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German migration strategy perceived as chaotic

Friday, November 13th, 2015

In the wake of the Valetta Summit on migration, pundits on Left and Right alike criticize Germany’s ’increasingly confused’ messages concerning the status of asylum seekers. READ MORE

Slovenia erects a border fence

Thursday, November 12th, 2015

The leading left-wing daily blames the absences of a common European migration and refugee framework for attempts by individual EU member states to secure their frontiers and keep refugees out in order to avert a humanitarian crisis within their own territories. READ MORE

Austria to erect a border fence

Friday, October 30th, 2015

Commentators on both Left and Right ridicule the Austrian government’s communication stunt:  how to call the proposed fence on the Austrian-Slovenian border a non-fence.  READ MORE

A U-turn in EU migration policy?

Wednesday, October 28th, 2015

A left-wing columnist comments on the weekend EU mini-summit on migration, and expresses the opinion  that PM Orbán has won an important battle as a new consensus emerges on the need to stop ‘illegal migrants’. Other pundits, however, doubt if the proposed EU road plan will help to resolve the refugee crisis. READ MORE

October 23rd — a dull anniversary

Monday, October 26th, 2015

The political rallies organised on 23rd October, the anniversary of the 1956 revolution were attended by very few people, for the first time since such meetings were allowed in 1989. Commentators analyse the context – dwelling on the most disparate factors, from the weakness of the Left to the migration crisis. READ MORE

Migrant flow halted

Thursday, October 22nd, 2015

As the flow of illegal migrants arriving in Hungary has almost stopped since the ‘green border’ was sealed last weekend (25 were registered on Tuesday), newspapers continue their ‘dialogue of the deaf’— some dwelling on the human side of the crisis, while others concentrating on the limits of European endurance and tolerance. READ MORE

Hungary at odds with EU mainstream

Wednesday, October 21st, 2015

A left-wing commentator thinks pro-government critics of European leaders are simply impolite and un-European. A conservative columnist, on the other hand, feels that Hungary has been singled out for unfair treatment in western Europe. The two articles reflect a hundred year old divide that splits “progressives” and “conservatives”, those looking for models in the west versus others accusing it of bias against Hungary. READ MORE

Hungary seals off ‘green border with’ Croatia

Monday, October 19th, 2015

As Hungary seals off the frontier, leaving only regular border crossings open, pundits across the political spectrum ponder on the implications. READ MORE

Europe turning away from Merkel’s migration vision

Saturday, October 17th, 2015

As the European summit offers Turkey aid in exchange for keeping migrants within its borders, commentators both on Left and Right think that German Chancellor Merkel took great risks by abandoning pragmatism in favour of her moral vision. They wonder if Merkel can prevail, or if she will be defeated by populist or pragmatic parties as the public becomes increasingly hostile to immigration. READ MORE

The Left cautious about migration

Thursday, October 15th, 2015

A Marxist philosopher accuses mainstream left-wing parties in Hungary and in Europe as a whole of espousing populist nationalism and anti-immigrant rhetoric. READ MORE