Right-wing commentators are appalled by the statement of a judge who convicted but at the same time praised a protester for damaging a statue recently erected to Hungary’s interwar ruler. Left-wing analysts welcome the judge’s position and disagree with the Vice President of the Supreme Court, who scolded his colleague for expressing a personal opinion when issuing his verdict. READ MORE
A leading LMP official thinks that at the end of the day there will be no compulsory voter registration in Hungary, while a moderate conservative commentator argues that the law will pass and will not do any harm to free elections. READ MORE
A leading pro-government commentator argues that Hungary can afford to be tough at the negotiations with the IMF-EU duo, and is right to stand up for its own interests. READ MORE
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 no national feelings at all. READ MORE
A leading conservative columnist condemns the football hooligans who chanted anti-Semitic slogans before and during a friendly football match between Hungary and Israel, but thinks the incident would have remained unnoticed if certain people were not interested in discrediting Hungary. READ MORE
A conservative pundit predicts that in the next 18 months left until the 2014 election, both the Socialists and far-right Jobbik will launch a fierce and aggressive campaign against the governing centre-right party in order to mobilize undecided voters. A left-wing intellectual believes that anti-government civil rallies have been a disappointment. READ MORE
Commentators across the political spectrum debate whether public programs or restrictions on spending would help most to overcome the economic crisis. Pro-government analysts recommend a Keynesian stimulus, while a liberal economist considers this option unavailable for the Hungarian government. READ MORE
Heti Válasz warns that the comments of Fidesz MP Zoltán Kőszegi concerning territorial revision are not exactly a laughing matter, even if the government has distanced itself from his “personal opinion”. READ MORE
In an interview published in Heti Válasz, former president László Sólyom repeated his earlier criticism, that the government’s “military-style tactics” lead nowhere, and are harmful to democracy. In response, Minister of Public Administration and Justice Tibor Navracsics said Sólyom cannot see the wood for the trees. READ MORE
Historians’ polemic
In Élet és Irodalom, Eszter Babarczy argues that anti-Semitism became a political factor two decades ago, when liberals and socialists first raised the charge against their conservative opponents. READ MORE