The leading left-wing daily comments on a recent consumer confidence study, which suggests that the Hungarian public is highly disillusioned, despite the government’s efforts to communicate what it considers an economic success story. READ MORE
A right-wing economist suggests that in order to make the pension system balanced for the foreseeable future, Hungary should return to traditional family-based solidarity. A conservative blogger believes that a wide public debate should be initiated about the future of the pension system. READ MORE
Tags: demography, pensions
Although the next election is scheduled for the spring of 2014, most observers believe the campaign is already underway. PM Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP alliance leads the polls, but analysts do not rule out an opposition victory. READ MORE
Tags: Bajnai, campaign, elections, Mesterházy, Orbán
Népszava’s commentator dismisses PM Orbán’s foreign policy as inconsistent and opportunistic, while Magyar Nemzet welcomes a new, pragmatic approach to Hungarian-Russian relations. READ MORE
The two leading dailies carry diametrically opposing assessments of the results of PM Viktor Orbán’s visit to Brussels. READ MORE
A left-wing analyst thinks the electoral system introduced by the government will probably make it impossible for the opposition to win. A pro-government columnist, however, fears that the left wing may win over the majority, in a long-running “hate campaign.” READ MORE
Two days after four prominent members left the LMP to join an opposition alliance, their decision still catches the headlines. Columnists disagree, however, on whether the LMP story will have an impact on future political developments. READ MORE
Left-wing commentators believe those who have left LMP to join a left-wing alliance will have a future, while the remaining majority is doomed, at least morally. A right-wing columnist hopes LMP can survive and offer an option to centrist voters. READ MORE
A leading LMP member suggests in a right wing paper that other political forces are at work behind the internal tensions in his party, while a centre-left commentator writes that the LMP’s plans to steer towards the political centre are understandable but unrealistic. READ MORE
A moderate conservative commentator accuses Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno of applying double standards, when he turned off the lights of the Coliseum in protest against xenophobic and racist voices in Europe. He specifically cited the Hungarian extreme right opposition party Jobbik as an example. A left-wing commentator criticises Budapest Mayor István Tarlós for rejecting a left-wing request to turn off the lights of Parliament and Heroes’ Square on Sunday night. READ MORE
Tags: anti-Semitism, Jobbik