The first comments on the outcome of the European People’s Party Presidency meeting on Hungary express a mixture of confusion and contradictions on whether the Prime Minister made concessions in Brussels, or defended his positions against criticism and pressure. READ MORE
While the Prime Minister defended his policies against sharp criticism by the European Commission and MEPs, a legal analyst wrote that the infringement procedure launched by the Commission against Hungary rests on shaky foundations. READ MORE
A left-wing columnist defends demonstrators who throw paint as public buildings, on the grounds that they ‘have no other means to express their anger.’ A pro-government commentator thinks that everyone has the right to protest but only as long as they obey the law and respect public order. READ MORE
Commenting on PM Orbán’s Easter interviews, a conservative critic of the government thinks that Fidesz has alienated its conservative intellectual supporters. A pro-government commentator shares the PM’s view, when he detects George Soros behind the recent anti-government protests. READ MORE
After a week of demonstrations in support of the American-Hungarian Central European University and watchdog NGOs, but before Good Saturday’s rally in Szabadság (freedom) square, Hungarian weeklies ponder if the current wave of protest will fatally wound the governing forces or share the fate of previous ad hoc movements and fade away. READ MORE
After the fourth anti-government demonstration in four days, commentators express strongly diverging views on their significance. They agree, however, that the protests in Budapest are unlikely to turn into something like the ’colour revolutions’ in former Soviet republics. READ MORE
As the State Department urges Hungary to suspend the implementation of the new Higher Education Act, commentators disagree sharply on what lies behind the controversy within Hungary and internationally. READ MORE
After President Áder ordered the promulgation of the amended Act on Higher Education, political polarisation has reached new levels in the Hungarian press. READ MORE
The main pro-government outlet condemns Sunday’s mass demonstration in Budapest as a move inspired by the ‘Soros empire against the government’, while a leading left-wing commentator thinks that, over and beyond the future of CEU, what is at stake is Hungary’s membership of the European Union. READ MORE
As a new wave of actors in the EU and the US join the dispute over CEU’s future, commentators along the political spectrum ponder the motivations of the parties involved and opinions diverge on whether the university will close down. READ MORE