Hungary in the news - via HVG
Imre Mecs on the suspect circumstances of the TV siegeon Nov 15, 2007 via HVG The Socialist politician Imre Mecs has concluded from a look at secret service reports on 2006's street riots that the circumstances surrounding the TV headquarters siege are suspicious. Mecs, one of the founders of the Free Democrats, believes his former party should have become joined the ranks of the western social democrats when the opportunity was offered in 1992. Interview with a man who was sentenced to death in 1956.See details
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Shimon Peres and the true Hungarianson Nov 15, 2007 via HVG The Hungarian press spent days discussing Shimon Peres's clumsy remark about "buying up Hungary". Anti-semitic fundamentalists demonstrated in front of the Israeli embassy, while Lakitelek veterans wrote Peres a letter. Israel's new ambassador appeared on television to offer explanations. It was just an excuse for an anti-semitic party.See details
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Laborc affair: Former KGB graduate's appointment not welcomeon Nov 09, 2007 via HVG No official protests have been made in Brussels at the nomination of Sandor Laborc as head of the National Security Office (NBH), but allies are not happy at the prospect of a man who graduated from the KGB academy becoming head of the institution.See details
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Waiting for Brutuson Nov 09, 2007 via HVG There are just enough people now to stab Caesar, but they will have to wait for the untainted man who can lend honour to their act. There are many people circling around Ferenc Gyurcsany, but not one of them who could act without the public assuming he was doing so out of self-interest. Gyurcsany has repeatedly humiliated his party, but the party has to put up with this until somebody turns up who can convince people he has the country's interests at heart, not his own.See details
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Orban rejects Kosa's grand coalition proposalon Nov 03, 2007 via HVG Lajos Kosa, mayor of Debrecen and Fidesz vice-president, indirectly raised the possibility of a grand coalition as a way of leading Hungary out of its crisis in his 23 October speech. On Monday, Viktor Orban rejected the proposal in an interview with Hir TV, saying any government would need a clear mandate from the voters.See details
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Kuruc.info's media putsch and the bridge blockadeon Nov 03, 2007 via HVG Our young extremists know their rights. But it is outrageous that they should compare themselves to people like Peter Mansfeld, who was arrested and hung on his 18th birthday by Kadar's men. They must be amused by the light punishments meted out by the justice system. It is time to wipe the smile off their faces.See details
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Tax inspections for Orban and Kubatovon Oct 31, 2007 via HVG We should follow the advice of Szabolcs Vamosi Nagy, the former deputy president of APEH, the tax authority. His advice is to make tax inspections public and compulsory. It would make it impossible for politicians to enshroud their financial affairs in mystery while airing their opponents' in public. The opposition would be unable to pose as martyrs. Is this such a high price to pay for an improvement in tax payments?See details
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Tamas Kolosi on Lex Mol and the unfinished regime changeon Oct 24, 2007 via HVG The law known as Lex Mol, whose declared aim is to protect Hungary's strategic companies, has stirred up a hornet's nest. Some believe the law presages the advent of the Russian capitalist model. We asked the sociologist Tamas Kolosi, who researches the Hungarian social elite, to discuss whether Hungarian oligarchs exist. His answer has implications for people on the lower rungs of society and for party financing.See details
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Bela Kiraly: the 10 Truths of the 1956 Revolutionon Oct 24, 2007 via HVG With poetic refinement, Gyorgy Faludy said: "1956, you star." We should seek its truths in this spirit. We should teach these truths to our children and grandchildren. We should be proud of 1956, this star of our history. (SzSee details
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HVG-Median: the Socialist-Fidesz gap widenson Oct 18, 2007 via HVG The gap between Fidesz and a stumbling Socialist Party has opened even wider, as the economic outlook and the political mood continue to decline, according to the latest HVG-Median opinion poll.See details
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Szofia Havas, President Solyom, and the 1956 inheritanceon Oct 15, 2007 via HVG Another 1956 anniversary is approaching. The extreme right wants to provoke a new round of street fighting, if not on 23 October, then a couple of days later, on the anniversary of the taxi blockade. There will be a rally at Astoria in memory of 23 October 2006.See details
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There will be no reconciliation without empathy for the Slovakson Oct 15, 2007 via HVG Slovakia's reinforcement of the Benes Decrees cannot be allowed to bass without comment, but Hungary must not forget it is arguing with a young state that is still creating its national identity, says Tamas Stark, 48, a historian, who believes diplomatic relations between the two countries are worse than the day-to-day dealings.See details
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Life after the Topolanszky interviewon Oct 01, 2007 via HVG How does the Hungarian press read? Selectively. Some sentences mean more, others something completely different, while still others mean nothing, depending on the reading. The politicians in the spotlight know exactly what will be written about them the next day.See details
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Topolanszky on Gyurcsany, Zuschlag and Ocsovaion Sep 28, 2007 via HVG In Jozsef Debreczeni's book, Ferenc Gyurcsany reminisces about his time running the ministry for youth and sport, calling his deputy state secretary for drug affairs, Akos Topolanszky, as a "first-class professional and honest public servant." He regrets his dismissal from the ministry in October 2003, for which he blames his then administrative state secretary. Topolanszky, who is now deputy director of the National Drug Prevention Institute, now speaks about the informal hierarchy inside his old ministry, about orders that could not be disobeyed and the way political decisions influence the distribution of public subsidies. He also addresses the real reasons for his dismissal. (SzSee details
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Hungary issues entrepreneurial permits to prostituteson Sep 25, 2007 via HVG In an effort to bring prostitutes into the legal economy, officials said Monday that Hungary will allow sex workers to apply for an entrepreneur's permit -- a move that could generate government revenues from an industry worth an estimated $1 billion annually.See details
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A Socialist white-collar fraud ringon Sep 24, 2007 via HVG It seems unlikely that Ferenc Gyurcsany and his high chamberlain Gyorgy Szilvasy, who was administrative state secretary in the Youth and Sport Ministry in the Janos Era, were unaware that the government had for years been handing large subsidies to Socialist-linked front organisations. It's somewhat strange that nobody checked up on the substantial sums that were being paid out.See details
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Hernadi: "Mol does not wish to renationalise itself"on Sep 24, 2007 via HVG If Mol's management were interested only in its own short-term interests, it would support OMV's buy-out offer, according to Zsolt Hernadi, the company's 47-year-old chairman and CEO.See details
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Solyom and MPs' safety fearson Sep 24, 2007 via HVG A week ago, the president made it clear he would not support any attempts to limit the legal rights of people demonstrating in front of Parliament. But a few things have changed since then.See details
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"Anniversary" demonstration in Budapeston Sep 18, 2007 via HVG Several hundred demonstrators set off from Corvin koz towards Kossuth ter shouting anti-government slogans at around 4pm yesterday afternoon.See details
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"Without privatisation, the economy would have collapsed."on Sep 17, 2007 via HVG The budget deficit can no longer be allowed to leap skywards in every electoral year, according to Arpad Kovacs, the 59-year-old president of the State Audit Office (ASZ), who is a cautious supporter of the idea of establishing an independent budgetary supervision authority.See details
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