Orban's government

Top EU officials took turns assailing Hungary's Viktor Orban on Wednesday over democratic backsliding and his Russia-friendly stance on Ukraine, as the nationalist leader delivered a headline address to the bloc's parliament.

The Hungarian parliament adopted on Wednesday a legal amendment aimed at strengthening the independence of the judicial system, at the suggestion of the right-wing government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, DPA reported.

The EU Commission has proposed suspending around a third of Hungary's budgetary funds, but Orban's government tries to sell the blunder as a success.

Massive rallies against an unpopular tax reform have continued in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, where several thousand protesters gathered near the parliament building on Wednesday afternoon, many of them independent entrepreneurs affected by the changes.

During his visit to Banja Luka in December last year, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban promised 100 million euros in financial assistance to Bosnia's Serb-led entity, Republika Srpska, as part of Hungary's Responsible Neighbourhood policy, to enhance stability in the region.

"We have managed to defend our utility cost reduction program. We managed to repel the European Commission's proposal that would have banned the use of oil from Russia in Hungary. Families can sleep peacefully tonight, the most daunting idea has been fought off." Orban wrote triumphantly in a Facebook post.

Balazs Furjes, state secretary for the development of Budapest, countered by pointing out that at least Orban speaks good English, while Karacsony still has to give interviews to the foreign media via an interpreter and cannot communicate with counterparts at international conferences due to a lack of basic language skills.

Hungary's government on Monday launched Prime Minister Viktor Orban's eighth 'national consultation', which critics describe as a tool to create the illusion of popular consent for his controversial policies.

National consultations look like opinion polls, are sent to every household, and usually contain a list of questions.

Scenes of the packed terminal, breaking all social-distancing restrictions imposed by the government to tackle the spread of COVID-19, caused consternation in the European Union country, where the novel coronavirus had killed more than 300 people as of Sunday.

Rights groups warn that legislation submitted to the Hungarian parliament, giving the government of Viktor Orban unprecedented power of decree in the fight against COVID-19, would have a "chilling effect" on independent media in the country.