Right-wing columnists commenting on the Sunday anti-Fidesz protest accuse Washington of trying to pressurise and destabilise the Orbán government through non-democratic means. They disagree, however, on whether the Hungarian government should take up the gauntlet or seek reconciliation. READ MORE
Pro-government commentators find it strange that while Washington sees Hungarian moves to investigate Norwegian funded projects as a serious attack on civil society, the United States has its own problems with Norwegian financed think tanks posing as independent research institutions. READ MORE
On the 58th anniversary of the Hungarian revolution, commentators tend to claim the sole inheritance of the revolution for their own political families and deem the opposing side unworthy of the memory of the anti-Soviet uprising.
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As the US bans a number of unnamed Hungarian state officials and businessmen from entering the US, left-wing and liberal columnists contend that the US wants to teach what they call the corrupt and increasingly pro-Russian Orbán government a lesson. Conservative pundits believe that the US wants to set an example and send the message that it does not tolerate any deviation from its foreign policy line or any violation of its financial interests. READ MORE
A conservative columnist contends that the proposed US-EU free trade agreement is likely to serve US geopolitical interests and may not be in line with the wishes of Europeans. A moderate commentator believes that the US is bent on increasing its formal and informal influence in Eastern Europe in order to weaken illiberal regimes which challenge its hegemony. READ MORE
Left-wing liberal columnists contend that the Fidesz victory in the municipal elections is the result of growing defeatism and apathy among voters. A conservative commentator, on the other hand, believes that low turnout is an indication of voters’ confidence and trust in the governing party. READ MORE
Commenting on the results of the municipal elections, the leading left-wing daily calls for a complete overhaul of the Left in order to stop the emergence of what it calls a totalitarian one-party system. The leading pro-government daily points out that the Left managed to increase its support slightly within the new electoral system which it often called illegitimate and biased. READ MORE
Commentators take it for granted that PM Orbán’s candidate will get his seat in the European Commission. A right-wing analyst believes that Navracsics’s questioning in the Cultural Committee of the European Parliament was meant to gloss over a deal that had been struck well in advance. READ MORE
Népszabadság thinks the future Hungarian Commissioner is an unprincipled man who dissociated himself from the government he has served for 4 years in order to get a seat in the European Commission. Magyar Nemzet writes that Tibor Navracsics kept his composure throughout the tough hearing. READ MORE
Commentators from right across the political spectrum agree that the Left is in complete disarray and chaos, as the left-wing Budapest mayoral candidate resigns and left-wing parties fail to reach an agreement on whether they should back a conservative candidate instead of Falus in the October 12 local election. READ MORE