In their last opinion columns before Sunday’s municipal and European elections, commentators tried to make sense of the changes in the domestic political landscape and relations between Hungary and the European Union. READ MORE
As the campaign for the European and the municipal elections of June 9 kicked off last week, most commentators were surprised by Péter Magyar’s rapid success and try to make sense of this phenomenon. READ MORE
As the new opposition star is apparently drawing more and more followers, praise and criticism are also becoming stronger and more frequent. READ MORE
Weeklies attach more importance to Peter Magyar’s appearance on the political scene than during the first two weeks of his sudden surge as the most popular critic of the government. READ MORE
Commentators predict no real prospects of success for the one-person movement launched by former Justice Minister Judit Varga’s divorced husband. READ MORE
A full month after the paedophile pardon scandal emerged, the weeklies believe that the subject left a deep scar on the stability of the government, although the opposition is not in better shape than before. READ MORE
Commentators assess a wide range of issues connected to the paedophile pardon scandal, from the role of women in politics to why the opposition parties seem unable to profit from the failures on the government side. READ MORE
Just as last week, when weeklies went to print too early to comment on President Novák’s resignation in the wake of the paedophile pardon scandal, this week they were already on the stands when former Culture Minister Zoltán Balog resigned as chief Bishop of the Calvinist church for his role in convincing the President to pardon a man convicted for assisting a paedophile offender. Nor could they react to the demonstration of tens of thousands of people in Budapest on Friday night. Commentators discuss the resignations of the past week and why despite successive crises, the government’s position appears unshaken. READ MORE
Weekly newspapers went to print before Prime Minister Orbán agreed with the rest of the member countries on Thursday on the contentious issue of financial assistance to Ukraine. Several commentaries are devoted to the tension developing between Hungary and its western allies, nevertheless. READ MORE
Commentators agree that hindering first Finland’s then Sweden’s accession to NATO, as well as being sanctioned by the European Union and openly criticised by the US administration, have put Hungary in a unique position within the Western alliance, although they offer conflicting explanations. READ MORE