By Modeste Schwartz.
Romania - After months of hesitation, during which it seemed that it would never be able to react, the ruling Social Democrat Party in Bucharest finally decided on Saturday, June 9, to take to the streets (a small) part…
By Modeste Schwartz.
Hungary - I explained in a previous article why Viktor Orbán's FIDESZ staying in power was a condition of survival (successfully met for the time being) for the Visegrad Group. The opposite is no less true – and…
By Modeste Schwartz.
Romania - “I do not know what Mr. Dragnea is scheming over there with the Jews.”
This rather unprofessional statement, publicly stated yesterday by an ethnically German EU head of state, and which, if it had been uttered, for…
By Modeste Schwartz.
Hungary - Analysis of the electoral results of April 8, which gave Viktor Orbán's Fidesz a third consecutive mandate.
Why rejoice?
Let's start with a cynical statement: the FIDESZ strategists have earned their fees. They are obviously based on…
By Modeste Schwartz.
Romania - At the beginning of the 2000s, the socio-political situation of Romania, on the surface, was quite similar to the cliché which the mainstream Western press cherishes when it comes to “Eastern Europe”. The country – with the…
By Modeste Schwartz.
Hungary - Geopolitical implications of the Hungarian Elections of April 8.
After a contextual presentation of the current actors on the Hungarian political scene on the eve of the April 8 elections, followed by a socio-cultural analysis of the…
By Modeste Schwartz.
Hungary - In connection with the small “earthquake” of February 25, I stated in a recent editorial that the “communication” problems (which are currently hotly debated within FIDESZ and among its supporters) reveal underlying sociological realities…
By Modeste Schwartz.
Hungary - On Monday, February 26, Viktor Orbán's Hungary woke up with a severe hangover. The defeat of a FIDESZ-majority candidate in a special municipal election, in itself, should not have caused an earthquake. Even in Hódmezővásárhely, a small…
By Modeste Schwartz.
Romania - Further installment in the case of the Marosvásárhely / Târgu-Mureş Hungarian Catholic High School: the law which makes possible the functioning of this institution – which for a number of years has been at the center of…
By Modeste Schwartz.
Romania - On the 22th of January, Mrs. Cecilia Chirvăsuţă, a cardiologist working at the state hospital in the town of Tulcea (Eastern Romania) was sentenced to 4 years in jail for “accepting” from a patient an illegal extra…
By Modeste Schwartz.
Romania - Let’s set the scene first:
Apart from speculations (some more or less scientific, others frankly zany) surrounding their distant origin, the Szeklers have for centuries been a small Hungarian-speaking mountain-dwelling population, nestled in the centre of the…
By Modeste Scwhartz.
Romania - The lack of talent of the French, especially their diplomats, in foreign languages is already a classic theme of jokes in Central Europe. This finding is all the more bitter as it contrasts with the galloping Anglophony…