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Commemorations on 1848/49 revolution and Independent war‎

“His speech advocated nationalism, protectionism, and reeked of chippiness, arguing that his country was getting a raw deal in the EU.” + he is master to make the people fanatic.No dispute. This is fanaticism. The basis of his politics is the faith. He is a theocratic leader.- in my opinion.

Hungary prime minister hits out at EU interference in national day speech
Viktor Orbán on collision course with Brussels as his government attempts to revive aid talks to keep Hungary afloat

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Ian Traynor, Europe editor
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 15 March 2012 18.19 GMT
Article history

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, centre, delivers a speech in front of the parliament building in Budapest. Photograph: Bernadett Szabo/Reuters
Hungary’s strongman prime minister, Viktor Orbán, delivered a stinging broadside against Brussels on Thursday, likening EU bureaucracy to Soviet tyranny and casting himself in the mould of Hungarian heroes fighting to free the country from foreign domination since the 19th century.

Locked in dispute with Brussels for more than a year over media freedoms, economic policy, the central bank, and the judiciary, Orbán put himself on a collision course with the EU just as his government is attempting to secure credits of €20bn (£17bn) to keep Hungary afloat.

Addressing tens of thousands of supporters on Hungary’s national day, commemorating the 1848-49 uprising against Habsburg rule, the prime minister rounded on eurocrats whom he accused of illegitimate interference in the country.

“We do not need the unsolicited assistance of foreigners wanting to guide our hands,” Orbán declared in a reference to Brussels’ demands for legal and constitutional changes regulating Hungary’s central bank, data protection laws, and the retirement age for judges on the supreme court.

Drawing a clear parallel between Soviet domination of Hungary until 1989 and the behaviour of the European authorities, Orbán said: “We are more than familiar with the character of unsolicited comradely assistance, even if it comes wearing a finely tailored suit and not a uniform with shoulder patches.”

Orbán enjoys the strongest democratic mandate in the EU, after a landslide election victory in 2010 that gave his Fidesz party a two-thirds majority in parliament. He has used the mandate to draft and rush through a new Hungarian constitution, crack down on media pluralism, and has been accused of authoritarianism and breaking the laws of the EU, which Hungary joined in 2004.

This week, EU finance ministers said they would withhold half a billion euros in funding for Hungary from next year because it was failing to get its budget deficit under control and violating EU rules on fiscal rigour.

The European commission is also threatening to take Hungary to court for breaching EU law, insisting the country amend its legislation to guarantee the independence of the central bank. The commission is also worried about media censorship and control and at moves to force judges to retire, a policy seen as enabling Orbán to rid himself of opponents in key institutions of power.

On Thursday, the prime minister rounded furiously on EU outsiders demanding changes. “Hungarians will not live as foreigners dictate, will not give up their independence or their freedom, therefore they will not give up their constitution either,” he thundered in a speech with strong nationalist overtones.

“Freedom means that we decide about the laws governing our own life, we decide what is important and what isn’t. From the Hungarian perspective, with a Hungarian mindset, following the rhythm of our Hungarian hearts. We will not be a colony.”

The prime minister traced Hungary’s freedom fight through the great revolutions of 1848 against Vienna, of 1956 against Soviet communism, and of 1989 when he played a starring role as a young student anti-communist leader.

The message was that Hungary was once more embroiled in a fight for its freedom and that Orbán was the heir to the heroes of Hungary’s history. “In 1848 we said that we should tear down the walls of feudalism and we were proven right. In 1956, we said we have to crack, we have to break the wheels of communism and we were proven right,” he declared.

“Today also, they look at us with suspicion. European bureaucrats look at us with distrust today because we said: we need new ways. We said we have to break out of the prison of debt and we also declared that Europe can only be made great again with the help of strong nations. You will see my dear friends that we will be proven right yet again.”

On Wednesday, Orbán wrote to the European commission requesting support for his attempts to secure crucial standby credits from the International Monetary Fund.

His speech advocated nationalism, protectionism, and reeked of chippiness, arguing that his country was getting a raw deal in the EU. "We have with us the silently abiding Europe of many tens of millions, who still insist on national sovereignty and still believe in the Christian virtues of courage, honour, fidelity and mercy, which one day made our continent great.

“As a thousand-year-old European nation we have one demand. We demand equal standards for Hungarians. As a European nation we demand equal treatment. We will not be second-class European citizens.”

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New York Times about Hungarian Commemorations

Hungary

Balazs Mohai/Bloomberg News
Updated: March 15, 2012

Hungary was one of Eastern Europe’s star economic performers before it was hard hit by the global economic slowdown set off by the financial crisis of 2008. Since then, it has become a center of concern in Europe over what many perceive as a turn toward autocratic government.

The recession and anger at the incumbent Socialist government pushed Hungary to the right in parliamentary elections held in 2010. Hungary’s center-right Fidesz party secured a two-thirds majority in second-round parliamentary elections held in late April, giving Fidesz, led by a former prime minister, Viktor Orban, the authority to pass legislation, including crucial economic changes, without having to form alliances with the opposition.

Mr. Orban and Fidesz have made the most of that power, pushing through sweeping measures to reshape the government, the judiciary and the media in a process that has set off alarm bells across Europe. In April 2011, it approved a new “majoritarian’’ Constitution, effective Jan. 1, 2012.

The party’s critics say democracy is being killed not with a single giant blow but with many small cuts, through the legal processes of Parliament that add up to a slow-motion coup. And in its drift toward authoritarian government, aided by popular disaffection with political gridlock and a public focused mainly on economic hardship, Hungary stands as a potentially troubling bellwether for other struggling Eastern European countries with weak traditions of democratic government.

On Jan. 2, 2012, a day after the new Constitution took effect, tens of thousands of Hungarians rallied in Budapest in a rare opposition protest. It was the first time that opposition groups, from political parties to civil organizations, joined forces to protest against the Constitution, which was drawn up and ratified by Mr. Orban’s Fidesz party in defiance of mounting criticism from Europe and the United States.

Fidesz used its two-thirds supermajority in Parliament to adopt the Constitution, which critics say tightens the government’s grip on the news media and the courts and dismantles democratic aspects of the judiciary. In December 2011, the government passed a measure that critics said seriously weakened the independence of the nation’s central bank.

E.U. Starts Legal Proceedings Against Hungary

In mid-January 2012, the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, issued a warning to Hungary, giving it a week to modify its new policies. A week later, the commission started legal proceedings against Hungary over measures that threaten the independence of its central bank and its data-protection authority, and over rules on the retirement age of judges. Ultimately, Hungary can be forced to change rules that breach European law or, if it refuses, can be taken to the European Court of Justice.

In an appearance before the European Parliament, Mr. Orban beat a tactical retreat, offering to change details of the controversial new laws, while resisting claims that his country was sliding toward authoritarianism

The issues raised by the commission “could swiftly be resolved and remedied,” he told the Parliament, which met in Strasbourg, France. Mr. Orban appeared willing to give the most ground on the judges issue, while being more resistant on the central bank.

On Jan. 20, in an address to the Hungarian Parliament, Mr. Orban promised to abandon plans to merge the nation’s central bank and its financial markets regulator. He said the bank and the regulator “have been operating separately and they will do fine separately in the future.”

The 27-nation European Union has been grappling with what to do about member countries when they adopt policies that seem to undermine the union’s basic principles.

Though nations must meet specific democracy criteria to join the bloc, once they are members there are relatively few sanctions available to enforce them.

Teetering on the Brink

Hungary’s economy was weakened drastically by the financial crisis, and it now trails many others in Eastern Europe, with high unemployment and poverty, particularly in rural areas.

A member of the European Union but not one of the 17 countries in the euro currency union, Hungary was teetering on the brink of collapse in January 2012, amid fears that its center-right government was alienating the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission (the European Union’s executive arm) in Brussels at a time when Budapest was hoping for their help

Beset by deteriorating finances and a confrontation between the government and the Hungarian central bank, Budapest’s credit rating was cut to junk by two ratings companies in November 2011. Mr. Orban, the prime minister, risked having a monetary fund rescue line cut off when he introduced laws to strip the Hungarian central bank of its political independence.

The developments unnerved investors, who shied away from buying some of the bonds the Hungarian government offered in a sale on Jan. 5, and forced the nation to pay a higher interest rate to compensate for the risk. Hungary sold only 35 billion forints ($140 million) of the 45 billion forints in one-year Treasury bills it offered, with the average yield rising sharply to 9.96 percent.

The E.U. Threatens to Suspend Subsidies

Already at odds with the European Union over the quality of its democracy, Hungary found itself fighting on a second front in February 2012, when it was threatened with the suspension of $656 million in European Union subsidies over the state of its public finances.

The conflict pits Hungary’s prime minister against the executive arm of the E.U., which is responsible for upholding the bloc’s rules. The dispute was more technical, relating to persistent breaches of deficit rules.

Under the bloc’s economic rule book, member nations must keep their deficits below 3 percent of gross domestic product, and the rules have been tightened since the financial crisis.

The threat to withhold cash came at a time when Hungary was looking for financial assistance from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund that has been held up in part because of worries that Mr. Orban’s government is undermining the independence of Hungary’s national central bank.

In mid-March 2012, E.U. finance ministers agreed for the first time to punish Hungary for flouting the bloc’s budget rules, deciding to suspend payment to Hungary of nearly 500 million euros in development money next year unless it makes progress on reducing its deficit.

The move showed a new determination to enforce discipline after the failure to do so over the last decade was a factor in several debt crises that began with Greece and threatened to undermine the euro. Even so, the ministers left themselves an escape, agreeing to review the decision in June, underscoring the continuing political difficulties of taking tough and decisive action in Europe.

Hungary is also looking for financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund, but that has been held up in part over worries that Mr. Orban’s government is undermining the independence of Hungary’s central bank.

Supporters of the Hungary’s opposition movement have complained that Mr. Orban’s government has tightened its grip not only on the central bank, but also on the news media and the judiciary, raising concerns about Hungary’s commitment to democratic principles.

Government supporters, on the other hand, say that the government is trying to do the right thing, but that Brussels is acting as an oppressor and applying double standards, disciplining some countries more harshly than others.

Credit Ratings Downgrade

In November 2011, with the euro crisis spreading east, Mr. Orban said that he would be heading back to the I.M.F. for help. He said that Hungary would seek “an insurance-type agreement” from the I.M.F. Mr. Orban insisted that Hungary, which has frosty relations with the fund, would not have its policy dictated to it in any deal, and said he did not believe loans were needed.

Despite Mr. Orban’s overture to the I.M.F., the next week the country’s credit rating was cut to junk status by Moody’s Investors Service. And the I.M.F. had made clear that it was unlikely to help the country unless it pulled back on its undermining of the central bank.

Mr. Orban’s methods have flown in the face of conventional economic wisdom.

He has rolled out a collection of ad hoc measures, including the nationalization of pension funds, new taxes on services and a decree giving Hungarians, many of whom borrowed in other currencies to finance their homes during the credit boom, the possibility of paying off their foreign-currency-denominated mortgages at artificially favorable rates. Not surprisingly, the last step has drawn howls of protest from mortgage lenders, which are seeing a significant sum — about 5 percent of their assets according to analysts at Commerzbank — disappear.

The background to the drama was the ill wind blowing in from Western Europe. Growth was slowing in Hungary’s key export markets, and turmoil from the euro zone debt crisis has been pushing up the cost of capital. Financial markets, where signs of stress abound, have forced the government’s hand.

The forint was down about 8.5 percent against the euro in 2011, while the main stock index was down 20 percent. Yields on Hungarian 10-year government bonds reached a 2011 high of 8.8 percent on Nov. 16, a level that raises the cost of refinancing the national debt, which stands at close to 80 percent of gross domestic product. And households are strapped.

In November, Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s both put Hungary’s debt ratings on review for a possible downgrade to “junk,” or non-investment-grade, status, citing policy initiatives that could choke off credit, hurt growth and possibly endanger the government’s fiscal goals.

Voter Outrage Toward the Socialists

The level of antagonism in Hungarian politics rose significantly starting in September 2006, when radio stations played a leaked recording of Ferenc Gyurcsany, the Socialist prime minister, who admitted that he had lied to the public about the dire state of the country’s economy before elections.

Before austerity became the watchword for countries like Greece, Ireland and Spain, the Hungarian government was cutting government jobs, raising taxes and imposing new fees to try to control its growing budget deficits as early as 2007. Steel barriers surrounded the Parliament building to protect it from tens of thousands of demonstrators.

Dissatisfaction over cutbacks and Mr. Gyurcsany’s speech helped fuel the rise of the nationalist, anti-Semitic Jobbik Party. Once a fringe group with a paramilitary wing, an energized Jobbik won nearly 17 percent of the vote in 2010.

But the main beneficiary of voter outrage toward the Socialists was Fidesz, which gained a critical two-thirds majority in Parliament — enough to pass constitutional amendments and even an entire new Constitution without votes from opposition parties.

The country received a €20 billion, or $27 billion, bailout from the International Monetary Fund and European Union in 2008, but exited the fund’s stewardship in 2010, after Mr. Orban cut the program short soon after his election.

Hungary has its own currency, the forint, which means it was not caught in the same trap as debtor nations on the euro, like Greece, which were unable to devalue their currency. But any potential gains for Hungarian exports have been offset by the weakness in its customer countries across Europe. And many Hungarians took out mortgages in other currencies, meaning devaluation raised the cost of repayment.

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BBC

Hungary timeline

A chronology of key events:
9th century - Magyars under Prince Arpad settle Danube plain
1000 - Stephen I, a descendant of Arpad, recognized by Pope as first Christian king of Hungary, expands Hungarian control over Carpathian basin.

Giant parliament building is a Budapest landmark
1872: Buda-Pest created from unification of districts
Population: 1.7 million
1077-1095 - Reign of King Ladislas (Laszlo) I, who establishes Hungarian control over Croatia.
1222 - King Andrew II issues the Golden Bull, a constitutional document limiting the king’s power and enshrining rights of the nobility.
1241-1242 - Mongol invasion devastates large parts of Hungary.
1301-1308 - End of the dynasty of Arpad results in interregnum, ended by election of Charles I of Anjou.
1342-1382 - Reign of Louis the Great, who annexes Dalmatia and founds Hungary’s first university at Pecs.
1456 - Forces led by Hungarian nobleman Janos Hunyadi defeat Ottoman forces at Siege of Belgrade.
Ottoman invasion
1526 - Ottoman Turks defeat forces of Hungarian king at Battle of Mohacs, establishing control over most of the country.
1699 - Austrian Habsburgs under Leopold I expel Turks

Communists were overthrown in 1956, but Soviets retook capital

On This Day 1956: Hungarians rise up against Soviet rule
2006: Laying claim to Hungary’s 1956 revolution
1867 - Hungary becomes autonomous partner in Austro-Hungarian Empire
1918 - Austro-Hungarian Empire is broken up at the end of World War I. Hungarian republic is proclaimed following a revolution.
1919 - Communists take over power under Bela Kun. Kun wages war on Czechoslovakia and Romania. Romanian forces occupy Budapest and hand power to Admiral Miklos Horthy.
1920 - Hungary loses large part of territory to Czechoslovakia, Romania, Russia and Yugoslavia. The National Assembly restores Kingdom of Hungary; Horthy becomes regent and remains influential until 1944.
1938 - Hungary regains some of the territory lost in 1920.
World War II
1939 - Hungary joins Anti-Comintern Pact of Germany, Japan and Italy. At the outbreak of World War II Hungary remains neutral.
1941 - Germany invades the Soviet Union. Hungary declares war on the Soviet Union. A large part of the Hungarian army is destroyed. Hungary declares war on the United Kingdom and the United States.
1944 - Hungarian Nazis depose Horthy and install a puppet regime after Horthy asks advancing Soviet troops for an armistice. Hungarian Jews and gypsies are deported to death camps.

FOOTBALL LEGEND

Ferenc Puskas - one of world’s most prolific goal scorers
Captained Hungary’s famed Magical Magyars national team in the 1950s
Moved to Spain after failed 1956 revolt against Soviet rule
Became a major goal-scorer for Real Madrid in the 1960s
Given a state funeral in Budapest in December 2006

Obituary: Ferenc Puskas
1945 - Soviet forces drive the Germans out of Hungary by early April. Large parts of Budapest are reduced to rubble by the fighting. New Hungarian government introduces land reform bill, redistributing land from large estate owners to peasants.
1947-48 - Communists consolidate power. Hungary aligns itself more and more with the Soviet Union.
1949 - A new constitution makes Hungary a workers’ and peasants’ state. Industry is nationalised, agriculture collectivised and a wave of police terror launched.
1956 uprising
1956 - National uprising. Protesters demand the withdrawal of Soviet troops. Imre Nagy becomes prime minister. Nagy announces plans for Hungary to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and become a neutral power. Soviet forces crush the rebels, thousands are killed. Nagy takes refuge in the Yugoslav embassy, from where he is abducted by Soviet agents. Janos Kadar becomes head of government.
1958 - Announcement is made that Imre Nagy has been executed for high treason.
1960s - Kadar gradually introduces limited liberalising reforms. Political prisoners and church leaders are freed, farmers and industrial workers given increased rights.
1968 - New Economic Mechanism brings elements of the market to Hungarian socialism.
Spearheading change
1988 - Kadar is replaced by Karoly Grosz. Opposition groups form the Hungarian Democratic Forum.

Opening of border with Austria heralded collapse of Iron Curtain

1999: Hungary’s role remembered
1989 - May - Border with Austria is opened, the ‘Iron Curtain’ is breached. Thousands of East Germans escape to the West. Communist state in Hungary is dismantled and a transition to a multi-party democracy starts.
1990 - Stock exchange opens in Budapest. A centre-right coalition wins elections.
1990 June - Hungary withdraws from any participation in Warsaw Pact military exercises.
1991 - Soviet forces withdraw from Hungary. The Warsaw Pact is dissolved.
A new era
1994 - Former communists and liberals form coalition following elections. Gyula Horn, the leader of the reform communists, pledges to continue free-market policies.
1997 - Referendum endorses joining Nato. The European Union decides to open membership talks with Hungary, which begin in 1998.
1998 - Centre-right coalition under Viktor Orban elected.

Hungarians backed EU accession, but voter turnout was low

2004: The EU’s new southern frontier
2003: Hungary’s EU apathy
1999 - Hungary joins Nato.
2000 February - Government appeals for help after cyanide waste from a dam at a mining works in neighbouring Romania enters Hungary’s second biggest river, the Tisza.
2000 August - Ferenc Madl takes office as president.
2001 June - Parliament backs controversial Status Law entitling Hungarians living in Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia to a special identity document allowing them to work, study and claim health care in Hungary temporarily.
2002 May - Peter Medgyessy forms new centre-left coalition government in which the Socialist Party partners the liberal Free Democrats.
2002 June-July - PM Medgyessy admits to having worked as a counterintelligence officer for the secret service in the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, he denies ever having collaborated with the KGB and says he worked to steer Hungary toward IMF membership without Moscow’s knowledge.

Danube waters reached record levels in spring 2006
2002 December - EU summit in Copenhagen formally invites Hungary to join in 2004.
2003 April - Referendum overwhelmingly approves Hungary’s membership of an enlarged EU. However, turnout is only 46%.
2003 June - Parliament amends controversial Status Law on work, health and travel benefits for ethnic Hungarians in neighbouring countries which criticised it as interfering with their sovereignty and discriminating against other ethnic groups.
Hungary in the EU
2004 1 May - Hungary is one of 10 new states to join the EU.
2004 September - Former sports minister Ferenc Gyurcsany becomes prime minister following resignation of Peter Medgyessy in row with coalition partner over reshuffle.
2004 December - Low turnout invalidates referendum on whether or not to offer citizenship to some five million ethnic Hungarians living outside Hungary.
Parliament ratifies EU constitution.
2005 June - Parliament chooses opposition backed Laszlo Solyom as next president after Socialists’ candidate is blocked by their Free Democrat coalition partners.

2006: Uprising anniversary was overshadowed by protests

Q&A: Budapest clashes
In pictures: Hungary protests
2006 April - More than 10,000 troops and police battle floodwaters as the Danube river reaches record levels.
General elections return to power Socialist-led coalition under Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany.
2006 September - Violence erupts as thousands rally in Budapest demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Gyurcsany, after he admitted his government had lied during the election campaign.
2006 October - Violent anti-government protests in Budapest overshadow 50th anniversary commemorations of the 1956 uprising against Soviet rule.
2007 February - A commission of enquiry into the previous autumn’s disturbances, in which 800 people were hurt, finds fault with the police, the government and the country’s whole political elite.
2007 September - Riot police use tear gas and water cannon to disperse far-right protesters ahead of 51st anniversary of 1956 uprising.
Economic woes
2008 March - Government defeated in opposition-sponsored referendum calling for abolition of new fees for health care and higher education. The move is seen as a setback for government plans for economic reforms.
2008 April - Mr Gyurcsany reshuffles his cabinet after the Alliance of Free Democrats quits the ruling two-party coalition.
2008 October - Hungary is badly hit by the global financial crisis and the value of the forint plummets.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the EU and the World Bank grant the country a rescue package worth $25bn (£15.6bn).
2009 March - Hungary and Russia sign deal to build part of the South Stream pipeline across Hungarian territory. Budapest also agrees to jointly build underground gas storage facility in Hungary, a move which will turn the country into a major hub for Russian gas supplies.
Ferenc Gyurcsany announces his intention to resign as prime minister, saying he is quitting to allow a new leader, with broader support, to tackle the country’s ailing economy.
2009 April - Economy Minister Gordon Bajnai takes over as PM; he announces a programme of public spending cuts, tax rises and public wage freezes.
2009 June - Far-right Jobbik party wins three seats in European Parliament elections, gaining almost 15% of Hungarian votes.
Centre-right landslide
2010 April - Conservative opposition party Fidesz wins landslide victory in parliamentary election, gaining two-thirds majority. Jobbik enters Hungarian parliament for first time, winning 47 seats.
2010 May - Parliament passes law allowing ethnic Hungarians living abroad to apply for Hungarian citizenship. Slovakia protests at move, accusing Hungary of revisionism, and threatens to strip any Slovak who applies for dual nationality of their Slovak citizenship.

Tide of toxic red sludge caused serious pollution in October 2010
2010 July - International lenders suspend review of Hungary’s 2008 funding arrangement, saying the Fidesz government has failed to spell out its plans for bringing down the budget deficit clearly enough.
2010 October - A state of emergency is declared after a torrent of toxic red sludge escapes from a reservoir of chemical waste, killing seven people and injuring 150. Rivers in western Hungary are left seriously polluted by what is thought to be the country’s worst-ever chemical accident.
2011 January - Controversial new media law - which critics say curbs media freedom - comes into force just as Hungary takes over presidency of EU.
2011 February - Government agrees to amend media law. European Commission says that the changes meet its concerns over media freedom.
New constitution
2011 April - Parliament approves a new constitution said by its advocates to complete the transition from a totalitarian to a democratic system. Opponents say it threatens democracy by removing checks and balances set up in 1989 when Communism fell. The EU expresses concern over the law and asks for it to be withdrawn.
2011 December - Parliament approves controversial new election law that halves the number of MPs and redraws constituency boundaries. Critics object that the new law undermines democracy by tilting the system in favour of the ruling Fidesz party.
Parliament passes controversial law on central bank reform that gives the government greater control over monetary policy matters such as interest rates. EU and IMF officials cut short aid talks with Hungary over the law. The European Central Bank also expresses concern, saying the new law creates the potential for political control of the Hungarian central bank.
2012 January - Top rate of VAT is increased from 25% to 27% - the highest rate in the EU - as part of a series of austerity measures aimed at curbing the budget deficit.
Tens of thousands of people take part in protests in Budapest as controversial new constitution comes into force.
Credit ratings agency Fitch downgrades Hungary’s credit rating to junk status. Two other main ratings agencies have already reduced Hungary’s rating to junk levels within previous six weeks.
2012 February - Hungarian state-owned airline Malev goes bankrupt.

Hungary timeline

A chronology of key events:
9th century - Magyars under Prince Arpad settle Danube plain
1000 - Stephen I, a descendant of Arpad, recognized by Pope as first Christian king of Hungary, expands Hungarian control over Carpathian basin.

Giant parliament building is a Budapest landmark
1872: Buda-Pest created from unification of districts
Population: 1.7 million
1077-1095 - Reign of King Ladislas (Laszlo) I, who establishes Hungarian control over Croatia.
1222 - King Andrew II issues the Golden Bull, a constitutional document limiting the king’s power and enshrining rights of the nobility.
1241-1242 - Mongol invasion devastates large parts of Hungary.
1301-1308 - End of the dynasty of Arpad results in interregnum, ended by election of Charles I of Anjou.
1342-1382 - Reign of Louis the Great, who annexes Dalmatia and founds Hungary’s first university at Pecs.
1456 - Forces led by Hungarian nobleman Janos Hunyadi defeat Ottoman forces at Siege of Belgrade.
Ottoman invasion
1526 - Ottoman Turks defeat forces of Hungarian king at Battle of Mohacs, establishing control over most of the country.
1699 - Austrian Habsburgs under Leopold I expel Turks

Communists were overthrown in 1956, but Soviets retook capital

On This Day 1956: Hungarians rise up against Soviet rule
2006: Laying claim to Hungary’s 1956 revolution
1867 - Hungary becomes autonomous partner in Austro-Hungarian Empire
1918 - Austro-Hungarian Empire is broken up at the end of World War I. Hungarian republic is proclaimed following a revolution.
1919 - Communists take over power under Bela Kun. Kun wages war on Czechoslovakia and Romania. Romanian forces occupy Budapest and hand power to Admiral Miklos Horthy.
1920 - Hungary loses large part of territory to Czechoslovakia, Romania, Russia and Yugoslavia. The National Assembly restores Kingdom of Hungary; Horthy becomes regent and remains influential until 1944.
1938 - Hungary regains some of the territory lost in 1920.
World War II
1939 - Hungary joins Anti-Comintern Pact of Germany, Japan and Italy. At the outbreak of World War II Hungary remains neutral.
1941 - Germany invades the Soviet Union. Hungary declares war on the Soviet Union. A large part of the Hungarian army is destroyed. Hungary declares war on the United Kingdom and the United States.
1944 - Hungarian Nazis depose Horthy and install a puppet regime after Horthy asks advancing Soviet troops for an armistice. Hungarian Jews and gypsies are deported to death camps.

FOOTBALL LEGEND

Ferenc Puskas - one of world’s most prolific goal scorers
Captained Hungary’s famed Magical Magyars national team in the 1950s
Moved to Spain after failed 1956 revolt against Soviet rule
Became a major goal-scorer for Real Madrid in the 1960s
Given a state funeral in Budapest in December 2006

Obituary: Ferenc Puskas
1945 - Soviet forces drive the Germans out of Hungary by early April. Large parts of Budapest are reduced to rubble by the fighting. New Hungarian government introduces land reform bill, redistributing land from large estate owners to peasants.
1947-48 - Communists consolidate power. Hungary aligns itself more and more with the Soviet Union.
1949 - A new constitution makes Hungary a workers’ and peasants’ state. Industry is nationalised, agriculture collectivised and a wave of police terror launched.
1956 uprising
1956 - National uprising. Protesters demand the withdrawal of Soviet troops. Imre Nagy becomes prime minister. Nagy announces plans for Hungary to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and become a neutral power. Soviet forces crush the rebels, thousands are killed. Nagy takes refuge in the Yugoslav embassy, from where he is abducted by Soviet agents. Janos Kadar becomes head of government.
1958 - Announcement is made that Imre Nagy has been executed for high treason.
1960s - Kadar gradually introduces limited liberalising reforms. Political prisoners and church leaders are freed, farmers and industrial workers given increased rights.
1968 - New Economic Mechanism brings elements of the market to Hungarian socialism.
Spearheading change
1988 - Kadar is replaced by Karoly Grosz. Opposition groups form the Hungarian Democratic Forum.

Opening of border with Austria heralded collapse of Iron Curtain

1999: Hungary’s role remembered
1989 - May - Border with Austria is opened, the ‘Iron Curtain’ is breached. Thousands of East Germans escape to the West. Communist state in Hungary is dismantled and a transition to a multi-party democracy starts.
1990 - Stock exchange opens in Budapest. A centre-right coalition wins elections.
1990 June - Hungary withdraws from any participation in Warsaw Pact military exercises.
1991 - Soviet forces withdraw from Hungary. The Warsaw Pact is dissolved.
A new era
1994 - Former communists and liberals form coalition following elections. Gyula Horn, the leader of the reform communists, pledges to continue free-market policies.
1997 - Referendum endorses joining Nato. The European Union decides to open membership talks with Hungary, which begin in 1998.
1998 - Centre-right coalition under Viktor Orban elected.

Hungarians backed EU accession, but voter turnout was low

2004: The EU’s new southern frontier
2003: Hungary’s EU apathy
1999 - Hungary joins Nato.
2000 February - Government appeals for help after cyanide waste from a dam at a mining works in neighbouring Romania enters Hungary’s second biggest river, the Tisza.
2000 August - Ferenc Madl takes office as president.
2001 June - Parliament backs controversial Status Law entitling Hungarians living in Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia to a special identity document allowing them to work, study and claim health care in Hungary temporarily.
2002 May - Peter Medgyessy forms new centre-left coalition government in which the Socialist Party partners the liberal Free Democrats.
2002 June-July - PM Medgyessy admits to having worked as a counterintelligence officer for the secret service in the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, he denies ever having collaborated with the KGB and says he worked to steer Hungary toward IMF membership without Moscow’s knowledge.

Danube waters reached record levels in spring 2006
2002 December - EU summit in Copenhagen formally invites Hungary to join in 2004.
2003 April - Referendum overwhelmingly approves Hungary’s membership of an enlarged EU. However, turnout is only 46%.
2003 June - Parliament amends controversial Status Law on work, health and travel benefits for ethnic Hungarians in neighbouring countries which criticised it as interfering with their sovereignty and discriminating against other ethnic groups.
Hungary in the EU
2004 1 May - Hungary is one of 10 new states to join the EU.
2004 September - Former sports minister Ferenc Gyurcsany becomes prime minister following resignation of Peter Medgyessy in row with coalition partner over reshuffle.
2004 December - Low turnout invalidates referendum on whether or not to offer citizenship to some five million ethnic Hungarians living outside Hungary.
Parliament ratifies EU constitution.
2005 June - Parliament chooses opposition backed Laszlo Solyom as next president after Socialists’ candidate is blocked by their Free Democrat coalition partners.

2006: Uprising anniversary was overshadowed by protests

Q&A: Budapest clashes
In pictures: Hungary protests
2006 April - More than 10,000 troops and police battle floodwaters as the Danube river reaches record levels.
General elections return to power Socialist-led coalition under Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany.
2006 September - Violence erupts as thousands rally in Budapest demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Gyurcsany, after he admitted his government had lied during the election campaign.
2006 October - Violent anti-government protests in Budapest overshadow 50th anniversary commemorations of the 1956 uprising against Soviet rule.
2007 February - A commission of enquiry into the previous autumn’s disturbances, in which 800 people were hurt, finds fault with the police, the government and the country’s whole political elite.
2007 September - Riot police use tear gas and water cannon to disperse far-right protesters ahead of 51st anniversary of 1956 uprising.
Economic woes
2008 March - Government defeated in opposition-sponsored referendum calling for abolition of new fees for health care and higher education. The move is seen as a setback for government plans for economic reforms.
2008 April - Mr Gyurcsany reshuffles his cabinet after the Alliance of Free Democrats quits the ruling two-party coalition.
2008 October - Hungary is badly hit by the global financial crisis and the value of the forint plummets.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the EU and the World Bank grant the country a rescue package worth $25bn (£15.6bn).
2009 March - Hungary and Russia sign deal to build part of the South Stream pipeline across Hungarian territory. Budapest also agrees to jointly build underground gas storage facility in Hungary, a move which will turn the country into a major hub for Russian gas supplies.
Ferenc Gyurcsany announces his intention to resign as prime minister, saying he is quitting to allow a new leader, with broader support, to tackle the country’s ailing economy.
2009 April - Economy Minister Gordon Bajnai takes over as PM; he announces a programme of public spending cuts, tax rises and public wage freezes.
2009 June - Far-right Jobbik party wins three seats in European Parliament elections, gaining almost 15% of Hungarian votes.
Centre-right landslide
2010 April - Conservative opposition party Fidesz wins landslide victory in parliamentary election, gaining two-thirds majority. Jobbik enters Hungarian parliament for first time, winning 47 seats.
2010 May - Parliament passes law allowing ethnic Hungarians living abroad to apply for Hungarian citizenship. Slovakia protests at move, accusing Hungary of revisionism, and threatens to strip any Slovak who applies for dual nationality of their Slovak citizenship.

Tide of toxic red sludge caused serious pollution in October 2010
2010 July - International lenders suspend review of Hungary’s 2008 funding arrangement, saying the Fidesz government has failed to spell out its plans for bringing down the budget deficit clearly enough.
2010 October - A state of emergency is declared after a torrent of toxic red sludge escapes from a reservoir of chemical waste, killing seven people and injuring 150. Rivers in western Hungary are left seriously polluted by what is thought to be the country’s worst-ever chemical accident.
2011 January - Controversial new media law - which critics say curbs media freedom - comes into force just as Hungary takes over presidency of EU.
2011 February - Government agrees to amend media law. European Commission says that the changes meet its concerns over media freedom.
New constitution
2011 April - Parliament approves a new constitution said by its advocates to complete the transition from a totalitarian to a democratic system. Opponents say it threatens democracy by removing checks and balances set up in 1989 when Communism fell. The EU expresses concern over the law and asks for it to be withdrawn.
2011 December - Parliament approves controversial new election law that halves the number of MPs and redraws constituency boundaries. Critics object that the new law undermines democracy by tilting the system in favour of the ruling Fidesz party.
Parliament passes controversial law on central bank reform that gives the government greater control over monetary policy matters such as interest rates. EU and IMF officials cut short aid talks with Hungary over the law. The European Central Bank also expresses concern, saying the new law creates the potential for political control of the Hungarian central bank.
2012 January - Top rate of VAT is increased from 25% to 27% - the highest rate in the EU - as part of a series of austerity measures aimed at curbing the budget deficit.
Tens of thousands of people take part in protests in Budapest as controversial new constitution comes into force.
Credit ratings agency Fitch downgrades Hungary’s credit rating to junk status. Two other main ratings agencies have already reduced Hungary’s rating to junk levels within previous six weeks.
2012 February - Hungarian state-owned airline Malev goes bankrupt.

Hungary timeline

A chronology of key events:
9th century - Magyars under Prince Arpad settle Danube plain
1000 - Stephen I, a descendant of Arpad, recognized by Pope as first Christian king of Hungary, expands Hungarian control over Carpathian basin.

Giant parliament building is a Budapest landmark
1872: Buda-Pest created from unification of districts
Population: 1.7 million
1077-1095 - Reign of King Ladislas (Laszlo) I, who establishes Hungarian control over Croatia.
1222 - King Andrew II issues the Golden Bull, a constitutional document limiting the king’s power and enshrining rights of the nobility.
1241-1242 - Mongol invasion devastates large parts of Hungary.
1301-1308 - End of the dynasty of Arpad results in interregnum, ended by election of Charles I of Anjou.
1342-1382 - Reign of Louis the Great, who annexes Dalmatia and founds Hungary’s first university at Pecs.
1456 - Forces led by Hungarian nobleman Janos Hunyadi defeat Ottoman forces at Siege of Belgrade.
Ottoman invasion
1526 - Ottoman Turks defeat forces of Hungarian king at Battle of Mohacs, establishing control over most of the country.
1699 - Austrian Habsburgs under Leopold I expel Turks

Communists were overthrown in 1956, but Soviets retook capital

On This Day 1956: Hungarians rise up against Soviet rule
2006: Laying claim to Hungary’s 1956 revolution
1867 - Hungary becomes autonomous partner in Austro-Hungarian Empire
1918 - Austro-Hungarian Empire is broken up at the end of World War I. Hungarian republic is proclaimed following a revolution.
1919 - Communists take over power under Bela Kun. Kun wages war on Czechoslovakia and Romania. Romanian forces occupy Budapest and hand power to Admiral Miklos Horthy.
1920 - Hungary loses large part of territory to Czechoslovakia, Romania, Russia and Yugoslavia. The National Assembly restores Kingdom of Hungary; Horthy becomes regent and remains influential until 1944.
1938 - Hungary regains some of the territory lost in 1920.
World War II
1939 - Hungary joins Anti-Comintern Pact of Germany, Japan and Italy. At the outbreak of World War II Hungary remains neutral.
1941 - Germany invades the Soviet Union. Hungary declares war on the Soviet Union. A large part of the Hungarian army is destroyed. Hungary declares war on the United Kingdom and the United States.
1944 - Hungarian Nazis depose Horthy and install a puppet regime after Horthy asks advancing Soviet troops for an armistice. Hungarian Jews and gypsies are deported to death camps.

FOOTBALL LEGEND

Ferenc Puskas - one of world’s most prolific goal scorers
Captained Hungary’s famed Magical Magyars national team in the 1950s
Moved to Spain after failed 1956 revolt against Soviet rule
Became a major goal-scorer for Real Madrid in the 1960s
Given a state funeral in Budapest in December 2006

Obituary: Ferenc Puskas
1945 - Soviet forces drive the Germans out of Hungary by early April. Large parts of Budapest are reduced to rubble by the fighting. New Hungarian government introduces land reform bill, redistributing land from large estate owners to peasants.
1947-48 - Communists consolidate power. Hungary aligns itself more and more with the Soviet Union.
1949 - A new constitution makes Hungary a workers’ and peasants’ state. Industry is nationalised, agriculture collectivised and a wave of police terror launched.
1956 uprising
1956 - National uprising. Protesters demand the withdrawal of Soviet troops. Imre Nagy becomes prime minister. Nagy announces plans for Hungary to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and become a neutral power. Soviet forces crush the rebels, thousands are killed. Nagy takes refuge in the Yugoslav embassy, from where he is abducted by Soviet agents. Janos Kadar becomes head of government.
1958 - Announcement is made that Imre Nagy has been executed for high treason.
1960s - Kadar gradually introduces limited liberalising reforms. Political prisoners and church leaders are freed, farmers and industrial workers given increased rights.
1968 - New Economic Mechanism brings elements of the market to Hungarian socialism.
Spearheading change
1988 - Kadar is replaced by Karoly Grosz. Opposition groups form the Hungarian Democratic Forum.

Opening of border with Austria heralded collapse of Iron Curtain

1999: Hungary’s role remembered
1989 - May - Border with Austria is opened, the ‘Iron Curtain’ is breached. Thousands of East Germans escape to the West. Communist state in Hungary is dismantled and a transition to a multi-party democracy starts.
1990 - Stock exchange opens in Budapest. A centre-right coalition wins elections.
1990 June - Hungary withdraws from any participation in Warsaw Pact military exercises.
1991 - Soviet forces withdraw from Hungary. The Warsaw Pact is dissolved.
A new era
1994 - Former communists and liberals form coalition following elections. Gyula Horn, the leader of the reform communists, pledges to continue free-market policies.
1997 - Referendum endorses joining Nato. The European Union decides to open membership talks with Hungary, which begin in 1998.
1998 - Centre-right coalition under Viktor Orban elected.

Hungarians backed EU accession, but voter turnout was low

2004: The EU’s new southern frontier
2003: Hungary’s EU apathy
1999 - Hungary joins Nato.
2000 February - Government appeals for help after cyanide waste from a dam at a mining works in neighbouring Romania enters Hungary’s second biggest river, the Tisza.
2000 August - Ferenc Madl takes office as president.
2001 June - Parliament backs controversial Status Law entitling Hungarians living in Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia to a special identity document allowing them to work, study and claim health care in Hungary temporarily.
2002 May - Peter Medgyessy forms new centre-left coalition government in which the Socialist Party partners the liberal Free Democrats.
2002 June-July - PM Medgyessy admits to having worked as a counterintelligence officer for the secret service in the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, he denies ever having collaborated with the KGB and says he worked to steer Hungary toward IMF membership without Moscow’s knowledge.

Danube waters reached record levels in spring 2006
2002 December - EU summit in Copenhagen formally invites Hungary to join in 2004.
2003 April - Referendum overwhelmingly approves Hungary’s membership of an enlarged EU. However, turnout is only 46%.
2003 June - Parliament amends controversial Status Law on work, health and travel benefits for ethnic Hungarians in neighbouring countries which criticised it as interfering with their sovereignty and discriminating against other ethnic groups.
Hungary in the EU
2004 1 May - Hungary is one of 10 new states to join the EU.
2004 September - Former sports minister Ferenc Gyurcsany becomes prime minister following resignation of Peter Medgyessy in row with coalition partner over reshuffle.
2004 December - Low turnout invalidates referendum on whether or not to offer citizenship to some five million ethnic Hungarians living outside Hungary.
Parliament ratifies EU constitution.
2005 June - Parliament chooses opposition backed Laszlo Solyom as next president after Socialists’ candidate is blocked by their Free Democrat coalition partners.

2006: Uprising anniversary was overshadowed by protests

Q&A: Budapest clashes
In pictures: Hungary protests
2006 April - More than 10,000 troops and police battle floodwaters as the Danube river reaches record levels.
General elections return to power Socialist-led coalition under Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany.
2006 September - Violence erupts as thousands rally in Budapest demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Gyurcsany, after he admitted his government had lied during the election campaign.
2006 October - Violent anti-government protests in Budapest overshadow 50th anniversary commemorations of the 1956 uprising against Soviet rule.
2007 February - A commission of enquiry into the previous autumn’s disturbances, in which 800 people were hurt, finds fault with the police, the government and the country’s whole political elite.
2007 September - Riot police use tear gas and water cannon to disperse far-right protesters ahead of 51st anniversary of 1956 uprising.
Economic woes
2008 March - Government defeated in opposition-sponsored referendum calling for abolition of new fees for health care and higher education. The move is seen as a setback for government plans for economic reforms.
2008 April - Mr Gyurcsany reshuffles his cabinet after the Alliance of Free Democrats quits the ruling two-party coalition.
2008 October - Hungary is badly hit by the global financial crisis and the value of the forint plummets.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the EU and the World Bank grant the country a rescue package worth $25bn (£15.6bn).
2009 March - Hungary and Russia sign deal to build part of the South Stream pipeline across Hungarian territory. Budapest also agrees to jointly build underground gas storage facility in Hungary, a move which will turn the country into a major hub for Russian gas supplies.
Ferenc Gyurcsany announces his intention to resign as prime minister, saying he is quitting to allow a new leader, with broader support, to tackle the country’s ailing economy.
2009 April - Economy Minister Gordon Bajnai takes over as PM; he announces a programme of public spending cuts, tax rises and public wage freezes.
2009 June - Far-right Jobbik party wins three seats in European Parliament elections, gaining almost 15% of Hungarian votes.
Centre-right landslide
2010 April - Conservative opposition party Fidesz wins landslide victory in parliamentary election, gaining two-thirds majority. Jobbik enters Hungarian parliament for first time, winning 47 seats.
2010 May - Parliament passes law allowing ethnic Hungarians living abroad to apply for Hungarian citizenship. Slovakia protests at move, accusing Hungary of revisionism, and threatens to strip any Slovak who applies for dual nationality of their Slovak citizenship.

Tide of toxic red sludge caused serious pollution in October 2010
2010 July - International lenders suspend review of Hungary’s 2008 funding arrangement, saying the Fidesz government has failed to spell out its plans for bringing down the budget deficit clearly enough.
2010 October - A state of emergency is declared after a torrent of toxic red sludge escapes from a reservoir of chemical waste, killing seven people and injuring 150. Rivers in western Hungary are left seriously polluted by what is thought to be the country’s worst-ever chemical accident.
2011 January - Controversial new media law - which critics say curbs media freedom - comes into force just as Hungary takes over presidency of EU.
2011 February - Government agrees to amend media law. European Commission says that the changes meet its concerns over media freedom.
New constitution
2011 April - Parliament approves a new constitution said by its advocates to complete the transition from a totalitarian to a democratic system. Opponents say it threatens democracy by removing checks and balances set up in 1989 when Communism fell. The EU expresses concern over the law and asks for it to be withdrawn.
2011 December - Parliament approves controversial new election law that halves the number of MPs and redraws constituency boundaries. Critics object that the new law undermines democracy by tilting the system in favour of the ruling Fidesz party.
Parliament passes controversial law on central bank reform that gives the government greater control over monetary policy matters such as interest rates. EU and IMF officials cut short aid talks with Hungary over the law. The European Central Bank also expresses concern, saying the new law creates the potential for political control of the Hungarian central bank.
2012 January - Top rate of VAT is increased from 25% to 27% - the highest rate in the EU - as part of a series of austerity measures aimed at curbing the budget deficit.
Tens of thousands of people take part in protests in Budapest as controversial new constitution comes into force.
Credit ratings agency Fitch downgrades Hungary’s credit rating to junk status. Two other main ratings agencies have already reduced Hungary’s rating to junk levels within previous six weeks.
2012 February - Hungarian state-owned airline Malev goes bankrupt.

Hungary timeline

A chronology of key events:
9th century - Magyars under Prince Arpad settle Danube plain
1000 - Stephen I, a descendant of Arpad, recognized by Pope as first Christian king of Hungary, expands Hungarian control over Carpathian basin.

Giant parliament building is a Budapest landmark
1872: Buda-Pest created from unification of districts
Population: 1.7 million
1077-1095 - Reign of King Ladislas (Laszlo) I, who establishes Hungarian control over Croatia.
1222 - King Andrew II issues the Golden Bull, a constitutional document limiting the king’s power and enshrining rights of the nobility.
1241-1242 - Mongol invasion devastates large parts of Hungary.
1301-1308 - End of the dynasty of Arpad results in interregnum, ended by election of Charles I of Anjou.
1342-1382 - Reign of Louis the Great, who annexes Dalmatia and founds Hungary’s first university at Pecs.
1456 - Forces led by Hungarian nobleman Janos Hunyadi defeat Ottoman forces at Siege of Belgrade.
Ottoman invasion
1526 - Ottoman Turks defeat forces of Hungarian king at Battle of Mohacs, establishing control over most of the country.
1699 - Austrian Habsburgs under Leopold I expel Turks

Communists were overthrown in 1956, but Soviets retook capital

On This Day 1956: Hungarians rise up against Soviet rule
2006: Laying claim to Hungary’s 1956 revolution
1867 - Hungary becomes autonomous partner in Austro-Hungarian Empire
1918 - Austro-Hungarian Empire is broken up at the end of World War I. Hungarian republic is proclaimed following a revolution.
1919 - Communists take over power under Bela Kun. Kun wages war on Czechoslovakia and Romania. Romanian forces occupy Budapest and hand power to Admiral Miklos Horthy.
1920 - Hungary loses large part of territory to Czechoslovakia, Romania, Russia and Yugoslavia. The National Assembly restores Kingdom of Hungary; Horthy becomes regent and remains influential until 1944.
1938 - Hungary regains some of the territory lost in 1920.
World War II
1939 - Hungary joins Anti-Comintern Pact of Germany, Japan and Italy. At the outbreak of World War II Hungary remains neutral.
1941 - Germany invades the Soviet Union. Hungary declares war on the Soviet Union. A large part of the Hungarian army is destroyed. Hungary declares war on the United Kingdom and the United States.
1944 - Hungarian Nazis depose Horthy and install a puppet regime after Horthy asks advancing Soviet troops for an armistice. Hungarian Jews and gypsies are deported to death camps.

FOOTBALL LEGEND

Ferenc Puskas - one of world’s most prolific goal scorers
Captained Hungary’s famed Magical Magyars national team in the 1950s
Moved to Spain after failed 1956 revolt against Soviet rule
Became a major goal-scorer for Real Madrid in the 1960s
Given a state funeral in Budapest in December 2006

Obituary: Ferenc Puskas
1945 - Soviet forces drive the Germans out of Hungary by early April. Large parts of Budapest are reduced to rubble by the fighting. New Hungarian government introduces land reform bill, redistributing land from large estate owners to peasants.
1947-48 - Communists consolidate power. Hungary aligns itself more and more with the Soviet Union.
1949 - A new constitution makes Hungary a workers’ and peasants’ state. Industry is nationalised, agriculture collectivised and a wave of police terror launched.
1956 uprising
1956 - National uprising. Protesters demand the withdrawal of Soviet troops. Imre Nagy becomes prime minister. Nagy announces plans for Hungary to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and become a neutral power. Soviet forces crush the rebels, thousands are killed. Nagy takes refuge in the Yugoslav embassy, from where he is abducted by Soviet agents. Janos Kadar becomes head of government.
1958 - Announcement is made that Imre Nagy has been executed for high treason.
1960s - Kadar gradually introduces limited liberalising reforms. Political prisoners and church leaders are freed, farmers and industrial workers given increased rights.
1968 - New Economic Mechanism brings elements of the market to Hungarian socialism.
Spearheading change
1988 - Kadar is replaced by Karoly Grosz. Opposition groups form the Hungarian Democratic Forum.

Opening of border with Austria heralded collapse of Iron Curtain

1999: Hungary’s role remembered
1989 - May - Border with Austria is opened, the ‘Iron Curtain’ is breached. Thousands of East Germans escape to the West. Communist state in Hungary is dismantled and a transition to a multi-party democracy starts.
1990 - Stock exchange opens in Budapest. A centre-right coalition wins elections.
1990 June - Hungary withdraws from any participation in Warsaw Pact military exercises.
1991 - Soviet forces withdraw from Hungary. The Warsaw Pact is dissolved.
A new era
1994 - Former communists and liberals form coalition following elections. Gyula Horn, the leader of the reform communists, pledges to continue free-market policies.
1997 - Referendum endorses joining Nato. The European Union decides to open membership talks with Hungary, which begin in 1998.
1998 - Centre-right coalition under Viktor Orban elected.

Hungarians backed EU accession, but voter turnout was low

2004: The EU’s new southern frontier
2003: Hungary’s EU apathy
1999 - Hungary joins Nato.
2000 February - Government appeals for help after cyanide waste from a dam at a mining works in neighbouring Romania enters Hungary’s second biggest river, the Tisza.
2000 August - Ferenc Madl takes office as president.
2001 June - Parliament backs controversial Status Law entitling Hungarians living in Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia to a special identity document allowing them to work, study and claim health care in Hungary temporarily.
2002 May - Peter Medgyessy forms new centre-left coalition government in which the Socialist Party partners the liberal Free Democrats.
2002 June-July - PM Medgyessy admits to having worked as a counterintelligence officer for the secret service in the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, he denies ever having collaborated with the KGB and says he worked to steer Hungary toward IMF membership without Moscow’s knowledge.

Danube waters reached record levels in spring 2006
2002 December - EU summit in Copenhagen formally invites Hungary to join in 2004.
2003 April - Referendum overwhelmingly approves Hungary’s membership of an enlarged EU. However, turnout is only 46%.
2003 June - Parliament amends controversial Status Law on work, health and travel benefits for ethnic Hungarians in neighbouring countries which criticised it as interfering with their sovereignty and discriminating against other ethnic groups.
Hungary in the EU
2004 1 May - Hungary is one of 10 new states to join the EU.
2004 September - Former sports minister Ferenc Gyurcsany becomes prime minister following resignation of Peter Medgyessy in row with coalition partner over reshuffle.
2004 December - Low turnout invalidates referendum on whether or not to offer citizenship to some five million ethnic Hungarians living outside Hungary.
Parliament ratifies EU constitution.
2005 June - Parliament chooses opposition backed Laszlo Solyom as next president after Socialists’ candidate is blocked by their Free Democrat coalition partners.

2006: Uprising anniversary was overshadowed by protests

Q&A: Budapest clashes
In pictures: Hungary protests
2006 April - More than 10,000 troops and police battle floodwaters as the Danube river reaches record levels.
General elections return to power Socialist-led coalition under Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany.
2006 September - Violence erupts as thousands rally in Budapest demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Gyurcsany, after he admitted his government had lied during the election campaign.
2006 October - Violent anti-government protests in Budapest overshadow 50th anniversary commemorations of the 1956 uprising against Soviet rule.
2007 February - A commission of enquiry into the previous autumn’s disturbances, in which 800 people were hurt, finds fault with the police, the government and the country’s whole political elite.
2007 September - Riot police use tear gas and water cannon to disperse far-right protesters ahead of 51st anniversary of 1956 uprising.
Economic woes
2008 March - Government defeated in opposition-sponsored referendum calling for abolition of new fees for health care and higher education. The move is seen as a setback for government plans for economic reforms.
2008 April - Mr Gyurcsany reshuffles his cabinet after the Alliance of Free Democrats quits the ruling two-party coalition.
2008 October - Hungary is badly hit by the global financial crisis and the value of the forint plummets.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the EU and the World Bank grant the country a rescue package worth $25bn (£15.6bn).
2009 March - Hungary and Russia sign deal to build part of the South Stream pipeline across Hungarian territory. Budapest also agrees to jointly build underground gas storage facility in Hungary, a move which will turn the country into a major hub for Russian gas supplies.
Ferenc Gyurcsany announces his intention to resign as prime minister, saying he is quitting to allow a new leader, with broader support, to tackle the country’s ailing economy.
2009 April - Economy Minister Gordon Bajnai takes over as PM; he announces a programme of public spending cuts, tax rises and public wage freezes.
2009 June - Far-right Jobbik party wins three seats in European Parliament elections, gaining almost 15% of Hungarian votes.
Centre-right landslide
2010 April - Conservative opposition party Fidesz wins landslide victory in parliamentary election, gaining two-thirds majority. Jobbik enters Hungarian parliament for first time, winning 47 seats.
2010 May - Parliament passes law allowing ethnic Hungarians living abroad to apply for Hungarian citizenship. Slovakia protests at move, accusing Hungary of revisionism, and threatens to strip any Slovak who applies for dual nationality of their Slovak citizenship.

Tide of toxic red sludge caused serious pollution in October 2010
2010 July - International lenders suspend review of Hungary’s 2008 funding arrangement, saying the Fidesz government has failed to spell out its plans for bringing down the budget deficit clearly enough.
2010 October - A state of emergency is declared after a torrent of toxic red sludge escapes from a reservoir of chemical waste, killing seven people and injuring 150. Rivers in western Hungary are left seriously polluted by what is thought to be the country’s worst-ever chemical accident.
2011 January - Controversial new media law - which critics say curbs media freedom - comes into force just as Hungary takes over presidency of EU.
2011 February - Government agrees to amend media law. European Commission says that the changes meet its concerns over media freedom.
New constitution
2011 April - Parliament approves a new constitution said by its advocates to complete the transition from a totalitarian to a democratic system. Opponents say it threatens democracy by removing checks and balances set up in 1989 when Communism fell. The EU expresses concern over the law and asks for it to be withdrawn.
2011 December - Parliament approves controversial new election law that halves the number of MPs and redraws constituency boundaries. Critics object that the new law undermines democracy by tilting the system in favour of the ruling Fidesz party.
Parliament passes controversial law on central bank reform that gives the government greater control over monetary policy matters such as interest rates. EU and IMF officials cut short aid talks with Hungary over the law. The European Central Bank also expresses concern, saying the new law creates the potential for political control of the Hungarian central bank.
2012 January - Top rate of VAT is increased from 25% to 27% - the highest rate in the EU - as part of a series of austerity measures aimed at curbing the budget deficit.
Tens of thousands of people take part in protests in Budapest as controversial new constitution comes into force.
Credit ratings agency Fitch downgrades Hungary’s credit rating to junk status. Two other main ratings agencies have already reduced Hungary’s rating to junk levels within previous six weeks.
2012 February - Hungarian state-owned airline Malev goes bankrupt.

Hungary timeline

A chronology of key events:
9th century - Magyars under Prince Arpad settle Danube plain
1000 - Stephen I, a descendant of Arpad, recognized by Pope as first Christian king of Hungary, expands Hungarian control over Carpathian basin.

Giant parliament building is a Budapest landmark
1872: Buda-Pest created from unification of districts
Population: 1.7 million
1077-1095 - Reign of King Ladislas (Laszlo) I, who establishes Hungarian control over Croatia.
1222 - King Andrew II issues the Golden Bull, a constitutional document limiting the king’s power and enshrining rights of the nobility.
1241-1242 - Mongol invasion devastates large parts of Hungary.
1301-1308 - End of the dynasty of Arpad results in interregnum, ended by election of Charles I of Anjou.
1342-1382 - Reign of Louis the Great, who annexes Dalmatia and founds Hungary’s first university at Pecs.
1456 - Forces led by Hungarian nobleman Janos Hunyadi defeat Ottoman forces at Siege of Belgrade.
Ottoman invasion
1526 - Ottoman Turks defeat forces of Hungarian king at Battle of Mohacs, establishing control over most of the country.
1699 - Austrian Habsburgs under Leopold I expel Turks

Communists were overthrown in 1956, but Soviets retook capital

On This Day 1956: Hungarians rise up against Soviet rule
2006: Laying claim to Hungary’s 1956 revolution
1867 - Hungary becomes autonomous partner in Austro-Hungarian Empire
1918 - Austro-Hungarian Empire is broken up at the end of World War I. Hungarian republic is proclaimed following a revolution.
1919 - Communists take over power under Bela Kun. Kun wages war on Czechoslovakia and Romania. Romanian forces occupy Budapest and hand power to Admiral Miklos Horthy.
1920 - Hungary loses large part of territory to Czechoslovakia, Romania, Russia and Yugoslavia. The National Assembly restores Kingdom of Hungary; Horthy becomes regent and remains influential until 1944.
1938 - Hungary regains some of the territory lost in 1920.
World War II
1939 - Hungary joins Anti-Comintern Pact of Germany, Japan and Italy. At the outbreak of World War II Hungary remains neutral.
1941 - Germany invades the Soviet Union. Hungary declares war on the Soviet Union. A large part of the Hungarian army is destroyed. Hungary declares war on the United Kingdom and the United States.
1944 - Hungarian Nazis depose Horthy and install a puppet regime after Horthy asks advancing Soviet troops for an armistice. Hungarian Jews and gypsies are deported to death camps.

FOOTBALL LEGEND

Ferenc Puskas - one of world’s most prolific goal scorers
Captained Hungary’s famed Magical Magyars national team in the 1950s
Moved to Spain after failed 1956 revolt against Soviet rule
Became a major goal-scorer for Real Madrid in the 1960s
Given a state funeral in Budapest in December 2006

Obituary: Ferenc Puskas
1945 - Soviet forces drive the Germans out of Hungary by early April. Large parts of Budapest are reduced to rubble by the fighting. New Hungarian government introduces land reform bill, redistributing land from large estate owners to peasants.
1947-48 - Communists consolidate power. Hungary aligns itself more and more with the Soviet Union.
1949 - A new constitution makes Hungary a workers’ and peasants’ state. Industry is nationalised, agriculture collectivised and a wave of police terror launched.
1956 uprising
1956 - National uprising. Protesters demand the withdrawal of Soviet troops. Imre Nagy becomes prime minister. Nagy announces plans for Hungary to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and become a neutral power. Soviet forces crush the rebels, thousands are killed. Nagy takes refuge in the Yugoslav embassy, from where he is abducted by Soviet agents. Janos Kadar becomes head of government.
1958 - Announcement is made that Imre Nagy has been executed for high treason.
1960s - Kadar gradually introduces limited liberalising reforms. Political prisoners and church leaders are freed, farmers and industrial workers given increased rights.
1968 - New Economic Mechanism brings elements of the market to Hungarian socialism.
Spearheading change
1988 - Kadar is replaced by Karoly Grosz. Opposition groups form the Hungarian Democratic Forum.

Opening of border with Austria heralded collapse of Iron Curtain

1999: Hungary’s role remembered
1989 - May - Border with Austria is opened, the ‘Iron Curtain’ is breached. Thousands of East Germans escape to the West. Communist state in Hungary is dismantled and a transition to a multi-party democracy starts.
1990 - Stock exchange opens in Budapest. A centre-right coalition wins elections.
1990 June - Hungary withdraws from any participation in Warsaw Pact military exercises.
1991 - Soviet forces withdraw from Hungary. The Warsaw Pact is dissolved.
A new era
1994 - Former communists and liberals form coalition following elections. Gyula Horn, the leader of the reform communists, pledges to continue free-market policies.
1997 - Referendum endorses joining Nato. The European Union decides to open membership talks with Hungary, which begin in 1998.
1998 - Centre-right coalition under Viktor Orban elected.

Hungarians backed EU accession, but voter turnout was low

2004: The EU’s new southern frontier
2003: Hungary’s EU apathy
1999 - Hungary joins Nato.
2000 February - Government appeals for help after cyanide waste from a dam at a mining works in neighbouring Romania enters Hungary’s second biggest river, the Tisza.
2000 August - Ferenc Madl takes office as president.
2001 June - Parliament backs controversial Status Law entitling Hungarians living in Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia to a special identity document allowing them to work, study and claim health care in Hungary temporarily.
2002 May - Peter Medgyessy forms new centre-left coalition government in which the Socialist Party partners the liberal Free Democrats.
2002 June-July - PM Medgyessy admits to having worked as a counterintelligence officer for the secret service in the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, he denies ever having collaborated with the KGB and says he worked to steer Hungary toward IMF membership without Moscow’s knowledge.

Danube waters reached record levels in spring 2006
2002 December - EU summit in Copenhagen formally invites Hungary to join in 2004.
2003 April - Referendum overwhelmingly approves Hungary’s membership of an enlarged EU. However, turnout is only 46%.
2003 June - Parliament amends controversial Status Law on work, health and travel benefits for ethnic Hungarians in neighbouring countries which criticised it as interfering with their sovereignty and discriminating against other ethnic groups.
Hungary in the EU
2004 1 May - Hungary is one of 10 new states to join the EU.
2004 September - Former sports minister Ferenc Gyurcsany becomes prime minister following resignation of Peter Medgyessy in row with coalition partner over reshuffle.
2004 December - Low turnout invalidates referendum on whether or not to offer citizenship to some five million ethnic Hungarians living outside Hungary.
Parliament ratifies EU constitution.
2005 June - Parliament chooses opposition backed Laszlo Solyom as next president after Socialists’ candidate is blocked by their Free Democrat coalition partners.

2006: Uprising anniversary was overshadowed by protests

Q&A: Budapest clashes
In pictures: Hungary protests
2006 April - More than 10,000 troops and police battle floodwaters as the Danube river reaches record levels.
General elections return to power Socialist-led coalition under Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany.
2006 September - Violence erupts as thousands rally in Budapest demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Gyurcsany, after he admitted his government had lied during the election campaign.
2006 October - Violent anti-government protests in Budapest overshadow 50th anniversary commemorations of the 1956 uprising against Soviet rule.
2007 February - A commission of enquiry into the previous autumn’s disturbances, in which 800 people were hurt, finds fault with the police, the government and the country’s whole political elite.
2007 September - Riot police use tear gas and water cannon to disperse far-right protesters ahead of 51st anniversary of 1956 uprising.
Economic woes
2008 March - Government defeated in opposition-sponsored referendum calling for abolition of new fees for health care and higher education. The move is seen as a setback for government plans for economic reforms.
2008 April - Mr Gyurcsany reshuffles his cabinet after the Alliance of Free Democrats quits the ruling two-party coalition.
2008 October - Hungary is badly hit by the global financial crisis and the value of the forint plummets.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the EU and the World Bank grant the country a rescue package worth $25bn (£15.6bn).
2009 March - Hungary and Russia sign deal to build part of the South Stream pipeline across Hungarian territory. Budapest also agrees to jointly build underground gas storage facility in Hungary, a move which will turn the country into a major hub for Russian gas supplies.
Ferenc Gyurcsany announces his intention to resign as prime minister, saying he is quitting to allow a new leader, with broader support, to tackle the country’s ailing economy.
2009 April - Economy Minister Gordon Bajnai takes over as PM; he announces a programme of public spending cuts, tax rises and public wage freezes.
2009 June - Far-right Jobbik party wins three seats in European Parliament elections, gaining almost 15% of Hungarian votes.
Centre-right landslide
2010 April - Conservative opposition party Fidesz wins landslide victory in parliamentary election, gaining two-thirds majority. Jobbik enters Hungarian parliament for first time, winning 47 seats.
2010 May - Parliament passes law allowing ethnic Hungarians living abroad to apply for Hungarian citizenship. Slovakia protests at move, accusing Hungary of revisionism, and threatens to strip any Slovak who applies for dual nationality of their Slovak citizenship.

Tide of toxic red sludge caused serious pollution in October 2010
2010 July - International lenders suspend review of Hungary’s 2008 funding arrangement, saying the Fidesz government has failed to spell out its plans for bringing down the budget deficit clearly enough.
2010 October - A state of emergency is declared after a torrent of toxic red sludge escapes from a reservoir of chemical waste, killing seven people and injuring 150. Rivers in western Hungary are left seriously polluted by what is thought to be the country’s worst-ever chemical accident.
2011 January - Controversial new media law - which critics say curbs media freedom - comes into force just as Hungary takes over presidency of EU.
2011 February - Government agrees to amend media law. European Commission says that the changes meet its concerns over media freedom.
New constitution
2011 April - Parliament approves a new constitution said by its advocates to complete the transition from a totalitarian to a democratic system. Opponents say it threatens democracy by removing checks and balances set up in 1989 when Communism fell. The EU expresses concern over the law and asks for it to be withdrawn.
2011 December - Parliament approves controversial new election law that halves the number of MPs and redraws constituency boundaries. Critics object that the new law undermines democracy by tilting the system in favour of the ruling Fidesz party.
Parliament passes controversial law on central bank reform that gives the government greater control over monetary policy matters such as interest rates. EU and IMF officials cut short aid talks with Hungary over the law. The European Central Bank also expresses concern, saying the new law creates the potential for political control of the Hungarian central bank.
2012 January - Top rate of VAT is increased from 25% to 27% - the highest rate in the EU - as part of a series of austerity measures aimed at curbing the budget deficit.
Tens of thousands of people take part in protests in Budapest as controversial new constitution comes into force.
Credit ratings agency Fitch downgrades Hungary’s credit rating to junk status. Two other main ratings agencies have already reduced Hungary’s rating to junk levels within previous six weeks.
2012 February - Hungarian state-owned airline Malev goes bankrupt.

Hungary timeline

A chronology of key events:
9th century - Magyars under Prince Arpad settle Danube plain
1000 - Stephen I, a descendant of Arpad, recognized by Pope as first Christian king of Hungary, expands Hungarian control over Carpathian basin.

Giant parliament building is a Budapest landmark
1872: Buda-Pest created from unification of districts
Population: 1.7 million
1077-1095 - Reign of King Ladislas (Laszlo) I, who establishes Hungarian control over Croatia.
1222 - King Andrew II issues the Golden Bull, a constitutional document limiting the king’s power and enshrining rights of the nobility.
1241-1242 - Mongol invasion devastates large parts of Hungary.
1301-1308 - End of the dynasty of Arpad results in interregnum, ended by election of Charles I of Anjou.
1342-1382 - Reign of Louis the Great, who annexes Dalmatia and founds Hungary’s first university at Pecs.
1456 - Forces led by Hungarian nobleman Janos Hunyadi defeat Ottoman forces at Siege of Belgrade.
Ottoman invasion
1526 - Ottoman Turks defeat forces of Hungarian king at Battle of Mohacs, establishing control over most of the country.
1699 - Austrian Habsburgs under Leopold I expel Turks

Communists were overthrown in 1956, but Soviets retook capital

On This Day 1956: Hungarians rise up against Soviet rule
2006: Laying claim to Hungary’s 1956 revolution
1867 - Hungary becomes autonomous partner in Austro-Hungarian Empire
1918 - Austro-Hungarian Empire is broken up at the end of World War I. Hungarian republic is proclaimed following a revolution.
1919 - Communists take over power under Bela Kun. Kun wages war on Czechoslovakia and Romania. Romanian forces occupy Budapest and hand power to Admiral Miklos Horthy.
1920 - Hungary loses large part of territory to Czechoslovakia, Romania, Russia and Yugoslavia. The National Assembly restores Kingdom of Hungary; Horthy becomes regent and remains influential until 1944.
1938 - Hungary regains some of the territory lost in 1920.
World War II
1939 - Hungary joins Anti-Comintern Pact of Germany, Japan and Italy. At the outbreak of World War II Hungary remains neutral.
1941 - Germany invades the Soviet Union. Hungary declares war on the Soviet Union. A large part of the Hungarian army is destroyed. Hungary declares war on the United Kingdom and the United States.
1944 - Hungarian Nazis depose Horthy and install a puppet regime after Horthy asks advancing Soviet troops for an armistice. Hungarian Jews and gypsies are deported to death camps.

FOOTBALL LEGEND

Ferenc Puskas - one of world’s most prolific goal scorers
Captained Hungary’s famed Magical Magyars national team in the 1950s
Moved to Spain after failed 1956 revolt against Soviet rule
Became a major goal-scorer for Real Madrid in the 1960s
Given a state funeral in Budapest in December 2006

Obituary: Ferenc Puskas
1945 - Soviet forces drive the Germans out of Hungary by early April. Large parts of Budapest are reduced to rubble by the f

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BBC

Viktor Orbán’s speech: Declaration of war on Europe

It was a long and full day in Budapest. The reports began pouring in early morning, even before six o’clock, as Hungarian journalists waited for the arrival of the Polish visitors who came to support their favorite Hungarian politician, Viktor Orbán.

If the radical Poles occupied the news this morning, the afternoon was full of stories about 500 neo-Nazis who tried to disrupt the demonstration organized by Milla. Early reports indicate that their behavior bore a suspicious resemblance to the events of September-October 2006 except perhaps there was a more anti-Semitic flavor and a few pro-Hitler declarations at the event.

Both topics deserve a longer analysis, but here I would like to stick with Viktor Orbán’s speech delivered in front of the parliament building. Kossuth tér was filled with an adoring crowd that MTI estimated at 250,000. Others talk about 100,000. In any case, there were a lot of them, including the Poles who naturally didn’t understand a word of what was going on. Orbán did say one sentence in Polish, but I’ll bet not too many Poles understood it. Or at least this is my opinion based on studying Polish for one year decades ago.

My first reaction to Viktor Orbán’s speech echoed a sign at the Milla demonstration: “Viktor Orbán, have you seen a doctor lately?” How can a man who badly needs the European Union’s financial and political assistance deliver such a speech? What does he want to achieve? How can he assure the European Commission about his cooperation on all outstanding issues in a letter to José Manuel Barroso written only yesterday and today tell the European Union that the Hungarian government has no intention of respecting the independence of the Hungarian National Bank? Because this is exactly what he said.

The Poles arrive on Kossuth tér, Ákos Stiller, HVG

But let me summarize the speech from beginning to end. Let’s start with the anomaly that the demonstration organized by the government–because it was organized by the government on taxpayers’ money–is called “Peace Walk” while the keynote speaker, the Hungarian prime minister, talks about nothing else but “war.” From the beginning to the end of the speech the “war of independence” was the theme. According to Orbán, the Hungarians of today are descendants of the mid-nineteenth-century warriors of freedom. He called the square in front of the Hungarian parliament “the square of the freedom fighters” while forgetting that neither the parliament nor the square existed in 1848. On March 15, 1848, the crowd gathered in front of the National Museum. That’s why normally the official celebrations take place there. But because the huge crowd that was supposed to lend weight to Orbán’s speech wouldn’t have fit into the relatively small area around the Museum, the venue was changed. In front of the National Museum, István Tarlós, the mayor of Budapest, gave a long and fairly tedious speech. Most of his audience was made up of the Polish visitors who could think their own thoughts because there was no simultaneous translator on hand.

According to Orbán, the program of 2012, just as the one in 1848, is that “we will not be a colony!” The prime minister gave an entirely false description of Hungarian society when he claimed that “we have never been so close to achieving freedom … as we are now because we have never been so united.” Of course, the reality is exactly the opposite of this claim. Hungarian society has never been so divided as it is now and that division is due mostly to Orbán’s assiduous efforts in the last ten years or so. Not only are Hungarians united–he continued–but also strong. “For long decades we have never had so many political, constitutional, and economic opportunities as we have now.” Another lie because we all know that Hungary is in a very precarious situation. Furthermore, claimed Orbán, Hungarians are strong enough to achieve “a free Hungarian life” and therefore they don’t need “unasked-for help by foreigners.” (Actually, Orbán used the Hungarian word “szamárvezető” that literally means a man who is leading a donkey.)

What kind of unasked-for foreign help did he have in mind? The assistance this time “comes from people in well-tailored suits and not from men in shoulder-strapped uniforms” which is just another way of comparing Brussels to the Moscow of the Soviet Union. And while he was at it he made it clear that Hungarians “don’t tolerate injustice.” One might like or dislike Hungarians but no one can deny that “our freedom fights always served progress.” Hungarians were right even if everybody doubted them. That was the case in 1848 and in 1956. “The bureaucrats of Europe are watching us with suspicion today because we insist that new avenues must be found… because we claim that only strong nation states can make Europe great. But you will see, my dear friends, we will be right again!”

“Modern colonizers stalk their prey patiently. They lull their vital instincts and their resistance … This is what happened to Hungary after 2002 when people didn’t even notice that they were being captured by comfortable loans. It was in the last minute that we managed to avert disaster.” (Actually, Orbán talks about being lulled into tepid water that was slowly being boiled and the frog being cooked. It was in the last minute that Hungarians managed to jump out of the pot of hot water.)

Orbán then moved on to thinly veiled threats against the opposition at home. He declared that “it is not enough to vote against the evil but evil must be conquered. And it is not enough to conquer it but one must create the good, so the evil couldn’t return.” One can’t help but remember Orbán’s plans for a regime in which he and his party will be in power for at least twenty years. Or, all those allusions that the socialists and the liberals must be destroyed for good so they will be unable to return to Hungarian political life.

As for the current political atmosphere in Europe Orbán lashed out with a few harsh words on that topic. Hungarians understand that “the European Union is not an alliance of saints but they cannot watch with folded arms while some political and intellectual trend forces an unholy alliance on Europe.” I assume he is talking about the “liberal pestilence” that according to his followers is taking hold of Europe.

Finally, I ought to mention his jab at any European attempt to safeguard the Hungarian National Bank’s independence. Orbán recalled that in 1848 the radical youth of Pest demanded an independent Hungarian bank. But a national bank mustn’t be independent from the nation but “independent of foreign interests.”

All in all, Viktor Orbán’s vision of Hungary is a country that “turns on its own axis.” I think it is high time for the people in well-tailored suits in Brussels, Berlin, Paris, and other western capitals to tell Viktor Orbán to choose. Either live by the rules of the European Union and receive the benefits of the membership of this club or get out and try to turn on your own axis. Let’s not waste each other’s time with diplomatic niceties.

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1. part

New York Times about Hungarian Commemorations

Hungary

Balazs Mohai/Bloomberg News
Updated: March 15, 2012

Hungary was one of Eastern Europe’s star economic performers before it was hard hit by the global economic slowdown set off by the financial crisis of 2008. Since then, it has become a center of concern in Europe over what many perceive as a turn toward autocratic government.

The recession and anger at the incumbent Socialist government pushed Hungary to the right in parliamentary elections held in 2010. Hungary’s center-right Fidesz party secured a two-thirds majority in second-round parliamentary elections held in late April, giving Fidesz, led by a former prime minister, Viktor Orban, the authority to pass legislation, including crucial economic changes, without having to form alliances with the opposition.

Mr. Orban and Fidesz have made the most of that power, pushing through sweeping measures to reshape the government, the judiciary and the media in a process that has set off alarm bells across Europe. In April 2011, it approved a new “majoritarian’’ Constitution, effective Jan. 1, 2012.

The party’s critics say democracy is being killed not with a single giant blow but with many small cuts, through the legal processes of Parliament that add up to a slow-motion coup. And in its drift toward authoritarian government, aided by popular disaffection with political gridlock and a public focused mainly on economic hardship, Hungary stands as a potentially troubling bellwether for other struggling Eastern European countries with weak traditions of democratic government.

On Jan. 2, 2012, a day after the new Constitution took effect, tens of thousands of Hungarians rallied in Budapest in a rare opposition protest. It was the first time that opposition groups, from political parties to civil organizations, joined forces to protest against the Constitution, which was drawn up and ratified by Mr. Orban’s Fidesz party in defiance of mounting criticism from Europe and the United States.

Fidesz used its two-thirds supermajority in Parliament to adopt the Constitution, which critics say tightens the government’s grip on the news media and the courts and dismantles democratic aspects of the judiciary. In December 2011, the government passed a measure that critics said seriously weakened the independence of the nation’s central bank.

E.U. Starts Legal Proceedings Against Hungary

In mid-January 2012, the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, issued a warning to Hungary, giving it a week to modify its new policies. A week later, the commission started legal proceedings against Hungary over measures that threaten the independence of its central bank and its data-protection authority, and over rules on the retirement age of judges. Ultimately, Hungary can be forced to change rules that breach European law or, if it refuses, can be taken to the European Court of Justice.

In an appearance before the European Parliament, Mr. Orban beat a tactical retreat, offering to change details of the controversial new laws, while resisting claims that his country was sliding toward authoritarianism

The issues raised by the commission “could swiftly be resolved and remedied,” he told the Parliament, which met in Strasbourg, France. Mr. Orban appeared willing to give the most ground on the judges issue, while being more resistant on the central bank.

On Jan. 20, in an address to the Hungarian Parliament, Mr. Orban promised to abandon plans to merge the nation’s central bank and its financial markets regulator. He said the bank and the regulator “have been operating separately and they will do fine separately in the future.”

The 27-nation European Union has been grappling with what to do about member countries when they adopt policies that seem to undermine the union’s basic principles.

Though nations must meet specific democracy criteria to join the bloc, once they are members there are relatively few sanctions available to enforce them.

Teetering on the Brink

Hungary’s economy was weakened drastically by the financial crisis, and it now trails many others in Eastern Europe, with high unemployment and poverty, particularly in rural areas.

A member of the European Union but not one of the 17 countries in the euro currency union, Hungary was teetering on the brink of collapse in January 2012, amid fears that its center-right government was alienating the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission (the European Union’s executive arm) in Brussels at a time when Budapest was hoping for their help

Beset by deteriorating finances and a confrontation between the government and the Hungarian central bank, Budapest’s credit rating was cut to junk by two ratings companies in November 2011. Mr. Orban, the prime minister, risked having a monetary fund rescue line cut off when he introduced laws to strip the Hungarian central bank of its political independence.

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2.part.

The developments unnerved investors, who shied away from buying some of the bonds the Hungarian government offered in a sale on Jan. 5, and forced the nation to pay a higher interest rate to compensate for the risk. Hungary sold only 35 billion forints ($140 million) of the 45 billion forints in one-year Treasury bills it offered, with the average yield rising sharply to 9.96 percent.

The E.U. Threatens to Suspend Subsidies

Already at odds with the European Union over the quality of its democracy, Hungary found itself fighting on a second front in February 2012, when it was threatened with the suspension of $656 million in European Union subsidies over the state of its public finances.

The conflict pits Hungary’s prime minister against the executive arm of the E.U., which is responsible for upholding the bloc’s rules. The dispute was more technical, relating to persistent breaches of deficit rules.

Under the bloc’s economic rule book, member nations must keep their deficits below 3 percent of gross domestic product, and the rules have been tightened since the financial crisis.

The threat to withhold cash came at a time when Hungary was looking for financial assistance from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund that has been held up in part because of worries that Mr. Orban’s government is undermining the independence of Hungary’s national central bank.

In mid-March 2012, E.U. finance ministers agreed for the first time to punish Hungary for flouting the bloc’s budget rules, deciding to suspend payment to Hungary of nearly 500 million euros in development money next year unless it makes progress on reducing its deficit.

The move showed a new determination to enforce discipline after the failure to do so over the last decade was a factor in several debt crises that began with Greece and threatened to undermine the euro. Even so, the ministers left themselves an escape, agreeing to review the decision in June, underscoring the continuing political difficulties of taking tough and decisive action in Europe.

Hungary is also looking for financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund, but that has been held up in part over worries that Mr. Orban’s government is undermining the independence of Hungary’s central bank.

Supporters of the Hungary’s opposition movement have complained that Mr. Orban’s government has tightened its grip not only on the central bank, but also on the news media and the judiciary, raising concerns about Hungary’s commitment to democratic principles.

Government supporters, on the other hand, say that the government is trying to do the right thing, but that Brussels is acting as an oppressor and applying double standards, disciplining some countries more harshly than others.

Credit Ratings Downgrade

In November 2011, with the euro crisis spreading east, Mr. Orban said that he would be heading back to the I.M.F. for help. He said that Hungary would seek “an insurance-type agreement” from the I.M.F. Mr. Orban insisted that Hungary, which has frosty relations with the fund, would not have its policy dictated to it in any deal, and said he did not believe loans were needed.

Despite Mr. Orban’s overture to the I.M.F., the next week the country’s credit rating was cut to junk status by Moody’s Investors Service. And the I.M.F. had made clear that it was unlikely to help the country unless it pulled back on its undermining of the central bank.

Mr. Orban’s methods have flown in the face of conventional economic wisdom.

He has rolled out a collection of ad hoc measures, including the nationalization of pension funds, new taxes on services and a decree giving Hungarians, many of whom borrowed in other currencies to finance their homes during the credit boom, the possibility of paying off their foreign-currency-denominated mortgages at artificially favorable rates. Not surprisingly, the last step has drawn howls of protest from mortgage lenders, which are seeing a significant sum — about 5 percent of their assets according to analysts at Commerzbank — disappear.

The background to the drama was the ill wind blowing in from Western Europe. Growth was slowing in Hungary’s key export markets, and turmoil from the euro zone debt crisis has been pushing up the cost of capital. Financial markets, where signs of stress abound, have forced the government’s hand.

The forint was down about 8.5 percent against the euro in 2011, while the main stock index was down 20 percent. Yields on Hungarian 10-year government bonds reached a 2011 high of 8.8 percent on Nov. 16, a level that raises the cost of refinancing the national debt, which stands at close to 80 percent of gross domestic product. And households are strapped.

In November, Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s both put Hungary’s debt ratings on review for a possible downgrade to “junk,” or non-investment-grade, status, citing policy initiatives that could choke off credit, hurt growth and possibly endanger the government’s fiscal goals.

[Kati_Svaby]

Hungary’s president
He copied, but he’s not a plagiarist
Mar 27th 2012, 17:07 by A.L.B. | BUDAPEST

ANYONE seeking to understand contemporary Hungary could do worse than to take a look at the ongoing scandal around President Pál Schmitt’s doctoral thesis.

Mr Schmitt submitted his thesis, “Analysis of the Programme of the Modern Olympic Games”, to the Budapest College of Physical Education in 1992, and received a summa cum laude grade. But in January hvg.hu, a news portal, accused him of having plagiarised substantial sections of his dissertation from a work by Nikolai Georgiev, a Bulgarian sports historian. Budapest’s Semmelweis University (which has since absorbed the PE college) set up a committee to investigate the allegations.

Mr Schmitt strongly protested his innocence, saying that his dissertation had been reviewed by a panel of history professors. He also acknowledged that he knew and had worked with Mr Georgiev, and that they had used the same sources.

The committee’s report is over 1,000 pages long, but it has released a three-page summary today. It states that 17 pages of Mr Schmitt’s thesis were lifted wholesale from a paper written by Klaus Heineman, a German sports sociologist. A further 180 pages were partly copied from Mr Georgiev’s work. The dissertation, the committee says, also lacks proper citations and a bibliography.

In most countries Mr Schmitt would now be writing his resignation letter (or at least finding one to copy). A year ago Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the highly regarded German defence minister, resigned in disgrace after having been stripped of his PhD for plagiarism.

But it does not work like that in Hungary. The committee found that even though Mr Schmitt had copied large chunks of other people’s work and passed it off as his own, he should not be blamed. The problem lay rather with his supervisors, who did not do their jobs properly. Mr Schmitt’s thesis met the formal requirements of the time. He will keep his degree.

The committee’s ruling was greeted by widespread derision in Hungary. Semmelweis University, a once-respected international institution, has shown the courage of a mouse, say critics, and will see its reputation tarnished for the sake of preserving Mr Schmitt’s image.

All four opposition parties have called on Mr Schmitt to resign. But the president’s comrades in Fidesz, Hungary’s ruling right-wing party, are standing by him. The matter is now closed, they say.

Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister, promised last year that the era of the cosy insider was over. “Our homeland will no longer be a country without consequences”, he said, soon after winning a landslide two-thirds parliamentary majority. That does not appear to apply to the president.

[Kati_Svaby]

• University strips doctorate after plagiarism row

• PM Orban says up to president to decide about future

• President says to write new thesis, defend his integrity

(Updates with president’s TV interview)

By Marton Dunai and Sandor Peto

BUDAPEST, March 30 (Reuters) - Hungarian President Pal Schmitt resisted pressure on Friday to quit, saying there was no link between a plagiarism row that cost him his doctorate and his role as head of state, pledging to defend his reputation by writing a new thesis.

The controversy comes at a sensitive time for Hungary as it tries to resolve a lengthy dispute with the European Union on contested new laws to unlock stalled talks on financial support.

The 69-year-old Schmitt, an ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, was stripped of his doctorate on Thursday after a months-long plagiarism row that critics say damaged the integrity of his office and drew calls for his resignation.

But Schmitt, a two-time Olympic gold medal-winning fencer who cancelled all of his earlier appearances for Friday, said in an evening interview with public television that there was no reason for him to go.

“These issues are not related in my view, even though many interpret it this way,” Schmitt said when asked whether he had considered resigning over the plagiarism scandal.

Opposition parties say cheating makes him unworthy of the job . The main right-leaning daily Magyar Nemzet and influential conservative intellectuals have also called for him to quit.

Schmitt has denied wrongdoing since business news portal hvg.hu broke allegations in January that he had copied large parts of his 1992 thesis from other authors without proper quotes or referencing.

After conducting its own inquiry into the allegations, Semmelweis University stripped Schmitt of his title, saying his thesis did not meet scientific and ethical standards.

But Schmitt has said his conscience was clear, taking issue with the swift decision by the university.

“For them to strip me of my doctorate, so be it,” Schmitt said. “I have never gained any financial or moral advantage from it.”

“However, I will prove that I still have the perseverance, just as when I was Olympic champion, and even at the age of 70 I will prove that I am able to write a so-called PhD thesis that meets today’s very tough standards,” he said.

Earlier local media cited unnamed politicians of the ruling Fidesz party and their Christian Democrat allies as saying Schmitt could announce his departure on Friday as his position was growing “more untenable by the hour.”

DISHONOUR

Gabor Vago, a lawmaker of the small opposition LMP party, told 150 supporters camped outside Schmitt’s palace to demand his resignation: “The gravest problem and dishonour that the president has caused by not resigning is that we can no longer look at politicians and the political elite as an example”.

The main opposition Socialist party slammed Schmitt for failing to make what it called “the only morally acceptable decision” and resign, calling on Orban to oust the president.

Under Hungarian law, Schmitt, the least popular president since the collapse of communism, can be removed by a two-thirds majority vote in parliament.

Orban told public radio the decision was in Schmitt’s hands.

“I reiterate, this decision is for him to make on his own”.

Schmitt has played an instrumental role in pushing the agenda of his ally Orban, signing disputed reforms, such as retroactive taxes, into law.

The decision to withdraw Schmitt’s doctorate is also an embarrassment for Orban, who called Schmitt the most suitable candidate for president before his appointment by parliament for a five-year term in 2010.

From : Reuters

[Kati_Svaby]

Hungarian president vows to stay on
By Marton Dunai and Sandor Peto | Reuters – Fri, Mar 30, 2012

Email
Print
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian President Pal Schmitt resisted pressure on Friday to quit, saying there was no link between a plagiarism row that cost him his doctorate and his role as head of state, pledging to defend his reputation by writing a new thesis.
The controversy comes at a sensitive time for Hungary as it tries to resolve a lengthy dispute with the European Union on contested new laws to unlock stalled talks on financial support.
The 69-year-old Schmitt, an ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, was stripped of his doctorate on Thursday after a months-long plagiarism row that critics say damaged the integrity of his office and drew calls for his resignation.
But Schmitt, a two-time Olympic gold medal-winning fencer who cancelled all of his earlier appearances for Friday, said in an evening interview with public television that there was no reason for him to go.
“These issues are not related in my view, even though many interpret it this way,” Schmitt said when asked whether he had considered resigning over the plagiarism scandal.
Opposition parties say cheating makes him unworthy of the job. The main right-leaning daily Magyar Nemzet and influential conservative intellectuals have also called for him to quit.
Schmitt has denied wrongdoing since business news portal hvg.hu broke allegations in January that he had copied large parts of his 1992 thesis from other authors without proper quotes or referencing.
After conducting its own inquiry into the allegations, Semmelweis University stripped Schmitt of his title, saying his thesis did not meet scientific and ethical standards.
But Schmitt has said his conscience was clear, taking issue with the swift decision by the university.
“For them to strip me of my doctorate, so be it,” Schmitt said. “I have never gained any financial or moral advantage from it.”
“However, I will prove that I still have the perseverance, just as when I was Olympic champion, and even at the age of 70 I will prove that I am able to write a so-called PhD thesis that meets today’s very tough standards,” he said.
Earlier local media cited unnamed politicians of the ruling Fidesz party and their Christian Democrat allies as saying Schmitt could announce his departure on Friday as his position was growing “more untenable by the hour.”
DISHONOUR
Gabor Vago, a lawmaker of the small opposition LMP party, told 150 supporters camped outside Schmitt’s palace to demand his resignation: “The gravest problem and dishonour that the president has caused by not resigning is that we can no longer look at politicians and the political elite as an example”.
The main opposition Socialist party slammed Schmitt for failing to make what it called “the only morally acceptable decision” and resign, calling on Orban to oust the president.
Under Hungarian law, Schmitt, the least popular president since the collapse of communism, can be removed by a two-thirds majority vote in parliament.
Orban told public radio the decision was in Schmitt’s hands. “I reiterate, this decision is for him to make on his own”.
Schmitt has played an instrumental role in pushing the agenda of his ally Orban, signing disputed reforms, such as retroactive taxes, into law.
The decision to withdraw Schmitt’s doctorate is also an embarrassment for Orban, who called Schmitt the most suitable candidate for president before his appointment by parliament for a five-year term in 2010.
(Writing by Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Maria Golovnina, Ron Askew)
@YahooNewsUK on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook

[Kati_Svaby]

ril 1st, 2012
Chancellor of Semmelweis University resigns as Schmitt reiterates refusal to step down over stripped doctorate
BY MTI
The chancellor of Semmelweis University, whose senate on Thursday withdrew the doctorate of President Pal Schmitt in connection with plagiarism charges, has said he is resigning from his post.

Tivadar Tulassay on Sunday said in a statement on the university’s website that to ensure “peace at the university” he had decided to step down.

He said this did not mean he did not continue to support the senate’s decision to strip Schmitt of his title.

Tulassay’s term was to have ended on June 30.

Schmitt reiterates decision to forego resignation
President Pal Schmitt reiterated on Sunday his decision not to resign over the plagiarism scandal which led to the withdrawal of his doctorate, saying “my conscience is clear”.

In an interview to public radio, the 69-year-old Schmitt insisted that only a court had the authority to strip him of his doctorate.

He told MR1-Kossuth Radio’s Vasarnapi Ujsag programme that attacks against him were unworthy. They not only undermined himself personally but the office of the president, too, he said.

“I am the number-one person, chosen by the country, responsible for the country’s unity, the functioning of democracy and who guards over the constitution,” he said.

Schmitt said it should not be forgotten that it had been a blogger who reported that there was something “not right” about the doctorate which he was awarded in 1992.

“I, however, think that it was fine,” he said.

News website hvg.hu in January first reported the plagiarism allegation concerning the thesis awarded by the Budapest Sports University (since folded into Semmelweis University), and a fact-finding committee was established in February to examine the 215-page thesis, “An analysis of the programme of Modern Olympic Games”, 180 pages of which were alleged to be fully or partially copied.

Schmitt, appointed president for a period of five years in 2010, also said the matter of his doctorate had nothing to do with his duties as president.

Speaking about the decision by the senate of Semmelweis University to withdraw the title, he said “academia has, in effect, corrected itself,” adding that it had been the fault of supervisors at the university twenty years ago not to have spotted his dissertation’s deficiencies.

“I would say that the score stands at 1:1 between them; I regret that I am the suffering subject and that it concerned me and my honour …”, Schmitt, who twice won Olympic gold medals as a fencer and went on to head the Hungarian Olympic Committee, said.

Schmitt said it was possible a lawyer may investigate on what basis the university’s senate left out the Hungarian Committee of Accreditation in the process of making its decision, adding however, that he did not intend to sue the university.

On Saturday, ruling party Fidesz repeated its standpoint that the president was inviolable while the opposition parties called on Fidesz to support his removal.

PM continues to insist on Schmitt’s inviolability
Prime Minister Viktor Orban made it clear repeatedly over the past few days that the president of the republic is inviolable under the terms of the constitution, the prime minister’s spokesman Peter Szijjarto told MTI on Sunday.

“The prime minister and [the ruling] Fidesz insist on this position and consider it correct,” Szijjarto said in response to the leftist Democratic Coalition’s (DK) call on Orban to settle the situation caused by President Pal Schmitt’s plagiarism affair.

“The party led by ex-premier Ferenc Gyurcsany … proves repeatedly that it ignores the democratic norms,” Szijjarto said.

Orban said earlier that it is of primary importance for Hungary to have a president whose person is inviolable.

“Decisions by the president could be criticised, but his person is above all criticism and is inviolable,” Orban said.

DK’s deputy leader Csaba Molnar told a news conference earlier on Sunday that he had submitted a written question to the prime minister, asking him why he had failed to inform the public about his position on, and assume responsibility for, the Schmitt affair.

Molnar said the “plagiarism scandal” grossly endangered the prestige of Hungary, the president’s post, higher education and scientific life, so there was a pressing need for action.

“The president should have resigned; but now that he has failed to take that step, another solution should be found,” Molnar said.

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Chancellor of Semmelweis University resigns as Schmitt reiterates refusal to step down over stripped doctorate

Will the International Olympic Committee boot an academic cheat? [19]

Hungarian president Schmitt defends himself in interview, says he will not resign [87]

Hungarian president Schmitt expected to announce that he will not resign [12]

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Will the International Olympic Committee boot an academic cheat?19
He copied, but he’s not a plagiarist3
Bajnai confidant says ex-PM still uncertain about political comeback48
Hungarian president Schmitt defends himself in interview, says he will not resign87
Jobbik urges gov’t to take steps against tide of emigration24
Hungary’s prime minister bites the hand that feeds him47
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Quotable
Anyone who after twenty-something years took God knows how much time to dig up things that cause damage to Pál Schmitt should also think about how much damage this has caused to the country: more than to Schmitt.
more choice quotes >>

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By Gergely Szakacs | Reuters – Fri, Mar 30, 2012

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Hungarian President Pal Schmitt holds a joint news conference in Budapest, in this September 2, 2011 photo. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
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Hungarian President Pal Schmitt holds a joint news conference in Budapest in this September 2, 2011 photo. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
Article: Hungarian president vows to stay on
Reuters - Fri, Mar 30, 2012
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian President Pal Schmitt was stripped of his doctorate on Thursday after a months-long plagiarism row that critics say damaged the integrity of his office and sparked calls for his resignation.
His post is largely ceremonial but Schmitt has had an instrumental role in pushing the agenda of his ally conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban, signing bitterly disputed reforms such as retroactive taxes and a $14 billion (8 billion pounds) pension grab into law without ever using his veto power.
The decision by Budapest’s Semmelweis University to withdraw Schmitt’s doctorate is also an embarrassment for Orban, who called Schmitt the most suitable candidate for president before his appointment by parliament for a five-year term in 2010.
The 69-year-old Schmitt, a two-time Olympic gold medal-winning fencer, has denied wrongdoing since business news portal hvg.hu broke allegations in January that he had copied large parts of his 1992 thesis from other authors without proper quotes or referencing.
After conducting its own inquiry into the allegations, Semmelweis University stripped Schmitt of his title, saying his thesis did not meet scientific and ethical standards, the national news agency MTI reported.
Schmitt, the least popular president since the collapse of communism, has so far resisted calls for his resignation from opposition parties, some media and even an influential group of right-leaning intellectuals who said the country needed a head of state who can be respected at home and abroad.
“It is our belief that his staying is also against his own interests,” the main right-leaning daily Magyar Nemzet said in an editorial. “This is a losing battle. The destruction of the institution and the crumbling of faith in an honourable public life cannot be stopped like this.”
An online poll conducted by news portal origo.hu showed 90 percent of some 35,000 respondents thought Schmitt should go.
The case has turned him into the object of satire in the media, with Hungary’s most popular daily, the tabloid Blikk, running an image depicting Schmitt with a stethoscope around his neck and a T-shirt saying: “I’m a doctor, get over it!”
STANDARDS
Two German politicians, including the defence minister, resigned last year after similar accusations of plagiarising economic papers.
But Orban’s Fidesz party has backed Schmitt, a former vice president of the European Parliament, saying after the university wrapped up its inquiry this week that it considered the matter closed.
Orban, attending the ceremonial opening of a new Daimler AG car plant in Kecskemet earlier on Thursday, did not address the latest developments in the issue, which overshadowed a rare economic success story for the ailing central European country.
Schmitt, on his way back from a visit to Seoul, was quoted by MTI as saying on Wednesday that he would not resign, adding that the inquiry conclusions were “some kind of redress” and exonerated him of wrongdoing.
The decision announced on Thursday by Semmelweis University went farther than suggested by its own committee conducting the inquiry.
The committee said that while the 215-page thesis contained “unusually large amounts of verbatim translation”, it met the formal standards of the time.
It found that 180 pages of Schmitt’s thesis, “An analysis of the programme of Modern Olympic Games”, showed partial overlaps with a study written in French by a Bulgarian sport researcher, and 16 pages were copied from another author, according to a summary of the conclusions released to the media.
Schmitt, a former Fidesz party vice president, received the doctorate from what was then called the Budapest Sports University in 1992, according to the presidential office’s website www.keh.hu.
(Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)

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Will the International Olympic Committee boot an academic cheat?
Excerpt Via chicagotribune.com
It is almost exactly 10 years since Sandra Baldwin was forced to resign as president of the U.S. Olympic Committee after an admission of having fraudulent resumé entries about her academic career.

Now another person with Olympic ties is under pressure to resign a much more important presidency after having been found to have committed a capital crime in academe: plagiarism.

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A man of honour, greatly impugned
Olvasson többet a témában! Adam Lebor, Schmitt Pál, plágium, vélemény, globál, The Economist, MTV, közmédia.
2012. április 1. 11:46
As for Mr Schmitt, he will now start work on a new degree, he says. Perhaps he could write about political pressure on Hungarian state television.

„Most analysts thought it was all over for Mr Schmitt. But then Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister and a party ally of Mr Schmitt’s, stepped in. Asked if Mr Schmitt should resign, Mr Orbán replied that it was for him to decide. So he did.

Just like Ferenc Gyurcsány, the Socialist prime minister who in 2006 triggered days of unrest when he was caught admitting that his government had been lying »morning, noon and night«, Mr Schmitt said he was staying put. Luckily for the beleaguered president, state television was on hand to offer a sympathetic ear. Péter Oversovszky’s interview with Mr Schmitt, broadcast on MTV1, was the sort of cringe-making encounter rarely seen in central Europe nowadays. (…)

As for Mr Schmitt, he will now start work on a new degree, he says. Perhaps he could write about political pressure on Hungarian state television.”

The Economist Adam LeBor: A man of honour, greatly impugned

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Breaking News -BBC NEWS EUROPE
2 nd. April 2012; 13:00

Hungary President Schmitt quits in plagiarism scandal

Hungary’s President Pal Schmitt says he is resigning, after being stripped of his doctorate over plagiarism.

Mr Schmitt, elected in 2010, said “my personal issue divides my beloved nation rather than unites it”.

“It is my duty to end my service and resign my mandate as president,” he told parliament.

Last week, Budapest’s Semmelweis University revoked his 1992 award after finding that much of his thesis had been copied.

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BLOOMBERG:Hungarian President Schmitt Quits After Plagiarism Ruling
1.part
Hungarian President Pal Schmitt, an ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban who has signed off on all legislation since taking office in 2010, quit after losing his doctoral title because he plagiarized his thesis.
Schmitt bowed to pressure to quit after Semmelweis University in Budapest stripped him of his doctoral title in sports last week. Schmitt initially resisted resigning, saying on public television on March 30 that there was “no link” between his degree and his office. Lawmakers accepted the resignation today and Parliament Speaker Laszlo Kover took over his duties until the legislature elects a successor.
Enlarge image
Hungarian President Pal Schmitt is the first president to resign since Hungary’s transition to democracy in 1990. Photographer: Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images
“Hungary’s basic law, which I signed, says the head of state is the symbol of national unity,” Schmitt said. “This to me means that in this situation, when my personal case divides rather than unites my beloved nation, I feel it is my duty to end my service and return my presidential mandate.”
Schmitt, an Olympic champion fencer and long-time International Olympic Committee member, is the first president to resign since Hungary’s transition to democracy in 1990. One of Orban’s deputies in the ruling Fidesz party, he vowed to be the “motor” of government policy as president, raising concern over the lack of checks and balances on a premier who won an unprecedented two-thirds parliamentary majority in 2010 elections.
r.

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BLOOMBERG
2.part
EU Objections
European Union objections to some of the government’s laws signed by Schmitt, including new regulations on the central bank and the judiciary, have blocked Hungary’s talks on an International Monetary Fund loan.
The forint traded at 295.24 per euro at 4:37 p.m. in Budapest from 294.47 on March 30. It has gained 7 percent this year, the world’s second-best performance behind the Polish zloty. The benchmark BUX stock index declined 0.5 percent to 18,547.01.
While the office of the president is largely ceremonial and the bulk of executive power lies with the prime minister, Schmitt’s predecessors regularly returned legislation to Parliament or sought Constitutional Court review. Schmitt on June 24, 2010, said that as president he “wouldn’t block the government’s agenda.”
Schmitt was nominated to the presidency by Orban, who until today rejected calls to demand the president’s resignation, including from politicians from within his ruling party, Fidesz. All four parliamentary opposition parties demanded that Schmitt quit and hundreds rallied in Budapest over the weekend to demand his resignation.
German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg stepped down last March over allegations he plagiarized passages of his doctoral thesis.
No Credit
A fact-finding commission set up by Semmelweis University confirmed last week that 180 pages of Schmitt’s 215-page dissertation, entitled “The Analysis of the Program of Modern Olympic Games” in 1992 were “partially identical” to another work, while another 17 pages were “completely identical” to a separate study, with neither receiving credit.
While Schmitt’s thesis included a bibliography, it didn’t cite sources and didn’t include footnotes or endnotes, according to the report, published on the university’s website. The commission didn’t use the word “plagiarism” in the three-page summary of its report.
‘Loss of Trust’
Schmitt’s thesis “didn’t meet the ethical and professional criteria of scientific work,” Tivadar Tulassay, the rector of Semmelweis University, said on March 29 after the university stripped the president of his doctoral title. Tulassay quit yesterday, citing a “loss of trust” from the government ministry overseeing the university.
The probe into Schmitt’s dissertation was launched after the HVG.hu news website reported on Jan. 11 that Schmitt may have copied word for word from the work of Bulgarian sports researcher Nikolay Gueorguiev.
Schmitt, who won Olympic gold medals in fencing in 1968 and 1972, was a deputy chairman of Fidesz from 2003 to 2007 and a vice president of the European Parliament from July 2009 to May 2010. He has headed the Hungarian Olympic Committee since 1990 and was vice president of the IOC from 1995 to 1999. He was a deputy state secretary for sports under communism in the 1980s.
His approval rating sank to 30 percent this month from 49 percent when he took office in June 2010, pollster Ipsos said on its website, without giving a margin of erro

[Kati_Svaby]

2.part
EU Objections
European Union objections to some of the government’s laws signed by Schmitt, including new regulations on the central bank and the judiciary, have blocked Hungary’s talks on an International Monetary Fund loan.
The forint traded at 295.24 per euro at 4:37 p.m. in Budapest from 294.47 on March 30. It has gained 7 percent this year, the world’s second-best performance behind the Polish zloty. The benchmark BUX stock index declined 0.5 percent to 18,547.01.
While the office of the president is largely ceremonial and the bulk of executive power lies with the prime minister, Schmitt’s predecessors regularly returned legislation to Parliament or sought Constitutional Court review. Schmitt on June 24, 2010, said that as president he “wouldn’t block the government’s agenda.”
Schmitt was nominated to the presidency by Orban, who until today rejected calls to demand the president’s resignation, including from politicians from within his ruling party, Fidesz. All four parliamentary opposition parties demanded that Schmitt quit and hundreds rallied in Budapest over the weekend to demand his resignation.
German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg stepped down last March over allegations he plagiarized passages of his doctoral thesis.
No Credit
A fact-finding commission set up by Semmelweis University confirmed last week that 180 pages of Schmitt’s 215-page dissertation, entitled “The Analysis of the Program of Modern Olympic Games” in 1992 were “partially identical” to another work, while another 17 pages were “completely identical” to a separate study, with neither receiving credit.
While Schmitt’s thesis included a bibliography, it didn’t cite sources and didn’t include footnotes or endnotes, according to the report, published on the university’s website. The commission didn’t use the word “plagiarism” in the three-page summary of its report.
‘Loss of Trust’
Schmitt’s thesis “didn’t meet the ethical and professional criteria of scientific work,” Tivadar Tulassay, the rector of Semmelweis University, said on March 29 after the university stripped the president of his doctoral title. Tulassay quit yesterday, citing a “loss of trust” from the government ministry overseeing the university.
The probe into Schmitt’s dissertation was launched after the HVG.hu news website reported on Jan. 11 that Schmitt may have copied word for word from the work of Bulgarian sports researcher Nikolay Gueorguiev.
Schmitt, who won Olympic gold medals in fencing in 1968 and 1972, was a deputy chairman of Fidesz from 2003 to 2007 and a vice president of the European Parliament from July 2009 to May 2010. He has headed the Hungarian Olympic Committee since 1990 and was vice president of the IOC from 1995 to 1999. He was a deputy state secretary for sports under communism in the 1980s.
His approval rating sank to 30 percent this month from 49 percent when he took office in June 2010, pollster Ipsos said on its website, without giving a margin of error.

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3.part
continuation of#36 permalink

Voter Outrage Toward the Socialists

The level of antagonism in Hungarian politics rose significantly starting in September 2006, when radio stations played a leaked recording of Ferenc Gyurcsany, the Socialist prime minister, who admitted that he had lied to the public about the dire state of the country’s economy before elections.

Before austerity became the watchword for countries like Greece, Ireland and Spain, the Hungarian government was cutting government jobs, raising taxes and imposing new fees to try to control its growing budget deficits as early as 2007. Steel barriers surrounded the Parliament building to protect it from tens of thousands of demonstrators.

Dissatisfaction over cutbacks and Mr. Gyurcsany’s speech helped fuel the rise of the nationalist, anti-Semitic Jobbik Party. Once a fringe group with a paramilitary wing, an energized Jobbik won nearly 17 percent of the vote in 2010.

But the main beneficiary of voter outrage toward the Socialists was Fidesz, which gained a critical two-thirds majority in Parliament — enough to pass constitutional amendments and even an entire new Constitution without votes from opposition parties.

The country received a €20 billion, or $27 billion, bailout from the International Monetary Fund and European Union in 2008, but exited the fund’s stewardship in 2010, after Mr. Orban cut the program short soon after his election.

Hungary has its own currency, the forint, which means it was not caught in the same trap as debtor nations on the euro, like Greece, which were unable to devalue their currency. But any potential gains for Hungarian exports have been offset by the weakness in its customer countries across Europe. And many Hungarians took out mortgages in other currencies, meaning devaluation raised the cost of repayment.

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Washington Post

Hungary’s rush toward autocracy

By Editorial Board, Published: January 10

WHILE THE European Union has been focused on the debt problems of Greece and Italy, a potentially more profound challenge has been developing in the Central European nation of Hungary, a former part of the Soviet bloc that now belongs to NATO and the European Union. Hungary, which still uses its own currency, the forint, is flirting with insolvency. Its 10-year bonds have been fetching interest rates near 10 percent, far above sustainable levels.

But Hungary has another problem too: Its right-wing nationalist government has launched an assault on its democratic system of government. Using a two-thirds majority in parliament, it has pushed through a new constitution as well as a series of fundamental laws that give the ruling party sweeping powers over the judiciary, the media, churches and the central bank. With the new charter and laws taking effect Jan. 1, the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban now more resembles the autocratic regimes of Russia and Belarus than fellow E.U. democracies.

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1 comment

Editorial Board APR 10
The commuter school has become an elite university for undergraduates.

Some 270 judges are being forced to retire, and sole authority to name their replacements has been given to a close associate of Mr. Orban — who also may choose the courts where cases are assigned. All but 14 religious denominations have been denied official recognition; those losing tax-exempt status and state school payments include the Episcopal and Methodist churches, several Jewish congregations, and all Muslim sects. A leading opposition radio station was denied a license by a new media board controlled by Mr. Orban’s followers. Electoral districts have been redrawn in such a way that the ruling Fidesz party — which lost two of the last three elections — would have won all three.

Mr. Orban has ignored mounting criticism of these initiatives by European and Western governments, including the Obama administration. Instead, he pushed through many more laws during the last weeks of December, including one that strips the central bank of independence and another that fixes flat tax rates in a way that will make it hard for future governments to alter them. This has given leverage to the European commission, because E.U. treaties require central bank independence. With the Hungarian government in desperate need of financing, Brussels and the International Monetary Fund have made clear no help will be forthcoming unless the laws are changed.

At first defiant, Mr. Orban has now dispatched a negotiator to meet with the IMF in Washington; over the weekend he hinted that he might retreat on the central bank. But the European Union, which is due to consider Hungary’s case this week, should not limit itself to the financial sphere in pushing back against Mr. Orban’s concentration of power. The new laws governing the judiciary, religious bodies and the media are incompatible with basic human rights and democratic checks and balances. For the European Union to tolerate them in a member state would be a breach of the community’s essential character.