Hungarian Politics

[Tamas]

A committee was formed to determine if the President's doctoral thesis -or whatever the thing is called after which you get your doctor title- is plagiarism or not. For those in the unknown, somebody from the press somehow discovered, that he copy-pasted huge chunks from the work of a Bulgarian fellow. Later, further investigation revealed that he copy-pasted from a German guy as well.

So these smart folks came together and had to decide if this was a bad thing or not. Their report says that while he indeed copied "unusually many pages", it was the fault of the university for not discovering this, not the now-Presidents' for doing this.

[Jacob]

Sounds like your PM is the new Berlusconi of Europe, only without the charm or business accomplishments.

[Tamas]

Sounds like your PM is the new Berlusconi of Europe, only without the charm or business accomplishments.

Well, his father got a mine during Orban's first PMship, his family got a huge-ass winery, for example, and the village football club he played in until recently (at his birthplace) have repeatedly received huge-ass grants, resulting in the most modern youth football academy being there.

[Tamas]

Here is a good example on why it is hard to figure this government out:

A state secretary in the Agriculture Ministry wants to introduce a bill which, in very general terminology, reduce free access to information based on how much specific skills are needed in understanding said information.

Now, he claims that he only had a single thing in mind: to avoid poor unskilled people get confused by plans made during the measurement of land property borders.

This is of course stupid enough, but  the bill, while only a modification on the agrarian laws, if accepted could be used to ad-hoc formulate some very restricting rulings on what publc info can be accepted by whom, in any topic.

And this has been a constant occurance: laws which are supposed to be for a very specific, harmless thing are worded as such so it can be used to the great benefit of the government, if they ever need it.

So what one should think here? That they are deliberately introducing backdoors on the laws so they can bend and suspend democracy and freedom of information when the need arises, or that they are simply totally incompetent, and even their lawyers are too dumb to draft non-retarded bills?!

[Tamas]

 

The single decidedly opposition, leftie TV channel mocked the President in their news show yesterday. Everyone and everything was labelled "dr." including the Pope, and Castro.

[Tamas]

'they should had told me I was supposed to use more quote marks" - the President shall not resign. Couple hundred hippies protest, then everything goes back to normal.

Kinda' funny really - socialist PM says "we lied, let's stop and do something right!" - gets leaked, Budapest burns. Rightist puppet's cheating uncovered, he says "so what?!" - nothing really happens

[Razgovory]

I have a question.  Is Tamas correct?  Is Hungary really going to the dogs here?  Tamas is a smart guy, and I like him, but he is a bit biased on some things.  On the other hand, I don't know Hungary from shit and what he posts seems legit.

[Threviel]

I have a question.  Is Tamas correct?  Is Hungary really going to the dogs here?  Tamas is a smart guy, and I like him, but he is a bit biased on some things.  On the other hand, I don't know Hungary from shit and what he posts seems legit.

Meh, who cares? I don't eat beets anyway.

[The Brain]

Beetween you and me Hungary is a hellhole.

[Tamas]

Beetween you and me Hungary is a hellhole.

being between you and him must be a hellhole indeed

[Tamas]

The President has the nerve to say on national radio, that his attackers "undermine the respect of the Presidental office" 

Meanwhile, the leader of the university which revoked his doctoral title resigned. He said that after their decision he immediately noticed a much hostile atmosphere from the ministry they work with, and he did not want to jeopardize the uni, or something like that.

The sad part is of course, that the university tried very hard to help FIDESZ - they initially sent the matter of the doctoral title to the ministry, but they sent it back saying that it is up to the uni. Wrongly assuming that the ministry told what they meant, the uni revoked the title, and apparently faced immediate pressure and hostility.
That's how they work - if you pledge allegiance to Orban, you enjoy their protection no matter what. Go against them, and you are destroyed.

[Barrister]

I have a question.  Is Tamas correct?  Is Hungary really going to the dogs here?  Tamas is a smart guy, and I like him, but he is a bit biased on some things.  On the other hand, I don't know Hungary from shit and what he posts seems legit.

I don't know to what extent, but what I've read in places like Economist have been fairly begative towards the current government.

[Sheilbh]

From the Economist:

Hungary's resilient president
A man of honour, greatly impugned
Mar 31st 2012, 17:50 by A.L.B | BUDAPEST

THERE are two certainties in life, mused Benjamin Franklin: death and taxes. If the great man were alive today, no doubt he would add a third: Hungarian politicians never resign.

President Pál Schmitt has ended what must be the worst week of his career. He spent some of it in Seoul glad-handing world leaders at the Nuclear Security Summit. Mr Schmitt has not previously been known for his thoughts on atomic weaponry or nuclear fusion. His expertise was thought to have been in sports and sports history.

Until Thursday, that is, when the senate of Semmelweis University voted to strip him of his doctorate. The decision followed months of scandal, after hvg.hu, a business-news portal, revealed that Mr Schmitt's doctoral thesis had been copied from other sources. The five-member committee said that 17 pages of it had been lifted word for word, and a further 180 had been partly copied.

The announcement triggered a rare cross-party consensus in Hungarian politics: the president should step down. Even Magyar Nemzet, a right-leaning daily that usually backs the government, published a passionate call for Mr Schmitt to quit.

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 Obersovszky's interview with Mr Schmitt, broadcast on MTV1, was the sort of cringe-making encounter rarely seen in central Europe nowadays. As Mr Schmitt defended his thesis as "honest, manly work", the interviewer enquired:

I have known Mr President for quite a while, and what I don't understand is this: why are you so restrained? What I mean is that you are a person much more passionate than this, even as president. If these documents had got out earlier, if you had put on your gloves, with the momentum characteristic of you, it is possible that this matter would have never got this far at all.

Squirming? There's more.

Mr President, you have made it clear that you are going to defend your office from political attacks and that you are not willing to yield to political pressure. You are also proving now that the sportsman lives in you. But you were hurt in your honour as a human being; what is more as a popular person who is loved by many. Are you going to sue? Or is it your duty as president to endure this?

For those who want more of this sort of thing, a full transcript is available at the Contrarian Hungarian, a liberal blog.

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 transcript:
http://thecontrarianhungarian.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/it-was-honest-manly-work-hungarian-president-pal-schmitt-refuses-to-resign/

[Tamas]

He has resigned!

Too bad I can't watch the hillarity ensuing in the Parlaiment. The House Chairman, the interim (and probably final) successor of the President, was reportedly very upsed after the Prez's announcement and while demanding order, yelled that "nobody to the left of him" deserved their places in Parlaiment. Someone from FIDESZ repeated the "but, everyone got their diploma like that!" argument, etc.

[Neil]

Wouldn't it make more sense for Orban to combine the Presidency with his Chancellor's position?