Commentators on both the right and left fear that Jobbik may increase its constituency yet further in the 6 April Parliamentary election, after reaping almost 17 per cent of the popular vote four years ago. Left-wing commentators argue against despair, and one lays the blame for the bankruptcy of the Left on the Liberals and personally on Ferenc Gyurcsány. READ MORE
A pro-government daily accuses left-liberals of overlooking ultranationalist threats to ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine and blindly supporting the power games of oligarchs. A liberal commentator who lives in Ukraine says Hungarians there want to stay out of the conflict because they have nothing to gain from it. 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
In the increasingly polarized debate over the commemoration of the Holocaust and the Nazi occupation of Hungary, a left-wing and a liberal pundit call for a boycott of government sponsored events. A moderate conservative commentator, on the other hand, fears that the lack of compromise on the memorial will only serve anti-Semites and those interested in entrenching ideological cleavages. READ MORE
Left-wing commentators call on the MSZP to disown its corrupt politicians, after a pro-government daily unveiled a secret bank account with hundreds of millions of undeclared funds possessed by Socialist Vice Chairman Gábor Simon. The leading left-wing daily adds that the scandal further diminishes the chances of the left at the election in April. READ MORE
The headlines in Hungarian weeklies illustrate a growing controversy over the planned addition of two Russian-made blocks to the existing Paks nuclear power station: “The scandal of the year” (168 óra); “Eastern Block” (Heti Világgazdaság); “The business of the year?” (Figyelő); “Hungary hooked by Putin” (Magyar Narancs); “Change of Roles in Kissidonia” (Demokrata); “Paks Vobiscum” (“Paks be with you”; Heti Válasz). READ MORE
Pro-government commentators welcome the nuclear deal between Hungary and Russia, and argue that it will serve the Hungarian national interest. Left-wing columnists, on the other hand, criticize the lack of transparency and the increased dependence on the Russian energy infrastructure which the agreement will cause. READ MORE
In their traditional New Year columns, left and right-wing dailies alike agree that Fidesz is the probable winner of the next elections, but that prospect does not make them equally happy. READ MORE
Various commentators – including even some who otherwise deem the government’s performance appalling – believe that the opposition hardly stands a chance at the elections scheduled for next spring. READ MORE