As the first president of post-Communist Hungary was buried in a private ceremony, but in the presence of a large crowd on Friday, commentators offer conflicting interpretations of such an unusual procedure. They basically agree that although Göncz was a hero of the Left, his funeral carried a message of moderation. READ MORE
Tags: Göncz
As the birth rate in Hungary continues to fall, despite government measures to encourage procreation, commentators cautiously wonder if some degree of immigration may prove unavoidable in the foreseeable future. READ MORE
Tags: demography, immigration
Independent conservative comme
Tags: press, secret services
A pro-government pundit lambasts the Hungarian American multibillionaire philanthropist whom PM Viktor Orbán named as a possible factor behind the current flow of migrants through the Balkans. A liberal weekly accuses those pushing anti-Soros rhetoric of groundless fear-mongering. READ MORE
A libertarian commentator thinks that Hungary’s left wing parties are doomed to insignificance, because they are unable to represent an alternative to the conservative and radical right wing. Just as Poland has followed the Hungarian example by voting the nationalist-conservative PiS
A conservative economist fears that Hungary is becoming unilaterally dependent on car manufacturing, and on offering subsidies and cheap manpower to foreign investors, in general. READ MORE
Tags: human capital, industry, multinationals
Commentators disagree on the sentences handed down to police commanders for mishandling political violence in September 2006. Leftist authors celebrate the ruling as proof that the police were innocent, while conservatives find the blame apportioned astonishingly light. READ MORE
Commenting on US Ambassador Colleen Bell’s concerns about the state of affairs in Hungary, pro-government columnists are in no doubt that the US wants to pressurize Hungary into submission. Left-wing pundits, on the other hand, criticize the Hungarian government’s response and expect further US-Hungarian diplomatic skirmishes. READ MORE
Tags: Bell, diplomacy, foreign affairs, US
Commentators on both Left and Right ridicule the Austrian government’s communication stunt: how to call the proposed fence on the Austrian-Slovenian border a non-fence. READ MORE
Analysts right across the political spectrum study the Polish Parliamentary elections in search of lessons for Hungarian politics and ponder the prospects of Central European regional cooperation. READ MORE