As the collapsing Orban era gradually shuts down one pro-government media outlet after another, and Hungary edges closer to becoming a country without a single national printed daily newspaper, something new is arriving.
Wealth of Nations Index 2026 finds that most governments now deliver less value for citizens’ money than a decade ago
Warsaw / Brussels – A new international ranking delivers an uncomfortable message for governments across the developed world: public sectors are becoming larger and more expensive, but citizens are often receiving less in return.
The Wealth of Nations Index 2026, prepared by the Warsaw Enterprise Institute together with 20 partner think tanks from around the world, shows that in 27 out of 40 countries the state delivers less value for public money than it did in 2015. The United States, Norway and Switzerland remain at the top of the ranking, while Romania, Croatia, Greece and Bulgaria stand out as the decade’s most notable climbers.
Why Central Europe needs a climate-policy architecture that rewards investment rather than absorbs industrial capital. Hungary’s position in the debate over Europe’s Emissions Trading System is more important than its size might suggest.
Hungary’s diplomatic network has expanded well beyond what its foreign policy priorities, institutional capacity, and professional standards can reasonably sustain. Any serious reform of the foreign ministry will have to address not only questions of cost, but also the structure, purpose, and staffing logic of its global presence.
In Central and Eastern Europe, the question of social inclusion has remained a recurring policy challenge for decades. In communities facing structural disadvantage, interventions are often built around external programmes, financial support, and institutional solutions. Less often do initiatives emerge that seek to produce lasting change at the local level by relying on internal resources and community-based agency.
Historical vulnerability does not return in the same form, but regulatory uncertainty, fragile trust, and the erosion of long-term predictability can once again become a familiar social experience.
Post-transition compensation was not merely an economic issue, but also a test of trust, self-determination, and the promise of historical redress. In Hungary, however, the gap between legal settlement and the social sense of justice quickly gave way to disillusionment.
The Socio-Psychological Legacy of Collectivization in Hungary (1961–1990). The end of collectivization did not bring genuine resolution: the loss of land, forced adaptation, and unspoken fears left behind a mental legacy that remains visible today through family patterns and broader forms of social behaviour.
This is the first part of a four-part series examining the practice of attic sweeping. In the following instalments, I will analyse the forced reorganisation of families’ lives, the redistribution carried out through compensation vouchers and the disappointments associated with it, and finally the opportunities that may still be found in the present. For now, we look back at how the foundations of family livelihoods were once taken away.
In Brussels, where power often hides in plain sight, few know its rhythms better than former diplomat Gábor Baranyai. A two-time envoy to the European capital and a seasoned legal expert, Baranyai’s career path reflects not only the arc of Hungarian diplomacy, but also the institutional undercurrents shaping the EU’s political core.
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