A pro-government commentator lambasts the Democratic Coalition for alleging that the government denies energy price compensation subsidies to districts that elected left-wing mayors. READ MORE
Fidesz MP László Böröcz tabled a bill in Parliament that would enable current tenants to buy flats owned by local councils at a hugely discounted price (10-30 per cent of their market value). READ MORE
Echoing the opposition parties, a left-wing commentator accuses the government of ‘bleeding dry’ local councils by reducing local business taxes. A pro-government columnist, on the other hand, accuses the opposition of the ‘absurd tendency’ to increase taxes in times of economic hardship. READ MORE
A liberal commentator calls rural pro-government voters ‘simpletons’ and urges urban left-wing liberals to educate them. A left-wing analyst thinks that the opposition’s efforts to mobilize through petitions and referenda are counterproductive. READ MORE
Liberal pundits criticize both Right and Left for not confronting policies which they see as targeting the Roma who live in poverty. A Minister is criticized for his “unfortunate” statement on the Roma Holocaust. A Dutch-Hungarian psychologist calls for the publication of Hungarian crime statistics by ethnicity. READ MORE
The leading left-wing daily accuses the floor leader of the MSZP of obstructing the agreement on a joint left-wing mayoral candidate. A pro-government columnist suggests that the latest candidate for the Left lacks the expertise needed to run Budapest. READ MORE
Left-wing and liberal columnists accuse the government of rewriting the Budapest municipal election rules in order to secure their victory at the October election, and the Constitutional Court of assisting the government in what they consider as a limitation of basic rights. A conservative analyst contends that the new rules will make the governance of Budapest more effective. Another suggests that accusations of malpractice against the government is a sure sign that the Left anticipates another defeat. READ MORE
Columnists wonder whether it is acceptable and reasonable for the Left to support as a candidate for mayor of Miskolc a former police chief known for his highly controversial statements about Roma crime. READ MORE
Pro-government commentators accuse former PM Ferenc Gyurcsány’s DK party of being ready to cooperate with far right organizations to beat Fidesz. Some liberal commentators agree that the DK’s anti-Orbán rhetoric may have strange side-effects, others point out that local DK leaders acted without the knowledge of the centre and were kicked out of the party immediately. READ MORE
The 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