Gábor Vona has been trying to shift his Jobbik party away from the far right; he must have thought that one of the best ways to show Hungary and the world that he is serious about ridding the party of its antisemitism is by wishing a Happy Hanukkah to Rabbi Slomó Köves and to his Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation. “Allow me […]
“Is heterosexuality difficult for you?”–asked conservative journalist András Stumpf of Gábor Vona, the leader of the far-right Jobbik party, in a video interview appearing on the party’s online TV channel, N1TV. Mr. Vona, who has been accused by media associated with the governing Fidesz party of engaging in homosexual orgies, answered with an awkward “no.” What Mr. Stumpf was getting […]
Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party had, by any standards, a terrible last month or so, yet new polling figures suggest that the popularity of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government did not suffer at all. It was revealed that Ghaith Pharaon, a Saudi businessman wanted by the FBI and Interpol for wire fraud, racketeering and allegedly funding terrorists, conducted business with a company tied […]
One of the relatively refreshing aspects of Hungarian politics until recently was that, broadly speaking, the personal lives of politicians were not paraded before the general public, and the public did not seem especially interested in this either. Over the last few years, however, media tied to Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party has rejected this unwritten rule, even to the point of […]
Lajos Kósa, Leader of the ruling Fidesz caucus in Parliament, called Jobbik leader Gábor Vona a “traitor,” after the far-right party blocked the Orbán government from amending Hungary’s Fundamental Law to prohibit the settlement of any foreign nationals in Hungary, without the prior approval of the national legislature. Fidesz is just two seats shy of a two-thirds super-majority in parliament, […]
In a series of tense exchanges in Parliament on Monday, after the government’s referendum opposing EU-wide “migrant quotas” was declared invalid, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán went on the offensive. His main target was Gábor Vona, President of the far-right Jobbik party, who had called for the prime minister’s resignation following the failed vote. Mr. Vona had cautioned the prime minister […]
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced after his anti-migrant referendum was declared invalid by the National Election Office that he intends to disregard the result and will bring forward a proposal to amend Hungary’s constitution. Mr. Orbán’s proposed constitutional amendment is “borrowed” directly and explicitly from Jobbik’s platform. The far-right party and its leader spent the entire referendum campaign criticising Fidesz […]
Lajos Simicska, one of the wealthiest and most influential businessmen in Hungary, has often boasted that he was the one to lift Viktor Orbán–once his close friend and former college roommate–to power. (HFP reported on last year’s stunning and very public falling out between the two men here.) According to a report in the Népszabadság daily, based on sources close to Mr. Simicska, he has now […]
One of our readers in the United States was angered by an article we ran about far-right historian Sándor Szakály’s visit to Cleveland and his revisionist views on the Holocaust. The reader’s letter is published below, along with a brief response from HFP contributor György Lázár. Dear Mr. Lázár, I have no idea who you are but I can guess […]
When Gábor Vona, leader of the far-right Jobbik party, visited a kindergarten in the Jobbik-controlled town of Ózd, and posted over a dozen photos on Facebook of him mingling, smiling and playing with young children, he was accused by the opposition of “political pedophilia.” According to Mr. Vona’s explanation, he had asked the school’s principal, whether he could spend the […]
