BRUSSELS — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s plan to shake up how the EU spends its almost €2 trillion budget is rapidly being diluted. Von der Leyen’s big idea is to steer hundreds of billions in funds away from farmer subsidies and regional payouts — traditionally the bread and butter of the EU budget — toward defense spending and industrial competitiveness. But those modernizing changes — demanded by richer Northern European countries that pay more into the budget than they receive back from it — are difficult to push through in the face of stern opposition from Southern and Central European countries, which get generous payments for farmers and their poorer regions. A coalition of EU governments, lawmakers and farmers is now joining forces to undo key elements of the new-look budget running from 2028 to 2034, less than six months after the European Commission proposed to focus on those new priorities. Von der Leyen’s offer last week to allow countries to spend up to an extra €45 billion on farmer subsidies is her latest concession to powerful forces that want to keep the budget as close as possible to the status quo. Northern European countries are growing increasingly frustrated by moves by other national capitals and stakeholders to turn back the clock on the EU budget, according to three European diplomats. They were particularly irritated by a successful Franco-Italian push last week to exact more concessions for farmers as part of diplomatic maneuvers to get the long-delayed Mercosur trade deal with Latin America over the line. “Some delegations showed up with speaking points that they have taken out of the drawer from 2004,” said an EU diplomat who, like others quoted in this story, was granted anonymity to speak freely. The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy was worth 46 percent of the bloc’s total budget in 2004. The Commission’s proposal for 2028-2034 has reserved a minimum of roughly 25 percent of the total cash pot for farmers, although governments can spend significantly more than that. The Commission had no immediate comment when asked whether the anti-reform camp was successfully chipping away at von der Leyen’s proposal. THE ANTI-REFORM ALLIANCE The Commission’s July proposal to modernize the budget triggered shockwaves in Brussels and beyond. The transition away from sacred cows consolidated a ramshackle coalition of angry farmers, regional leaders and lawmakers who feared they would lose money and influence in the years to come. “This was the most radical budget [ever proposed] and there was resistance from many interested parties,” said Zsolt Darvas, a senior fellow at the Bruegel think tank. A protest by disgruntled farmers in Brussels during a summit of EU leaders on Dec. 18 was only the latest flashpoint of discontent. | Bastien Ohier/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images The scale of the Commission’s task became apparent weeks before the proposal was even published, as outspoken MEPs, ministers and farmers’ unions threatened to dismantle the budget in the following years of negotiations. That’s exactly what is happening now. “The Commission’s proposal was quite radical so no one thought it could go ahead this way,” said a second EU diplomat.   “We knew that this would be controversial,” echoed a Commission official working on the file. A protest by disgruntled farmers in Brussels during a summit of EU leaders on Dec. 18 was only the latest flashpoint of discontent. The terrible optics of the EU’s signing off on Mercosur as farmers took to the streets on tractors was not lost on national leaders and EU officials. Commission experts spent their Christmas break crafting a clever workaround that allows countries to raise agricultural subsidies by a further €45 billion without increasing the overall size of the budget. The extra money for farmers isn’t new — it’s been brought forward from an existing rainy-day fund that was designed to make the EU budget better suited to handling unexpected crises. By handing farmers a significant share of that financial buffer, however, the Commission is undermining its capacity to mobilize funding for emergencies or other policy areas. “You are curtailing the logic of having a more flexible budget for crises in the future,” said Eulalia Rubio, a senior fellow at the Jacques Delors Institute think tank. At the time, reactions to the budget compromise from frugal countries such as Germany and Netherlands were muted because it were seen as a bargaining chip to win Italy’s backing for the Mercosur deal championed by Berlin. The trouble was instead postponed, as it reduces budget flexibility. Darvas also argued that the Commission has not had to backtrack “too much” on the fundamentals of its proposal as countries retained the option of whether to spend the extra cash on agriculture. In a further concession, the Commission proposed additional guarantees to reduce the risk of national governments cutting payments to more developed regions. | Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images ANOTHER MONTH, ANOTHER CONCESSION This wasn’t the first time von der Leyen has tinkered with the budget proposal to extract herself from a political quagmire. The Commission president had already suggested changes to the budget in November to stem a budding revolt by her own European People’s Party (EPP), which was feeling the heat from farmers’ unions and regional leaders. At the time, the EU executive promised more money for farmers by introducing a “rural spending” target worth 10 percent of a country’s total EU funds. In a further concession, the Commission proposed additional guarantees to reduce the risk of national governments cutting payments to more developed regions — a sensitive issue for decentralized countries like Germany and Spain. “The general pattern that we don’t like is that the Commission is continuing to offer tiny tweaks here and there” to appease different constituencies, an EU official said. The Commission official retorted that national capitals would eventually have made those changes themselves as the “trend of the negotiations [in the Council] was going in that direction.” However, budget veterans who are used to painstaking negotiations were surprised by the speed at which Commission offered concessions so early in the process. “Everyone is scared of the [2027] French elections [fearing a victory by the far-right National Rally] and wants to get a deal by the end of the year, so the Commission is keen to expedite,” said the second EU diplomat. Nicholas Vinocur contributed to this report.

LONDON — Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice has floated replacing the Office for Budget Responsibility with a rotating panel of experts to produce economic forecasts for the U.K. government.  In an interview with POLITICO, Tice attacked the OBR’s “woeful” forecasts and proposed replacing it with a revolving panel of the top economic forecasters in the country, who would produce their own estimates of the U.K.’s fiscal health. “What’s the point of them if you’re not going to do your job properly?” Tice said of Britain’s under-fire fiscal watchdog. “There is a turgid reluctance to accept the process of continuous improvement.” “If you didn’t have the OBR, what are you replacing [it with]? Well, maybe you could have a revolving panel of the top eight economic forecasters who have, twice a year, a mandate to produce their own estimate of the key six [to] eight metrics,” he added. His comments follow previous suggestions from Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage to abolish the body, but it has not yet been clear what the party would propose to take its place. As Reform continues to top U.K. opinion polls, the development of the party’s economic agenda has been closely watched by the financial sector and beyond. The OBR has come under attack for its forecasting record from both sides of the political aisle. It faced significant scrutiny in November after its economic and fiscal outlook, which contained detailed information on the contents of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ autumn budget, was accidentally made accessible hours before she began her official announcement. OBR Chair Richard Hughes stepped down as a result of the leak. The OBR has also been criticized for its outsized influence on government spending, given that its forecasts can have a significant impact on which policies the Treasury decides to include in the budget. “The OBR is literally telling the government how to run its policy,” Tice said. “The government comes up with an idea, and it says to the OBR ‘what’s the consequence of this?’” “[The OBR] say this is our forecast, so the government says I can’t do that or I can do that, and then you find out that the OBR forecast was useless, not worth the paper it’s written on.” Tice joins former Prime Minister Liz Truss in his criticism of the independent body. Truss, who also called for the OBR to be abolished, shunned the watchdog’s provision of an independent economic forecast and analysis for her 2022 mini budget, leading to market turmoil. One of the Labour Party’s first acts upon reaching government in July 2024 was to put in place a “budget responsibility” bill to enable the OBR to produce of its own volition a forecast on major government tax or spending plans.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul denounced Iran’s harsh treatment of protestors as demonstrations across the theocratic Islamist country entered a second week.  “Peacefully expressing their opinion is their [Iran citizens’] right,” Wadephul wrote on X Thursday. “I therefore condemn the excessive use of violence against peaceful demonstrators and call on the Iranian authorities to adhere to their international obligations.” Protests in Iran erupted in the final week of 2025, driven by public anger over the country’s brutal economic situation. Within days, however, they morphed into open opposition to the country’s clerical leadership. Iranian human rights group Hrana said at least 34 protestors and two state security officers had been killed by Tuesday, with at least 2,000 protestors arrested. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday appealed to security forces not to target protestors. Hours after Wadephul’s appeal, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola also backed the protestors. “We know the change is underway,” she said. “The people of Iran are not protesting. They are crying out. Europe hears them, the world hears them, and they will only get louder.” “To the people of Iran, your pride and dignity as a people determined to build a great free nation will inspire generations in Iran and around the world,” she added. Conservative German MP Roderich Kiesewetter called for tougher action, urging EU officials to expand sanctions on Iran’s clerical regime and to list the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard state security force as a terrorist organization. “The time for diplomatic restraint toward the terrorist mullahs must be over,” Kiesewetter told POLITICO. “We now have to move from talk to decisive action and speak the language the regime understands: toughness and isolation.” French media reported on Thursday that Iranian officials have begun seeking French visas for their families. “It is an intolerable situation that the children of the regime’s elite shop in Paris while their fathers issue shoot-to-kill orders at home,” Kiesewetter stated. “This calls for an immediate visa ban.” Shahin Gobadi, a member of the foreign affairs committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition of Iranian dissident groups based in France and Albania, agreed the Revolutionary Guard should be placed on the EU’s terrorism list and slammed the bloc for its complacency. “The EU response, specifically its silence, has been totally unacceptable,” he told POLITICO. U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran last week that the United States would “come to the rescue” if Iranian authorities continued to “shoot and violently kill peaceful protestors.” Trump’s remarks came a day before the U.S. took action in Venezuela. POLITICO was unable to reach the Iranian government for comment; the Netblocks watchdog organization said the country is suffering a partial internet outage. Iran’s Embassy to the EU in Brussels did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Italian government is satisfied with new funding promised by Brussels to European farmers and is signaling that it may cast its decisive vote in favor of the EU’s huge trade deal with the Latin American Mercosur bloc. Ahead of Friday’s vote by EU member countries, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Rome was happy with the European Commission’s efforts to make the deal more palatable. Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida also said the accord represented an opportunity — especially for food exporters. “Italy has never changed its position: We have always supported the conclusion of the agreement,” Tajani said on Wednesday evening. Yet they stopped short of saying outright that Italy would vote in favor of the deal. Instead, within sight of the finish line, Rome is pressing to tighten additional safeguards to shield the EU farm market from being destabilized by any potential influx of South American produce. Rome’s endorsement of the accord, which has been a quarter century in the making and would create a free-trade zone spanning more than 700 million people, is crucial. A qualified majority of 15 of the EU’s 27 countries representing 65 percent of the bloc’s population is needed. Italy, with its large population, effectively holds the casting vote. France and Poland are still holding out against a pro-Mercosur majority led by Germany — but they lack the numbers to stall the deal. If it goes through, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen could fly to Paraguay to sign the accord as soon as next week. The bloc’s other members are Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. ‘AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY’ Italy praised a raft of additional measures proposed by the Commission — including farm market safeguards and fresh budget promises on agriculture funding — as “the most comprehensive system of protections ever included in a free trade agreement signed by the EU.” Tajani, who as deputy prime minister oversees trade policy, has long taken a pro-Mercosur position. He said the deal would help the EU diversify its trade relationships and boost “the strategic autonomy and economic sovereignty of Italy and our continent.” Even Lollobrigida, who has sympathized in the past with farmers’ concerns on the deal, is striking a more positive tone. At a meeting hosted by the Commission in Brussels on Wednesday, Lollobrigida described Mercosur as “an excellent opportunity.” The minister, who is close to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and is from her Brothers of Italy party, also said its provisions on so-called geographical indications would help Italy promote its world-famous delicacies in South America. It would mean no more ‘Parmesão,’” he said, referring to Italian-sounding knockoffs of the famed hard cheese. ONE MORE THING … Lollobrigida said Italy could back the deal if the farm market safeguards are tightened. The EU institutions agreed in December to require the Commission to investigate surges in imports of beef or poultry from Mercosur if volumes rise by 8 percent from the average, or if those imports undercut comparable EU products by a similar margin. Even Francesco Lollobrigida, who has sympathized in the past with farmers’ concerns on the deal, is striking a more positive tone. | Fabio Cimaglia/EPA “We want to go from 8 percent to 5 percent. And we believe that the conditions are there to also reach this goal,” Lollobrigida told Italian daily IlSole24Ore in an interview on Thursday. Meloni pulled the emergency brake at a pre-Christmas EU summit, forcing the Commission to delay the final vote on the deal while it worked on ways to address her concerns around EU farm funding. In response Von der Leyen proposed this week to offer earlier access to up to €45 billion in agricultural funding under the bloc’s next long-term budget. Giorgio Leali reported from Paris and Gerardo Fortuna from Brussels.

Opposition parties in Berlin’s state parliament want Mayor Kai Wegner to resign for playing tennis while city residents shivered during a five-day power outage. German public broadcaster RBB reported Wednesday that after being informed of the blackout on Saturday, Wegner had gone to play tennis with romantic partner Katharina Günther-Wünsch, Berlin’s top education official. Wegner confirmed the report in an interview with Welt TV (which, like POLITICO, belongs to the Axel Springer group). “I played tennis from 1 to 2 p.m. because I wanted to clear my head. I was reachable the whole time … my phone was on loud. I went straight back afterward and continued working,” he told Welt. On Sunday, however, Wegner had offered journalists a different story when confronted as to his whereabouts the previous day. “I was at home. I literally locked myself in my home office and coordinated things from there,” he maintained. Wegner, whose conservative CDU party governs Berlin in coalition with the Social Democrats, is facing criticism from opposition parties across the political spectrum. Tobias Schulze, leader of the far-left Die Linke faction in Berlin’s state parliament, told POLITICO: “The fact that Kai Wegner chose to go play tennis instead of traveling to the crisis area shows a lack of responsibility and a lack of empathy. Mr. Wegner must ask himself whether he has lived up to the responsibility of his office.” The far-right AfD also savaged the mayor. Kristin Brinker, leader of the party’s Berlin parliamentary group, said “Anyone who prefers leisure time in moments of crisis is in the wrong place. Mr. Wegner, you’ve lost this match. Take your hat.” The Saturday blackout was triggered by an arson attack on an energy cable; the militant far-left Vulkangruppe faction has claimed responsibility. The outage affected some 45,000 households in the south of Berlin containing both wealthier residents and vulnerable people. With temperatures well below freezing, many homes were left without heating for days. On Wednesday authorities confirmed that one woman in the affected area had been found dead in her home. Wegner told Welt it remains unclear whether the death was linked to the blackout. The mayor’s handling of the crisis drew further criticism after a social media video showed an enraged resident upbraiding Wegner over the transfer of care-dependent older residents to a gym. Berlin officials also found themselves in hot water after the city told affected residents they could book hotel rooms for €70 a night. After an outcry the city reversed course and offered free hotel accommodation. Power in the area was fully restored on Wednesday. Berlin holds state elections in September. Even before the blackout, the CDU was polling around 22 percent, 6 points fewer than it received in the 2023 Berlin state election.

In the wake of the U.S.’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday made it clear that it is somewhat unclear what’s next for the Latin American country. In multiple interviews, Rubio emphasized that the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela but stopped short of explaining exactly what the U.S. role in the country will look like as both nations reel from Maduro’s arrest — and in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s statement Saturday that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela for an indeterminate time. “We are at war against drug trafficking organizations, not at war against Venezuela,” Rubio told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Rubio added that oil sanctions will remain in place, and the U.S. reserves the right to issue strikes against alleged drug boats heading toward America. But while Rubio told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the U.S. is not occupying Venezuela, he did not reject the idea that it could be a future option from the Trump administration. Trump, Rubio said, “does not feel like he is going to publicly rule out options that are available for the United States, even though that’s not what you’re seeing right now,” “What you’re seeing right now is a quarantine that allows us to exert tremendous leverage over what happens next,” he added. Trump announced that the U.S. had captured Maduro and his wife in a “large-scale strike” early Saturday. Rubio on Sunday repeatedly deflected about the legality of the capture on ABC’s “This Week,” while he told NBC that congressional approval for the operation was unnecessary because the arrest was not a military mission. “This was not an invasion. This was not an extended military operation. This was a very precise operation that involved a couple of hours of action,” Rubio said. Still, the administration’s actions have prompted Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) to say he will force a vote on a war powers resolution to block further military action against Venezuela without congressional approval. Rubio appeared unperturbed about the vote, telling NBC’s Kristen Welker that the administration will only seek congressional approval for actions that require it. “Otherwise, they will get congressional notifications,” he added. Following Maduro’s ousting, Trump on Saturday said the U.S. would take control of the country. Rubio — along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine — would be among those in charge of Venezuela. But Rubio on Sunday argued that the U.S. isn’t controlling Venezuela — just Venezuelan policy. “We want Venezuela to move in a certain direction, because not only do we think it’s good for the people of Venezuela, it’s in our national interest,” Rubio said. “The goal of the policy is to see changes in Venezuela that are beneficial to the United States, first and foremost, because that’s who we work for.” Still, it remains unclear exactly how long the U.S. will maintain control over the Latin American country and what form that control will take. When pressed on if the White House has some idea of a transition plan in place for Venezuela, Rubio bristled. “There has to be a little realism here,” Rubio told CBS’ Margaret Brennan. “They’ve had the system of Chavismo in place for 15 or 16 years, and everyone’s asking why 24 hours after Nicolás Maduro was arrested there isn’t an election scheduled for tomorrow? There’s a process.” Chavismo is a left-wing political ideology implemented by former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. Rubio said that “of course” the administration wants Venezuela to be “a place completely different” than it is today but added that there is no expectation “that’s going to happen in the next 15 hours.” Though the U.S. cares about democracy and elections, Rubio told NBC: “The No. 1 thing we care about is the safety, security, well-being and prosperity of the United States.”

A potential peace agreement to end Russia’s war in Ukraine is “90 percent ready,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his New Year’s address to the nation late Wednesday night. “Ten percent remains … Those 10 percent contain, in fact, everything,” he said in a 20-minute speech focused on the war, which in 2026 is entering its fifth year. “Those are the 10 percent that will determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe, how people will live.” He explained that while Ukraine’s position had been heard internationally, it had not yet been fully accepted. “Have our arguments been heard? We very much hope so. Have they agreed with us? Not fully. Not yet. That is precisely why, for now, we speak of 90 percent, not the full 100 percent, readiness of a peace agreement,” he said. Zelenskyy stressed that he would only sign a “strong agreement,” because a weak agreement would “only fuel war.” He said: “What does Ukraine want? Peace? Yes. At any cost? No. We want the end of the war — not the end of Ukraine.” The president thanked nearly all European countries for their support, listing them individually, but did not mention Hungary. Referring to Budapest’s stance on Russia’s invasion, he said: “A Budapest-style piece of paper will not satisfy Ukraine.” On U.S. President Donald Trump, he said: “The U.S. president always mentions our people and talks about how bravely Ukrainians are fighting.” Zelenskyy acknowledged that Ukrainians were “tired,” but said they were “not ready to surrender.” He noted that Russia’s invasion has now lasted longer than the Nazi occupation of Ukraine during World War II. He also warned that Putin’s claim that Kyiv’s withdrawal from Donbas would end the war cannot be believed. “That is how deception sounds when translated from Russian … Does anyone still believe them? Unfortunately. Because too often, the truth is still avoided and called diplomacy, though in reality it is simply lies in suits.” The Ukrainian president once again stressed his position on ending the conflict: “Either the world stops Russia’s war, or Russia drags the world into its war.” A next meeting between Zelenskyy and international leaders is scheduled for January 6 in France, as officials announced earlier this week.

European leaders must agree on a funding deal for Ukraine at a crunch summit in Brussels this week, Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday. Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the European Commission president said, “I proposed two different options for this upcoming European Council. One based on assets and one based on EU borrowing. And we will have to decide which way we want to take, which route we want to take.” She added: “But one thing is very, very clear. We have to take the decision to fund Ukraine for the next two years in this European Council.” Stressing the need for stronger European defense capabilities, she added, “Europe must be responsible for its own security. This is no longer an option. This is a must. We need to be ready.” “There is no more important act of European defense than supporting Ukraine’s defense. The next days will be a crucial step for securing this,” von der Leyen said. “So our task at this week’s summit is to show that we are focused on our own strategy and our own interests and our own priorities.” Thursday’s summit is crucial for Europe and for Ukraine, and the most pressing, unresolved issue is that of whether to grant Ukraine access to frozen Russian assets to bankroll its war efforts. Belgium, where the majority of those assets are held, is holding out against using them, fearing it would be on the hook to repay the full amount if Russia attempted to claw back the money. In her speech to MEPs, von der Leyen said the majority of the cash that Ukraine needs to continue funding its war effort must come from Europe: “The IMF and our estimates show that Ukraine’s needs for the years 2026 and 2027 are around €137 billion. Europe should cover two-thirds, that is €90 billion.” The Commission chief also talked about the EU’s need to boost competitiveness while driving diversification and strengthening supply chains, saying that “Europe’s era of independence must be unstoppable.” Von der Leyen pushed back against criticism from outside Europe, without mentioning U.S. President Donald Trump. “We cannot afford to let the world views of others define us … But let me say this, it would not be the first time that assumptions about Europe were shown to be outdated,” she said. Her comments came a week after Trump told POLITICO in an interview that European leaders were “weak”, adding: “Europe doesn’t know what to do.” The Commission president warned Europeans: “Yesterday’s peace is gone. We have no time to indulge in nostalgia.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday became the latest most prominent leader to weigh in on the escalating backlash over World Cup ticket prices, urging FIFA to go further to keep the tournament affordable for fans. His comments come even after FIFA introduced a limited number of lower-priced tickets following pressure from national federations and supporters’ groups. “I welcome FIFA’s announcement of some lower-priced supporters’ tickets,” Starmer wrote in a statement. “But as someone who used to save up for England tickets, I encourage FIFA to do more to make tickets more affordable so that the World Cup doesn’t lose touch with the genuine supporters who make the game so special.” Across the Atlantic, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has also seized on the issue, pledging to appoint a “World Cup czar” to push FIFA to lower prices ahead of the 2026 tournament, which will be hosted across the U.S., Mexico and Canada. “This is going to be me using my platform to speak up to FIFA at every opportunity,” Mamdani said Sunday on CBS News New York. FIFA’s ticket pricing plan has drawn international outrage as fans worry they are being priced out of the sport’s marquee event. The governing body has faced particular criticism for its use of dynamic pricing, which allows ticket prices to fluctuate based on demand. At the time of the joint bid by the United States, Canada and Mexico to host the World Cup, the bid listed potential ticket prices as low as $21. Before a recent adjustment in prices, the lowest-listed tickets for any round were above $100, with no ticket for the final under $4,185. European football federations and fan groups have been among the most vocal critics. Football Supporters Europe said it was “astonished by the extortionate ticket prices imposed by FIFA on the most dedicated supporters for next year’s FIFA World Cup.” “For the first time in World Cup history, no consistent price will be offered across all group-stage games,” the group said in a statement. “Instead, FIFA is introducing a variable pricing policy dependent on vague criteria such as the perceived attractiveness of the fixture.” The organization, which represents millions of fans across more than 50 countries, noted that supporters of different national teams would be charged vastly different prices for tickets in the same category at the same stage of the tournament, without transparency around how prices are set. Under mounting pressure, FIFA on Tuesday announced it would slash prices for a small portion of tickets reserved for national federations’ most loyal supporters. Those fans will be able to purchase “supporter entry tier” tickets priced at $60 for every match, including the final, compared with prices that previously ran into the thousands of dollars. The discounted tickets will be distributed by national federations to fans who have attended previous matches at home and abroad. But they represent only a tiny share of available seats — about 1.6 percent of tickets per match.

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony says Hungarian police have recommended he be charged for defying a government ban and allowing a Pride parade to take place earlier this year in Hungary’s capital. “The police concluded their investigation against me in connection with the Budapest Pride march in June with a recommendation to press charges,” he said in a video posted on Facebook Thursday. “They accuse me of violating the [new law on] freedom of assembly, which is completely absurd.” Pride gatherings, rooted in protest and celebration, are held around the world to promote the rights and freedom of expression of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. In March, however, Hungary adopted a law restricting the freedom of assembly in cases involving the public portrayal to children of “divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, sex change or homosexuality.” The Budapest Pride parade was subsequently banned based on the legislation. But political opponents say the government banned Pride in an attempt to create a wedge issue to stay in power. Hungary faces parliamentary elections in April 2026, and in the most recent poll, conducted from Nov. 21-28 by 21 Research Centre, a Budapest-based think tank, the country’s ruling Fidesz party was on track for 40 percent support behind the challenger, Tisza, at 47 percent of decided voters. Karácsony, a Green politician and a strong opponent of nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, rejected the federal government’s edict and allowed the rally to proceed in June. Several EU politicians joined the event to show solidarity with LGBTQ+ people, even though Orbán warned organizers and attendees that legal consequences would follow. The Budapest mayor was questioned by Hungary’s state police in August, and on Thursday said he’d received a formal notice in the case. “In a system where the law protects power rather than people, in this system that stifles free communities, it was inevitable that sooner or later, as the mayor of a free city, they would take criminal action against me,” Karácsony said. He added: “I am proud that I took every political risk for the sake of my city’s freedom, and I stand proudly before the court to defend my own freedom and that of my city.” The European Green Party backed Karácsony. “The fact that the police are requesting to indict the Green Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karácsony for supporting Budapest Pride 2025 is a shocking misuse of state power by the Orbán regime,” the party’s co-chair, Vula Tsetsi, said in a press release. Karácsony is one of the ’10 to Watch’ in the POLITICO 28: Class of 2026. The Rendőrség, Hungary’s national police force, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Csongor Körömi and Max Griera Andreu contributed to this report.