It’s certainly not the first time that Fidesz, Hungary’s ruling party, moves to criminalize homelessness. But this time the Orbán government is preparing to go further than ever before, by amending the country’s Fundamental Law, to make homelessness unconstitutional. The amendment would make it illegal for anyone to “habitually” reside in public spaces. Fidesz MP and Viktor Orbán’s former lawyer […]
Heti Válasz, the conservative weekly magazine established by Fidesz in 2001 using public funds, announced that it is suspending its print edition effective immediately. Since 2015, Fidesz politicians and Hungarian civil servants have been prohibited from giving interviews to Heti Válasz, as the publication assumed a more critical tone in relation to the Orbán government after owner Lajos Simicska’s falling […]
June 4th is the day when Hungary and many Hungarians in the diaspora remember the Treaty of Trianon, signed in 1920, which led to the loss of two-thirds of historic Hungary’s population and almost three-fourths of its land. The Ottawa Hungarian Community Centre (OHCC) held its commemoration, including an exhibit, a cultural program and a meal, this past Sunday. I […]
We have been here before. Fidesz crosses what appears to be that proverbial line in the sand. Hungarian civil society protests. Hungarian columnists express outrage. A handful of European Union politicians demand a firm response from the EU and, in particular, disciplinary action from the European People’s Party, of which Fidesz is a member. And then the voices of protest […]
“What the opposition has been doing since the election is even worse than what it did before the vote. And that’s quite an accomplishment”… These words are from Ildikó Lendvai, former leader of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP). She appeared on ATV’s Egyenes Beszéd show alongside Károly Herényi, a former politician of the now defunct Hungarian Democratic Forum–the party that […]
The Hungarian opposition’s implosion continues. On Tuesday, László Toroczkai, the leading radical in Jobbik, announced that he was launching a new platform within Jobbik called “Mi Magunk” (or “We Ourselves,” a clear nod to Northern Ireland’s Sinn Fein), in order to give radicals within the party a voice. There was speculation that people like Mr. Toroczkai, Előd Novák and his […]
The problem of ethnic segregation in eastern Hungary’s schools appears to be deepening, despite past attempts on the part of some local administrations to ensure that Roma and non-Roma children studied together. For instance, as 444.hu reports, twelve years ago when the town of Nagyecsed (population: 6,327), in northeastern Hungary, tried to create mixed classrooms of both Roma and non-Roma students, […]
While Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is still in full campaign mode, touring factories in small-town Hungary and taking photographs or sharing snacks with factory workers in a manner, which some have noted bears a striking resemblance to the “peaceful” days of the Kádár regime, the Hungarian opposition is yet again embroiled in in-fighting. This time, the fledgling Párbeszéd faction in […]
On Monday we learned that the opposition finally did what it should have done before April’s national election: it is rallying behind a single mayoral candidate in the central Budapest district of Józsefváros, in the hope of reclaiming it from Fidesz in a local election to be held on 8 July. With outgoing Józsefváros mayor Máté Kocsis moving to national […]
Milán Constantinovits is a columnist whose work often appears on the conservative Mandiner news site and he is also a linguist and an author. This week, he published a type of “wish list” of areas that he would like the third Orbán government to engage in as a matter of priority. I thought about referring to these as demands. Yet […]
