Hungary

Hungary receives massive aids from Russia in constructing new power plants. It is not only generosity, but mere a fiendishly clever economic strategy. Still legal and political risks have been neglected.

An amendment has made it illegal to sleep rough in world cultural heritage areas, which cover Budapest’s entire city-centre. Now there is a long list of additional areas in Budapest where homeless people can be subjected to forceful removal and penalties. How did we get here?

Philosopher Péter Rauschenberger ist co-founder of the Hungarian green party (LMP), which he left in January 2013. In his article he gives an overview on the different actors of the “democratic opposition” under the Orbán government and explains, why they struggle to build stable alliences.

On 29 August Attila Mesterházy, president of the Socialist Party, and Gordon Bajnai, leader of the Together 2014-PM alliance, announced that they had finally reached a deal that ‘would allow the democratic forces of the left to unseat the Orbán government’. What are the consequences of the agreement?

In July a three-year process of the reform of the Hungarian electoral procedure law has come to an end. With the changes in the voting system the leading Fidesz-KDNP party foremost seeks to convert its relative popular majority into an absolute majority in Parliament. An analysis of the reform's effects.  

On 3 July, the European Parliament adopted the resolution “on the situation of fundamental rights: standards and practices in Hungary”, which criticises the state of fundamental rights and the rule of law in Hungary. MEP Rui Tavares, the rapporteur in charge of wording the report, discusses the resolution’s afterlife and its implications.

Péter Krekó, research director of Political Capital, and Kornélia Magyar, director of the Progressive Institute, analyse the performance of the Fidesz government and reflect on the prospects for Fidesz and opposition parties in the 2014 election year.  

Since 2010 the Fidesz-KDNP coalition adopted a new constitution with so far four rounds of constitutional amendments. This analysis issued by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and the Eötvös Károly Institute highlights the specific concerns in relation to the Fourth Amendment.

Tímea Szabó is co-president of the new green left party Dialogue for Hungary (PM). In the interview she talks about the new party's strategy after the split from the green party LMP in January. 

With the constitutional amendments adopted on the 11th of March, Viktor Orbán has once again caused a surprise. The reactions of the Western European public show that there is still an inadequate grasp of how political power is exercised by Orbán’s government. European democrats now finally need to formulate a common position against the power centralization in the country.

After the split of Hungarians green party LMP, two parties and strategies have been developed for a consistent eco-policy. The prospects regarding the upcoming elections are not extremely rosy for either side. 

The cold December fired up Hungarian politics. For days, thousands of students marched on the streets to protest against the government’s plans to drastically cut higher education spending. The demonstrations resulted in a defeat for Viktor Orbán, with his government being forced to withdraw its reform plans.  

After passing the Electoral Procedure Act, we are still far from knowing the final rules less than a year and a half ahead of the next parliamentary elections. However, the new electoral system turns out to be a measure of the governing party to increase its chances of winning the 2014 general election, while oppositional parties will be forced to organise their activist network and engage in a door-to-door campaign more effectively than before. 

András Schiffer, re-elected parliamentary leader of the green party LMP, about the party’s electoral strategy for 2014 and its rejection to join the new political movement Together 2014 ("T14").

A week ago the Congress of the Hungarian green party LMP has adopted a series of resolutions on the party’s electoral strategy for 2014, but there is still disagreement within the party on what the resolution prescribes in practice. An interview with Benedek Jávor, who has recently resigned as a parliamentary leader of the LMP.

The conference, which took place on the October 4th 2012 was organized by Védegylet (Protect the Future), the One Million for the Freedom of the Hungarian Press Movement (Milla) and the Heinrich Böll Foundation. It had a double objective: to discuss problems of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe and to present a new project  on democratic renewal to the Hungarian public. 

Berlin-based Hungarian artist Artúr van Balen has travelled to Hungary to join the opposition protests in Budapest on the 23rd of October. With the help of around 15 artists and activists van Balen created the "Hungarian Orange", a 5 meter long, 3.5 meter high inflatable lemon, which they brought to the protests. But not everyone was amused by the playful object.

As expected, the 56th anniversary of the hungarian revolution occasioned a symbolic battle between the Prime Minister and his left-of-centre opposition, with both sides seeking to present themselves as the true heirs of 1956. Whereas Orbán and Fidesz clearly won the battle of numbers, the show was stolen by Gordon Bajnai, the former Prime Minister.

Ramil Safarov’s surprise extradition on 31 August 2012 and his immediate pardoning upon arrival to Baku has raised a few intriguing questions not only outside Hungary but inside the country. It shows that Hungary’s current government is prepared to go a long way – if necessary, against fundamental human rights – in order to secure its economic interests.

A chain of rapid and unprecedented changes in Hungary’s Higher Education Act have been adopted and implemented recently by the government of Viktor Orbán. The changes share the intention of centralising power and establishing supreme control over all levels of education.