Fidesz’ dominant position is largely unchallenged, the opposition has failed to exploit the government’s weaknesses to improve its standing in the polls. There are some shadows for Fidesz, but at this point there are no strong indications that it might face strong competitors in the short run.

Politically, Fidesz stands to gain a lot by giving suffrage to newly minted Hungarian citizens across the border. Still, the opposition will be in a tough spot because Fidesz is right to argue that generally speaking, citizenship does not tend to be decoupled from suffrage.

The prime minister’s appearance in Strasbourg to introduce the Hungarian rotating presidency of the European Union yielded mixed results. From the government’s perspective, it is likely that what we posit was the overall goal – i.e. appealing to the Fidesz base at home without causing a serious backlash in Strasbourg – was achieved.

With the release and rapid removal from the internet of further recordings related to the UD Zrt. affair, the scandal that erupted two years ago came back into the limelight.

For months critics of the government’s more drastic measures have predicted that Fidesz will draw fire from the EU.

The end of the year is traditionally the time to compile top 10 lists. We gathered for a somewhat subjective list the top ten most important policies and measures enacted by the Fidesz-government since it took power.

For a few days Moody’s rating downgrading provided ammunition to everyone in the intensifying communication warfare. But while both sides of the political aisle engaged in mutual recriminations regarding the other side’s hypocrisy, a discussion of the underlying issues – whether the downgrading made sense and what impact it might have – fell by the...

Along with the public opinion research company Median, Policy Solutions took the opportunity to explore both, the public's view of the future Hungarian presidency and EU membership in general. While Hungarians may be slightly more sceptical towards the Union than a couple of years ago, overall they remain supportive of membership and optimistic abo...

In light of the opposition’s weakness, the government has chosen to go after new opponents: the working middle-classes. The effective nationalisation of mandatory private pension funds has aroused the ire of even many Fidesz-loyalists in this group, in which the governing party has been popular.

The new media supervision law is stricter than the previous legislation, but by no means marks the end of the freedom of the press. As in many other areas, Fidesz thus far has not moved to advance its power by changing the legislative framework but rather by placing party loyalists in various independent positions.