Letters to Hungary
10 April 2013
For the past two years, Hungary’s government, prime minister and governing party have been the subject of largely unprecedented attacks by both internal and external critics. These critics have assailed everything from the size of their parliamentary majority, their drafting of a new constitution, freedom of the press and the judiciary and their ‘unorthodox’ economic policy.
17 January 2012
The EU has convinced itself that Hungary’s government is taking the country on an anti-democratic path. Ever since the furore over the Hungary’s new media law in January 2011, which conveniently for the government’s critics, blew up as Hungary was to assume the Presidency of the EU, Budapest politics have hardly been out of the news. The adoption of a new constitution has been badly received and associated laws – particularly in relation to the management of the Hungarian Central Bank – have also generated an avalanche of protest.
6 January 2012
As an avid reader of the Financial Times (FT), I was staggered by the paper’s coverage of Hungarian affairs this week. In short, it seemed like a systematic assault on the policies of the Hungarian Government and a smear campaign against the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán.
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.