Briefings
Hungary under Viktor Orbán
The goal of absolute power
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9 January 2012PresseuropMagyar Hírlap
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Hungary
Tug of war over media law
21 December 20111PresseuropPresseurop -
Central Europe
Hungary’s bitter reunion with the IMF
25 November 201127Magyar Nemzet Budapest -
3 October 20111PresseuropNépszabadság
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Austria-Hungary
Budapest accused of fleecing Austrian banks
13 September 20111PresseuropDer Standard -
European Union
Hungarian Constitution under scrutiny
9 June 2011PresseuropNépszabadság -
19 April 2011PresseuropPresseurop
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19 April 20114Népszabadság Budapest
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6 April 20114Le Monde Paris
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16 March 2011PresseuropNépszabadság
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17 February 2011PresseuropNépszabadság
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Press freedom
It’s not just Hungary that’s muzzled
4 January 20111Der Standard Vienna -
3 January 20114Népszabadság Budapest
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Hungary
Budapest, where are you going?
22 December 20105Gazeta Wyborcza Warsaw -
Hungary-Poland
Private pension funds seized
14 December 2010PresseuropHospodářské noviny -
Hungary
Ghosts of the communist past
2 December 2010Presseurop -
Hungary
The weak link just got weaker
20 July 20101Heti Világgazdaság Budapest
Financially weakened, Budapest has requested assistance from the International Monetary Fund, as part of a deal to be negotiated between now and January 2012. The Hungarian press wonders if the move amounts to an admission of failure on the part of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, or if it has resulted from a cabal against his independence policy? 
The new Hungarian constitution approved by parliament on 18 April amounts to a milestone in the "national revolution" undertaken by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. However, the daily Népszabadság argues that it recycles 19th century ideas which are a danger to the country.
At a time when the EU has called on member states to make greater efforts to integrate Roma living on their territories, Viktor Orbán’s government, which currently holds the presidency of the European Union, continues to turn a blind eye to the ongoing campaign to intimidate "Gypsy criminals" conducted by far-right Magyar groups. 
Hungary, the black sheep of Europe in matters of freedom of the press? By no means, says Austria’s Der Standard. There’s hardly a single country in which the powers that be don’t try to rein in the independent media. 
January 1st, the day when Hungary took over the EU Presidency, was also marked by the entry into force of new laws restricting press freedom. Criticised throughout Europe, the legislation has also sparked an angry response in the independent national press, this editorial from Népszabadság being a case to point. 
On 21 December, Prime minister Viktor Orbán pushed a bill through parliament restricting press freedoms. As Hungary prepares to take the EU’s presidency, why is no-one in Europe talking about this? wonders Gazeta Wyborcza columnist Jacek Pawlicki. 
Paul Lendvai, a doyen of Hungarian political journalism, stands accused of collaborating with the former Communist regime. And this revelation comes at a time of mounting political tension. 
Forced to contend with serious economic difficulties, Viktor Orbán’s government has not succeeded in reaching agreement with the European Union and the IMF. Even if the situation remains under control, intransigence on both sides could undermine the stability of all the economies of Central Europe.
The origins of the "national revolution"
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Central Europe
Vienna-Budapest, a journey into the past
23 January 201216Le Monde Paris -
5 January 201231La Stampa Turin
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22 December 2011Magyar Narancs Budapest
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Hungary
The Beijing model
4 August 20116Die Zeit Hamburg -
1 April 20111Týždeň Bratislava
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Hungary
A country divided
1 February 20111Respekt Prague -
Hungary
Viktor Orbán, a latter day Kuruc
1 February 2011Népszabadság Budapest -
Central Europe
Greater Hungary, an imminent danger
24 May 20109Lidové noviny Prague -
Central Europe
We don't want to play the class clown
24 May 2010Magyar Nemzet Budapest -
26 April 20101PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza
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Hungary
13 reasons not to be cheerful
12 October 20092Heti Világgazdaság Budapest -
Hungary
Jobbik's anti-Roma crusade
15 June 20093Respekt Prague
Heirs to the Hapsburg Empire, Austria and Hungary have something else in common: an ambiguous relationship with history and a tendency to tolerate political excesses. Ten years after European sanctions against Vienna, why does the Budapest seem to be stuck in the 1930s? 
To understand the current Hungarian government’s withdrawal into nationalism and identity, one must look back into the history of the country, argues an expert in Hungarian literature: particularly into the fragility of its bourgeoisie and the frustrations born of military defeats. 
The suspension of negotiations with the IMF and the EU over the issue of the independence of the central bank has demonstrated that Viktor Orbán’s government also intends to apply its “national revolution” to the economy. However, economist Miklós Sebők argues that the basis for this policy is erroneous. 
Victor Orban's controversial media law entered fully into force in July. After one month, the upshot is: mass layoffs of critical journalists and the allegation that the head of government is forcing the public media to toe his own line, making his regime ever more authoritarian. 
On March 15, Hungarians commemorated their Revolution of 1848. This year, however, the image of the historical revolutionary Kossuth has faded into the background behind that of the current Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán. 
The government of Viktor Orbán (Fidesz) has succeeded in consolidating its power, including control over the media, and is preparing to amend the Constitution. Is the sudden set-back to democracy in Hungary just a hiccup, or is it a systemic phenomenon that could spread to other central European states? Respekt reports from Budapest. 
By taking on the rest of Europe, the Hungarian Prime Minister is appealing to his compatriots’ patriot gene, which protests against foreign powers. But this tactic doesn’t work every time, notes the Hungarian daily Népszabadság. 
The new government in Budapest wants to issue passports to all the ethnic Hungarians living in neighbouring countries. Slovakia, which is one of the main countries concerned, is none too pleased. The measure may prompt an increase in nationalist antipathy that could destabilise the EU. 
The Hungarian and Slovak governments are overplaying the nationalist card, which is not only dangerous for their own people, but absurdly self-defeating, as it merely confirms Western prejudices about Central Europe, bemoans a Hungarian journalist.
A recent national survey has ranked Hungarians among the most pessimistic peoples on the planet. Taking a broad look at the different profiles that participate in the collective gloom — from those who lost out in the 1989 regime change to thwarted ideologues — sociologist Elemér Hankiss explores the range of Hungarian despondency. 
In Hungary, far right party Jobbik won 15% of the vote and three seats at the European elections. A remarkable success, especially in the light of an election campaign that offered little more than aggressive anti-Roma rhetoric and virulent criticism of Hungary's national government. Europe ill at ease
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17 February 20124PresseuropNépszava
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Hungary-EU
Viktor Orbán dodges MEPs questions
19 January 2012PresseuropNépszava -
Hungary-EU
Brussels starts power struggle with Orbán
18 January 20128PresseuropNépszabadság, Magyar Nemzet, Népszava -
12 January 201217Népszabadság Budapest
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Hungary
Orbán increasingly isolated
6 January 20129Presseurop -
Editorial
Orbán and our values
6 January 20124Presseurop -
European Union
Hungary is our business too
4 January 201239Le Monde Paris -
Hungary
Let us deal with Orbán
3 January 20129Heti Világgazdaság Budapest -
Hungary
IMF and EU slam door on Hungary
19 December 2011PresseuropNépszabadság -
European Commission
Hungary media law not “satisfactory”
18 January 2011PresseuropPravda -
EU Presidency
Play it smart with Hungary
7 January 20115The Economist London
After quibbling for several weeks, the European Commission launched three legal actions against the Hungarian government. But who will back down first – Budapest or Brussels? The Hungarian press is not expecting any great changes. 
By threatening Budapest with financial sanctions and infringement proceedings if the Hungarian government fails to change its policies on the economy and the judiciary, the EU seems to have begun a process that would allow it to get rid of Hungary’s Prime Minister, as it got rid of Berlusconi and Papandreou. But it won’t be that easy. 
The reinforcement of the executive branch of government and the weakening of checks and balances has been criticised by newspapers in Hungary and elsewhere in Europe at a moment when the country has been struck by a financial crisis that is steadily worsening as investors lose confidence in Budapest. 
The EU should not remain indifferent to PM Viktor Orbán’s drift towards authoritarian nationalism. As a community based on democratic as well as economic values, it ought to exert pressure on Budapest to keep the Hungarian government on the right path, argues Le Monde. 
Protests against the Hungarian prime minister, accused of a drift towards authoritarianism, are growing in Budapest. But while the international community is also starting to respond, the protests must avoid relying on foreign intervention, argues philosopher Gáspár Miklós Tamás. 
As Hungary takes the helm of the EU’s rotating presidency, many fear its government is taking an anti-democratic turn. But is there much the European Union can do about it? wonders The Economist. Editorial
What is happening in Budapest? Since his return to power in 2010, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who was a moderate and liberal government leader in 1990s, seems to be intent on becoming a fully fledged autocrat. With the support of a two-thirds majority in parliament and the far-right movement Jobbik, he appears today more eager to ensure the hegemony of his Fidesz party than he is to defend the achievements of the post-communist state, and more inspired by a nationalist nostalgia for a Greater Hungary than by the values of the European Union, which his country joined in 2004.
With his growing control over legislative, judicial and economic powers, his measures to curb the media and his nationalist discourse, Viktor Orbán is a cause for concern, and some have called for sanctions, or even Hungary’s exclusion from the EU. In a bid to facilitate an understanding of the mechanisms of a political crisis that could become a long-term problem for Europe, these articles selected from the press in Hungary and other European countries retrace the development and examine the ideological basis of this "national revolution," and also explore possible responses.
