Opposition shun investiture of Pál Schmitt as head of state.

Pál Schmitt was invested as Hungary’s new president last Friday in front of prime minister Viktor Orbán and some 200 invited dignitaries. Notable absences included his predecessor László Sólyom and representatives of the opposition Socialist Party (MSZP) and green party LMP.

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A traditional fireworks display will be held on the Danube at 9pm on 20 August to round off the capital’s celebrations of Nation Day. This year the theme is solidarity with the victims of the floods that hit in late spring after the wettest May on record. Some 500 children from flood-afflicted areas – the relatively impoverished northeast was particularly badly hit – will be shuttled into the capital.

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The change of government has brought a series of personnel changes at the top of the law and order bodies. The aim according to Fidesz is to restore public security and raise the effectiveness of police operations. 
New national police chief József Hatala has stressed that the latest public security strategy aims to improve the populace’s feeling of security.

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Sexist decision enters grey area.

The government has decided to make it possible for any woman who has worked 40 years to retire no matter what her age. Since very few women have spent this much time in the labour force it is unlikely the decision will have much impact on state pension finances. Yet the rule – trivial though it may seem – represents a risky step in the wrong direction. It sends a bad signal to international investors and financial institutions who want the government to use its bulletproof parliamentary majority to push through changes that will stabilise Hungary’s bloated state welfare system, not increase its burdens.

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Some controversial aspects of media reform axed, but power centralised.

It was a big misunderstanding. That’s what the governing Fidesz party wants us to believe about its media-reform package, which has garnered condemnation from free-press advocates across Europe. The intent is not to restrict press freedom, but to clarify it, Fidesz parliamentary media committee chairman László L. Simon said last Wednesday. Antal Rogán, the bill’s co-sponsor, said the true aim is to set uniform standards for reporting and to protect journalists.

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Not acting like MSZP of great importance to Fidesz.

Negotiations between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Hungarian government led by Viktor Orbán turned into an open conflict after the delegation of the IMF and the European Commission upped and left Hungary the weekend before last.

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Order to post declaration brings back memories of state socialism.

The biggest political calamities are sometimes the consequence of the most obvious political mistakes. This may be the case with the new Declaration of National Cooperation, the 300-word political credo (translated above) that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has ordered displayed in all central government buildings and military institutions.

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Sólyom a man of the Constitution, Schmitt likely not.

It has now become clear that László Sólyom will not be re-elected as president. It is almost certain that Pál Schmitt will succeed him. Sólyom is closely linked to the Constitution of 1989. That raises the question of whether Sólyom is being replaced to remove the last obstacle to rewriting the Constitution of the change of regime.

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Just like election victories, defeats have their own choreography. Is what that is happening now in the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) party what would be expected after such a crushing defeat, or is the MSZP capable of surprising us? In analysing the MSZP congress held earlier this month we will seek to answer three questions: 1. How has the MSZP faced up to the defeat? 2. Is any kind of opposition strategy emerging? 3. What kind of personnel makeup is taking shape?

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Barely two weeks in office, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's administration has experienced a change of fortunes so rapid that onlookers might get whiplash. On 7 June, the Financial Times said Hungary's new leaders had "badly bungled" their takeover of power, notably after leaders of Orbán's Fidesz party sent the forint into a tailspin with some reckless comments on the economy. Just two days later, former Finance Minister Péter Oszkó - himself the victim of blistering Fidesz attacks while in office - described Orbán's new economic action plan as "a stroke of genius." What happened?

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Fidesz acts with grace in power, but not afraid to show its strength.

The new government is here. Viktor Orbán was sworn in for the second time as prime minister (the first cabinet he led governed Hungary from 1998 to 2002) and the government’s eight ministers and 44 state secretaries were appointed. It will take time for the work of the new ministries to really get going, but there have already been important decisions on dual citizenship, the National Day of Unity, the legal status of government representatives, and legislation on local government elections is on track. It is already certain that the number of MPs will halve from 2014 and the parliamentary representation of Hungarian national and ethnic minorities will become possible.

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Reading into Fidesz’s declarations and rhetoric it is communicating.

While a raft of bills has been submitted to parliament, and debate on proposed legislation of varying weight and importance is underway, the general public can acquaint itself with several new terms. In addition to the concept of revolution at the ballot boxes, the constituent national assembly and the system-founding parliament, the concept of the system of “National Cooperation” has provoked the most interest and is likely to occupy political commentators and analysts for some time.

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History will judge if there is a revolution in the making.

The new parliament has formed, whose work the prime minister-elect described as “revolutionary”. After the second election round Viktor Orbán told his supporters and rivals that there had been a revolution at the ballots, creating a "system of national cooperation".

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Fidesz does not like Simor, but may have to live with him.

Prime Minister-designate Viktor Orbán, having demolished all comers in last month’s elections, is still spoiling for a fight. The day after his Fidesz party scooped up 68 per cent of the seats in Parliament, Orbán took aim at Hungarian National Bank (MNB) Governor András Simor, whom Fidesz blames for bad monetary policy and unethical business dealings. “I want to be proud of (the bank) and its managers,” Orbán said on April 26. “It’s not a place for offshore knights.”

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Renewal talk is fine, but will the old guard get out of the way?

The apparent renewal of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) was already on the agenda between the two election rounds. The months ahead will be about the party’s renewal, or at least gearing up for it, while the question is how successful it can be in the shadow of the ancien régime still cast over it.

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Fidesz facing an imbalance within its powerbase.

Fidesz, the party that scored an unassailable majority Hungary’s parliament this month, may discover that it has pitched its tent too wide. What began as a group of 37 anti-communist university students in 1988 is now a party supported by economic liberals, trade unionists, students, pensioners, farmers and religious conservatives. They are united in their loyalty to prime minister-in-waiting Viktor Orbán. Yet these groups’ priorities are so urgent – and their goals so divergent – even the most skillful political architect would find it hard to prevent cracks from appearing in the foundations.

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Viktor Orbán, the man whom voters booted out of the prime minister’s office in 2002 and rejected again four years later, has surged back with a vengeance. The Socialists who mocked him are crushed and humiliated. The Hungarian Democratic Forum, an erstwhile ally that turned on Orbán in the early 2000s, has been obliterated from the political landscape. And he did it all without taking a single concrete position on any issue of substance.

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Newcomers show strength; old parties prove weakness.

The collection of recommendation slips that closed on 19 March proved to be a bigger hurdle for the parties than ever before. As a result of this, just three political forces have been able to field candidates in every constituency: Fidesz, Jobbik and the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP). Collecting recommendation slips was a much bigger challenge for the Politics Can Be Different (LMP) party and the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF), who will each field candidates in roughly half of Hungary’s constituencies.

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Strange bedfellows are made in Hungarian politics The first round of Hungary’s elections on April 11 will fundamentally change the country’s political landscape. The political dividing line may shift radically: Instead of a left-right split, politicians of all ideological stripes may find themselves making a common stand against right-wing radicals. Hitherto unthinkable cooperation between the governing Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) and the right-wing opposition Fidesz party may start taking shape as soon as the first round is over.

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