Hungary's 'Orbanization' Is Worrying Europe

Niccolo and Donkey Saturday 7 Jan 2012

Arrow Cross Mike gus vasa President Camacho Dionysian Ferdinand Thomas777

The Brit press is now becoming more active in reporting on Hungary.

This piece from The Independent has been savaged by the readers in the comments section for making several huge factual errors. It's an absolute attack on Fidesz and Orban in particular:

Curtain comes down on liberal Hungary

Hungary's right-wing populist government hit the headlines this week over its plans to impose draconian controls on the Hungarian central bank. The decision led Budapest to fall foul of the International Monetary Fund and caused the collapse of the forint against the euro. Yesterday, the Fitch ratings agency further downgraded the country's debt to junk status.

Hungary has recently signalled its readiness to back down and reach a deal with the IMF. But bank controls are only a small part of the problem; 22 years after the collapse of its comparatively benevolent system of totalitarian socialist rule under a regime once jokingly referred to as "goulash communist", Hungary has swung violently and alarmingly in the opposite direction.

The nationalist Fidesz government of Viktor Orban is not merely interested in wielding greater control over financial institutions. It has embarked on a Kulturkampf – a cultural revolution – which seems bent on imposing its right-wing and xenophobic ideology on all walks of life, ranging from minorities and religions to the media, judiciary and arts.

Tibor Fischer, a native of Hungary, decides to defend Orban and criticizes the snobby, elitist, and ignorant approach of the media in the West towards Magyar affairs:

Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s political daredevil, will be judged by results

I understand that most people don’t know anything about Hungary’s history, culture or politics – it’s small and doesn’t matter much. But media coverage has confused matters. “Small country has election”, or “small country has new constitution” doesn’t make for a thrilling read, so there will always be a preference in the newspapers for the “rise of the far-Right” headline (the far-Right, curiously, has been rising everywhere in my lifetime without getting anywhere) or “democracy under threat”. However, despite the Fidesz leadership stating practically every day for eight years that they will have nothing to do with Jobbik, the party with far-Right elements, they are constantly being accused of cosying up to them (Fidesz, incidentally, has three Roma MPs). The far-Right is nowhere near power in Hungary and blaming Orbán for the existence of unsavoury elements in the Hungarian parliament is like blaming Cameron for the BNP MEPs.

One reason why the opposition is squawking so loudly about the end of democracy (ironic coming from former members of the Communist dictatorship) and slinging the mud so freely is that they have no other option open to them; not only do they have a negligible presence in parliament, they are making no inroads in to Orbán’s popularity. Despite nearly two years of harsh budgetary measures, Orbán and Fidesz are not only ahead in the opinion polls, they are way ahead. Orbán is the only politician in Hungary – no matter how much he is hated by his enemies – who has genuine popularity.

Niccolo and Donkey Tuesday 10 Jan 2012

This deals only with the financial sector, but it's sad to see the Magyars overwhelmed by the combined forces of Globalism who have joined forces to fully press Hungary into submission.....the Socialists really left Fidesz with one hell of a mess to clean up economically.......

Hungary Folds, Ready To Change Its Laws To Get European Bailout Money

If there is any one more vivid confirmation of Mayer Rothschild words "Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws " then we have yet to find it. Today Hungary, which had "valiantly" defied Europe and the IMF in ignoring pressure to make its central bank more "malleable" finally folded, following a recent explosion in its bond yields, a surge in CDS to records, and a collapse in its currency. And to think how easy it is to subjugate a state to slave status in our "globalized" days without shedding one drop of blood. Reuters reports: "Hungary's government is ready to consider modifying disputed legislation if the European Commission deems it necessary, Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi told the bloc's executive and European Union partners. "We fully respect the authority of the European Commission, the guardian of the EU treaties," Martonyi wrote in a letter dated January 6 and published by his ministry on Tuesday. "We stand ready to consider changing legislation, if necessary."" As Rothschild foresaw so effectively over 200 years ago, selling out your sovereignty only takes a few pieces of (paper) silver.
More:

Team Zissou Wednesday 11 Jan 2012

This is all going to end very badly. European governments live beyond their means and their tax bases are shrinking.

Niccolo and Donkey Friday 13 Jan 2012

The Economist cackles with glee as the EU pressures the Magyars.....

Not just a rap on the knuckles

THE pressure is piling up on the beleaguered Hungarian government. Today the European Commission threatened it with legal action over several new "cardinal" laws that would require a two-thirds majority in parliament to overturn.

The commission is still considering the laws, but today it highlighted concerns over three issues:

- The independence of the central bank. Late last year the Hungarian parliament passed a law which expands the monetary council and takes the power to nominate deputies away from the governor and hands it to the prime minister. A separate law opens the door to a merger between the bank and the financial regulator.

- The judiciary. More than 200 judges over the age of 62 have been forced into retirement and hundreds more face the sack. The new National Judicial Authority is headed by Tünde Handó, a friend of the family of Viktor Orbán, the prime minister.

- The independence of the national data authority.

Cornelio Friday 13 Jan 2012

Excellent, a government which offers an extra dose of oppression. Exactly what we needed in these lax times.

Niccolo and Donkey Wednesday 18 Jan 2012

Full-Court Press is in effect...................it's 1956 all over again.

Hungary faces ruin as EU loses patience

The European Commission has launched legal action against Hungary's Fidesz government for violations of European Union treaty law and erosion of democracy, marking a dramatic escalation in the war of words with the EU's enfant terrible.

Hungary's defiant premier Viktor Orbán has no hope of securing vital funding from the EU and the International Monetary Fund until the dispute is resolved, leaving him a stark choice of either bowing to EU demands or letting his country slide into bankruptcy.

Yields on Hungary's two-year debt jumped to 9.17pc on Tuesday, an unsustainable level for an economy in recession with public debt of near 80pc of GDP. Hungary's debt was cut to junk status by rating agencies last week.

Capital Economics said Hungary must repay €5.9bn (£4.9bn) in EU-IMF loans and raise external funds equal to 18pc of GDP this year, the highest in Eastern Europe. Two-thirds of household debt is in Swiss francs, leading to a lethal currency mismatch as capital flight weakens the forint.

"Hungary is playing with fire," said Lars Christensen from Danske Bank. "The EU is not bluffing. It will let Hungary go over the edge to make the point that EU countries must play by the rules. Our worry is that Hungary's government has not yet got the message."

The EU said it had sent three letters of "Formal Notice" over Hungary's assault on the independence of the judiciary, the central bank, and the data protection ombudsman – the first step in "infringement proceedings". The dispute could ultimately lead to loss of Hungary's voting rights under Article 7 of EU treaty law.

"We'll use all our powers to make sure that Hungary complies with the rules of the EU," said European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

Mr Orbán said his country was the victim of "international leftists" in Brussels. A zealous anti-Communist, he insists that Hungary's Stalinist past must be ripped out at the roots.

The immediate dispute centres on three laws in Hungary's new constitution pushed through despite EU warnings. Commission officials say these are just the "tip of the iceberg". Over 300 laws have been passed since Fidesz took power in 2010, giving the party sweeping control over the country's institutional system. Amnesty International said last week that Hungary's media clamp-down breaches human rights.

The Commission is taking aim at a law forcing retirement of judges at age 62 instead of 70, widely viewed as a ploy to stack the courts with political loyalists. The new head of the judicial office has overweening powers to manage the courts, appoint judges, and allocate cases.

The central bank law allows ministers to vet the agenda of Monetary Council and take part in meetings. The governor has to swear an oath of loyalty and lacks secure tenure.

"Governments must refrain from seeking to influence their central bank," said EU economics commissioner Olli Rehn. "Certain provisions in the new constitution are in breach of these principles. This needs to be addressed before we can start formal negotiations on the requested EU/IMF financial system."

The warning is clear. Hungary will be left at the mercy of hostile markets until it bows to EU pressure.

Niccolo and Donkey Wednesday 18 Jan 2012

Asterion Thomas777 Dionysian Ferdinand President Camacho SweetLeftFoot

2/3rds of Magyars voted for Fidesz. What is this pedophile talking about?

Niccolo and Donkey Tuesday 24 Jan 2012

Ferdinand

Der Spiegel isn't happy.

'Booming Silence' - Europe's Conservatives Fail to Criticize Hungary

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The European People's Party congress in Marseille in December. From left: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

According to its statutes, the European People's Party (EPP) pursues honorable goals. It is committed to the "Christian view of mankind," it advocates "free and pluralistic democracy" and, of course, it cherishes human rights. In theory, at least.

The practice looks a little different. With its 271 members, the coalition of conservative and Christian Democratic parties makes up the largest group in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The EPP doesn't want to jeopardize this status, which is why it is no longer that fussy about democracy and the rule of law.

When the EPP member party Forza Italia pushed through laws that benefited then Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, other EPP members did not object. Even the "bunga-bunga parties" that Berlusconi hosted, where some of the attractive women were underage, did not present a problem to the group, despite its commitment to the "Christian Democratic concept of society."

The most recent beneficiary of the EPP's odd approach to tolerance is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. His Fidesz party has a two-thirds majority in the Hungarian parliament, which it uses to systematically limit basic rights, like freedom of the press. This has prompted the European Commission to initiate three proceedings against Hungary for violating the Lisbon Treaty. It's a strong signal to send to a European Union member state.

'Democracy Is Being Dismantled in Hungary'
But not for the EPP, which is dominated numerically by Germany's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU). While the Commission has sharply criticized the Hungarian government, members of the EPP remain silent -- and that despite the fact that the EPP charter makes it possible to suspend a party's membership or eject a party from the group. The EPP could make it clear to Fidesz that its approach is not consistent with the values of the group.

But EPP Vice President Peter Hintze, a close confidant of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, appears to believe that political allies should stick together. He has said nothing about Hungary. After all, Orbán, like Hintze, is also an EPP vice president.

Other parties find this excessive restraint irksome. "Democracy is being dismantled in Hungary, but there is nothing but a booming silence coming from the EPP," says Gernot Erler, the deputy head of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) parliamentary group. "In fact, it's high time that Angela Merkel read her fellow conservative Orbán the riot act."

But Orbán was long a cherished friend of the CDU and CSU. The Hanns Seidel Foundation, which is closely associated with Bavaria's CSU, awarded him its Franz Josef Strauss prize in 2001, which has made the Bavarians hesitant to criticize Orbán to this day. "There are people sitting next to me who fought the Communists," the deputy head of the EPP parliamentary group, Manfred Weber, says apologetically.

Niccolo and Donkey Tuesday 24 Jan 2012

popfop Ferdinand

Hands off Hungary!

A left-libertarian critique of the EU's pressure on the Fidesz regime in Budapest.

Asterion Sunday 5 Feb 2012

Young, Wired and Angry

A Revised Portrait of Hungary's Right-Wing Extremists

from Spiegel Online

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Though largely ignored by the national media, Hungary's right-wing extremist Jobbik party operates within a surprisingly well-developed and self-sustained online universe. What's more, recent studies have found that the party's supporters aren't the "losers" that many experts thought they were.

The leader of Hungary's right-wing extremists rarely expresses himself so clearly. Speaking before a crowd of a few thousand supporters in Budapest's Sportmax complex on Saturday, Jan. 21, Gábor Vona announced the end of liberal democracy in the world. In the speech traditionally delivered before party members in January, the 33-year-old politician demanded "no compromising" either with or as part of the ruling political system, calling instead for "fighting, fighting and still more fighting." "We are not communists, fascists or National Socialists," Vona said. "But -- and this is important for everyone to understand very clearly -- we are also not democrats!"

Vona's words were met with highly enthusiastic applause. It was the first time that the head of the right-wing Jobbik party ("The Better") -- which received just under 17 percent of the vote during elections in April 2010 -- had made such a crystal-clear rejection of democracy. The speech was only given slender and primarily disinterested coverage in the Hungarian media. Elöd Novák, a deputy chairman of the party, claimed that this probably had more to do with organizational priorities rather than a conscious effort to boycott reporting on the event. "We are the second-strongest party in Hungary," he said, "but we hardly play any role in the traditional media."

Although Novák talks of "exclusion," he in no way intends it to be accusatory. Granted -- even though it backs Hungary's exit from the European Union, the party recently sent a letter of complaint to Neelie Kroes, the EU commissioner for digital agenda, alleging that it receives too little coverage from the Hungarian media. But the fact is that the party fondly fosters its image of being a media outcast. What's more, in reality, they have absolutely no need for the traditional media.

[IMG]

...

What makes the network even more valuable for Jobbik is the fact that its users are not people who are poor and socially frowned upon. Many political scientists initially viewed Jobbik as a party of "losers." But new studies provide a different picture, finding that the typical Jobbik voter is male, under 35, rarely unemployed and the holder of either a trade or secondary-school degree. Early last week, the British think tank Demos and the Budapest-based Political Capital Institute released a study based on the results of a survey of over 2,200 Facebook fans of the Jobbik party. The survey found that the typical respondent has "very low levels of trust in all major social and political institutions" and is "more likely to think that violence is justified if it leads to the right outcome." Likewise, the Internet-based service index.hu, Hungary's best-read online news website, summed up the average Jobbik voter as: "Very young, very Hungarian, very ill-tempered."
For political scientist Áron Buzogány, this shows that Jobbik's popularity is the tragic result of Hungary's failed political evolution. "For a long time, the country has been split into left and right to an extraordinarily deep degree, which is becoming an increasingly large social problem," he says. "An entire stratum of young people has grown up in the context of this division and has now found a home in the right-wing extremist micro-universe."

Hungary's 'Orbanization' Is Worrying Europe

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