On May 26, the Corruption Research Center Budapest (CRCB) published its latest report, which examines Hungarian procurement data between 2005 and 2020. This is a tremendous undertaking, requiring the evaluation of 248,404 contracts. The English-language study, including a list of the tenders analyzed, is available online.
The researchers came up with the designation MGTS+, which is an acronym of the names of businessmen known to have close ties to Viktor Orbán: Mészáros, Garancsi, Tiborcz, and Simicska. The study reveals that in the first four months of this year the MGTS+ group (also referred to as crony companies) was especially successful in tender procurement. During this period, corruption risk in Hungarian public procurement reached its highest level since 2005: by April 30, 41% of the contracts were awarded without any competition. The MGTS+ group won 74 public procurements this year worth $84 million, 68% without any competition. Their wins represented 27% of the net value of all government contracts.
Simultaneously with the release of the study of CRCB, an article appeared in 24 which expressed surprise that the Orbán government, despite the blow dealt to tourism as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, is still planning to pour money into the sector. The government’s tourist agency (Magyar Turisztikai Ügynökség) announced a huge infusion of taxpayer money into tourism. The Kisfaludy Program 2030, aimed at modernizing and reconstructing hotels outside of Budapest, was introduced in 2017, when we learned from Viktor Orbán that the development of the tourist industry is an expression of the love of country. Considering that both “Mészáros” and Orbán’s son-in-law István Tiborcz are heavily involved in businesses connected to tourism, here we are talking about more than “love of country.” I have been unable to figure out, by the way, what Károly Kisfaludy (1788-1832), a dramatist and artist, has to do with tourism.
In any case, the government is not deterred by the tremendous losses tourism has suffered and just gave away 83 billion forints in state aid, mainly to members of the MGTS+ group. Mészáros received the most — 17.7 billion forints for the renovation of 14 of his hotels outside of Budapest. István Garancsi, the fourth wealthiest man in Hungary; Sándor Csányi, president of Hungary’s largest bank, OTP; and Zsolt Hernádi, CEO of MOL, Hungary’s oil refining company, also received several billion forints in aid. The Hungarian public was outraged that Mészáros’s very first move after tourism came to a screeching halt was to fire 800 people from his hotels, half of his employees. And yet now he is being rewarded with almost 18 billion forints to renovate hotels.
Lőrinc Mészáros, who is widely suspected of being a front for Viktor Orbán, is certainly not hurting financially, at least not at the moment. One of the many Mészáros companies, Mészáros és Mészáros Kft., had a fabulous year in 2019, with a profit of 11.85 billion forints. And what happened to this profit? It was taken out in the form of “dividends.” There is nothing new about this practice. Year after year one hears that all the profit is taken out of his companies, and who knows where it goes.
The government is also pouring money into the renovation of aristocratic mansions, which will be converted into luxury hotels to accommodate the wealthy tourists who, in Orbán’s opinion, will soon be visiting Hungary since it is one of the most important centers of tourism in the world. HVG behind its paywall has an article about three of these mansions: the Esterházy Mansion in Tata (Komárom-Esztergom County), the Nádasdy Mansion in Nádasladány (Fejér County), and the Wenckheim Mansion in Szabadkigyós (Békés County). Count Wenckheim’s family wealth was legendary; in Békés County alone, they owned 16 mansions. Over the last few months additional EU and government funds have been allocated for the renovation of these mansions because, as usual, there were cost overruns.
The Nádasdy Palace in Nádasladány. It was used as the exterior of the vampires’ mansion in the Underworld film series.
And let’s not forget about sports stadiums. A handball arena is being built to host the 2022 European Men’s Handball Championship in Szeged. It will cost at least 11.28 billion forints. A new multi-functional sports arena will be built in Tatabánya for an estimated 13.38 billion forints. But this is peanuts in comparison to the Budapest handball arena, for which the Hungarian government will dole out 77.5 billion forints (about €225,000,000). It will be able to seat 20,000 people. And who is the winner of the tender? István Garancsi. According to Átlátszó, Garancsi’s original bid was almost twice the final amount. The very idea that a company can halve its original price and still come out ahead says a lot about the business ethics of these Orbán oligarchs and their boss.
Clearly, Viktor Orbán is not worried about a widespread, long-lasting recession. He is forging ahead with the same kinds of projects which, he is certain, were the sources of his economic success and which will work in the post-pandemic era as well.
Hardly anybody cares in Hungary about the corruption, all they do is just talk about it.
Most people take it for granted and often repeat it to each other, then laugh about it and accept it that “All politicians steal, cheat and lye.” It has been this way for generations. The viktor and the Fidesz just does it a hundred times more often and steal thousands of times larger sums, than the predecessors.
“Hardly anybody cares in Hungary bout the corruption ..Most people take it for granted.. “All politicians steal, cheat and lie.”
They are politically mature. Because experience, they still recall how widespread was corruption during the left-socialists governments before Orban, and thus have no illusions. At least Orban is not crashing the economy.
Those in power have always taken care of themselves. In all times (read the Ecclesiastes, it was written ~2200 years ago) and everywhere (look at the oligarchy ruling US). Fairytales are for children, adults have to deal with reality as it is and make most of it.
More Invidious nonsense from the Master of such.
Sure, and throw in a bible reference to add a veneer of authenticity. I guess that was what Trumpy was doing a couple of days ago, trying to add some gravitas to his ship-wrecked government. At least he has the Funamen’alists. Trouble is, he has everyone else by the short-and-curlies too. WOE indeed!
“Political mature” Óvoda
http://survivalforwomen.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Depositphotos_39763245_s-2015.jpg
Ovi
The Earth is round! ie.
this incredibly deep study confirms what we have been seeing for a decade – the Orbàn mafia state has institutionalized corruption and reached record levels never thought possible before.
The robbing of the hapless nation is of historical proportion and the latter has become the second poorest in Eu. All tragically fits together.
Ovika, the wholesale corruption in Hungary became widespread under the Kadar regime which instead of using its absolute power to wipe it out, encouraged its growth. Gulyas communism, if you recall. After the regime change it spread like wild tire reaching astronomical proportions under Orban.
I remain puzzled why on this excellent blog the Kadar regime is venerated and its involvement in destroying all standards in Hungary is overlooked.
“Ovika, the wholesale corruption in Hungary became widespread under the Kadar ”
Avika, it was wholesale, at all levels, already during the Austro-Hungarian empire. I read once a book, written in 1908 by a British author R.W. Seton-Watson, that had a chapter on the details of it. Mind boggling.
https://ia800908.us.archive.org/18/items/racialproblemsi00watgoog/racialproblemsi00watgoog.pdf
“I remain puzzled why on this excellent blog the Kadar regime is venerated”
I have been reading this blog for some time and I can’t say that Kadar is venerated here. He has also been criticized (paternalism, stagnation, safety in poverty, etc.). That is, an objective view, pluses and minuses, as with everything real.
Rhyme and reason are abandoned entirely here at HS only when it comes to Orban, and he is demonized tout-court.
Ovika, thank you for the link. Please could you identify the chapter/page you have in mind. I don’t want to read 660 pages. From its preface it suggests that he concentrates on the nationality issues in Hungary.
I don’t agree that the Kadar regime’s problems you have highlighted here have featured in any post in this blog. Eva has at no time posted her own assessment of the Kadar regime, yet.
No critical comment of the Kadar regime when posted here resonates with the readers or indeed with Eva.
All Orban’s sins are however covered here, thoroughly and at times repetitively.
I’m afraid, we are not going to change Aida’s mind on that score. I tried to explain that blaming the Kádár regime for today’s corruption is nonsense.
Thank you Eva for picking this up. Maybe you know the reference to the chapter in the Seton Watson book where he asserts Hungary was corrupt at his time of writing? It is interesting though that those writers who wrote extensively in late 19 early to mid 20 century do not highlight corruption in Hungary. They do write about traditional Hungarian nepotism (Uram/batyam) but they do not paint the picture of a corrupt Hungary.
Both my late parents, who were born before the end of WW1 were of the opinion that apart from the immediate post regime change very corrupt period the most corrupt during their life was the Kadar’s system. Unfortunately they did not survive to experience Orban 2,3 and 4.
I really would appreciate your own assessment of the Kadar regime in one of your daily posts.
Ovika is a product and promoter of propaganda. You are a respected historian.
Ovi
“When it comes to Orban” we see the MOST CORRUPT public figure in EU and maybe Europe (Gruevski, Lukashenka may compete).
Mobutu S. Seko of Zaire might have been worse, but Hu is in Europe, right?
Re: ‘fairy tales’ Funny thing. Magyarorszag arguably needs that more so than the ‘fables’ they are continually surrounded with. Fairy tales are of course read by children. They like to read about ‘Jack the Giant Killer’. And kids don’t actually think the giant exists. The tale helps them work out how they feel about the story and how they make sense of what’s going on in the story. The fairy tale stays on for centuries and decades because adults have the experience to have understood how ‘true’ they are when they match it up to ‘grownups’. Politically, the country seems to live under ‘fables’. It is of a moralizing and didactic type. With proscriptions. And fairy tales? None of that. It makes readers come to the story and work it out for themselves. It’s a great environment for an imagination of freedom. It lets them work out the relationship say of dominance and power in a story that will eventually play out when they become adults. And this all makes generations move on for their upcoming challenges. It builds a society’s conscience. Fairy tales. Not so much focusing on fabled heroes where things are pretty… Read more »
The renovation of the Esterházy Mansion definitely has support in Esztergom. I am not so sure the idea of converting it to a hotel is equally popular, but it is sold as the only way practical to save the mansion and some seem to accept that logic. On an entirely different issue retired US General James Mattis unloaded on President Trump today in this statement https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/james-mattis-denounces-trump-protests-militarization/612640/ He writes in part: “When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens…We must reject any thinking of our cities as a “battlespace” that our uniformed military is called upon to “dominate.” At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of… Read more »
“the society they are sworn to protect”
Such a full of bullshit general, as if anarchy – going on a rampage, destroying, beating and looting across all US- is not something that the American society needs to be protected against.
The US army does indeed many curious things, like protecting the borders of South-Korea or the regime of Saudi Arabia, but protecting America itself is, you see, not their duty.
Invidious, June 4, 2:50 am
BLACK LIVES MATTER
“BLACK LIVES MATTER”
Not for that creature!
Well as I have stated before many US Army officers agree that is inappropriate for regular combat troops including military police to occupy urban centers in the USA, moreover even then they would not have the legal right of arrest of looters and could only detain them for civil police officers, or possibly kill them under certain circumstances. Even here in Chicago there was no insurrection, but there was incredible violence and looting. Our city is really a mess right now. I am very critical of our Mayor for her lack of understanding of how poor people can be rapidly transformed into looters when given the opportunity. She gave a speech one night ago that spent ten minutes going on about the history of racism back to slavery, yet concluding it was not and excuse for looting which she and the Chicago Police could not control. Brining in combat troops fresh from the wars in the Middle East would not bring order to the situation, which has somewhat burned its self out in the last 24 hours. Minneapolis estimates the property damage and theft losses to be at least a billion dollars, in Chicago proper I think it… Read more »
WOW ! Hot news ! – “Autopsy report shows Floyd had tested positive for COVID-19 ” -CBSN
Let’s see what else this fine fellow had :
-On Fentanyl
-Meth addict
-Cocaine addict
-Beat and robbed a pregnant woman
-Served 5 years in prison
-Resisted arrest violently (strong man, he worked as a bouncer once) and had to be subdued
Fine fellow, I can’t breathe. The kind you may find in the US army (according some link Istvan gave). Now let’s all cry.
Yes, Óvoda, let’s kill all addicts, everyone who has been in prison! How bad that you are an ideology addict and needs to be killed as well according to your own hate….
It’s not a coincidence that ovidiot is a fan of the death penalty like all fascists – and much of Fidesz.
You are so correct! Óvoda just forgets that in a civilised country he might face getting sentenced to imprisonment for hate speech and rabble-rousing. Or would he prefer death penalty for that as well? No, he would be whining 24/7 for that “injustice” – also typical for convicted fascists….
Fuck off you piece of shit.
let’s not be vulgar.
Thank you. Will repeat it below because it is so important. Unfortunately we now have a President of the the United States who is highly dangerous as to upholding the premises of our ‘great experiment’. We go on with great risk if he continues to fulfill his great obligation to this nation. Our country did not have a military to die away from home in many theaters of war to protect a significant principle to have this individual taking up the mantle of the US. He no longer deserves the American people’s trust. But rather he is inimical to it and to the existence of the country. This President must be seen off the political stage. It is frightful spectre up there as his arrogance of a photo op by a church under these difficult circumstances we are in. This is a man who has no sense of the time and what it needs leaders to be. He writes in part: “When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate… Read more »
This story came out today discussing the full autopsy report on George Floyd https://www.wbur.org/npr/869278494/medical-examiners-autopsy-reveals-george-floyd-had-positive-test-for-coronavirus it has a link to the actual report. What it reveals is what a mess Mr. Floyd was in terms of his overall health and drug abuse issues. It is not abnormal unfortunately for low income African American men to have these types of medical issues and drug abuse issues. A very relevant issue relating to Mr. Floyd is his unemployed status once the Covid 19 outbreak forced the closure of the Latin dance club El Nuevo Rodeo where he worked as what is commonly called a “bouncer,” more politely called security. Incidentally Floyd’s murder worked exterior security at that club too while Floyd worked interior security. Floyd was a very large man, and in many ways was physically an intimidating presence, but generally considered to be nice to patrons. I believe that in the course of the detailed investigation it may come to light that Mr. Floyd and even officer Chauvin may have been taking bribes from drug dealers who worked that bar. This may not be a pretty picture once more stuff comes out. Here is an article about the connect of this… Read more »
Istvan, you are absolutely right re the Bp police being corrupt (of course not all of them, but …).
SA friend who had a bar told me that it got just too expensive and complicated for him so he “sold” it.
Totally OT re the USA:
I just heard from friends that they got their stimulus money right now – as debit cards!
And one answered:
<i>the lack of publicity for the debit cards is a feature not a bug. They were purposely to look like junk mail in the hopes that a lot of people would trash them.</i>
Yes I read about that story about cash cards too Wolfi, a lot of people do not have banking accounts and can not cash checks without paying fees. So the idea of cash card payments were supposedly to avoid those fees on poor people. Poverty is deep here Wolfi, it is being exposed for the world to see.
In NYC got it firsthand from an eyewitness that individuals smashed glass, entered the stores and came flashing out with cash registers. The protest obviously brings out the window smashers to simply loot for money.
The setup of society unfortunately has a difficult time spreading it around. When ‘windows of opportunity’ occur that are virtually closed down to an underclass then we can expect to have days and nights of broken glass in one where laws are ignored.
It is most distressing and soul destroying that for ten years already this regime is systematically dismantling democracy and democratic institutions in Hungary, and does it with the silent approval (save it for a handful of individuals in the EU…) of the majority of the governments of the western democracies. Moreover, this tacit ‘appeasement’ policy is financially rewarding and supporting a regime and it’s policies of corruption that simply could not be tolerated and do not exist in those western countries. All that one can learn from this is that the hope for a better and more just world is evaporating faster as years passing by and human civilisation only exists in novels and dreams…
dos929 11:31 pm
Please don’t play the Hungarian victim.
The origin of the complete tolerance for Orbán’s totally corrupt government lies in one place only:
perhaps you can even guess it. It is right here in Magyarország, right here in the corrupt heart and mind of every lazy Hungarian voter (and non-voter).
Of course there is a responsibility on the part of the Hungarian voters as well. However, without the financial underpinning by the EU subsidies, the Orban regime would have collapsed a long time ago. By now they have simply stolen the most valuable assets of the Hungarian economy, and even if finally the EU would act, those stolen thousands of milliards worth of € assets can never be recovered from them. But back to your argument; would you also blame the North Korean people for letting get away their ‘Dear Leader’ with murder? I am sure you wouldn’t, and in respect the situation in Hungary is very similar. To put it in perspective; Orwell’s ‘1984’ nightmare is very successfully put in practice in Orbanistan. In Orban’s Hungary the country is back in the dark decades of the Horthy regime, using many, if not all, the tools of trade that led Hungary complicit in the atrocities of WW2. The only difference being that we are not in the 1930’s but in 2020, in an era where the EU administrators not only haven’t got the sight of 20-20, but are blind as a bat. And their blindness will lead to the collapse… Read more »
@dos929, 2:47 am
No, it is not Trump, it is not Kim Jong Un or Mohammed Bone Saw – nothing to do with them. Please don’t use them as an (irrelevant) distraction. The problem is right here at home as the Magyarok might say, but then, so is the solution. You don’t know what it is? Really??
Pontosan.
Minden további csak üres duma és maszatolás.
The key to turfing Orbán out is winning over the countryside, the villages and provincial towns. The key obstacle to this is that the liberal bubbles in Budapest and around the universities in some larger country towns have neither a stable support network in the provinces, nor anything to offer to country folk by way of a coherent and attractive vision of the future. Until that changes, Orbán stays put. Guaranteed.
The end of the day, the root cause of the problems in Hungary lies simply in the contents of the grey matter between Hungarian ears. Until that changes, nothing changes. Yet, none of the liberal opposition factions and fragments in Hungary had ever appeared to evince the slightest interest in tackling this core problem, and the results of this inaction are clearly on the board, for everyone to see.
How?
To dos 929, like Bimbi I am tired of this attitude to blame other people, institutions or countries for the fact that three times in a row the Viktor and his party get the most votes of all the parties in the national elections.
Admittedly helped with some tricks like inviting foreigners to vote, paying for a vote with krumpli or firewood, and threatening with loss of employment if you cannot prove you voted for these criminals. List not complete I realize.
In my opinion, if a regime is stealing from its people, neglecting vital things like education, health care, social security and other things, you cannot blame others if the people of Hungary repeatedly give them the majority.
I am sorry to differ… How can you expect the masses of citizens to resist an autocratic government when all the tools of democracy have been taken away from them? You cannot strike, you cannot demonstrate your vote it fiddled with, the most deprived citizens are blackmailed for voting for them, and yes, non-Hungarian residents are voting unchecked for the government. Where is the compassion for those that are oppressed? Would you (as I said earlier) keep blaming the North Korean people for not rising against their dictator? You are completely missing the point; once your rights have been taken away you cannot on your own regaining them without a bloody uprising, unless there is solidarity from the democratic West… And about the majority supporting the Orban regime… It is simply not true; Orban changed the voting system so much so, that with 1/3rd of the votes he has 2/3 of parliamentary majority. If it wouldn’t be enough of ‘importing votes’ from neighbouring countries, there is no independent electoral body that can check the voting irregularities, as EVERYTHING is in government hands and all state offices are filled with unqualified people that are blindly follow the regime’s instructions, no… Read more »
Typically Hungarian: always blaming others for his own ignorance and stupidity, and his consequent missteps and misfortune.
A corollary to this is that “önkezével vágott sebek” (self-caused wounds) have been the essence of Hungarian history for much of the past six centuries.
In this connection, it is interesting to observe a key difference between a Jew and a Hungarian:
A Jew first of all looks to himself before starting to blame all and sundry. This can lead to self-hate and habitual self-flagellation.
A Hungarian first of all looks to all and sundry, before starting to blame himself. This can lead to incessant whining and visceral hatred to the “other.”
We have to read here everyday the racism from that one man, now we get anti-Semitism from this one?
Test:
Does The Merchant Of Venice show that Shakespeare was anti-semitic?
I think you badly misunderstood my post. :-)))
I happen to be a perfectly content secular Jew originally from Budapest and now of Melbourne.
I am also a Zionist (Jewish nationalist), an ex-Israeli, an ex-kibbutznik, an ex-Israeli army grunt (first sergeant), and an ex-Tel Aviv University graduate (MA, which was followed in due course by a PhD from Monash University in Melbourne).
:-)))
To dos 929, no problem with different opinions. In response to your question about my expectancy about resistance against the regime, from a people who are victims and are suppressed by this regime in the middle of a democratic Europe I can only ask you a question back. How can you not expect that a people resists against a dictatorship in the middle of a democratic continent? And as I saw on a nice banner on Jászai Mari Tér during the anti slavery law demo maybe there is only “One Solution: Revolution”. I don´t think myself, I completely miss the point. Do you expect the democratic West to come to Budapest and demonstrate for solidarity? Or let´s say close the car and other multinational factories (may happen anyway because of the crisis). would that help restore the democracy in Hungary? I live in Hungary, and it hurts to see the present and future of a people being destroyed by this regime. In my opinion the only way to get out is that the People take their own faith in their own hands. Last point, I did not mean to state that Fidesz had the majority of the votes, I meant… Read more »
You can’t discount the EU role in the process. Imo an early and proportionate reaction, eg. starting 2011 would have had a good chance to change the outcome.
For sure! 2011 would have been a very good timing, however it is not too late! The EP is already a long time ready to do so (before and even more past the last elections), signs from the commission are that its loosing (way too big) patience as well. Just the council…?
DAY 666 OF THE ORBAN DICTATORSHIP
the DICTATORSHIP stands ERECT for another century of
TRIAN-ONANISM
Hey, 666! My favourite number …
Anyone notice a funny thing about Hungary’s “Brilliant Performance” against the Coronvirus?
The WORLD ratio of Dead/Recovered is 12.2%
HUNGARY’S figures for the Dead/Recovered ratio is exactly twice as much 24%
Mrs. Mueller, CMO, what do you have to say?
[OK, OK, don’t tell me. They were focusing on the Economy, right?]
Magyarország jobban teljesít
You just have to believe it! Would Szent Viktor ever lie?
Statistics, damned statistics …
Bimbi, I happen to regard your good self as one of the better commentators on this blog, but you are on marshy ground here.
Hungary’s Dead/Recovered ratio is as you state (actually, just under 24% last night), but that is almost certainly down to very limited testing by the govt, especially in the early days. In other words, lots more people caught the virus and recovered without ever going to hospital and getting a state-accepted test.
For the same reason, the deaths/infection rate is also quite high, at 13.7% (almost double that of neighbouring Slovenia, at 7.4%).
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality
But the deaths per 100,000 population is an acceptable 5.55%. (And very close to Slovenia, at 5.27%)
True, these figures look poor against Slovakia’s – assuming they are based on similar measuring conditions – and one could argue that Hungary’s should be much better were it not for the disastrous mess at the care homes – but I’d argue that the virus got to Hungary quite late, and Orban acted just in time to avoid mass infections.
This is my “favorite” law of the day.
https://444.hu/2020/06/03/jon-az-iskolaorseg-12-evre-csokkentik-a-buntethetosegi-korhatart
Instead of helping, the bastards are punishing; children, families, and by the way which minority group is targeted by this law?
Jan,
Well, as I noted many times, such are the dynamics of this creeping fascist regime – tighten the screws all the time, and do so hard in a crisis. See also the ever more brazen corruption, both in methods and scale.
And still the EU does nothing. In fact, it has tacitly approved of Orbán, which has given him a free hand to dig even deeper into the EU coffers to finance his projects and enrich his friends.
And how does he do it? By appealing to the ignorance of the Hungarian voters. Orbán has also succeeded through the kind efforts of his friend the BBC journalist Nick Thorpe, who is a resident there.
For nearly 20 years, Thorpe has been the main source of information to a foreign readership, through the BBC which employs him, and has almost consistently worked as an apologist for Orbán, as he does in this article, in which he succeeds only in affiliating himself to Orbán by implicitly asking us to be sympathetic to VO’s nationalist propaganda.
The title itself is already a giveaway that Thorpe wrote it, since it reads like something straight out of Orbán’s speeches-
“The 100-year wound that Hungary cannot forget”.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52903721
And by ending with a quote by a Fidesz MP, we are left feeling sorry for poor old benighted Hungary, always the victim, never the perpetrator of wrongs. Are we supposed to collude with this nationalist nonsense.
Thank you for referncing this outrageous Nick Thorpe/Zoltan’s Pox article on the BBC web site.
Thorpe may not get a knighthood, but he is working hard on a Horthy Miklos Gold Medal, 2nd class.
The last words from the article are from one of Hungary’s less outstanding Trian-onanists.
Wow!
So much nonsense in one article – even for Thorpe a new record!
He writes about 3 million Hungarians being lost to other countries – the fact that there were around 15 million people of other nationalities in Greater Hungary before WW1, being magyarized under pressure is not relevant for him???
I had to stop after a few lines …
I’ve heard before these same complaints about Thorpe’s coverage of Hungary, so I was curious to read his book on the refugee crisis of 2015, _The Road Before Me Weeps_.
And maybe precisely because Thorpe doesn’t come out as a frontal opponent to Orbán, his portrait of the handling and manipulation of the refugees, inflicting untold human suffering for political gain, is even more damning. There can be no doubt on reading this book about where Thorpe stands.
So while I assume the comments here portraying him as insufficiently critical of Orbán reflect a part of reality, my impression is that, if he ever harbored any illusion about Hungary having a good prime minister, by 2015 it was totally gone.
“The title itself is already a giveaway that Thorpe wrote it, since it reads like something straight out of Orbán’s speeches” Are you sure? (FYI, Mr Thorpe almost certainly did not write the headline.) The piece has this in it: “National groups, which had long felt oppressed by the Hungarians, claimed their own sovereignty while Hungarians found themselves suddenly divided among several states.” I somehow think Mr Orban would never use words such as those blocked. Mr Zoltan Kovacs is the govt spokesman for international media, not a Fidesz MP. Fortunately/unfortunately, depending on your point of view, I doubt any Fidesz MP is as sharp as ZK. I have my own criticism of this piece, but Mr Thorpe is behoven to give a fair cross section of all points of view. Just because the journalist concludes with a statement by Mr Kovacs does not mean the author agrees with it. You, we, the readers, can ponder that and everything else there and make up our own minds. This piece would actually make for a great discussion exercise on journalistic bias/neutrality at, for example, the CEU. Not all will take Mr Kovacs’ assertion as fact… Read more »
In Budapest the handball arena (really for a future Olympics) will cost at least HUF 100bn (probably the double).
https://nepszava.hu/3065467_nagyon-titkoloznak-a-szazmilliard-forintos-kezilabdacsarnokrol
Every public project costs double, triple …10 fold, this is the huge laundromat run by the court oligarchs to launder Orbàn’s misappropriated billions.
Among us mathematicians the joke was the involvement of pi:
The real costs are at least 3.14 times the planned – because they are trying to square the circle …
The structural differences between Hungary and Russia are growing indistinguishable. Only scale, geography and language set them clearly apart.
Russia is the more advanced model, being twenty+ years ahead, and by observing Putinistan, the Orbánistanites can preview their national future.
A silent but faithful majority of Orbánistanites yearn for the security of Putinistan, shielded from the evil forces of “The West”.
Yesterday’s topic.
The curious jumps of Hungarian labor statistics.
Enterprises with more than 5 employees including fostered workers
[Employees in thousands]
January – December average monthly changes;
vs
December to January of next year monthly employment number jumps:
2012: -1.3; + 8.6
2013: +2.3; +10.2
2014: +3.3; +18.1
2015: +3.8; +26.4
2016: +2.1; +54.8
2017: +1.0; +76.5 <—- new ways of calculating
2018: +1.5; +73.2 <—- new ways of calculating
2019: +1.8; -30.9
Period 2013.01.01 to 2019.01.01
2013.01: 1801.4 employed
2019.01: 2215.1 employed
difference: +413.7, up 22.97%
December-January jumps: +259.2 ( 6 months), or up 2.40%/month
January-December changes: +154.5 (66 months), or up 0.13%/month
Re: labor stats, hotels and stadiums It appears now to have another area to have caught the attention of Fidesz tentacles and that is the Magyar Turisztikai Ugynokseg’. It is another way to fashion a country’s visage to the world. The MTU looks to be another entry that will do some global work for the propaganda ministry. It is not difficult to think tourism will be ‘Fideszied’ so all kulfoldis visiting will get the ‘real story’, the real image’ of the country so they can go back to their respective countries and idealize the ‘new’ Magyarorszag. They will get the lowdown of the country with its brave history of fighting the communists and trying to achieve freedom through great sacrifice. They will boast of their support of the ‘democratic’ tradition. Meanwhile underneath the propaganda reklam freedom dissipates under unsuspecting tourist noses as they take pictures at Fisherman’s Bastion, Szentendre and the Balaton. In the Kadar times the receptionist and tourist workers had that sort of smile which could crack walnuts. Today? The way for the future will be smiles which grin broadly rom East to West and a advertised, gilded and false image fed to tourists so… Read more »
I don’t think tourism will profit from Fidesz dictatorship. Tourists are not interested in politics, ok but they want some value for their money!
If the food is no good or too expensive, the hotel rooms aren’t clean and so on then they will not return – and tell their friends.
I already brought up the example of the Russian invasion in Hévíz, not good for the image of the city.
Some hotels are reserved for Russians only and there are “luxury” clothes stores that cater only to them but on the other hand some of our favourite restaurants don’t even have a menu in Russian …
So it will be interesting to see what happens to tourism when Mészáros etc take it over!
Re: ‘Vampires’..
They say they all come from folklore and mythology and there are accounts particularly in Romania and Magyarorszag and some other countries nearby. Met one here in the flesh with Bela ‘I don’t drink wine’ playing Dracula. He was raised from the dead, attacked and sucked the blood of human beings. He had to as it was a means of sustaining himself. Vampires in all history do that. They are ‘cheeky devils’ alright.
Don’t know. Is it possible things have been happening in those countries where vampires roamed to haunt. It’s like re-animated Dracula’s could be making a comeback. We might need to study the myths again. These look like they have a different attitude to ‘blood’. They have a different way of getting it out.😎
” It is not difficult to think tourism will be ‘Fideszied’ so all kulfoldis visiting will get the ‘real story’, the real image’ of the country so they can go back to their respective countries and idealize the ‘new’ Magyarorszag.”
That may be the regime’s aim but given their and their lickspittles’ complete and utter incompetence in every aspect of life except thieving and corruption, it’s sure to fail.
“The showers were filthy and the waiters kept mentioning Trinon or Brinon or something while forgetting to bring us the menu.”