As Greece teeters on the brink of both default and a disorderly exit from the euro zone, the only political party in Hungary that has lent its support behind the anti-austerity government of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is the Balpárt (Left Party). The Balpárt translated Mr. Tsipras’s televised speech into Hungarian, in which he called a snap referendum for […]
The Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) released data showing that over 35% of Hungary’s population lives below the poverty line. In the same breath, the KSH indicated that it would stop publishing statistics on poverty levels, because this term is too elusive. In fact, KSH now claims that when it published statistics on the poverty line, it would have been more […]
Mathieu Labrèche is a corporate communications manager based in Toronto and a graduate of the Brussels School of International Studies. He argues in this piece that a Greek exit from the euro would have serious geopolitical ramifications and would strengthen Russia’s hand in Eastern and Central Europe.
Inside the Boom-Box–The Technical Data on RCA Viktor’s 2015 Sound System How does Hungary’s ruling political Party, FIDESZ, use the language of political deception to get what it wants? How does Viktor Orbán’s government manipulate public opinion in Canada and around the world? How does it use the language of love and harmony, to generate applause, as it destroys the […]
Hungary is sending 20 police officers and will install thermal imaging cameras to help monitor Serbia’s southern borders, in an attempt to stop a growing number of refugees from making their way into the European Union through Macedonia and Serbia. This move follows heightened tension between Budapest and Belgrade, after the Orbán government’s unilateral decision to erect a four metre-high […]
In many contemporary Hungarian cultural circles, a chill runs through the air whenever the name György Aczél is mentioned. Mr. Aczél was Hungary’s minister of culture and the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party’s (MSZMP) powerful culture “tsar” when it came to the arts and to the limited freedom of expression that characterized Goulash Communism, starting in the sixties. Hungary’s most prominent […]
Budapest’s Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Hungary’s largest institution of higher education, is prepared to introduce a course on anti-racism, and is also considering whether to make this mandatory for all students enrolled in the Institute for Art Theory and Media Studies. Péter György, the institute’s director, said that the course would include Holocaust studies and that while faculty planned to […]
According to figures released Thursday by Eurostat, as part of its quarterly report, Germany and Hungary received the most refugees of all member states in the European Union. The number of asylum seekers increased by 86% in the EU. Kosovars formed the single largest group of refugees arriving to EU member states, followed by Syrians and Afghanis. Forty percent of […]
Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced Wednesday that the Orbán government has decided to erect a four metre fence along a 175 km stretch of border with Serbia, in order to stop the flow of refugees and migrants entering the country. Mr. Szijjártó pointed to the border between Bulgaria and Turkey as a precedent, and added that in […]
A small Jewish activist group called The Voice of Six Million Souls has long been working to uncover the identities of the people behind the neo-Nazi Kuruc.info website, which is known for publishing the most revolting examples of Holocaust denial and hate speech of any Hungarian publication. Some months ago, I had been in touch by telephone with this group, as it is well-known that the owner of Kuruc.info’s domain (which is registered […]
