Left-wing commentators view the gaping rift between Russia and the West over Ukraine with apprehension. Népszabadság refrains from criticising the cautious stance adopted by the government, while Népszava suspects that the government’s attitude may be influenced by the recently concluded credit-line agreement to finance the two new nuclear power stations Russia’s Rossatom will build in Hungary. READ MORE
Correspondents on the sport tend to get carried away by the revolt in the Ukraine, but analysts in Hungary are worried about potential negative conseuqences as to the plight of the Hungarian ethnic minority there. READ MORE
Left-wing commentators do not find the released documents convincing and suspect that they might serve electoral purposes. Nevertheless, the leading left-wing daily calls on Ferenc Gyurcsány to reveal what he knows about the matter if he wants to clear his name. READ MORE
A liberal think tank claims that commercial media decided not to run campaign ads both because this would eat up valuable slots, and because they are afraid of alienating their audience with unsavoury political messages. READ MORE
A business daily thinks the Hungarian National Bank intended to flex its muscles when it decided to cut its main interest rate again earlier this week, although the Forint lost approximately three per cent of its value to the main currencies over the past two weeks. READ MORE
A pro-government analyst says the EU should beware of violent protesters and work with Russia to establish peace. A liberal commentator finds similarities between Putin’s stance towards Ukraine and the Paks nuclear plant loan. A centrist pundit fears a wave of refugees across the Ukranian-Hungarian border. READ MORE
A centrist analyst says Viktor Orbán’s speech was short and dull but he might be playing it safe, rather than stirring up emotions, given his substantial lead just seven weeks before the elections. READ MORE
On the left, Viktor Orbán’s annual Sunday speech is described as “success propaganda” and scaremongering, while pro-government commentators condemn Ferenc Gyurcsány’s Saturday speech as “scandalous” from the man they hold responsible for his country’s demise. READ MORE
A business weekly suggests that the mishandling of public funds in the 18th district of Budapest (in the pre-2010 period) must have given ample opportunity for Socialist luminaries to enrich themselves. A liberal commentator thinks that accusing Fidesz of having an even bigger appetite since then is no answer to the present case in which a leading Socialist politician was caught red handed. READ MORE
A liberal analyst predicts that the Prime Minister will reject the demands put forward by Jewish leaders as pre-conditions for their presence at the government sponsored events of the Holocaust remembrance year. A right-wing pundit, on the other hand blames “uneducated” advisers who led the Prime Minister into a controversy which has proved difficult to handle. READ MORE