TOL Hungary

After the Referendum

robertnemeth — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:31:43 +0000

Hungarians have voted on a referendum where they literally voted about some recently introduced fees, and, according to the opposition, about the government itself. With an overwhelming majority they rejected the fees.

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Playing the Referendum Game

robertnemeth — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:52:34 +0000

The permanent campaign in Hungary goes on. This time, parties are campaigning for a referendum that will take place on March 9th. The topic: co-payment and tuition fee.

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A floating ice-floe

robertnemeth — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:31:24 +0000

10 people are stranded on a floating ice-floe on Lake Balaton, came the news a few days ago. Sounds absurd, doesn’t it? Of course, it was a hoax, but it resulted in the biggest rescue attempt ever around the lake. Some already call it the joke of the year.

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Day of Strikes

robertnemeth — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 17:02:49 +0000

Once again, a national strike was called by some trade unions for Monday, the 17th of December. The parliament is voting on that day about the health-care reform, among others, a kind of liberalization of the social security system (meaning: a limited permission of having multiple insurance companies). This is the second national strike, but the first one, a few weeks ago, was not too successful.

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Are you a journalist? Then come with us…

robertnemeth — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:35:35 +0000

…says the policeman. Well, this is not usual in Hungary. Some would, however, add: yet. Journalists were taken into custody after two recent protests in Budapest. Police says: they were disturbing their work. They say: they were reporting the event.

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The Theatre of Tolerance

robertnemeth — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 20:55:04 +0000

There is a small group, a theatre company in Budapest that undertook an interesting mission. They translated a puppet-show into lovari language, and since September the actors who are all children have been playing it like this. The story is a kind of Romeo and Julia story, but with mice, however, now the emphasis is on the acceptance of the “Otherness”.

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Budapest’s Mild Autumn

robertnemeth — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 12:09:38 +0000

Yes, it was a mild autumn, at least compared to last year’s hot one. Not regarding the weather, of course. Many were afraid that last year’s riots will be repeated again - well, they were not. However, they tried it, but there were not enough extremists, and the police is much better than it was a year ago.

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Healthcare for Free?

robertnemeth — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:31:15 +0000

Of course not, it is never free. But in Hungary, it is not only the social security that you pay from your salary to receive healthcare and not only the recently introduced co-payments like the 300 HUF (1 euro 20 cents) visit-fee. There is an additional, though not legal form of paying, a kind of gratuity: the so-called thank-you-money or parasolvency.

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Calm anniversary

robertnemeth — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:31:15 +0000

Some were afraid, but Budapest remained calm on the first anniversary of last year’s riots. There were some protests, but with much less participants than last year, and this time there were no clashes between the protesters and the police. Some MPs were abused though.

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Ongoing Debate: Fascism in Hungary?

robertnemeth — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:31:15 +0000

One and a half weeks have passed since the inauguration of the Hungarian Guards. Since then the political debate surrounding it is not smaller, but even bigger and bigger. Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány speaks about the resurrection of fascism, while Fidesz, the bigger opposition party accuses him with inciting hysteria.

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