BudaPost signing off

Dear Readers,

It is with a mixture of gratitude and sadness that I announce the closure of BudaPost.

The foundation that funded our daily Hungarian press review in English and German for the past decade stopped supporting us in March last year and since then, my efforts to find a replacement have remained unsuccessful.

I am enormously grateful to my colleagues, Frank Fischer, Nick Thorpe, and Sebastian Garthoff who have continued producing BudaPost unpaid, daily, for 15 months.

I am also saddened to say goodbye to our tens of thousands of readers – both our English and German versions have consistently received between 11 thousand and 17 thousand hits daily this year.

Thank you very much for having been friends of BudaPost.

János Betlen

Hungary team causes disappointment at the European Football Championship

A desperate commentator suggests that after the dismal performance of the national team in their first two matches at the European Championship in Germany, winning the third one is a must to save their honour. READ MORE

Opposing views on the Ukraine peace conference

A left-wing commentator cautiously welcomes the outcome of the summit held in Switzerland on the war in Ukraine, while a pro-government columnist believes that it did nothing to promote peace. READ MORE

Weeklies on last week’s election for the European Parliament

Opposition-leaning commentators welcome the unexpectedly good performance of Peter Magyar’s recently founded TISZA party and interpret the result as a setback for Fidesz. Pro-government columnists expected better scores from Prime Minister Orbán’s party but see no imminent threat in the outcome of the election. READ MORE

EU court fines Hungary

In the latest of his highly opinionated columns, a pro-government pundit vituperates against the court ruling. READ MORE

PM Orbán stands for a European sovereignist alliance

A conservative critic of the government believes that the two rival right-wing groups of the European Parliament will find it hard to merge. READ MORE

Nádas was too white to be shortlisted for a German literary prize

Left and right-wing commentators find it equally absurd of a German literary jury to discard Hungarian writer Péter Nádas from the top candidates of the HKW prize for the best novel of 2023, despite his book being found to be the best. READ MORE

First reactions to the shooting of Slovakia’s Prime Minister

Commentators warn against extreme partisanship and call on citizens in Slovakia and elsewhere to see what they have in common rather than what divides them. READ MORE

Conflicting opinions on pre-electoral TV debates

A left-wing commentator thinks the public TV company cannot be trusted to stage a debate of front-runners ahead of the European elections, while his pro-government colleague accuses Péter Magyar of shying away from an open debate READ MORE

Row over electoral TV debates

A pro-government columnist finds it undemocratic of Péter Magyar to only accept televised pre-electoral debates with the top candidates. READ MORE