The US Senate today voted 52-42 to confirm Colleen Bradley Bell to be U.S. ambassador to Hungary. Senator John McCain is a very influential Republican. He was presidential nominee in 2008, he lost to President Obama, and now he is considered possible presidential candidate in 2016. When Senator McCain talks American politicians listen. McCain spoke in the Senate about Ms. […]
On paper, Hungary is obliged to eventually replace the forint with the euro. But somewhat like Sweden, which is obligated to do the same on paper, the Hungarian national currency is likely to stay around for some time to come, as the Orbán government has no plans to move towards the euro at any point in the near future. With […]
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has good reason to feel uneasy. On Sunday, the party lost a by-election in a left-leaning Budapest suburb by a 20 point margin (the governing party had at least expected a close race with the opposition Socialists) and then early this week two prominent Fidesz supporters announced that they may contest — as independent candidates — […]
András Göllner, Founder and International Spokesperson of the Canadian Hungarian Democratic Charter and Professor Emeritus at Concordia University, gave a live interview to Huffington Post, over Skype, from his home in Montreal. Professor Göllner spoke to the growing popular unrest in Hungary and the destruction of the rule of law since 2010. “Hungary has taken a wrong turn. It has […]
In 1992 chess genius Bobby Fischer was warned against playing a $5-million match in Yugoslavia. The United States had prohibited all commercial dealings in the war-torn country, the tournament was illegal, and Mr. Fischer was cited for participating in the chess match with Boris Spassky. The erratic Mr. Fischer, 49 years old at the time, was known for bizarre behavior. He […]
Some 10,000 people took to the streets of Budapest on Monday evening (and up to 5,000 protested in a handful of other Hungarian and European cities) in what was dubbed a “Day of Public Outrage” against the taxes, systemic corruption and anti-western foreign policy of the Orbán government. The demonstrators called for nothing short of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s resignation. What was […]
Most of HFP’s readers will be quite familiar with Éva Balogh’s Hungarian Spectrum, an excellent blog with daily updates, providing in-depth exploration and informed opinion of political, social and cultural issues in Hungary. Professor Balogh, who is also a founder of the Canadian Hungarian Democratic Charter, very rarely misses writing her daily post (pretty much only when her electricity goes […]
On Sunday night, something of a political earthquake shook rural Hungary. After Fidesz contested the very tight results of the mayoral election in the working class town of Ózd (population: 36,000), a new vote was held this past weekend. Fidesz pumped all of its energies into winning back this town from the 27 year old Dávid Janiczak, who was Jobbik’s candidate. On the surface, Mr. […]
Just for once, let’s state the obvious: It is very likely that the prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, not only knew everything about the US corruption charges — knew who were the accused, knew what they were accused of, knew what they actually did, and knew the evidence the US had against them, but, by far the most important […]
With all the chatter and protest around the Internet tax (the implementation of which has been merely postponed until 2015), little attention has been given to the Orbán government’s rather insidious plans to “reform” the country’s education system. Fortunately, Népszabadság – the country’s most widely-read daily newspaper of record – published an analysis of what is likely in store for Hungary’s […]
