Hungary in the news - via HVG

On the scene

on Oct 02, 2006 via HVG

Tamas Molnar, one of the leaders of the Kossuth ter demonstrations, told hvg.hu that Orban would not deliver a speech on the square before parliament. Earlier, there had been rumours that Viktor Orban would head to the square this evening.

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Solyoms press conference

on Oct 02, 2006 via HVG

It is for Parliament to choose a prime minister, said Laszlo Solyom, the president of the republic on Sunday. He added that the task of regaining society's trust belonged to the parliamentary majority.

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Mourning

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

The poet, translator and writer Gyorgy Faludy has died at the age of 96.

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Party finance

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

The Alliance for the Nation has managed to make itself one of the most successful money-raisers among the political foundations, but the Civic House it opened two years ago is still owned by the bank.

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Hungarian-Slovak Tensions

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

Despite piling on the pressure, the Hungarian government is having no luck pushing the Slovak cabinet into taking steps. But nobody has yet managed to force the anti-Hungarian genie back into the bottle.

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Andr?s Cser-Palkovics

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

For a long time, nobody knew if there was anybody who could carry forward the principled toughness of the Repassy-Rogan-Szijjarto trio. Then you appeared, occasionally skewering Laszlo Keller, the former state secretary for public finance, former PM Peter Medgyessy and the government ocmmissioner Gordon Bajnai, in parliament. Everyone could relax. But who decided you should carry the flame forward?

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Politicians and their gaffs

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

The Free Democrats have assembled a list of awkward quotes from Istvan Tarlos, the opposition candidate for mayor of Budapest. Fidesz have also opted to use a quote from Socialist prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany as a slogan for their campaign posters. What makes a comment a mistake or a campaigning masterstroke is not clear.

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Exam time

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

Critics are wrong when they say that reform plans are incomplete, according to PM Ferenc Gyurcsany, who says his critics have little in the way of concrete suggestions to offer.

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Principled hecklers

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

Radical right-wing voices are gaining ground inside Fidesz. This could backfire on the party in the local elections, just as it is gaining ground on an increasingly unpopular government.

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Hungary PM admits to deluge of lies

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

Hungary's prime minister acknowledged as legitimate a recording made in May in which he used foul language and said the government had lied for two years.

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Gyurcsany Is Threatened by Potential Crisis

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany was facing a potential crisis Sunday after he admitted on a clandestine tape leaked to radio stations that his party had lied. "Obviously we have lied over the last ... two years. It is clear that what we were saying was not true," Gyurcsany says on the tape, which was supposedly recorded on May 26, just one month after the prime minister's ruling coalition had been re-elected.

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The Budapest mayoral race

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

Back in spring, it was assumed that the reigning mayor would easily win re-election, defeating his rival by a wide margin. Gallup's latest poll shows that Gabor Demszky's lead has melted away, and if things don't change, he may find himself being kicked out of his mayoral throne.

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Interview with Andras Lanyi, campaigning eco-politician

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

Andras Lanyi, the environmentalist writer, philosopher and leader of the Living Chain Hungary movement, played an active role in the lead-up to the regime change of 1989. Yet now he believes that the time since has been more like the twilight of the Kadar era than the dawn of a new democracy. "We cannot look on idly as the capital collapses," begins his manifesto, in which he calls for a cross-party push to create a livable city.

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The TV under siege

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

Some 50 protestors have moved from Kossuth ter to protest in front of the Hungarian Television building. The protestors returned to Kossuth ter for reinforcement, and then returned to break down the building's front door. Police vans arrived at 11.30pm. The police have announced that they were launching an investigation into the attackers and would prevent anybody entering the television headquarters.

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Record of Gyurcsanys speech

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

A hijacker storms into the cockpit and threatens the crew with a gun. He screams that if they don't follow his orders, he'll shoot them. "If you shoot us, who will fly the aeroplane," asks the captain. "I don't think that far ahead," the pirate replies.

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Text message: There will be violence

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

Information gatherers from the company that provides security to a number of high-risk public institutions including Hungarian TV (MTV) were also among last night's crowds. Security company In-Kal's investigators warned the TV headquarters' security service in good time of the approaching violence, hvg.hu has learned. Thanks to the company, police were aware of the protesters' intentions before the siege began. Despite this, they did not move more officers into place.

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Spurned

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

The reporter who covered the Szabadsag ter demonstrations for rolling news channel HirTV was not allowed into Parliament. Zoltan Rudi, president of Hungarian TV (MTV), had the same TV station's crew escorted out of his channel's press conference. The Free Democrats are demanding an apology, while HirTV is expressing concern that its freedom to inform is being threatened.

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The Great Hungarian Reality Show

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

We are living through the worst crisis in the history of the Third Republic. Events have clearly caught the political elites by surprise, both in government and in opposition, just as in October 1956, the commemoration of which has just become an even bigger problem for the Government.

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Gyurcsany: Lies Speech

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

An audio tape has been broadcast of a private party speech given in May by Hungary's prime minister in which he admits his party lied to the public in order to win April's general election. These excerpts - which contain strong language - are translated from Ferenc Gyurcsany's official blog, Amoba.

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Regrettable events

on Sep 28, 2006 via HVG

It was police passivity that allowed a series of demonstrations held in response to a private speech given by Ferenc Gyurcsany to become the centre of world attention. On a leaked recording of the speech, the Prime Minister acknowledged that the governing coalition had been focused entirely on political survival in the previous parliamentary cycle and that the government had lied in order to win the elections.

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Sources : YahooNews HVG