A left-wing columnist comments on the weekend EU mini-summit on migration, and expresses the opinion that PM Orbán has won an important battle as a new consensus emerges on the need to stop ‘illegal migrants’. Other pundits, however, doubt if the proposed EU road plan will help to resolve the refugee crisis. READ MORE
Newspapers contrast the current divisions Iin Hungary to the short lived national unity of the two weeks of the 1956 revolution. The dailies are not published on national holidays, including October 23, but devote editorials to 1956 in their Thursday editions. READ MORE
A left-wing commentator thinks pro-government critics of European leaders are simply impolite and un-European. A conservative columnist, on the other hand, feels that Hungary has been singled out for unfair treatment in western Europe. The two articles reflect a hundred year old divide that splits “progressives” and “conservatives”, those looking for models in the west versus others accusing it of bias against Hungary. READ MORE
As the European summit offers Turkey aid in exchange for keeping migrants within its borders, commentators both on Left and Right think that German Chancellor Merkel took great risks by abandoning pragmatism in favour of her moral vision. They wonder if Merkel can prevail, or if she will be defeated by populist or pragmatic parties as the public becomes increasingly hostile to immigration. READ MORE
A Marxist philosopher accuses mainstream left-wing parties in Hungary and in Europe as a whole of espousing populist nationalism and anti-immigrant rhetoric. READ MORE
As Prime Minister Orbán convenes a meeting of the floor leaders of all Parliamentary factions to discuss Hungary’s response to the migrant quotas imposed by the European Union on EU member countries, against the resistance of the Visegrad Four, a left-wing analyst thinks it was a mistake on the part of opposition leaders to accept the invitation without preconditions. READ MORE
Commentators disagree on whether the Prime Minister has been successful in promoting his ideas on solving the migrant crisis among European leaders. Meanwhile the conviction is gaining ground that Europe is late in meeting the migration challenge. READ MORE
As Parliament authorises the deployment of army units to police Hungary’s borders, left-wing newspapers suspect that the real aim of the government is to increase its own popularity by giving the impression of protecting the population against mass immigration. They also lambast the Socialist Party for not taking a clear stance. READ MORE
Since Hungary closed its border with Serbia last week, migrants are being bused by Serbia to the Croatian border and from there by Croatia to Slovenia and to Hungary. While the Hungarian authorities are building a border fence along the border with Croatia to stop the inflow, commentators discuss to what extent the attitude of the Hungarian government is morally and legally justified.
As hundreds of migrants gathered on the Serbian side of Hungary’s border fence, and many hundred more set off towards Croatia, commentators discuss the implications of Hungary’s tough stance on immigration. READ MORE