February 16th, 2021
Prime Minister Orbán has announced that he is postponing his annual state of the nation address due to the coronavirus situation. Meanwhile former PM Ferenc Gyurcsány, in his own customary missive at about the same time, blasts the government for what he calls its ineffective and inconsistent measures to battle the pandemic.
In Magyar Nemzet, Gábor Baranyai finds Ferenc Gyurcsány’s call for a ‘patriotic and European’ politics deeply confusing. The pro-government analyst thinks that one cannot be patriotic and pro-globalization at the same time. Baranyai also criticizes Gyurcsány for suggesting that Hungarians should trust any coronavirus vaccines as long as they are approved by the EU authorities. As the EU has been slow to approve non-Western vaccines, Ferenc Gyurcsány’s suggestion to use only EU-approved jabs slows down the fight against the pandemic, Baranyai remarks.
Népszava’s András Kósa interprets PM Orbán’s decision to postpone this year’s state of the nation address as an admission that the government has nothing much to be proud of. The left-wing commentator believes that the Prime Minister normally uses the annual address to boast about the government’s achievements. Kósa thinks that the government has been less than successful in keeping the epidemic and its financial impact at bay. Millions of Hungarians have daily financial problems, Kósa points out. He finds it sad that the government has nothing to say about all this, or the victims of the pandemic.
Tags: coronavirus, Gyurcsány, Orbán
