Freedom House: Democracy still better in Romania than in Hungary
In Romania, Slovakia, and especially Bulgaria, the “trend towards stabilisation of instability” continued in 2022, Freedom House stated in its annual report on the state of democracy in Eastern European and Central Asian countries published on Wednesday. However, according to the report, this is not the case with Hungary.
According to the American civil society organisation Freedom House, the state of democracy worsened in 11 of the 29 countries examined, and improved in seven last year, Agerpres reports. Romania’s classification has not changed compared to last year.
Romania’s considered a “semi-consolidated democracy”
Regarding Romania, the report states that, unlike Bulgaria and Slovakia, the country had a stable government in 2022. That is a welcome development considering that coalitions with fragile majorities previously governed for a long time.
Freedom House calculates countries’ democracy scores based on seven criteria. The evaluation is done on a scale between 1 and 7, where 1 is the lowest and 7 the highest level of democracy, TransTelex explains.
Romania’s democracy score is 4.36. Projected on a scale of 0-100, this means a democracy level of 56 percent. Based on this, the report classified Romania among the “semi-consolidated democracies”. The evaluation of Romania was similar last year: its classification did not change compared to 2022.
Freedom House: ‘Antidemocratic machinations’ in Hungary
In relation to Hungary, the report highlights as one of the striking changes of the past year that, while among the EU countries, Poland has stopped on the slope on which it went along with Hungary in the gradual decline of the level of democracy in the last decade, the country led by Viktor Orbán and Fidesz continues to slide down.
“Events in Hungary put Fidesz’s antidemocratic machinations in full view. The March parliamentary elections were rife with irregularities, abuses of administrative resources, and media distortions, resulting in another supermajority for the Fidesz-led coalition. Government-backed smear campaigns against critical NGOs and members of the National Judicial Council—considered to be Hungary’s last reservoir of judicial independence—demonstrated the Orbán regime’s deepening intolerance of dissenting voices,” the statement of Freedom House says.
Even worse scores than last year
The report continues to classify Hungary as a hybrid regime, despite the deterioration in the state of democracy there, according to the report’s authors. Hungary’s democracy score is 3.57, or 43 percent on a scale of 0-100. Last year, Hungary’s democracy score was 3.68, a 45 percent democracy score.
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6 Comments
This isn’t surprising given that in America “Freedom House” is known as a think tank comprised of a bastion of ultra-liberals which criticize any conservative government, both US and foreign
Romania was always the poor neighbour of Hungary. Hungarians are now embarrassed that Hungary has become the poor neighbour of Romania both in level of democracy and economy. Hungarians are going to Romania for work and Romanians with money are snapping up cheap properties across the border in Hungary. Meanwhile Hungarians have discovered cross-border shopping buying items cheaper in Austria and Slovakia. Schools have no teachers. Hospitals have no doctors. Russian spies and corrupt influence is invited into the country. This is Orbanistan.
Andrew Tate has been locked up for months now in Romania WITHOUT any charges. Yet Romania is a better democracy than Hungary? I do not think so!
Larry discovers the conditions of open market at the countries borders… It exists in every Schengen countries at the same level. Since 50 years now French people, doctor and teachers works in Switzerland while living in France and Swiss middle class buy house in near border France. results are always the same : Switzerland see a salary dumping near border, France can’t recruit in borders side and real estate price raise so much that French people who didn’t work in Switzerland has to relocate in other part of the country. You can hate Orban but you must understand liberal economic to know that what you describe is Shengenistan not Orbanistan. And no one keep you to go live in Romania to feel rich, but remember facts didn’t care about your feelings
Goods are virtually always cheaper in countries with a lower standard of living. The fact that goods are cheaper in Austria where wages and housing prices are higher says something is very wrong in Hungary. Hungary has the worst of both worlds. People make less and pay more. That is Orbanistan and people are slowly figuring it out no matter what propaganda Fidesz puts out. The end of the line for Fidesz is when the standard of living is so much lower than Hungary’s neighbours and the finger of blame is no longer pointed outside the country but directly at the government. They are accountable and even more accountable than anyone else because they have accumulated all power possible within the country onto themselves.
Re what @Larry wrote: No, not quite all the power (yet), and not all the wealth (yet), but they are robbing us, and the EU, blind!
It’s always the least well to do, the less well to do, the ordinary people who suffer most.
How many FIDESZ members of Parliament wive’s can tell you the the price of milk, bread, flour and sugar at their local supermarket?