Népszabadság accuses the Constitutional Court of cowardice for failing to rule, at its final session of the year, on complaints over the de facto nationalisation of the compulsory private pension funds. READ MORE
Tags: constitution, deficit, pensions
Right wing Magyar Nemzet is sarcastic about letters from the Chairman of the European Commission and the US Secretary of State to the Hungarian PM, while left wing Népszabadság speculates about the lack of public criticism towards Hungary on the part of the German government. READ MORE
PM Viktor Orbán’s Christmas interview in the main pro-government daily, Magyar Nemzet sparks rather different reactions from each side of the political spectrum. Left wing Népszabadság believes that cabinet policy will lead the country to an “unforeseeable future”, while right wing Magyar Hírlap questions the value of hard-headedness in tough times. READ MORE
A serious furore has erupted over the Media Council’s decision to award the frequency used by a left wing talk radio to another media company. A right wing analyst calls the decision an “especially bad one” as it has relaunched last year’s controversy over Hungary’s media law. READ MORE
Right-wing commentators attribute the downgrade of Hungary’s sovereign debt by Standard and Poor’s to the deepening crisis of the Eurozone. According to left-wing pundits it just reflects the failure of the Orbán government’s unorthodox economic strategy. A moderate conservative observer cautions against an overly independent policy line. READ MORE
A leading right-wing commentator and long time critic of US policies calls upon the Hungarian Foreign Ministry to return American criticism of Hungary’s pivotal laws in kind. READ MORE
Tags: constitution, democracy, US
A veteran left-wing commentator believes Mr Orbán’s government cannot afford to ignore Washington’s concerns over its swift constitutional reforms, if it wants the IMF to open a new credit line for Hungary. READ MORE
While newspaper columnists agree that the latest clash between Hungary and the IMF/EU delegation came at the worst possible moment, a leading conservative analyst suggests that it was only a first round of talks, and expects the delegations to return. READ MORE