A public institution for the disabled in the southwestern Hungarian village of Mozsgó (population 1,000) is under scrutiny after a complaint detailed widespread abuse of the intellectually disabled residents by staff. Hungary’s Népszava daily reported on a detailed complaint and video evidence documenting the physical abuse and the overall inhumane treatment of residents. In one of the videos, produced with […]
In early February, we reported on how 2,000 Hungarian books were thrown out by the Foyer Hongrois retirement home and we shared an image showing a garbage container full of books. We can now report on a more positive development: earlier this month 60 boxes containing some 2,500 Hungarian-language books remaining at the Foyer were packed up and prepared for […]
Father Ferenc Deák (or Deák atya, in Hungarian) died yesterday. He served Our Lady of Hungary Parish in Montreal from 1975 to 2007 and played a truly formative role in the lives of those of us who grew up in the eighties and nineties. He baptised me in 1981, I had my first communion with him in 1988 and then […]
Despite Viktor Orbán’s half-hearted letters of apology to members of the European People’s about his most recent anti-Soros, anti-Juncker and anti-migrant campaigns, an expression of regret for employing the term “useful idiots” when referring to his Christian Democratic partners in the EU and a pledge to stop harassing Central European University, the EPP appears to have had enough and has […]
Britain’s Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, a Tory politician appointed by the current prime minister, advised that Theresa May’s last ditch efforts to secure legally binding reassurances for her Brexit deal around the controversial backstop clause fell short of guaranteeing that the United Kingdom could unilaterally withdraw itself from a situation that would see Northern Ireland unified indefinitely with the Republic of […]
We know from the revelations of the past nearly two decades that some of the men who joined the Roman Catholic priesthood were socially and emotionally maladjusted, and used their position of authority to abuse the most vulnerable in their community. There are also today a number of priests, sometimes younger ones, who not only subscribe privately to the most […]
Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party (EPP) parliamentary faction has issued three demands of Fidesz if it is to be permitted to remain a member of the largest caucus in the European Parliament. Hungary’s ruling party, after launching yet another anti-Soros, anti-Brussels and now also anti-Jean Claude Juncker campaign, must: stop this campaign, apologize to the member parties […]
Ten member parties of the conservative European People’s Party are formally demanding that Fidesz, which is presently running a negative ad campaign against fellow Christian Democrat President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and Brussels, be expelled from the European Parliament’s largest faction. At least seven parties from five EU member states must agree to have a member party expelled from the […]
Hungarians who will soon receive a mailed letter from Viktor Orbán attacking Brussels, or who have seen the new anti-Soros and anti-Brussels billboards, which smear fellow Christian Democrat Jean-Claude Juncker, may think that Fidesz is engaged in a clear-cut and “noble” battle with a malevolent foreign power. What Fidesz supporters won’t know is that the ruling regime’s resolve is only […]
Hungary’s opposition parties presented a unified front Monday in walking out of a session of parliament to protest the widely panned overtime law, more colloquially known as the “slave law.” Rather than participating in the work of parliament, where the ruling Fidesz party has a two-thirds majority and where there is absolutely no chance for the opposition to effect change […]
