The party state’s two-thirds majority in parliament meant that with 138 voting for and just 53 against, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has secured the right to rule by decree for an unlimited period of time, and to unilaterally suspend existing laws, ostensibly in an effort to better address the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary. On Monday, the number of Hungarians confirmed […]
According to the Hungarian media currently there are 19 individuals infected with the coronavirus in Hungary. Nine of them are Iranians. (Read more here in Hungarian.) How did the Iranian coronavirus arrive to Hungary? The answer will lie in Hungary’s foreign policy and its blossoming friendship with the Islamic Republic of Iran. PM Orbán frequently talks in disparaging terms about […]
Hungary’s young and photogenic Justice Minister Judit Varga recently visited Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp and declared her “zero tolerance for antisemitism.” Hungary has “taken several steps to prevent our country’s Jews from being exposed to any kind of antisemitism that has become more and more widespread in the world.” What Varga did not mention is her government’s institutionalized efforts to rewrite […]
Sir Roger Scruton does not mince words. In a 2017 Hungary Today interview Scruton attacked President Trump’s intelligence: “He doesn’t have any thoughts that are longer than 140 characters.” (Read here) In another interview he talked disparagingly about the Chinese people and declared that they were “robots” and “each Chinese person is a replica of the next one and that […]
In most countries, it would be difficult to imagine a 22 year old who has yet to complete a university education and having no relevant professional experience being appointed Deputy Minister of State. Hungary, it would appear, is the land of such possibilities, provided one is a demonstrably faithful to Fidesz, the ruling party. This week, we learned that Katalin […]
Eight Orbán-paid activists have been abruptly recalled from Ukraine. They are part of the so called Petőfi Sándor Program. The Hungarian Government did not release their names. As part of an über-nationalist lobbying program, Hungary sends paid activists to western Ukraine to improve the national identity of the Hungarian minority by teaching Hungarian language, folk music and leading dance groups. […]
The waitress in our favorite restaurant was livid. “I had to take a cab to get to work today because public transportation was shut down” – she complained. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was visiting Budapest on November 7 with massive closures throughout the city all day. Budapest came to a standstill. Thousands marched against the Turkish President’s visit, many […]
After nine years in the wilderness, Hungary’s opposition parties scored major electoral victories across the country and especially in Budapest in local elections, where a centre-left alliance of parties won the mayoral race, achieved a solid majority on the municipal council and won back nine districts from Fidesz. Moreover, support for Fidesz in the traditionally conservative and affluent Buda districts […]
On September 24 the Hungarian Free Press reported that Hungary’s government-controlled press widely distributed photos of Budapest Mayor István Tarlós with American filmstar Scarlett Johansson. From the misleading caption Hungarian readers might have concluded that the popular filmstar endorsed Tarlós. (Read the article here.) Now Johansson issued a statement–and it’s particularly relevant as Hungarians across the country vote in local […]
Hungary’s party state has lost a key American ally and an enthusiastic promoter of Hungarian autocracy with the departure of Kurt Volker, President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine. Mr. Volker is at the centre of the current impeachment turmoil in Washington DC, after telephone call transcripts released by the White House suggest that the American president attempted to pressure […]
