In his attempt to reconquer the Socialist Party, former premier Ferenc Gyurcsány is borrowing the methods used by his main rival, present Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a right wing commentator observes. READ MORE
Thousands protested on Thursday (June 16) against the government’s planned changes to the early retirement system. Right-wing commentators detect political motives behind the protests, while left-wing media interpret the demonstrations as a plea for democracy and the rule of law. Both sides appear to assume that a reasonable compromise is not an option. READ MORE
Hungary has grown accustomed to overspending and over-borrowing, and its political parties have fed the population a diet of unrealistic welfare promises. But the leading conservative commentator believes the present government has chosen a new path. READ MORE
Due to the financial squeeze and the falling birth-rate, local councils are being forced to get rid of the schools under their jurisdiction. Many are being taken over by various Churches. The weekly Heti Válasz, which usually supports the Government, paints a rather dramatic picture of the school situation in Hungary. READ MORE
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has identified debt and unemployment as the twin enemies to defeat, lest we be defeated by them. Left-wing commentators accuse him of waging war with virtually all actors at home and abroad. Right-wing analysts also report signs of social tensions, but blame the hardships on the previous left-wing governments. READ MORE
Heti Válasz carries an angry reaction by András Stumpf to comments by the veteran Hungarian-Austrian columnist Paul Lendvai in the Vienna Standard, on the dismissal of the director of the Budapest Holocaust Memorial Centre. READ MORE
On the first anniversary of the establishment of the Orbán government, pundits and politicians weigh in to assess the centre-right government’s performance so far, and to outline the possible government strategies of the coming years. READ MORE
Infighting within the Socialist Party is now continuing in broad daylight as party strongman László Puch calls on former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány to leave the Socialists in peace and build his own party.
Mr László Puch is Mr Gyurcsány’s stiffest influential opponent among the Socialists. After a decade spent as party treasurer then a short period as state secretary, he is now running the party’s organizational and financial matters in his quality as party manager. READ MORE
Hungary finished 22nd in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest and the first comments blamed the deceiving result on the country’s poor international image.
János Sebők, a veteran expert on pop music who now regularly comments on public affairs in the liberal weekly HVG believes the Hungarian song, entitled „What about my dreams” in English, would have deserved more votes from the European TV viewers, and suspects that its poor ranking was due, among other things to „the decline of Hungary’s international prestige since the régime change 21 years ago”. READ MORE
Another battlefield of the twenty year old clash of two opposing world outlooks in Hungary is the plight of the six hundred thousand strong Roma/Gypsy minority. In March Jobbik, the radical right wing party held a march at Gyöngyöspata, a village of 2,800 inhabitants in northern Hungary, blaming the local Roma (who make up about a quarter of the population) for the suicide of an elderly resident. READ MORE