Hungary in the news - via HVG
Gyurcsany and moralityon Jul 04, 2006 via HVG Is the prime minister running out of steam too early? What do Gyurcsany's remarks on morality and politics in Nepszabadsag really mean? Gyorgy Bence, joint editor of the web magazine Metazin.hu and Richard Hirschler, editor-in-chief of HVG.hu, discussed these issues.See details
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Car accident statisticson Jul 01, 2006 via HVG Hungary?s driving culture ? if that is what you can call it ? is not user-friendly. Some 1,200 people die on the roads here each year.See details
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"Viktor Orban will be appealing"on Jul 01, 2006 via HVG Tibor Navracsis, the 39-year-old new leader of the Fidesz benches believes Viktor Orban is needed to bring about necessary changes within Fidesz. The political scientist turned politician said that the party had sufficient reserves to do better in the autumn local elections.See details
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Former young communists, avanti!on Jul 01, 2006 via HVG The electoral success of the Ferenc Gyurcsany's Socialist Party, and the rehabilitation of the Italian communists, show that organisation and focus are not a reflection of ideology, and that left-wing ideas have positive associations in places where they have not been directly contradicted by the truth.See details
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Prosecuting the prosecutorson Jul 01, 2006 via HVG The head of the Fehergyarmat prosecutor's office has been arrested under suspicion of bribery in an investigation that has been partially classified a state secret. It has been decades since such a high-ranking justice official has ended up behind bars.See details
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Seizing back 1956on Jul 01, 2006 via HVG It has been a long while since a new Hungarian play has stirred up such a storm. Andras Papp and Janos Terey's new play, Kazamatak is a harsh, brutal text. It is set on 30 October 1956 on Republic Square, when the Communist Party headquarters in Budapest were under siege. It is a precise, sharp performance for the fiftieth anniversary of the revolution, when both political sides are visibly planning to complete their shameful game of the last 15 years: finally cutting 1956 to pieces, squabbling over who owns the rights to it.See details
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Tickets, please!on Jul 01, 2006 via HVG Almost everyone has a story about the ticket inspectors: people who were ordered off the vehicle or allowed to pass, inspectors who were obstructive or sympathetic, who were difficult with foreigners, or who kindly gave directions. HVG.hu travelled with the inspectors, on the trams, on the bus and on the metro.See details
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Hungarian Academy of Scienceson Jul 01, 2006 via HVG The president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and two former presidents have joined forces to make the case for lifelong and irrevocable membership of the Academy, and to argue that members should also receive a substantial honorarium, which should also last until the member dies. At the Opera, people are arguing about whether to revoke the public servant status of every last employee, ensuring that everyone be paid on the basis of their performance. However, the great scholarly body is behaving as if its most important job were to preserve its privileges.See details
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On the minority councilson Jul 01, 2006 via HVG The law on the representation of Hungary's minority is a treatment worse than the disease it was meant to cure.See details
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The scientist returnson Jul 01, 2006 via HVG "Arisztid Kovach was one of my teachers. He already had a lab in Philadelphia at that time. He wasn't an Academician either," said the 38-year-old pharmaceutical researcher who has waded into controversial waters since his return home to Hungary one year ago.See details
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Literature will not survive the 21st centuryon Jul 01, 2006 via HVG The 96-year-old writer Gyorgy Faludy worries that literature will not survive the 21st century. The art of conversation is in decline, he believes.See details
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"Sometimes I used tricks"on Jul 01, 2006 via HVG "I had a very clear conception: I would not allow the city's traditional, characterful patchwork to decay," said the 57-year-old Istvan Schneller, former chief architect of Budapest, who reigned last week. After mounting a spirited 12-year battle against megalomaniac investors, he said, his freedom of manoeuvre had become too constrained.See details
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The politicisation of governmenton Jul 01, 2006 via HVG Political science textbooks were quite clear: in Hungary, ministers came and went, but civil servants stayed. Now, however, most of the ministers have stayed, but the ministries' permanent administrators have all gone.See details
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What do some right-wingers have against Pokorni?on Jul 01, 2006 via HVG Janos Pelle wrote this article for the Magyar Nemzet, but the newspaper turned it down, saying the debate over the reasons for the Right's defeat had been concluded. We publish the article in abridged form, believing it to be of interest to more than just the right-wing.See details
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The majority and the Romaon Jul 01, 2006 via HVG Ninety per cent of the Hungarian population say the Roma have criminal tendencies in their blood, according to a survey by Tarki, and every third adult expresses feelings of antipathy towards them. Surveys invariably show that Hungarians are still afflicted by prejudice against the Roma. In recent years, moreover, we have seen even feelings of sympathy on the part of the majority disappear. But it is hard to find a reason for the growing antipathy towards the Roma.See details
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The Gyurcsany packageon Jul 01, 2006 via HVG Ferenc Gyurcsany chose to unveil his drastic savings package not in parliament, but before the more understanding audience of the National Interest Conciliation Council's functionaries. Many of the measures had already been leaked - few of them came as a surprise to the well-informed. The question is how people who believed in the electoral promises will respond to this cold shower.See details
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"The country is not a company"on Jul 01, 2006 via HVG "You can change the world in big steps too," said Kinga Goncz two years ago when she last changed her career. The 58-year-old was last week appointed Hungary's first female foreign minister. The new minister is keeping quiet about her grand plans for the new job, in which she will influence the lives of 450m people as a member of the EU's powerful council of foreign ministers.See details
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Not as good as the Orbanon Jul 01, 2006 via HVG Jozsef Debreczeni's biography of Gyurcsany, which was being signed by both biographer and subject at the Book Week, is a bit like the opposite of a magic mirror. The book makes Gyurcsany and his circle look better the closer you get.See details
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Beaten photographeron Jul 01, 2006 via HVG "We cannot allow people who are not involved to be present in such a dangerous area. Anyone who does go there is taking a risk, and the police cannot guarantee his safety."See details
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There is a curious alliance of interestson Jul 01, 2006 via HVG Courts in Hungary tend to close ranks and resist substantive change, according to Zoltan Fleck, a 41-year-old legal scholar, who was prevented from voicing his criticisms at a national law conference last week.See details
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