orban through the steps that could lead to the event, starting with a potential meeting between Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio before deciding the “appropriate level of representation.”

The president suggested involving Szijjarto in the discussions, according to the transcript. The Rubio-Lavrov meeting didn’t happen in the end.

Hungary was one of the few, “perhaps the only,” European country that was an acceptable venue for the meeting under discussion, Putin said, adding that he agreed with Trump’s assessment that it was an appropriate location because Orban was a friend to both presidents.

The summit in Budapest didn’t take place as the US and Russia failed to agree on Moscow’s maximalist demands over Ukraine. It would have followed a meeting between Trump and Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, in August.

Both Orban and Putin were full of praise for Trump. The Hungarian premier, who has been feted by the US administration and the MAGA movement, said he admired the American president’s “tornado”-style business approach.

“As they say, he moves forward like a tank,” Putin said. “It works for him, and you can only feel joy about it.” He praised Trump’s ability to deal with various crises at the same time, including in the Middle East. The US president had recently concluded a peace agreement in Gaza. More recently, Moscow has criticized the US for attacking Iran.

The call began with Orban wishing Putin a happy birthday after he’d turned 73 earlier in October. It ended with the two leaders inquiring about their respective health.

“I exercise, I also ski. I know you play football,” the Russian president said, according to the transcript. “I try,” Orban replied, to the laughter of both men. The Hungarian premier then thanked Putin and said good-bye in Russian.

Violent crime committed by active-duty Russian servicemen has surged since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Poland-based news outlet Vot Tak reported, with murders, sexual assaults and robberies rising far faster than the military’s expansion.

Russian garrison military courts received 729 murder cases involving servicemen between 2022 and 2025, compared with just 67 in the four years before the war, according to data compiled by Vot Tak.

The more-than-tenfold increase comes as the size of Russia’s Armed Forces grew by roughly one and a half times over the same period.

...

The number of murders committed by servicemen outside combat zones has risen steadily each year of the war, according to the court data.

In 2025, the number of murder cases handled by garrison military courts was one and a half times higher than in 2024 and 16 times higher than in 2022, the first year of the invasion.

Overall, 729 such cases were filed between 2022 and 2025, compared to just 67 cases from 2018 to 2021.

Similarly, courts received 278 cases of grievous bodily harm resulting in death during the war years, compared with fewer than 40 in the preceding four-year period.

The sharp rise cannot be explained solely by the military’s expansion, Vot Tak said. Presidential decrees increased the size of the military by about 50% compared with pre-war levels, far below the rate of growth in violent crime.

...

Alcohol consumption appears to play a significant role in many of the killings.

In nearly three-quarters of published verdicts reviewed by Vot Tak, the perpetrator was intoxicated at the time of the crime. Soldiers committed murders while on leave, during downtime and even while on duty.

...

While some killings involve disputes among servicemen, most take place outside military settings.

Only about 17% of the cases reviewed involved victims who were fellow soldiers. The majority of victims were civilians, oftentimes friends, acquaintances or strangers.

...

In one case, a mobilized soldier stabbed a woman 42 times in a wooded area after an argument during a drinking session. He later attempted to persuade a witness to help bury the body.

...

Archived

The Bucha massacre of 400 Ukrainian civilians in April 2025 “has ​come to symbolise the cruelty of Russia’s war”, said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Tuesday (31 March) after visiting a memorial on the eve of the fourth anniversary, together with ministers from 12 EU countries.

Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski said: “Anybody who claims that [Russian President] Vladimir Putin is not a war criminal should come and see for themselves”.

German foreign minister Johann Wadepuhl said: “We are working together with our partners to enable the legal prosecution of Russian atrocities”.

Italy’s Antonio Tajani also said: “The goal must be a just peace, also to prevent new massacres of innocent civilians”.

Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha contradicted last year’s 28-point US peace proposal, which called for amnesty for Russian war crimes, saying: “There will be no amnesty for Russian criminals, including the highest political and military leadership of the Russian federation”.

...

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/28133646

The war goes on, and so does the global energy crisis. In fact, I believe that prices of oil futures remain too low given how much spot prices will need to rise to resolve the shortages that will hit once oil supplies that were shipped before the Strait of Hormuz was closed are exhausted.

But a better future is coming, despite Donald Trump’s assault on renewable energy as he tries to drag us back into the fossil fuel past. Regardless of Trump’s chest-thumping, America is not the world. We account for only 15 percent of global energy consumption, compared with China’s 28 percent. And the rest of the world is moving rapidly to renewables, thanks to a technological revolution in solar power, wind power, and, less visibly, batteries.

So let me take an optimism break and talk about why batteries may save the world.

The decline in battery prices has been incredible. It’s like nothing anyone has ever seen before. Big, strong men with tears in their eyes come up to me and say, “Sir, have you seen the progress in batteries?”

Why does this matter?

[ ... ]

Furthermore, we’ve seen rapid progress in all components of the green energy transformation, even though their underlying technologies have little in common. Solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries are very different, yet all have seen revolutionary improvements. This strongly suggests that the whole renewable energy complex is experiencing a virtuous circle: ever-growing use leads to falling costs and falling costs lead to ever-growing use.

[ ... ]

So although we are now in the midst of a severe energy crisis that could easily go on for many months, this too shall pass. A better, cheaper, cleaner energy future is on the way, and not even Trump can stop it.

Jose Luis Abalos is a disgraced ex-Socialist heavyweight, a former transport minister who helped propel Sanchez to power in 2018. The case is one of several corruption affairs rattling the fragile coalition.

Abalos and his former adviser Koldo Garcia are suspected of having pocketed kickbacks for handing out public contracts worth millions of euros for sanitary equipment during the Covid-19 pandemic.

...

The Supreme Court in Madrid will judge them for alleged bribery, embezzlement, influence peddling, membership of a criminal organisation and misuse of confidential information. The men deny the charges.

...

This is the first major corruption trial affecting the government since Sanchez came to power in 2018 after ousting a conservative Popular Party (PP) government in a no-confidence vote over its own graft scandal.

The Socialists have sought to distance themselves from the case.

...

But [conservative Popular Party] PP spokesman Juan Bravo said Abalos was Sanchez's "friend and quite possibly his cover-up man" even though the prime minister has said he knew nothing about his former minister's personal life.

Prosecutors want Abalos to serve 24 years in jail. They portray him as the mastermind of a scheme of illicit enrichment. They have called for a 19-year term for Garcia, who they say was a key intermediary.

...

Resident population held steady at around 59 million

Net immigration at 296,000 last year Without migrants, population would have shrunk by 297,000

Fertility rate down to 1.14 children ​per woman

The new EES system will be fully implemented from 10 April onwards and could help significantly modernise EU control systems – but not without a few initial hiccups along the way.

A very leading question and probably a stupid one to ask on Lemmy.

Perhaps some of you might have seen me around before, or seen a glimpse of one of my creative projects as you scrolled through All/New. I am nowhere near as prolific with my posting on Lemmy as some of you. But I'm here lurking daily.

Don't think we don't notice you! Your herculean efforts to keep this corner of the internet alive is pivotal to the success and continued existence of the fediverse.

Posting my creative projects on the fediverse was how I got started with Lemmy when I was looking for a new home once I finally took the leap to leave the corporate platforms and their insidious algorithms.

Around five months ago there was a post about The free software foundation announcing a librephone initiative. I wrote a comment expressing some of my feelings and thoughts about the European citizens highly restricted options to participate in our digital society, and I was surprised by the huge amount of ⭡ I received. It caused me to take pause, and a seed was planted. Around the same time I had begun working on a long argumentative text in opposition to CC2(Chat Controll 2), when it made one of its million rounds in the EU parliament calendar, which I then sent to all "my" representatives, and some others. The seed was now germinating. I also realised when reading through all the proposed legislation in the CC2 bill, that there was two huge gaping loopholes written into the proposition that would essentially make it toothless. Namely, open source peer-to-peer software falling out side of its scope and the definition of organisation was so broad, that all of Lemmy could just decide that we are a non-profit organisation(some minor bureaucratic filings required) and all members would be exempt as long as the communication was within the "organisation". The sprout now broke the soil. We shouldn't be reactive we should be as aggressively active, as the organisations that are lobbying against our digital rights. We should organise... I want to organise!

So I started researching what was required to start a non-profit organisation, what you are allowed to do, what grants such an organisation might be able to apply for, how non-profits can earn revenue, how this revenue is allowed to be used while retaining the non-profit status. (Not to leach, but to sustain the organisation) what is required if the organisation were to take on salaried employees, etc.

Not long after this, the EU-Commission opened an Open call for Feedback on Open Source Software. So I figured this would be a great opportunity for me to dip my toes into the world of public consultation responses or submissions.

Since my late teens I have been a proponent of open source and digital rights and freedoms for individuals. My proselytising though, has been almost exclusively happening in the interpersonal sphere. To the annoyance of my friends. But now I was about to do it publicly, my apprehension turned into weeks of research and debates while writing my response. This research turned into a 3000 word argumentative paper( also posted here on Lemmy for the interested and gives a lot of insight on where I stand on the issue of sovereignty and OSS). All while I was still working on a Non-profit organisations Bylaws/constitution along with Policy documentation and a vision and strategy document. One big thing I took away from this research and reflection was that citizen/consumer digital rights, even if enshrined into law, will be impossible to uphold without digital sovereignty.

I might be slaughtering the English words for these documents. But it's in essence; The Bylaws are the legally binding document that outlines what we will do, how we will aim to do it, and our core mission. The Policy describes the internal structure, ethics, and operational guidelines. Vision and Strategy outlines where we are aiming to go.

What now?

Well I need driven individuals that share my passion for OSS(FOSS) , democratic values, EU- resilience and digital sovereignty. I have deliberately refrained from trying to stack the board with friends/personal contacts, because I don't want this to be just my project, my mission.

As of now it(Working name exists, but that's not important right now.) is a non-entity because the Bylaws need to be voted on by a board of at least 5 individuals.

What would be the core mission of this organisation?

• I envision it to be an organisation that actively lobbies for citizen digital rights and digital sovereignty.

• An organisation that on its own and in collaboration with like minded organisations engage in Educating the public and build awareness around digital rights and sovereignty(we have a word for this in Swedish that is so much more fitting -opinionsbildande).

• Actively engages in projects that seeks to address digital exclusion.

• Promotes OSS/FOSS solutions and consults about their implementations and advantages/benefits.

• Lobby for platform independent FOSS alternatives to access crucial governmental/banking services.

The list of priorities is extensive but.. with a little luck I have conveyed enough for those interested, to join my mission.

This is still early days, so no homepage yet, no social media handles. What I have created is a Fluxer.app Community for those interested in participating. https://fluxer.gg/Nf9hGtQq The Fluxer community is meant as a stepping stone, a place to start.

And for those few of you who has followed me for my creative content and has been wondering why I haven't updated in a while, this is what has kept me from working on creative projects.

//FoliumCreations

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has convened an emergency meeting of the National Defence Council after explosives were found near a pipeline that transports Russian gas to Hungary.

The discovery in a border area of neighbouring Serbia comes as Orban's party is badly trailing in opinion polls ahead of crucial elections next Sunday.

Opposition leader Peter Magyar accused him of "panic-mongering" orchestrated by "Russian advisers", days after security experts warned of a possible "false flag" operation that could be blamed on Ukraine.

Orban, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has resisted EU calls to abandon Russian energy imports since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

As EU citizens we want to live in a Union that truly embodies the values we defend and believe in. Across the world, countless lives are affected by human rights violations, and we expect our Union to uphold human rights firmly and fairly, everywhere and for everyone. But what if there is differential treatment of human rights violations?

In practice, the EU’s current approach to human rights suffers from double standards: it is incoherent, fragmented, and inconsistently applied across partner countries. As the EU acts differently depending on the country, this leads to uneven responses that weaken the universal nature of human rights.

This initiative calls on the European Commission to propose a regulation that establishes a standardised oversight of human rights across its areas of competence in its external action with third countries. The regulation should ensure that the Commission monitors, evaluates, and responds to human rights violations in a manner that is transparent, consistent, effective, proportionate and timely.

We propose a legal framework allowing the EU to improve its approach to human rights and reinforce its credibility in the world by better safeguarding international human rights law. Join us in calling for no more double standards on human rights!

Starting from Southeast Asia, people realize that a severe and probably long energy crisis lies ahead - and goverments act differently.

What happens will not only affect energy prices in Europe, but also vital global supply chains.

Regulation 2021/1232 expired at 23:59 CEST on 3 April 2026. This means that from now on any proactive scanning of private communications is prohibited for any reason.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/46954555

EU will require all member states to have digital profiles of citizens with birth certs and IDs

Ireland is getting a new, universal 'Digital Wallet' app that will collect info, including birth certs, driving licences and PPS numbers for individual citizens - as per European Union requirements for 2027.

And the Government is asking for volunteers to take part in testing and trial runs. The Digital wallet will be used to access a range of public services, including welfare support, such as the Working Family Payment. It could also store data such as health profiles, along the lines of the so called 'vaccine passports' that were in use during the Pandemic.

The digital wallet aims to allow people to securely access documents such as birth certificates or driving licences and register for key welfare support, such as the working family payment.
It has also been suggested as an age-verification tool by Tanaiste Simon Harris, who has said children under the age of 16 should not be on social media in the wake of the Grok AI controversy.
The Government is legally obliged, under EU regulations, to ensure there is a digital wallet for accessing public services by the end of the year, and for private services by the end of 2027.
The public testing phase of the wallet is to begin in early April and is seen as “critical” to ensure it is designed “to satisfy user needs and expectations”, the Department said.
The first stage, for which people can opt in, gives people the chance to view the design of the wallet, understand its proposed features, provide feedback and sign up for further testing.
The second stage allows people aged 16 or older to download the wallet and test limited functions.
People can register to be part of the testing phase at gov.ie/DigitalWallet.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Public Service Reform Jack Chambers said the app would “make it simpler” for people to verify their identity, apply for support and access entitlements, as he launched the public consultation on Friday.

He said: “The wallet is designed so that all personal data is fully protected, and the user stays in control of what information they put in the wallet and choose to share,” he said. "Only the details needed for a service will be shared, and nothing more. Big life events, such as having a baby, moving home, or starting a new job often require dealing with several different public service providers. The digital wallet aims to reduce that administrative burden, making it easier, faster and more secure to access the supports people need. This testing and consultation phase is an important step in building a digital wallet that genuinely works for people. We want to hear the public’s ideas, concerns and expectations. The public’s feedback will directly shape how the wallet looks, how it works, and how it supports everyday life.”

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/61926294