Focus on Hungary

Dossier:

The Heinrich Böll Foundation is compiling a dossier containing articles on the situation in Hungary since the right-wing government came to power in April 2010.

The arguments and opinions presented in the dossier provide an acute, sometimes trenchant critique of the current government and its policies. We see our role in supporting the democratic voices in Hungary and raising public attention in Europe with regard to critical developments in our common political space.

We hope that this dossier will help our readers get a better grasp of the controversies surrounding the socio-political changes in Hungary, and thereby involve members of the European public in the crucial debate on democracy in a changing Europe. This debate is not limited to current developments in Hungary. We see democracy as a never-finished task. There is no guarantee against retrogression, and it’s always up to citizens to reinforce democratic structures and procedures through their engagement in the public sphere.

Ellen Ueberschär, President, Heinrich Böll Foundation
Zsófia Deák, Editor of the dossier (zsofia.deak@cz.boell.org)

Inhuman Calculations: How the Hungarian Government Selects a Group to be Scapegoated

Analysis

On 15 June, the majority of Hungarian MPs – representatives of the Hungarian Civic Alliance (FIDESZ) and the Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik) – voted for a bill that contained several provisions added to the original draft act, originally intended to enhance the protection of children and tighten sanctions against pedophile offenders. These new provisions introduce an explicit, harsh ban on the "portrayal and the promotion of gender identity different from sex at birth, the change of sex and homosexuality" for persons under the age of 18.

By Bea Sándor

Hungary’s Feudalistic Healthcare Law Triggers 4 000 Healthcare Workers Leaving in One Day

News

Hungary has become one of the woeful world leaders in COVID-19 mortality, with overwhelmed hospitals and figures skyrocketing to over 25 daily deaths per million people, compared to over five per million in the EU on average and less than three per million in the USA.

By Anna Frenyó

Hungary’s Fidesz will lose influence after departing the EPP, but how much?

Analysis

The Hungarian ruling Fidesz party’s delegation to the European Parliament announced on 3 March that they would leave the EPP parliamentary group after the latter approved changes to its internal rules, allowing the caucus to suspend or expel entire national delegations instead of individual MEPs only. Later, Fidesz left the EPP party family as well. It is, therefore, crucial to assess how the end of the Fidesz-EPP relationship will influence the Hungarian cabinet’s ability to represent national interests in the EU and the future of PM Orbán on the European political scene. In short: the decision constitutes a blow to Hungary, but not necessarily to Fidesz.

By Patrik Szicherle

Hungary: Pro-government scare tactics to intimidate critical voices amid vaccination rollout

In the cacophony of information about the available, authorized, or emerging COVID-19 vaccines, including issues of liability for potential side effects and the long-term consequences of the shots, as well as the length of the immunity conferred, the European Commission has been struggling to procure sufficient COVID-19 vaccine supplies for its member states. So far, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has authorised the use of three vaccines: Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNTech), AstraZeneca and Moderna. Meanwhile, Hungary’s government has set off on its own path, turning to Russia and China for additional help, as vaccine delivery through the EU is slow due to both its robust regulatory framework and ordering issues.

By Anna Frenyó

Demonstration at the Fidesz Headquarters, 2018.

The National Core Curriculum and the Education for Democracy

Study

In cooperation with Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Prague, our partners at the Hungarian think-tank Political Capital published a new study on the current state of Hungarian Far-Right. This is the third part of English summary.

All dossier articles

Campaign to support Hungarian NGOs

The Hungarian taxpayers have a chance to offer 1% of their tax to NGOs each year, however not so many (more than 50% of the taxpayers) are either don't know about this possibility or they just don't pay attention to it. Moreover, the Hungarian government has been trying to hide this option, or at least make it harder to offer the 1% of the tax, therefore money won't get to the NGOs critical to them. This year the Hungarian NGOs decided to do an unusual joint campaign to promote this possibility, therefore a music video was made which primarily targets the young generation. The video is about a lame and spoiled guy (played by a popular young actor, Márkó Linczényi) who is complaining about many annoying first world problems. Though he pays attention to offer his 1% of the tax for the NGOs, because its a serious topic, and it goes beyond our everyday problems, since it's very important for others who have to handle harder situations than the marginal daily issues.

Publications

Political integration of Hungarian students, 2019

After a four-year absence, the Active Youth (Aktív Fiatalok) Research Group has
returned with a new survey about the political attitudes of higher education students
in Hungary. The significance of this year’s findings relies on the fact that the political
views of the majority of students sampled in this most recent survey – including
some born as recently as 2000 – were formed during consecutive terms of prime
minister Viktor Orbán and his government, considered by many political scientists
and commentators to be a hybrid regime.

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Focus on Hungary: Refugees, Asylum and Migration

The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung commissioned a study by Political Capital entitled “Focus on Hungary: Refugees, Asylum and Migration”. The authors of the study analyse the Orbán Government’s rhetoric and policy measures with regard to refugee, asylum and migration issues.

By Attila Juhász, Bulcsú Hunyadi and Edit Zgut

Building Blocks for a Renewed Human Rights Narrative

This study aims to lay the foundations of a collaboration that can be joined by other organisations still being formed, as well as by actors sharing human rights values who can reach out to additional potential supporters. This text is designed to be continuously expanded in the future, so as to further incorporate increasingly sensitive analyses along with a growing pool of creative ideas and recommendations.

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Interview-Series "Agents of Change"

EU abbreviation built from different terms, such as equality, opportunity etc.

The Programme "Europe for Citizens 2017"

The program "Europe for Citizens" aims to make the European Union, its institutions, committees, workings, and representatives, more visible and comprehensible to Europe's citizens.

Cultures of History Forum

In this special feature of the Cultures of History Forum the authors seek to place the ‘Lex CEU’ in a broader context, both regionally and historically, and ask what the state of academic freedom, civil society and liberal values is in the countries that came out of communist dictatorships more than 25 years ago.

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