Politics

Gyula Molnár standing in front of the MSZP logo.

Hungarian Socialist Party president won’t rule out his party’s disappearance after 2018 elections

Complete dysfunction continues in the Hungarian left-centre opposition and the president of the Hungarian Socialist Party (Magyar Szocialista Párt–MSZP) appeared to exacerbate the situation with a defeatist, bewildering and unnecessary statement. Gyula Molnár was speaking to the conservative HírTV news network within the context of the shambolic negotiations between left-wing, democratic parties aimed at launching primary elections as a first […]

by · November 6, 2016 · Politics
Gergely Karácsony. Photo: Facebook.

Gergely Karácsony: Widespread apathy is what keeps Viktor Orbán in power

“We need to understand that its not Soviet tanks that keep Viktor Orbán in power–it’s societal apathy. And we can only overcome this apathy if in specific instances we are able to step out of our own comfort zone,” said Gergely Karácsony, the popular mayor of the Budapest’s Zugló district and founder of the leftist Dialogue for Hungary (Párbeszéd Magyarországért) […]

by · November 2, 2016 · Politics
Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Dion (third from the left) meets with Péter Szijjártó. Bálint Ódor is on the far-right.

A response to Ambassador Bálint Ódor’s “Hungarian tribute to Canada”

Hungarian Ambassador Bálint Ódor published a piece entitled “A Hungarian Tribute to Canada” in a publication called National Newswatch. In this piece, Ambassador Ódor writes: “Canada is a nation that understood the message of 1956 clearly, and also extended helping hands to a large number of Hungarians who were forced to flee their homeland…By its rare display of heroism and […]

by · October 26, 2016 · Politics
Company with ties to Fidesz party buys Népszabadság’s publisher

Company with ties to Fidesz party buys Népszabadság’s publisher

On Tuesday, a company called OPIMUS PRESS Zrt announced that it has acquired Mediaworks, the Austrian-owned firm that published Hungary’s largest opposition daily, Népszabadság, which it shut down amidst international scandal just over two weeks ago. OPIMUS PRESS Zrt, part of the OPIMUS Group, is a firm affiliated with Lőrinc Mészáros, the billionare Fidesz mayor of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s […]

by · October 25, 2016 · Politics
Historian Krisztián Ungváry was beat up by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's supporters on Sunday.

Violence in Budapest on sixtieth anniversary of 1956 as historian assaulted

Historian Krisztián Ungváry was physically assaulted and bloodied by supporters of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in front of Parliament, as the nation remembered the sixtieth anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Mr. Ungváry’s sin was that he, along with hundreds of Hungarians, blew whistles out of protest during Mr. Orbán’s speech. The prominent historian of twentieth century Hungary was punched […]

by · October 24, 2016 · Politics
Viktor Orbán observes a simulated terrorist attack in Budapest, and the subsequent counter-terror response.

Failed referendum boosts Fidesz popularity, as support for Jobbik tumbles

Communication must truly be everything and reality is perhaps little more than a fleeting and malleable perception. The first public opinion poll conducted after the anti-migrant referendum, which failed to reach the minimum turnout threshold to be considered valid, shows major gains for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party and a marked drop in support for Jobbik–a party that […]

by · October 20, 2016 · Politics
The Greens - EFA

European Parliament’s Green party in solidarity with Népszabadság, condemns autocracy in Hungary

The Greens – European Free Alliance issued a statement on the demise of media freedom and pluralism in Hungary, after Népszabadság, Hungary’s largest print daily, was shut down last Saturday. The statement, written by MEPs Judith Sargentini and Benedek Jávor, notes that Népszabadság was closed without warning immediately after the paper published a cover page piece on Fidesz corruption, suggesting […]

by · October 13, 2016 · Politics
Stevan Harnad

Scholars resign from Hungarian Academy of Sciences after opposition paper shut down

Professor Stevan Harnad of the Université du Québec à Montréal and a founding member of the Canadian Hungarian Democratic Charter, resigned as External Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Magyar Tudományos Akadémia), after Népszabadság, Hungary’s largest opposition daily newspaper, was shut down by the country’s repressive Orbán regime. Professor Harnad’s resignation follows that of the Dr. Thomas Jovin, of Max Planck […]

by · October 10, 2016 · Politics
This image greets readers of Népszava.

Widespread solidarity after deliberate destruction of Hungary’s Népszabadság

Vienna Capital Partners, the Austrian private equity investor, which owns the firm that published Hungary’s now defunct Népszabadság daily, seems to be providing such a stark example of corporate greed and irresponsibility that political foes and economic rivals from all across the spectrum are joining together in protest. Hungarian conservative publications, left-centre publications, a newspaper in Slovakia and even Hungary’s […]

by · October 10, 2016 · Politics
Simulated terrorist attack in a Budapest metro station.

Strongman Orbán’s latest publicity stunt: a midnight terror exercise

I start to think that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his inner circle have lost touch with reality. Police forces conduct anti-terror training exercises in other EU countries, but it is unprecedented that a night-time police drill is staged as a propaganda tool for a sitting Prime Minister. A couple of days ago Mr. Orbán invited journalists and politicians to […]

by · October 9, 2016 · Politics
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