English

HUNGARY’S POLITICAL OPPOSITION STILL DON’T GET IT!

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22 December 2011

The recent decision by a second credit rating agency to downgrade Hungary’s credit rating to junk has been hailed by the Hungarian Socialists and LMP as a vindication of their criticism of the Orban administration.  In their view, the current Hungarian government is akin to a ‘fascist dictatorship’ which has snuffed out democracy in Hungary and the more that the international community can do to reverse Fidesz policy the better.  Into this equation, the opposition lump the IMF negotiations and the frequent criticisms of the European Commission and Parliament.

TRUTH, JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION: HUNGARY’S TIME

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23 October  2011

 

Many commentators – both at home and abroad – mocked Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban when he declared his election victory of 2010 a ‘revolution’.  Perhaps the commentators were too hasty in their judgement.

Look at the Hungarian political landscape of October 2011: the Socialists were destroyed at the polls and have now split and the old Liberals and Conservatives have been wiped from the political map. The Fidesz Party has an unheard of two-thirds ‘super-majority’.

THE POPE AND EUROPEAN POLITICS

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6 October 2011

Pope Benedict’s recent speech in the German Parliament was another reminder to European politicians that secularism and the absence of God from the ‘public space’ carries with it a real risk of further damaging the fabric of an already damaged European society.

THE COST OF POLITICAL FAILURE

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3 October 2011

The Hungarian Socialist Party is dying.  The election defeat of 2010 – the political equivalent of a massive heart attack – consigned the party to the political wilderness.  However, events since then have reinforced the image of a party slowly choking to death on its internal in-fighting and the political machinations of former Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsány.

THE EU, DEFICITS AND DEMOCRACY

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3 October 2011

Between the banking and sovereign debt crisis, Europe – or more particularly the EU – is facing what some commentators are suggesting is its greatest challenge to date.  The failure to adequately manage the Greek debt crisis has become embarrassing and international partners are becoming irritated and disillusioned with the Union and its politicians.

THE EURO CRISIS

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23 August 2011

The recent proposals from Paris and Berlin on how to stem the Euro crisis quite clearly point to some form of fiscal union. Although it has made no appreciable difference to the volatility of global markets in recent days, it nevertheless suggests that the current economic crisis in Europe cannot be contained within the current Euro support mechanisms. The whole EU project is visibly under severe strain.

FIDESZ AND THE FINANCIAL TIMES: A CASE TO ANSWER?

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18 August 2011

In a spate of recent articles, the Financial Times (FT) has been sharply critical of the actions of the Hungarian government and Prime Minister, Viktor Orban. Kester Eddy, the FT’s Budapest correspondent co-wrote an article on 3 August entitled “Hungary moves to charge former PMs” which was quickly followed a day later by an editorial entitled “Orban warfare”. Both articles expressed a clear opinion that the current Hungarian government was pursuing policies which in some way were anti-democratic, with a particular reference to the so-called threat to prosecute three former prime ministers for some sort of economic crime but also linked to the international outcry resulting from the recent introduction of the Media Law and a new constitution.