Pope’s visit to Budapest

A pro-government columnist thinks that Pope Francis plans to avoid meeting Hungarian government politicians in order to punish them for defending Christianity - by keeping migrants out of the country. A left-wing commentator accuses the government of using Christianity to promote its own political agenda.

Dr Karikó calls for better vaccine information

The main brain behind the mRNA technology on which the most modern anti-Covid vaccines are based exhorts the media to convince sceptics about the science behind the vaccines. Dr Katalin Karikó started studying the idea of messenger RNA in Hungary before she emigrated to the United States in the mid-1980s.

Journalist fined for offending Hungarians

Commenting on the verdict of the Kúria (the supreme court), liberal lawyers express outrage, while a representative of the plaintiffs believes it was high time to punish a journalist whom he accuses of ‘regularly offending the dignity of Hungarians’.

Kubradio still in focus

A pro-government pundit thinks it was high time for Klub Radio to disappear from the air, while a liberal media analyst believes the system is skewed against the opposition-leaning radio station.

Weeklies on rule of law deal

Commentators try to make sense of the agreement reached last week on rule of law conditionality of EU financial transfers to member states which enabled Hungary and Poland to abandon their threat to veto the seven-year Union budget and the Covid recovery scheme.

George Clooney criticizes Hungarian government

A left-wing pundit thinks that US actor George Clooney is right in calling the Hungarian government a textbook example of authoritarian hatred. A left-wing blogger and conservative commentators, on the other hand, express diverging but equally opposing opinions.

Parliament elects controversial Supreme Court president

A left-wing lawyer says the election of someone who has never been a judge to head the judicial hierarchy is unprecedented in the history of democratic Hungary. A legal philosopher remarks that those who don’t consider members of the Constitutional Court judges, in fact, deny the legitimacy of the Constitutional ...

Weeklies on rule-of-law criticism by the European Commission

Opposition-leaning commentators believe the European Union is still too weak to enforce its rule of law criteria, while pro-government columnists dismiss criticism from Brussels as both discriminatory and biased.

National Consultation Number 9

A liberal sociologist slams the government’s latest national consultation questionnaire as a mere propaganda tool, while a pro-government analyst sees it as a smart exercise in democracy.

Hungary downgraded by Freedom House

As the American watchdog organisation brands Hungary a ‘hybrid regime’ rather than even a half-consolidated democracy, opposition-leaning commentators believe their position has been vindicated while pro-government authors suggest that the report is deeply flawed.