Post Tagged with: "Viktor Orbán"

HírTV mugs. Half empty, or half full?

Government censorship of the media in Hungary: The case of HírTV

Péter Tarr is the deputy director of the right-leaning HírTV cable television news network, which was established in 2003 as Hungary’s first 24/7 news channel. Back in February, the station’s owner, Lajos Simicska, had a very public and profanity-laced falling out with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and after that happened, HírTV journalists and staff, once the media darlings of the […]

by · October 7, 2015 · Focus
István Ujhelyi. Photo: Facebook.

Hungarian Socialists oppose EU punitive action against Orbán government

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe are pushing for the European Union to invoke the ominous Article 7 of the Lisbon Treaty against Hungary, but the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) has spoken up strongly in opposition of this initiative. If invoked, Article 7 would temporarily suspend some of the country’s voting rights in the EU, as punishment for […]

by · October 6, 2015 · Politics
Pope Francis. Photo: Benhur Arcayan.

Orbán marches to a different drumbeat than Pope Francis

Readers of the Montreal Gazette will likely notice András Göllner’s column in this morning’s paper. The founder of the Canadian Hungarian Democratic Charter explores Pope Francis’ approach to compassion, diversity and inclusion, contrasting this with authoritarian political leaders, most notably Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Prof. Göllner’s piece is worth a read and most certainly worth sharing here […]

by · September 29, 2015 · Politics
A refugee at the Röszke border crossing. Photo: Balázs Mohai / MTI.

András Göllner responds to Ambassador Ódor and George Jonas in the National Post

András Göllner published a piece on Hungary’s slow slide into despotism in the National Post, which elicited a response from Hungarian Ambassador Bálint Ódor. Mr. Ódor’s response then led to an op-ed from columnist George Jonas, who agreed with the ambassador and wrote fearfully of the dangers of Europe turning into “Eurabia.” Professor Göllner offered the following response to Mr. […]

by · September 25, 2015 · Politics
Viktor Orbán chats with  the Christian Social Union leadership of Bavaria. CSU politicians have been supportive of Mr. Orbán's tough stance on refugees and critical of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Photo: Viktor Orbán's Facebook page.

Viktor Orbán, the triumphant?

“Not a single refugee will step foot in here. This I can guarantee,” said Robert Kaliňák, Slovakia’s interior minister, on his way home from the EU summit called to deal with the most significant refugee crisis since World War II. Prime Minister Robert Fico’s populist left-wing government is obtaining technology from an American company called Hesco Bastion, which will allow it […]

by · September 24, 2015 · Politics
From page A9 of the National Post (September 23, 2015.)

Responses to Ambassador Ódor’s defence of the Orbán government in the National Post

Canada’s National Post daily newspaper published an op-ed entitled “A Word in Hungary’s Defence,” by Ambassador Bálint Ódor. The Orbán government’s representative in Canada was responding to an earlier piece in the National Post by Professor András Göllner, which highlighted the xenophobia that is a driving force behind the policies of the current regime in Budapest, especially as they relate […]

by · September 23, 2015 · Politics
Faymann, Fico and Sobotka are happier without Orbán.

The end of the Visegrad 4 Group – Orbán is alone

A couple of weeks ago in Prague, the prime ministers of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic declared that they would oppose the European Commission’s plan to redistribute 120,000 refugees across the European Union. They resolutely rejected the proposed quota system. The Czech Republic hosted the meeting as current president of the Visegrad 4 Group (V4). Polish Prime Minister […]

by · September 23, 2015 · Politics
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán...the self-proclaimed "guardian" of the EU's borders? Photo: Viktor Orbán's Facebook page.

The strange emergence of Viktor Orbán as the “guardian” of the EU’s borders

The ongoing refugee crisis has once again highlighted the mismatch between an ever-more-integrated union of 28 societies and a European political structure built primarily around the interests of sovereign states. In this political framework even an issue intimately linked to elementary human rights and European values is being transformed into a series of seemingly intractable distributive conflicts. The emergence of […]

by · September 14, 2015 · Politics
Armed Hungarian soldiers on the border with Serbia, in Röszke, on September 14th. Photo:Balázs Mohai / MTI.

Does Germany’s reversal on refugees vindicate Orbán?

On Sunday, Germany suspended the rules of the Schengen Area. The very underpinnings of the European Union, namely hindrance free travel within the zone, were shaken, with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government reintroducing varying degrees of border controls along Germany’s frontier with nine EU countries. The most stringent controls are between Germany and Austria and traffic jams extending four kilometres along […]

by · September 14, 2015 · Focus
Ferenc Gyurcsány speaking in Budapest on September 13th. Photo: Noémi Bruzák / MTI.

Hungary’s former PM suggests Orbán made pact with the Antichrist

Two of Hungary’s left-centre opposition parties demonstrated on Sunday in Budapest against the Orbán government’s inhumane handling of the refugee crisis. The Socialists, however, have been relatively quiet on the issue of the refugees, probably realizing that this is not a topic that will win them many new votes. In contrast, political leaders in both the Democratic Coalition (DK) and […]

by · September 13, 2015 · Politics