Hungary

Zoltán Kész’s victory shattered the two third majority of governing party Fidesz in the parliament. Using this supermajority, the government has implemented a new constitution and new laws curtailing the freedom of speech, human rights and the power of the constitutional court since 2010. Hungary has also become fearfully friendly with Russia regardless of the growing tensions between the EU and Putin.

Merkel’s criticism of Orbán\'s domestic politics came through clearly via independent media. The visit made it very clear how far Orbán is from the mainstream European opinion on issues of democracy and rule of law.

Fidesz got so detached from reality and from its voters that the government can no longer assess how far it can go. Fidesz\'s attempt to tax the Internet was the last straw.

The controversial preventive videos were released by the police force of Pécs just 4 days before the activist movement kicked off. The videos contain, however, a multitude of errors and misconceptions.

The civil sector should gently, but firmly take hold of the current atmosphere and lead Hungary far away from Russia, and back into the heart of Europe where their people belong.

Although we tend to see the situation of the countries in East-Central Europe as one in which they are forced to choose between the East and the West, in reality, these countries do not have much of a choice.

On the day after the internet tax protests it is hard to tell whether they mean real burning point for Fidesz government or Hungarian politics in general.

With a new scandal involving extensive corruption the country is alienating the countries of the West and as much as Prime Minister Orbán wants to follow Putin’s footsteps, the question is whether there would be any country left which would take Hungary seriously?

The big change in the EU did not take a place and Scotland remains the part of the United Kingdom. Even though the largest city - Glasgow - voted for independence, NO won 55:45. But this is not the end of the game for Scotland.

The strength of civil movements shows how healthy a society is. NGOs matter for the state, because they can shape public opinion and provide valuable research to politicians.