In December, the Hungarian Parliament passed a controversial media law to heavily fine radio and TV stations, newspapers, and websites whose reporting is considered to be "politically unbalanced.” The Hungarian author György Konrád discusses this new media law, his country’s EU Presidency, and resistance from the younger generation.

Despite international criticism of the undemocratic developments in Hungary, Bavarian Premier Horst Seehofer could not resist rolling out the red carpet for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during his visit to Munich in March 2012.

Hungary's former president Pal Schmitt's loyalty to Fidesz and Mr Orbán was so exaggerated that he wasn't taken seriously as an autonomous political figure. With János Áder Fidesz and Mr Orbán have chosen long-time party member, who is perceived as a more independent figure. But how autnonmous is the new president really? 

The EU is dependent on intact democracies in the member states - if the EU wants to be democratic it cannot be indifferent to its democratically constituted members. But what options are available for influencing Hungary? And who are the relevant actors for a democratic change in the country?

This article tries to explain the anti-establishment position of Hungary’s new democratic movements. Seen from this perspective, the present state of affairs and prospects for the future appear rather bleak – but not entirely devoid of hope.

The new Hungarian Constitution disempowers the political community, curtails  fundamental rights and confronts citizens with the prospect of having to live in a state which exhibits authoritarian tendencies in general. But fatalism is not an option.

Under it's new Prime Minister Robert Fico and his Smer party, Slovakia has become the second Central European country after Hungary with a one-party government in power. Grigorij Mesežnikov, political scientist and president of the Institute for Public Affairs, analyzes the stuctural parallels and characteristics of the neighbouring countries' current political situations and draws a cautiously optimistic outlook on the future of the strained Slovak-Hungarian relations.

The Hungarian political system rests on a powerfully centralised party machine, a viable alternative is not in sight. The opposition is scattered and lacks of democratic structures and identity. What are potential sources for a democrativ change? László Lengyel and Eszter Nova (Financial Research Institute in Budapest) about possible sources of change in a country not used to democratic self-defence.

Kristóf Szombati analyzes the the difficulties and obstacles that Fidesz’s governance has created for itself and asks what this may spell for the future. According to Szombati, in order to assess the impact of forces that may push a governmental force down, it is necessary to formulate an idea of the forces that lifted it up and to ask for the expectations that Hungarian voters and international investors, money-lenders and politicians had vis-à-vis the new government.

In a recently published online article György Schöpflin, Hungarian political scientist and member of the European Parliament for Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, laments that foreign countries do not understand Hungary. For Schöpflin Hungary is a “small culture with its own very different language”, which is not heard by the rest of the world. Wolfgang Klotz, director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, analyzes the values of Hungary's conservatives.