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Democracy for Sale •

What happens to Britain's radical right if Orbán loses?

Hungary under Orbán funds a network of institutions designed to shape conservative debate both at home and abroad, encompassing annual events such as Brain Bar and CPAC Hungary – the first time the American Conservative Political Action Committee brought its annual conference to Europe – as well as universities, think tanks and media outlets. Many of these nodes have ties back to the British right.
Veridica.ro •

What the Hungarian election means for Romania - and for the Hungarians who live there

The infrastructure Orbán built in Transylvania - the patronage funds, media outlets, postal-vote networks - do not belong in the realm of foreign policy. They are Romanian domestic politics by other means.

If the Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar wins on Sunday, that infrastructure will begin to change, and Romania will need to decide whether it is a spectator or a stakeholder in what follows.
openDemocracy •

Meet the conservative who could unseat Viktor Orbán

It has taken over a decade, but the Hungarian opposition may finally have a suitable candidate to face prime minister Viktor Orbán, ahead of national elections on 3 April.While the international press anointed Budapest mayor Gergely Karácsony in the autumn, dark horse Péter Márki-Zay was making a splash in televised debates ahead of an unprecedented opposition primary to select its prime ministerial candidate. Karácsony, a political pollster by trade, saw the writing on the wall. Stepping aside,...
openDemocracy •

With LGBTQ+ rights in the spotlight, Hungary prepares for a political showdown

Politics and sport are an increasingly potent mix – and nowhere more so than in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, where Formula One drivers Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel made a stand for LGBTQ+ rights last weekend.In Hungary to compete at the Grand Prix event they have dominated for the past decade, the British and German pair spoke out against the upcoming referendum on Orbán’s so-called ‘child protection law’, an anti-paedophilia bill that was later augmented to prohibit the showing of “any conten...
openDemocracy •

What would another Orbán victory mean for Hungary?

On 15 March, in the midst of Hungary’s election campaign, Budapest got a new museum. The Money Museum – the brainchild of Hungarian national bank governor György Matolcsy, known for his unorthodox economic policies – promises to take visitors on “a carefully constructed experience journey around the world of money”, at its new location in the basement of a central bank building.For Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, who is seeking his fourth consecutive term in office at the national electio...
Veridica.ro •

As Orban looks further East, a new wind blows from Beijing to Budapest

Hungary’s plans to become a hub for eastern superpowers were widely mocked after Viktor Orban’s government’s “Eastern Wind” policy had to be renamed “Eastern Opening” after a party official noted that an eastern wind blows things everywhere except to the east. That hilarity turned to anger, however, when it emerged that China plans to build its first ever European university on the banks of the Danube by way of a EUR 1.5bn construction project that will be funded by Hungarian taxpayers.
On Apri...
Veridica.ro •

Europe’s maverick politicians and the bear in the room

After years of sparring with Brussels over his rule of law approach, which led to increased isolation for his Fidesz party, Hungary’s Viktor Orban decided to strike back by forging an alliance with Poland’s Law and Justice Party and Italy’s Lega. The plan was to start by  setting-up a new party bloc within the European Parliament. However, this may prove to be easier said than done.
To the clear surprise of Italy’s Lega party leader Matteo Salvini, journalists were not granted questions at the...
Veridica.ro •

Vaccine geopolitics: Hungary’s expensive turn East

After over a decade of near total domestic political dominance, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is having an unusually bruising 2021. The newly-formed United Opposition alliance gained a narrow lead over his Fidesz party in January and is still polling level. On March 3 Fidesz was forced to quit the centre-right European People’s Party EU group that it had called home for over two decades. Now, as the highly infectious British coronavirus variant rips through the country, causing 90% of th...
The Guardian •

Hungarian journalists admit role in forging anti-migrant 'atmosphere of fear'

A leading editor at Hungary’s state television network punched the air in jubilation as he took a phone call on Sunday evening. Shortly afterwards, his subordinates realised what he had been told: Viktor Orbán had secured a resounding victory in the parliamentary election.

Orbán and his Fidesz party achieved a third consecutive supermajority in the Hungarian parliament after a campaign primarily fought on an anti-migrant platform. International monitors would later complain about the campaign’s
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