A conservative commentator defends the governing party’s Christian character against left-wing critics, while another appreciates the personal qualities of Viktor Orbán, the re-elected party leader. A liberal pundit, on the other hand, calls Fidesz a party of thieves and dunces. READ MORE
A liberal and a conservative commentator accuse Belarus and Russia of using migration as a weapon to blackmail the European Union. A pro-government commentator identifies Angela Merkel’s ‘Willkommenskultur’ rhetoric as the main cause of the current crisis. READ MORE
Weekly newspapers and magazines study the prospects of opposition parties in the Hungarian parliamentary elections due in just under six months’ time. Voices close to the opposition are optimistic, cautious or even critical of their own camp. A columnist close to the incumbent government, on the other hand, warns of a witch-hunt if the current opposition win. READ MORE
Pro-government film producer Gábor Kálomista’s new thriller on the street clashes and brutal police clampdown before and on the anniversary of the 1956 revolution in 2006 is proving a great success among the pro-government public. 15 years after the controversial events took place with Ferenc Gyurcsány as Prime Minister, remembering those days has been one of the main themes of this year’s celebration of the anniversary on the government side. (For the 2006 riots, see e.g., BudaPost, September 5, 2011.) READ MORE
A conservative columnist believes new fault-lines may appear within the opposition, as their newly elected candidate for Prime Minister asks for civic candidates to be included on the joint opposition electoral list next year. A left-liberal commentator thinks Fidesz is taking the threat of opposition victory in 2022 seriously. READ MORE
Critics of the opposition ruminate on what the government side should do after Péter Márki-Zay, an outsider, managed to defeat opposition party leaders and become Prime Minister Orbán’s challenger in next April’s parliamentary elections. READ MORE
As the second round of the opposition primary opens, Péter Márki-Zay and Klára Dobrev trade accusations of threatening opposition unity and jeopardizing the chance to defeat Fidesz. READ MORE
By the time the news broke on Friday that Klára Dobrev will face a single challenger, namely Péter Márki-Zay, in the second round of the primaries to choose the opposition prime ministerial candidate in next year’s elections, the weeklies were already on the newsstands. They could therefore not react to Gergely Karácsony’s withdrawal from the race, but most did comment on Márki–Zay’s surprisingly successful performance. READ MORE
The weeklies ponder what kind of government will take shape after Chancellor Merkel, a key actor in German politics and international relations, leaves the scene after 16 years in office. They also try to weigh the potential consequences for German-Hungarian relations. READ MORE