Commentators assessing the Orbán government’s performance in its first two years in office all agree that Fidesz has not yet fulfilled its promises. But while left-wing pundits believe it is the fault of the Prime Minister”s mistaken policies, right-wing columnists blame former Socialist governments and international organizations for causing Hungary so many problems. READ MORE
Commentators on the left, the centre and the right are all somewhat puzzled by János Áder’s inaugural speech. One accuses him of ‘deception’, while others find his words overly polite to the opposition. READ MORE
A leading right-wing columnist accuses the Hungarian left-wing media and blogosphere of double standards after HírTV, a right wing television channel, revealed that Ferenc Gyurcsány’s Teachers College thesis could be a copy of his former brother-in-law’s. Népszabadság, meanwhile, claims that HírTV is “going after Gyurcsány”. READ MORE
Whatever their political affiliations, Hungary’s daily newspapers are united in regretting President Pál Schmitt’s refusal to resign, despite being stripped of his doctoral title by the Semmelweis University in Budapest. READ MORE
Remembering the victims of the Communist past, conservative intellectuals blame left-wing and liberal elites for trying to relativize the crimes of the Communist dictatorships. A liberal commentator, on the other hand, accuses the right-wing government of only symbolically distancing itself from post-Communism. READ MORE
Political commentators agree that the resignation of LMP floor-leader András Schiffer signals the beginning of a new era, not only for his party but for the whole Hungarian political scene. READ MORE
Analysts usually sharply critical of the government’s economic policies suspect that the Hungarian government has no real intention of cooperating with the IMF, but wants to buy time to calm the markets instead. One liberal commentator does not exclude the eventual collapse of the Forint as a result of an American attempt to topple Orbán’s government.
Left-wing commentators believe that the pictures commissioned by the government to illustrate the deluxe edition of the new Constitution promote a partisan political message. Some young conservative pundits also find the paintings kitschy, while an art historian defends their originality and artistic quality. READ MORE
An ultra-liberal pundit does not believe that Ferenc Gyurcsány’s new party can represent a conservative liberal force in Parliament. READ MORE
There is no Hungarian Gypsy nation, a Roma activist claims. He suggests that instead of blaming the majority, the Roma should create a positive identity for themselves that could help the gypsies to become self-reliant and integrate into society. READ MORE