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 […]
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gave an interview to the German tabloid daily Bild, in which he predicted that Muslims will form the majority population within Europe “in the foreseeable future,” thanks to immigration. Bild once again has the situation in Hungary as its cover page story. “If Europe allows for competition between cultures, Christians will lose,” added Hungary’s prime minister. According […]
While the Orbán government is busy erecting a 177 km barbed wire fence along the full length of the border with Serbia, in a thus far completely unsuccessful attempt at keeping refugees out, and sending a message to the Fidesz party’s base that the government is tough as nails with the migrants, it is also launching a program to lure […]
Despite the fact that thousands of refugees are arriving in Hungary, the average citizen hardly notices this crisis. Although one can see Afghans and Syrians at major railway stations, the majority of people are not faced directly with the problem. And this is quite simply because the majority of those arriving in Hungary end up leaving the country within a […]
Greek voters rejected the dictates of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in much larger numbers than initially anticipated. The decision was reasonable, understandable and, given the circumstances, it can certainly be appreciated. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s government received a remarkable mandate to continue the country’s economic and humanitarian war of independence. The results of the referendum […]
In almost any country, except Hungary, publicist Árpád W. Tóta would likely be considered an ultraconservative for his rigid economic views. In Hungary, he’s a prominent opinion-maker of the left-centre opposition establishment. He sometimes reminds me of an enthusiastic member of an Ayn Rand college fan club, comprised of anxious freshmen who haven’t seen much of the world, beyond their suburban […]
There seems to be somewhat of a generational divide on the Hungarian left, when it comes to austerity and the debt crisis in Greece. While the mainstream left-centre opposition parties have remained largely mum about the increasingly dramatic stand-off between the Troika and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s Syriza government in Athens, and while some older, “big guns” of prior Hungarian […]
Hungary’s Magyar Nemzet daily newspaper believes that as Greece shut downs its banking system, introduces financial controls and teeters on the knife edge of default, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras may very definitively turn to Russian President Vladimir Putin for assistance. “Compared to this, Viktor Orbán’s flirtation with Russia will have been nothing at all,” adds Magyar Nemzet, in a clear […]
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 […]
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.
