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New liberal party meets friendly fire

Saturday, March 30th, 2013

Left-wing commentators deplore the decision of former SZDSZ President Gábor Fodor to found a new liberal party – in addition to a series of post-SZDSZ groupings. READ MORE

Matolcsy’s first rate cut

Friday, March 29th, 2013

Commentators across the political spectrum discuss the National Bank’s decision to go ahead with regular interest rate cuts and comment on the move of former National Bank President András Simor to the ERBD as a Vice-President. READ MORE

EU Human Rights Commissioner under fire

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

A left-wing columnist believes European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding should resign after accusing the Hungarian justice system of political bias. READ MORE

Left-wing parties still competing

Wednesday, March 27th, 2013

Commentators evaluating the results of the weekend snap elections in four municipalities suggest that the opposition parties are unlikely to become a real match for the governing Fidesz-KDNP alliance any time soon. READ MORE

Dispute over the Sirály cultural club

Tuesday, March 26th, 2013

A left-wing daily accuses the Mayor of Budapest of closing down a cultural club in order to silence anti-government protesters. A pro-government commentator believes that the Jewish cultural organization running the Sirály cultural club without paying rent used its resources to orchestrate anti-government protest. READ MORE

The war around utility tariffs

Monday, March 25th, 2013

The planned legislation on a 10% reduction in all utility prices for households is described as a popular but risky move by business analysts, while partisan commentators criticise or praise it according to their political affiliations. READ MORE

Cyprus crisis echoes

Saturday, March 23rd, 2013

A pro-government columnist writes that Cyprus is yet another example of how the EU-IMF pair wrecks vulnerable countries, while centrist commentators claim Cyprus is a special geopolitical case and is unlikely to serve as a precedent. READ MORE

Far right journalist forced to return government award

Friday, March 22nd, 2013

A centrist blog argues that the award granted to an openly racist journalist reveals the problems with the highly centralised government Prime Minister Orbán has created, as Zoltan Balog, the Minister for Human Resources has to supervise too many areas. READ MORE

Friendly criticism of the Fourth Amendment

Thursday, March 21st, 2013

Conservative scholars say they will not team up with those who cry wolf and envision an end to democracy in Hungary. But they also explain why they cannot approve of either the content or the style of the recent constitutional amendments. They call for more humility on the part of the government. READ MORE

No national consensus in sight

Wednesday, March 20th, 2013

A conservative columnist turned critic of the right-wing government thinks the majority of Hungarians are not very sensitive to the infringement of their democratic rights. They experience politics, he writes, as a form of ’tribal hatred’, and concludes that the demise of the present government is unlikely to come from mass movements. READ MORE