In-depth analysis
While currently it appears to be a success story from an economic and political point alike, the introduction of the bank tax presents significant risks already in the medium term....
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, slammed by opposition leaders and market analysts for his secretive approach to policymaking, has now removed all doubt....
Political Capital's analysis on attitudes toward migrants in Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Poland....
Economist: „A commendably thorough paper from Political Capital, a Budapest-based research outfit, highlights the mess the new government has inherited and the unrealistic nature of its promises"...
In 2010, Hungary’s governing Fidesz party raised expectations for healthcare that are going to be hard to meet. If Fidesz fails to live up to them, an opportunity may open for the extreme right....
Hungary’s 2010 Political Risk Index (PRI) score is 66 points – the first year the country’s political risk has declined since the index began in 2005....
While the formation of a minority government cannot be ruled out, a three-party right-wing coalition led by Petr Nečas is a more likely scenario....
Hostility toward international financial institutions skyrocketed in Greece after its government agreed to austerity measures in return for economic assistance from the IMF and the EU....
The extreme right is in demand - at least in Eastern Europe. That's the conclusion of Political Capital Institute’s Demand for Right-Wing Extremism Index (DEREX), published in Hungarian weekly HVG....
Far-right parties in several eastern European countries have become prominent supporters of Russian interests and admirers of the Russian political-economic model....
Society’s demand for extremist political solutions over the past three years has been met with policies offered by Jobbik and the two strains have mutually reinforced each other.
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Despite generous promises, once in power Fidesz will be unable to splurge and reverse all policy decisions passed by the Bajnai-cabinet; such steps would go against its own vested interests. ...
The flight of capital from real estate funds is expected to persist and accelerate. Banks’ eminent interest is to prevent the meltdown of the mortgage market....
The newly formed Bajnai-government in Hungary has released its crisis-management plans to curb the budget deficit and counterweight the effects of the global financial crisis....
Countries of the region had to settle in for a long and deep economic slowdown. The political fallout may be the most severe in where loosening the budget is not an option....
Biofuels production offers an economic growth potential for Hungary in the short- and medium term, moreover, first-generation biofuels may utilize annual surpluses of agricultural production....
Far right activism since the autumn of 2006 have increased its potential social base and political playing room. Anti-Semitism and anti-roma sentiment continue to be a major identity-building force....
While the detailed economic policy of Fidesz leaders cannot be foreseen from their declarations, it became obvious that the next government also will have a tight room for economic maneuvering....