Types of democracy

But since Orban's ruling Fidesz party returned to power in 2010, it has become the must-attend event for right-wing Hungarian intelligentsia loyal to Fidesz.

It was a speech in 2014 that made the biggest waves internationally as Orban set out a vision for an "illiberal state" that became a template for nationalist-populists everywhere.

According to him, what we have today in Europe hardly has anything to do with civil democracy that was introduced after the World War II.

Yanis Varoufakis, the leader of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25) and former finance minister, urged Greeks to vote in the general elections on Sunday, saying it is the only way to defend democracy.

Romania's President Klaus Iohannis welcomes the adoption by the Venice Commission of "Parameters on the relationship between the parliamentary majority and the opposition in a democracy: a checklist," according to a press statement released by the Presidential Administration.

The prospect that the first party may not garner an absolute parliamentary majority has preoccupied pundits and analysts for weeks, with most focusing on the possibility of a coalition government between New Democracy and the centre-left Movement for Change.

Democracy is on a knife edge in Central and Southeast Europe as authoritarian alternatives enter the mainstream and populists erode vital checks and balances on power — not least free media.

BIRN launched its latest project, Reporting Democracy, on Friday in Budapest with a conference that heard about the rise of populism in Central and Eastern Europe, the role of the media and about activism. 

Speaking of Tuesday's attack on the Parliament in Athens, House Speaker Nikos Voutsis said that the assault "offers nothing to social struggles." But the incident in which vandals threw paint at the front of the building, an attack which was claimed by the anti-establishment group Rouvikonas, had something to offer to some people.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network launched a cross-border journalism platform on Monday aimed at shining a light on issues affecting the health of democracy across a swathe of Europe vulnerable to rising populism and authoritarianism.

The opposition New Democracy party has reacted strongly to the decision by the Supreme Court prosecutor to appeal a decision by a judicial council not to grant a fresh furlough to convicted November 17 hitman Dimitris Koufodinas.

"No serious democracy is blackmailed by terrorists or their admirers," New Democracy said in a statement.