US politics has taken a wild turn with the almost-certain nomination of Donald Trump as presidential candidate of the Republican Party. Few US politicians have endorsed Mr. Trump so far, but he gotten one excited fan, David Duke the far right activist and former Ku Klux Klan (KKK) Grand Wizard. Mr. Duke enthusiastically endorsed Mr. Trump and sees him as […]
HFP’s readers may recall Szilárd Kalmár from earlier articles; he is the former President of the fledgling Left Party, a left-wing activist and by day a social worker in Budapest, reaching out to some of the most marginalized populations (especially Roma in the 8th District, as well as refugees and immigrants). A group of mainly young Hungarian left-wing activists, not […]
Hungary’s previous ambassador to Washington DC., western-educated Mr. György Szapáry refused to meet with leaders and supporters of Hungary’s neo-Nazi Jobbik party. He would walk out from the room if Jobbik members showed up at an event. With the arrival of Ms. Réka Szemerkényi, Hungary’s first female Ambassador to the US, all this has changed. Ms. Szemerkényi has personally met […]
Sándor Csányi, the 63 year old CEO of Hungary’s OTP Bank, is among the wealthiest people in the world, according to Forbes. Mr. Csányi’s net worth includes assets held in Singapore and this is what pushed the Hungarian businessman above the one billion dollar threshold to be profiled by Forbes as one of the world’s wealthiest people. Mr. Csányi’s net […]
László Sólyom served as President of Hungary–a largely ceremonial role–between 2005 and 2010. Mr. Sólyom, an environmentalist who was well respected among conservatives and many liberals as well, was Viktor Orbán’s ally at the time. He was elected President of Hungary by Parliament–which at the time had a left-centre majority–thanks to the strategic machinations of Fidesz, then in opposition, and […]
The Supreme Court of Hungary (also known as the “Kúria”) ruled against an earlier decision by the Constitutional Court, which would have allowed for newspapers, news sites and the media in general to publish photographs depicting Hungarian police officers while on active duty. At the moment, journalists using photographs of officers engaged in police action of any sort must conceal the […]
Journalists associated with some of Hungary largest publications, including hvg.hu, index.hu and Népszabadság, were banned for an indefinite period of time from Parliament, after they videotaped Fidesz and Christian Democratic politicians in the hallway, peppering them with questions about one of the worst corruption scandals in recent Hungarian political history. In one of the videos, a completely silent and clearly […]
At the heart of the Fidesz party’s ability to stay in power is to detect the vulnerabilities of people and organizations, and then exacerbate these, making Hungarians beholden to the regime. The chaos surrounding a major Hungarian news site called VS.hu and large state subsidies that traveled to the site’s publisher in a secretive and a roundabout way, is indicative […]
Next week, on May 3, 2016, the Hungarian American Coalition will honor János Martonyi at its 12th annual Gala Dinner at the House of Sweden in Washington DC. (Read the Coalition’s invitation here.) Mr. Martonyi was Hungary’s foreign minister under Viktor Orbán, from 1998-2002 and again in 2010-2014. As part of the inner circle of the power elite, he became […]
A poll commissioned by Hungary’s Action and Defense Foundation (Tett és Védelem Alapítvány – TEV), discovered that a third of all Hungarians and a staggering 41% of all Fidesz supporters hold anti-Semitic views. The poll was conducted by Medián, one of Hungary’s most prominent polling and research firms. The organization’s director, Endre Hann, presented the findings: 23% of adult Hungarians hold “strongly […]
