Letters to Hungary
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.
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.
2011. szeptember 29.
Ez az írás nem véletlenül nem a Női Lobbyba került, mert úgy gondolom, hogy ez a téma nem a nőké kizárólag.
Atv reggeli adás. A stúdióban három nő ül. A műsorvezető nő, az oknyomozó újságírónő és a témával behatóan foglalkozó tudományos kutatónő. Kicsit tétován, zavarodottan, nehezen találva beszélnek a témáról. Igyazából nincsenek is szalonképes szavak, mert erről a témáról nem folyik mindennapi szókinccsel folytatott vita Magyarországon. Vagy nagyon körülírjuk a mondandót, vagy olyan szavak vannak, amelyek egy tévéstúdióban nem szalonképesek.
11 September 2011
What are we to make of the recent allegations in Heti Válasz that the Hungarian State Security Service had been collecting information on Viktor Orbán and László Kövér whilst they were in political opposition to the Socialist government of Ferenc Gyurcsány?
2011. augusztus 28.
A The Sunday Telegraph 2011. augusztus 28-i nyomtatott számának első oldalán az első cikk a “Ministers back new law on abortion” címmel jelent meg, majd a 17. oldalon egészoldalas írás elemzte az új törvényjavaslat körülményeit és hatásait.
Miről is van szó?
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.
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.
28 June 2011
Since January 2011, the Hungarian government has been criticized for a number of political initiatives, ranging from the introduction of a new media law – which had the European Union up in arms – to the introduction of a new constitution, which has irked the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission.
22 June 2011
Some eyebrows were raised recently when it became known that the Hungarian government had bought a significant number of shares in MOL, a national energy champion of sorts. Political opponents focused on the apparent use of funds previously loaned by the IMF to complete the deal – somehow suggesting that such a move was improper – while other commentators noted the undercurrents of energy security as a prime catalyst for buying the shares.
21 June 2011
Bernard Connolly used to be a civil servant of the European Commission. His particular remit was European monetary union.
In September 1995, much against the wishes of his superiors, he published a book entitled ‘The Rotten Heart of Europe’, outlining the political machinations of those responsible for pushing the notion of a single European currency as a key element of ever closer political union. Connolly was acidic in his printed comments and clearly annoyed the political elites in Europe, so much so that he eventually had to leave the European Commission. His only crime seemed to be a willingness to tell the truth as he saw it.