Riots in Hungary

"It may surprise electorates in western Europe than Hungarians should riot because their prime minister has confessed lying to them; this, after all, is what we expect of our politicians," wrote Britain's Daily Telegraph. "It is understandable that these recently leaked remarks should have caused offense. (…)Yet Mr. Gyurcsany has done Hungary and the rest of post-Communist Europe a favor by drawing attention to the arrant misuse of power by their elites." He may lose his job, continued the paper, "but his frankness should serve as an incentive to politicians to be straight with voters as they confront previously shirked economic reforms. (…)Whatever his previous record, Mr. Gyurcsany deserves a pat on the back for his belated candor."

"Hungarians are old-fashioned people," commented Germany's daily Die Welt. "They actually believe that the government is obligated to impart the truth to the people and made noise when they realized that they were wrong about this expectation." German voters have come a bit further, continued the paper, recalling that people like former Labor Minister Norbert Blüm taught Germany not to believe statements like "Social security is secure." "Only a fraction of what was needed and received in the past will be available in the future," wrote the paper. "The chancellor says there's no alternative to this policy of hers, which may be true. But then why is she surprised that Germans don't want to put their trust in politics and the future?"

"The pictures of burning cars and violent rioters smashing the Budapest television studio to pieces don't convey a realistic image of the protests in the last few days. Known hooligans are using the opportunity to let it all out. It doesn't have much to do with Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's speech," wrote die tageszeitung from Berlin. It's a credibility crisis that affects the opposition as well, continued the paper, adding that all former Soviet states are having difficulty finding a guiding concept to save the socialized state in today's world. As for the Hungarian prime minister's speech, "history shows that this kind of honesty is later rewarded. For Hungary, that would be something new."

"Most shocking are the common terms in which the socialist leader expressed himself during a party meeting behind closed doors," commented the Paris daily Le Figaro. "This is a new example of the how the old apparatchiks shaped by the Soviet school tried to hide their contempt for the electorate and remove themselves from their political cynicism. The situation in Hungary is not an isolated one." The paper wrote that Poland's government is more preoccupied with fighting a war of ideas that with running the economy, the Czech Republic is paralyzed after June elections didn't bring a clear victor, and Slovakia and Lithuania are suffering under erratic coalitions. "The crisis in Hungary and the disappointed situation of its neighbors are not encouraging for the next enlargement process" of the European Union, concluded the commentary.