Is Victor Ponta applying Viktor Orbán’s recipe?

Commentators across the political spectrum ponder possible parallels between the practices of the prime ministers of Hungary and Romania. Those on the left think that although Ponta follows a recipe devised by Orbán, the Romanian PM has not initiated a fully-fledged offensive against democratic institutions. Right-wing pundits, on the other ...

Áder will not be a “signing machine”

By choosing János Áder as his candidate for the presidency, PM Viktor Orbán has shown that he still cares for his one-time co-founders of Fidesz, even if they have sometimes disagreed with him in the past. By implication, he has also accepted the idea that the President will not necessarily ...

Áder nominated for President

A left-wing columnist thinks that János Áder as president will be a puppet of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. A right-wing commentator, on the other hand, is convinced that Áder is an ideal candidate, since he has the experience and skills to defend himself and Hungary’s democratic image.

In search of a new President

According to the Constitution, Parliament has to elect the successor of President Pál Schmitt within 30 days, but a popular centrist observer thinks we will find out the new candidate within a week.

President clings to his seat

Whatever their political affiliations, Hungary's daily newspapers are united in regretting  President Pál Schmitt's refusal to resign, despite being stripped of his doctoral title by the Semmelweis University in Budapest.

President misses opportunity to save his dignity

The two leading dailies contend that President Pál Schmitt should have resigned after a fact-finding committee identified academic dishonesty in his doctoral thesis. A left-wing analyst, on the other hand, hopes that Schmitt will stay in office to remind Hungarians of the moral bankruptcy of the Orbán government.

President’s thesis mostly copied

Commentators from across the political spectrum are trying to make sense of a report released by the fact-finding committee investigating whether President Pál Schmitt was guilty of plagiarism in his 1992 doctoral thesis. Commentators from both the right and the left believe that the President should step down.

Mixed reactions to Orbán’s ‘state of the nation’ address

While left wing commentators see the PM's speech as an act of political PR and miss a sense of dynamism in his words, their right wing counterparts view the PM's address on Tuesday as an expression of optimism. Bloggers agree that this was Viktor Orbán's most pragmatic speech in years.