Azeri axe murderer, and confronting the IMF – last week’s lead stories

The dominant themes in Hungarian politics last week, the extradition of the Azeri murderer and the Prime Minister’s stance on the IMF talks are interpreted along political lines: commentators on the left call Orbán names including “traitor” and “liar”, while the premier's supporters argue that critics on the left have ...

Battle rages on over freed Azeri convict

Commentators argue over the moral and political implications of what critics consider a diplomatic blunder. Right-wing pundits accuse Western critics of hypocrisy, while Népszabadság finds the official protest from the government hardly credible.

Axe murderer released in Azerbaijan after being transferred from Hungary

Most commentators deplore the decision of the Hungarian government to transfer Ramil Sahib Safarov to Azerbaijan to serve his life sentence for the killing of an Armenian man in Budapest in 2004. Analysts believe Hungary should have suspected that despite Azeri assurances to the contrary, the man would be released ...

A bad week for the Forint and the government

Commentators agree that the weakening of the Hungarian currency (HUF) was due to a statement by the Minister of the Economy. One cautions the PM against nominating him for the presidency of the National Bank. Other analysts think recent events have dealt several blows to the authority of the governing ...

Mr Orbán’s planned visit to Moscow

A centrist analyst asks whether Viktor Orbán has realized that closer economic ties with Putin might in fact further Russia’s political interests in the region.

Armenian overreaction criticised

A pro-government pundit rejects Armenian accusations in connection with the “axe murderer affair,” and suggests that they are due to Armenia’s own problems rather than Hungary’s behaviour.