Népszabadság writes with relief about the role the Socialist Party spokesman played in getting the water restrictions lifted in Ózd, where Roma had to queue at roadside pumps in the record summer temperatures for several days. READ MORE
Commentators agree that justice has been done, but the investigation was too slow and the secret services could have prevented some of the racist and murderous attacks. There is no consensus, however, about the reasons behind the authorities’ poor performance. READ MORE
Left-wing commentators accuse the local council of playing to the anti-Roma gallery, as the capacity of roadside water pumps was reduced in Ózd, a rust-belt city in northern Hungary during the hottest days of summer. The main pro-government daily believes the left-wing opposition has used the case to launch a coordinated political campaign. READ MORE
A liberal observer complains that the trial of the far-right gunmen who killed six innocent Roma has not had an edifying impact on the public perception of the Roma issue. READ MORE
After a group of Gypsies attacking far-right anti-Roma protesters were found guilty of hate-crime, the leading left liberal daily accuses the Hungarian courts of discriminating against the Roma. READ MORE
Pundits debate whether a special school for disadvantaged Roma children should be closed down. A liberal commentator believes that Roma families protesting against desegregation entrench their own social exclusion. Conservatives, on the other hand, contend that special attention given to poor Roma children fosters social inclusion. READ MORE
Left-wing pundits furiously condemn a sociologist who said that today’s Hungarian Gypsies are “a product of decomposition.” His colleague argues that rural poverty is not an exclusively Roma problem. READ MORE
Left-liberal columnists describe a case in which a suspect was beaten to death during a police interrogation in a theft case as typical of the insensitive and brutal culture of some precincts. READ MORE
The leading left-wing daily calls on the mainstream moderate parties to work out strategic welfare plans to lift the Roma out of poverty, and by implication, take the wind out of the sails of the radical right-wing Jobbik. READ MORE
Commentators from the left and the right blame each other for polarizing and politicizing issues related to the Roma. They both believe that their opponents use the Roma for opportunistic political reasons. READ MORE