The fear of a credit crunch
Wednesday, November 7th, 2012A long-time right-wing critic of the government’s economic policy warns that prolonged banking taxes might result in a steep decline in economic output. READ MORE
Author Archive
First reactions to Obama’s victory
Wednesday, November 7th, 2012Online headlines posted in the early morning hours tend to reflect the papers’ ideological leanings. Népszava enthusiastically welcomes the result of the US presidential elections, while the two right-wing national dailies express cautious reservations. READ MORE
Gyurcsány’s dilemma
Tuesday, November 6th, 2012A columnist writing in Hungary’s main left-leaning daily believes that Ferenc Gyurcsány will soon have to make a hard decision and step back, since his presence may weaken the chances of a wide left-wing coalition which will attempt to replace the Orbán government at the 2014 election. READ MORE
Mandatory voter registration under scrutiny
Monday, November 5th, 2012Centrist and left-wing analysts agree that the new system was devised to help Fidesz at the 2014 elections, but may backfire by uniting the opposition and turning away disillusioned Fidesz-voters. READ MORE
Jeszenszky defended against racism charge
Saturday, November 3rd, 2012In the wake of the uproar over Géza Jeszenszky’s textbook, prominent Hungarians from the USA and some liberal commentators defend the Ambassador while a right-wing editorial claims he was attacked by enemies of the government for simply stating an obvious fact. READ MORE
Ambassador Jeszenszky rejects accusations of racism
Friday, November 2nd, 2012Left-wing columnists and Roma rights activists are outraged over a textbook passage and have asked the Ambassador to resign. Jeszenszky says he did not intend to offend anyone and dismisses the accusations as unjust. READ MORE
Another MNB interest rate cut
Thursday, November 1st, 2012A pro-government commentator says Hungary needs lower interest rates and welcomes the approaching end of András Simor’s era in the National Bank. READ MORE
Mixed reactions to local election results in Tiszavasvári
Wednesday, October 31st, 2012A pro-government columnist says the election result shows Fidesz still has a strong backing, while the leading left-wing paper describes the alleged fraud in Tiszavasvári as a foretaste of how Fidesz intends to run elections in general. A centre-right analyst says the Tiszavasvári result foreshadows a possible political landscape where neither Fidesz, nor Jobbik nor the left are strong enough to form a government. READ MORE
Government taking over municipalities’ debt
Tuesday, October 30th, 2012The leading leftist daily says a partial government bail-out was inevitable but the banks that funded Hungarian local governments are unlikely to recover all their money. READ MORE
Have the IMF talks broken down?
Monday, October 29th, 2012A conservative columnist comments on rumours about the breakdown of IMF talks. The government is right to resist IMF pressure to cut wages and pensions, he suggests. But he is at a loss to explain why the government has launched an insulting media campaign against the IMF to coincide with its yearly summit. READ MORE