Fidesz party

But it wasn't until the end of World War I that explicit far-right ideology arrived in Hungary, with the humiliation associated with the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the infamous Trianon Treaty providing the perfect breeding ground for such beliefs.

"I wish to have a government of experts, where not party loyalty but expertise and leadership skills would count," he tells BIRN, adding that he has no doubt that his position in the coalition as prime minister would remain solid.

"Prime Minister Viktor Orban discussed the creation of a new European political grouping in a video conference with Matteo Salvini, leader of the Italian Lega party, and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, vice-president of the Law and Justice party (PiS)," Bertalan Havasi, the prime minister's press chief, announced on Wednesday.

Peter Marki-Zay, the conservative mayor of Hodmezovasarhely and leader of the joint opposition. Photo: Facebook

Closer to home, 40 kilometres west of Budapest, Orban fulfilled a personal dream to build a stadium in Felcsut, the small village of 1,700 people where he grew up. Together with his close ally and mayor of Felcsut, Lorinc Meszaros, the two managed to have a stadium with a capacity of 3,800 built in 2014 for the Puskas Academy team at a cost of 10 million euros.

About 90 of the Index journalists resigned en masse following the sacking of editor-in-chief Szabolcs Dull. In the lead-up to his dismissal, Dull had been warning that the independence of the editorial team was in danger and he moved the "freedom barometer" on the homepage of Index to "in danger".

Ero believes the ruling Fidesz party has been the driving force behind this vainglorious project on the grounds that Prime Minister Viktor Orban needs an iconic building to symbolise Hungary's position as a regional power.

Washington – The US Department of State has released the 2020 Human Rights international report in which it also analyses the situation in Slovenia. Attacks on media and harassment of journalists in the country feature more prominently than ever, the latter being described as one of the key human rights issues in Slovenia.

The controversy over the tax has been rumbling on since June 2014, when the Hungarian parliament passed a law levying a progressive tax on advertising revenues of all media companies, including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations and billboard companies.

The onslaught began immediately after the 2010 general election, when Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his right-wing Fidesz party returned to power. The government immediately adopted a raft of laws imposing new restrictions on media outlets, and established the loyalist-staffed Media Council to enforce them.