Category Archives: Hungary

The sad story of a village in North Eastern Hungary that refused a large grant to help integrate its Roma minority. Symptomatic of the country at large.

– NOT EVEN HALF A BILLION FORINTS WAS ENOUGH ENTICEMENT FOR ROMA INTEGRATION IN A HUNGARIAN VILLAGE. In: The Hungarian Spectrum. 11.06.2018. http://hungarianspectrum.org/2018/06/11/not-even-half-a-billion-forints-was-enough-enticement-for-roma-integration-in-a-hungarian-village/ [link-preview url=”http://hungarianspectrum.org/2018/06/11/not-even-half-a-billion-forints-was-enough-enticement-for-roma-integration-in-a-hungarian-village/”]

Peter Niedermüller and Soraya Post, EU MPs, jointly published an article on the dire situation of Roma children in Hungary. They are all too often taken away from their families by social services and end up abused. They are asking the EU to start an infringement procedure against Hungary.

– Mums and dads of Roma children deprived parent rights. In: EU Observer. 15.05.2018. https://euobserver.com/opinion/141811
– Niedermüller: Túl sok roma gyereket jogtalanul emelnek ki a családjukból. In: Index. 15.05.2018. https://index.hu/kulfold/ep/2018/05/15/niedermuller_tul_sok_roma_gyereket_jogtalanul_emelnek_ki_a_csaladjukbol/ [link-preview url=”https://euobserver.com/opinion/141811 “]

An article about the Roma in Nograd, a region North East of Budapest, amongst the poorest in the country. A study has just been published and its results are not good.
Segregation has increased, something that anyone visiting the region can testify to.

– Dans le nord de la Hongrie, la situation se dégrade pour les familles roms. In: Le Courrier d’Europe Centrale. 30.04.2018. https://courrierdeuropecentrale.fr/nord-hongrie-enfants-roms-condamnes-misere/ [link-preview url=”https://courrierdeuropecentrale.fr/nord-hongrie-enfants-roms-condamnes-misere/”]

Jobbik, the extreme right party stands a very good change of being the largest opposition party in Hungary. It is officially no longer anti-Semitic and anti-Roma. Well, maybe …

– Gabor Vona seeks to make Jobbik Hungary’s official opposition. In: Euronews. 06.04.2018. http://www.euronews.com/2018/04/06/-profile-gabor-vona [link-preview url=”http://www.euronews.com/2018/04/06/-profile-gabor-vona”]

An article of what is at stake for Roma in the upcoming elections and what the issues are that are relevant to them. The article focuses on Paszto, a small town and Szirak, a village in Nograd, one of the poorer regions of Hungary.

– Hungary’s impoverished Roma to vote with their pocketbooks on April 8th. In: Budapest Beacon. 04.04.2018. https://budapestbeacon.com/hungarys-impoverished-roma-to-vote-their-pocketbooks-on-april-8th-reports-abcug/ [link-preview url=”https://budapestbeacon.com/hungarys-impoverished-roma-to-vote-their-pocketbooks-on-april-8th-reports-abcug/”]

Even though Janos Lazar claims that Roma show one cannot integrate migrants, Roma are still being courted by Orban’s party for the upcoming elections on April 8th. A scandal just emerged where the president of the Roma Autonomy Janos Balogh was recorded trying to convince an event organiser to just bill him for fictitious events. The money would then be paid by the state, i.e. by the taxpayer.
According to some people, this is a way to pay for the organisation of Roma vote, especially in the country side.

– „Akkor kapol hatszázat, tisztán” – Választási csalást szervezhet a roma vezető. In: Magyar Nemzet. 31.03.2018. https://mno.hu/belfold/akkor-kapol-hatszazat-tisztan-valasztasi-csalast-szervezhet-a-roma-vezeto-2456960
– Választási csalást szervezhet egy roma vezető. In: Magyar Nemzet. 30.03.2018. https://mno.hu/belfold/valasztasi-csalast-szervezhet-egy-roma-vezeto-2457077 [link-preview url=”https://mno.hu/belfold/akkor-kapol-hatszazat-tisztan-valasztasi-csalast-szervezhet-a-roma-vezeto-2456960 “]

According to Janos Lazar, a close ally of Victor Orban, the Roma are the proof that migrants cannot be integrated.
Another racist …

– Orbán ally hits anti-Roma note ahead of election. In: Politico. 29.03.2018. https://www.politico.eu/article/viktor-orban-ally-hits-anti-roma-minority-migration-note-ahead-of-hungary-election/ [link-preview url=”https://www.politico.eu/article/viktor-orban-ally-hits-anti-roma-minority-migration-note-ahead-of-hungary-election/”]

The Hungarian child protection agency is systematically removing Roma children from their families but the Hungarian state does nothing to combat extreme poverty. The agency is now being sued.

– EMMI sued for taking away too many Roma children from their families due to poverty. In: The Budapest Beacon. 28.03.2018. https://budapestbeacon.com/emmi-sued-for-taking-too-many-roma-children-taken-away-from-their-families-due-to-poverty/ [link-preview url=”https://budapestbeacon.com/emmi-sued-for-taking-too-many-roma-children-taken-away-from-their-families-due-to-poverty/”]

With the elections nearing in Hungary, the propaganda becomes more and more rabid. A Fidesz candidate now fears that Moslems will take over Hungarian cities (really), and, the part that concerns us, the super minister of Human Resources, Zoltan Balog, made a statement son television saying that government funds earmarked to help integrate the Roma may have to be spent on immigrants instead, if migrants are allowed into to Central and Eastern Europe. This is an attempt at swaying Roma voters to Fidesz.

– Fidesz candidate in Budapest warns of looming Muslim takeover. In: Hungairan Free Press. 11.03.2018. http://hungarianfreepress.com/2018/03/11/fidesz-candidate-in-budapest-warns-of-looming-muslim-takeover/ [link-preview url=”http://hungarianfreepress.com/2018/03/11/fidesz-candidate-in-budapest-warns-of-looming-muslim-takeover/”]

Gabor Varadi, president of the Miskolc Roma local government (in Eastern Hungary) is vehemently protesting against the fact that Orban de-facto qualified Roma as “migrants”. With the demonization of the migrants that has been underway in Hungary, this is very dangerous and definitively discriminatory for people who arrived in the 13th century after all…

– “A cigányság ellen uszított Orbán, bocsánatot kell kérnie”. In: HVG. http://hvg.hu/itthon/20180302_A_ciganysag_ellen_uszitott_Orban_bocsanatot_kell_kernie [link-preview url=”http://hvg.hu/itthon/20180302_A_ciganysag_ellen_uszitott_Orban_bocsanatot_kell_kernie”]

Guess what, Roma are bad, but migrants are worse, because they are foreign … Statements from the Hungarian Prime Minister Orban.

– Orbán says migrants are like gypsies, but migrants are worse because they come from outside Hungary. In: Budapest Beacon. 02.03.2018. https://budapestbeacon.com/orban-says-migrants-like-gypsies-migrants-worse-come-outside-hungary/ [link-preview url=”https://budapestbeacon.com/orban-says-migrants-like-gypsies-migrants-worse-come-outside-hungary/”]