The Patriots for Europe (PfE) has “a great significance” in the European Parliament, and the cooperation between Fidesz and the French Rassemblement National (RN) is especially important within the party group, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s minister of foreign affairs and trade, said in Paris on Wednesday.
Speaking ahead of a meeting with RN president Jordan Bardella, he said that the party is an ally of the Hungarian government, and sits with Fideszand the Hungarian Christian Democrats (KDNP) in the third largest party group of the European Parliament.
At the meeting, Szijjártósaid, according to a ministry statement, that they would mostly review Europe-related political issues, as several of the two parties’ approaches to challenges facing the continent were similar.
Marine Le Pen (c) and RN president Jordan Bardella (l1) with PM Orbán (r2) in Brussels. Photo: FB/Jordan Bardella
The two parties agree on border protection and tightening migration regulations, which “could remedy one of Europe’s greatest problems, the migration crisis,” Szijjártó said. “Europe’s external borders must be protected, and it must be made clear that entry to Europe is only possible through legal and regulated channels; immigration must be stopped rather than managed,” he said.
Europe of nations
“Also, we both believe in a Europe of nations, and are protecting our sovereignty. Unfortunately, we had to face many attacks from Brussels on that score. Our sovereignty would definitely suffer, if the requirement of unanimous decision was scrapped on issues where it is currently in place,” he said.
That would turn the EU into “the alliance and server of a few large member states, and midsize and small countries would have no other choice but to agree with them.”
Hungary, on the other hand, wants to represent its own interests in the EU, he said.
RN is the largest party in PfE, and Fidesz gives the only prime minister in the group, Szijjártó noted.
“It’s the same on the matter of foreign affairs. I am the only one representing the PfE in the Foreign Affairs Council, so cooperation with the party group is especially important when it comes to working in the EP and the European Council,” Szijjártó said.
Energy cooperation between Hungary, France ‘outstanding’
Cooperation between Hungary and France in the area of energy is “outstanding”, Szijjártó said after a meeting with Agnes Pannier-Runacher, the French energy minister, in Paris on Wednesday. In a statement issued by his ministry, Szijjártó said energy was “the most successful area of bilateral cooperation” between Hungary and France, adding that the sides were “in full agreement” on the use of nuclear energy.
He augured a “dramatic” increase in demand for electricity to power heating and cooling systems, industrial capacity and electric vehicles. Nuclear energy is the “only affordable, safe and stable” means to meet that demand, he said. “Without nuclear energy, there can be no green transition in Europe, and without nuclear energy, there can be no economic competitiveness on the continent,” he added.
He pointed to the establishment of a coalition of European countries that use nuclear energy and see the issue as one “based on facts and science” not as an “ideological, political or philosophical” question. French companies are playing a “key role” in the expansion of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant, delivering the control system as well as the generators and turbines, Szijjártó said.
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Attention! Orbán cabinet introduces stricter rules on guest worker employment – read more HERE
Minister talksabout the Hungarian economy’s future: 3-4% GDP growth, SME program, strict rules for Airbnb, rentals
Government measures in the coming years will be determined by the three pillars of the government’s new economic policy, National Economy Minister Márton Nagy said at the Portfolio Budapest Economic Forum 2024 conference on Thursday.
25k new homes per year
Nagy noted that the three pillars of the new policy, approved at a cabinet meeting earlier in the week, were ensuring affordable housing, boosting the purchasing power of working Hungarians, and supporting SMEs with the launch of the Demján Sándor programme.
Nagy said Hungary’s third-quarter GDP would underperform the market consensus, coming in around zero, and put full-year growth under 1.5pc. He added that growth could climb over 3pc in Q1 2025, then move in a 3-4pc range.
Nagy said construction of “at least 25,000” homes a year was a “realistic goal”, as were “affordable” home prices and rental rates. He stressed that home mortgage rates had to be brought under 5pc, adding that there was nothing to stop runaway “home inflation”.
GDP growth will be between 3 and 6% in 2025, Márton Nagy says. Photo: MTI
He said the capital was in the midst of a “housing crisis” in which young people had to pay over 50pc or 60pc of their income for rent. He added that the government had to intervene because local councils had not resolved the issue.
Tax increase on Airbnb-type activity
He noted that regulation of short-term rentals had been in the hands of the metropolitan council and district councils, but no measures had been taken.
Nagy said the government planned to announce a two-year moratorium on licences for short-term rentals in the capital, while raising the tax on Airbnb-type activity by a factor of “four or five”.
The government also wants to ensure there are enough dormitory rooms, even though that should be the task of universities, he added.
He said raising the minimum wage to a monthly EUR 1,000 and the average wage to HUF 1 million by 2028 was achievable if wage increases could be based on economic growth.
Significant wage rise for everybody. Photo: MTI
Nagy said the details of a credit scheme for young blue-collar workers were being drafted. He added that the interest-free credit would be capped at HUF 4m.
He said the Demjan Sandor Programme aimed to double the revenue or balance sheets of SMEs. He added that an important goal was doubling the share of Hungarian-owned SMEs in exports, while upgrading their digital accessibility and easing their access to credit.
Orbán cabinet drafting 2025 budget with ‘improved outlooks’
The government is drafting the 2025 budget with “improved outlooks”, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said at the Portfolio Budapest Economic Forum 2024 conference on Thursday. Varga said the government assumed GDP growth of 3.4pc, a 4.3pc increase in consumption and 5-5.5pc higher investment volume in 2025. He added that there were no plans to introduce new taxes, noting that announcements had already been made on phasing out windfall profit taxes on airlines, pharmaceutical companies and telcos. The government calculates with gross wage growth of 8.6pc next year, while it sees retail sales climbing 4-4.5pc.
Varga said the improving primary fiscal balance would be an important condition, adding that interest expenditures would fall in 2025, from 4.9pc to 3.8pc of GDP. The government aims to bring the general government deficit under 3pc of GDP in the coming years and targets a 4.5pc gap in 2024, 3.7pc in 2025 and 2.9pc in 2026, he added. Touching on debt management, he said the aim was to keep 50pc of state debt with institutional investors and raise the share with retail investors to 25pc, while adopting a 25pc threshold for external exposure. He added that the share of debt with retail investors stood at 21pc at present, while the share of FX debt had fallen under 29pc from 53pc in 2010.
Growing household savings point to an increase in consumption, investments and borrowing in the coming years, he said. He added that consumption, climbing on the back of real wage growth, would be an engine of growth in 2025. He added that the launch of big projects would bring investments out of negative territory. Varga said a smaller deficit would support growth, as well as targeted economic and labour market development programmes.
Economic success requires confidence, cooperation
There can be no economic success without confidence and cooperation, Finance Minister Mihaly Vara said at an awards ceremony at the Vigado in Budapest late Wednesday. Vargasaid confidence and cooperation had allowed Hungary’s economy to triple in size, at current prices, and grow 42pc, in real terms, since 2010. He added that 1 million new jobs had been created, while wages, adjusted for inflation, had climbed by more than 50pc.
Varga acknowledged the unfavourable external environment and said Hungary’s economy could grow 1-1.5pc this year. Next year, the European Commission also expects Hungary’s GDP growth to reach 3-3.5pc, he added. Consultancy EY Magyarorszag presented its EY Entrepreneur Of The Year award to Eva Hegedus, the co-founder and chairman-CEO of Granit Bank. She will represent Hungary at the World Entrepreneur Of The Year awards in Monaco in 2025.
EY Magyarország CEO Tamás Vékási said the awards acknowledged entrepreneurs who worked not only for their own success, but for the future of the economy and society, too.
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Companies from the United States form the second-biggest group of investors in Hungary and play a “big role” in ensuring the country’s economic neutrality, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at a USHBC roundtable talk in Budapest on Thursday.
In a statement issued by his ministry, Szijjártósaid the government was constantly working to improve conditions to draw more investments to Hungary. He acknowledged challenges in recent years, especially the impact of the war in Ukraine, which required a focus on bringing down inflation instead of spurring economic growth in 2023, but said Hungary was “back on track” and the government was ready to give “new impetus” to the economy.
“We want to achieve growth of between 3pc and 6pc next year,” he said, pointing to big investments in the pipeline, including new local manufacturing capacity of German car makers BMWand Mercedes, and plants of Chinese battery maker CATLand EV manufacturer BYD.
Photo: FB/Szijjártó
Adopting a strategy of economic neutrality, Hungary’s government aims to draw investments from all corners of the world, he added.
Hungary is meeting point for economies of East and West
Szijjártó said Hungary had become a kind of “meeting point” for the economies of the East and the West and spoke out against efforts to decouple those economies. He added that those efforts were “far from reality” as mutual dependence was increasing.
He noted that Hungary was one of just three countries in the world that was home to plants of all three premium German car brands, while it had also welcomed manufacturing capacity of five of the world’s top ten Asian battery manufacturers.
“For us, economic neutrality means that in Hungary, an American can work together with anybody, be they Chinese, Indian, Korean, Dutch or German. It doesn’t matter to us, as long as they follow the rules and want to invest here, it’s alright with us,” he said.
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An agreement has been reached with the Swedish defence minister on the joint development of the Gripen fighter jet, Defence Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky said on Wednesday.
“Today, we had talks with the Swedish defence minister in Stockholm, and we signed an agreement we could call historic: we will work together on developing the Gripens, and on many other important bilateral issues,” he said in a video on Facebook. “The Gripens that are coming from Sweden are an iconic multifunctional combat aircraft of the Hungarian Air Forces, a defining force of Hungarian defence,” the minister said.
“Swedish-Hungarian ties, especially since Sweden’s NATO accession, have been elevated to a strategic level,” he said.
Photo: FB/Szalay-Bobrovniczky
Despite opposing views on issues such as the war in Ukraine, “we have conducted a valuable and honest discussion,” Szalay-Bobrovniczky said.
In a Facebook post, the Hungarian defence minister calledHungary “the guardian of airspaces”. That is because Hungarian Gripen fighters protect the airspace of some neighbouring countries and the Baltic states.
Photo: MTI
Photo: MTI
Photo: MTI
Photo: MTI
UPDATE: Long-term and fruitful cooperation with Saab
As a committed member of NATO, Hungary has a prime interest in close strategic and defence cooperation with Saab, Szalay-Bobrovniczky said after signing a letter of intent with Saab chief executive Micael Johansson on building closer cooperation at the company’s factory in Linköping on Thursday.
The minister said Hungary as a Gripen user and R and D partner wanted “long-term and fruitful” cooperation with Saab, according to a ministry statement. “We’re delighted that Saab plans to establish an aviation industry development centre in Hungary and continue work done together with defence innovation research institute VIKI on developing virtual reality, AI and 3D technologies, focusing on printing and new materials.” Enhanced cooperation would intensify innovation opportunities for domestic SMEs and defence innovation companies, he added.
Szalay-Bobrovniczky said Hungary saw Saab as a key partner in efforts by the Hungarian armed forces to upgrade its technologies and capabilities. For almost two decades, Hungary has been using Gripens to police the airspace of Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. Also, it does so for the Baltic states every three years and will perform the task for a fourth time in 2025, he said, adding that its air policing made a big contribution to the security of the Hungarian people, NATO and the EU, a foreign ministry statement said. The minister is in Brussels later on Thursday representing Hungary’s interests at the NATO defence ministerial meeting, the statement added.
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How can Sweden join NATO? Orbán sealsa massive arms and military industry deal
The new measures the Orbán cabinet introduces would like to help the employment of the Hungarian workforce in Hungary. For example, employers in Hungary can no longer hire guest workers from third countries if authorities prove that they refused to give a job to Hungarian job seekers due to unsupported claims. The new measure’s aim is to baulk favouring guest worker employment in Hungary.
A guest worker can only be employed if suitable Hungarian job seekers do not apply for the job
According to Szabad Európa, the new rules were published in a government decree dealing with several other issues. There are three key tightenings concerning third-country job seekers and their employers in Hungary.
First, employers punished with administrative or OSHA fines in the previous 12 months cannot hire a guest worker. Secondly, they cannot hire a guest worker from a third country if they were punished for illegally employing guest workers before. Finally, employers under compulsory liquidation, and forced strike-off cannot hire a guest worker.
If a Hungarian employer rejects to hire a Hungarian job seeker because of unsupported claims, they should expect sanctions.
UPDATE: Almost 130 thousand third country foreign workers in Hungary
Guest workers may only fill positions in Hungary that can’t be taken by Hungarians, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at a hearing before a parliamentary committee on Thursday. Szijjártó dismissed suggestions that guest workers were taking jobs away from Hungarians at the hearing before the foreign affairs committee, his ministry said. He noted that there were 128,000 workers from countries outside of the European Union in Hungary at present, while the number of unfilled positions stood at 71,000.
He added that investments were only eligible for state support if a majority of Hungarians were employed in their implementation or attempts had been made to hire locals for all available positions. Szijjártó said guest workers accounted for just 2.6pc of the employed in Hungary, under the rates of 3.8pc in Slovakia, 6.4pc in Poland and 17pc in Czechia. Addressing other questions, he said the government’s economic strategy was not based “solely” on battery manufacturing investments, but added that the electromobility transition was necessary to meet environmental targets.
Hungary has the fourth-largest battery manufacturing capacity in the world at present and could move into second place after investments in the pipeline are completed, he said.
Government clears new economic policy action plan
Hungary’s government has approved a new economic policy action plan that uses new solutions and new policy tools to adapt to changed circumstances, the National Economy Ministry saidon Wednesday.
Adopting a policy of economic neutrality is the only way to ensure Hungary the chance to boost its GDP growth to 3-6pc in 2025, the ministry said. The government aims for the broadest possible participation in the economic upturn, especially for families, microbusinesses and SMEs, it added.
PrtScr/ATVnews
The new economic policy aims to increase the purchasing power of working Hungarians, ensure affordable housing and scale up businesses with the launch of the Demján Sándor Programme, the ministry said.
Significant wage rise in cooperation with the employers
Measures affecting incomes include a three-year agreement between employers and unions on minimum wage increases, the launch of a credit scheme for young blue-collar workers, and the doubling—in two steps—of the tax preference for families with children.
Among the affordable housing measures, tighter regulation of short-term rentals, a review of rental rates and contract conditions, and the addition of dormitory rooms are targeted at the capital. Broader measures include the establishment of a home programme for young Hungarians, the launch of a home renovation scheme for smaller settlements, a temporary rule allowing up to half of SZÉP voucher card spending to be used for home renovation, a temporary provision on use of voluntary pension fund savings for home purchase and renovation, tax preferences for employer contributions to home purchases, the extension of the 5pc preferential VAT rate on home purchases until the end of 2026 and a 5pc voluntary cap on mortgage rates with the cooperation of the banking sector.
Measures that aim to double the size of Hungarian SMEs include a capital financing programme, a scheme to promote investments at SMEs, a programme to ensure all businesses have their own homepage, a reduction of the rate on Szechenyi Card credit to 3.5pc, the start of a credit programme by Magyar Eximbank to boost exports, the acceleration of European Union programmes for SMEs and a reduction in administration for SMEs with the raising of the threshold for mandatory auditing.
Restarting growth goal of economic policy, says the Orbán government
Restarting growth is the main goal of the government’s economic policy this year, Richárd Szabados, the state secretary for SMEs, said at a conference on Wednesday. Support for the recovery of household consumption, promoting domestic production and investment, and stepping up labour market activity are pillars of restarting economic growth, Szabados said at the Infoter conference in Balatonfüred. SMEs need to be strengthened to achieve 3-6pc GDP growth in 2025, he added.
He noted that eight of the 21 measures in the government’s new economic policy action plan unveiled earlier on Wednesday affected SMEs. He pointed to the need for more export-capable Hungarian-owned SMEs, noting that just 30,000 of the 900,000 SMEs in the country were exporters and the majority of those were foreign-owned. Touching on the EU’s AI Act, Szabados said the regulations were expected to have a positive impact, but added that their implementation couldn’t involve too much red tape.
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Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will give a speech on 23 October, Hungary’s national holiday, in the Millenáris Park in Budapest, commemorating the 68th anniversary of the 1956 revolution and freedom fight against communist rule, the Government Information Centre (KTK) said on Wednesday.
Political director of Orbán: we would NOT have defended Hungary in case of Russian invasion
Official celebrations will start on 22 October, with dignitaries laying wreaths at the memorial at the Budapest Technical and Economics University at 2pm, it said in a statement. Afterwards, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, will give a speech at 3pm. At 4pm, a torch-lit march of 2,500 students will take place to Bem Square, where Speaker of Parliament László Kövér will give a speech, it said.
Interestingly, Péter Magyar, PM Orbán’s biggest political adversary, will also celebrate 23 October in Bem Square. Afterwards, he and his supporters march to Széna Square, a symbolic place of the 1956 revolution and freedom fightwhere Hungarian freedom fighters resisted the Soviet invasion for long. Weeks before, an interview with Balázs Orbán, the prime minister’s political director, surfaced and caused a public outcry.
Photo: FB/Balázs Orbán
Orbán said the Hungarian government would not advised President Zelensky to fight against the Russian invasion because in 1956. Despite Hungarian calls, the Western powers did not help the Hungarian freedom fight then because such a move would have risked the outbreak of WWIII. PM Orbán called his political director’s words an error, but Orbán’s thoughts seemingly did not have consequences concerning his career and high power status in the Orbán regime. We covered the scandal in THIS article.
Multiple programmes on 22 and 23 October
On 23 October, the national flag will be hoisted at Kossuth Square in front of Parliament at 9am. President Tamás Sulyok will give a speech at a gala at the Palace of Arts (Müpa) at 6pm.
The Müpa and the Hungarian National Theatre. Photo: Wikimedia Commons by Tamás Thaler
Parliament and the House of Terror Museum will be open to the public to visit free of charge all day. Commemorations will be held at the Heroes’ Wall at the House of Terror museum and at Plot 301 of the New Public Cemetery.
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Jaw-dropping discovery: North Korean students foughtfor Hungary against the Soviets in Budapest
Hungary may lose its Schengen Zone membership because the Orbán cabinet is letting too many Russian citizens in the country without proper control. The Russians coming to Hungary with the so-called Hungarian Golden Visa Programme or to work here can go westward and pose a threat to other EU member states, at least this is what two Dutch parties are worried about.
Dutch MPs would exclude Hungary from the Schengen Zone
According to Telex, the Dutch Christian Democrats and the liberal D66 parties would like to suspend Hungary’s Schengen Zone membership temporarily due to the threat Russians coming into Hungary pose to their country and other EU member states. Representatives of the parties are concerned that some Russian individuals getting residency permits in Hungary will serve Putin’s regime as spies in other EU member states.
They called Prime Minister Dick Schoof to submit their initiative to this week’s European Council session about Hungary’s temporary exclusion from the Schengen Zone until the Orbán cabinet introduces stricter rules concerning the supervision of Russian individuals.
Dutch concerned that Russian spies would go to Western Europe with Hungary’s help. Photo: depositphotos.com
Jan Paternotte, an MP of the D66, said the measure should remain in effect as long as Hungary “rolls out a red carpet” for Russian employees and lets them in without proper control. Paternotte added that European authorities expelled almost 400 Russian citizens because they were taking part in espionage. “The Russian threat is on the border, Hungary accommodated them, we must introduce restrictions”, he highlighted.
The Netherlands should not be naive
Paternotte called the “silence” of Geert Wilders’ anti-migration Freedom Party in the issue “bizarre”. The MP believes Hungary lets potentially dangerous Russian citizens into Europe, so Wilders should object even though they are friends with PM Orbán. The two leaders were together in Northern Italy to protest against the so-called political attacks targeting Matteo Salvini. Furthermore, Wilders’ wife is Hungarian, so they regularly spend holidays in Hungary. Even so, the Dutch MP believes the friendship of the two leaders should not affect Dutch politics and their country’s safety.
PM Orbán and Geert Wilders with other prominent leaders of the Patriots of Europe. Photo: MTI
Henri Bontenbal, the leader of the Social-Democrat CDA, said many EU member states were fed up with Hungary’s behaviour. He added that the Netherlands should not be naive but should confront countries aiding Russia. Bontenbal hopes that two parties of the government coalition, the Conservative-Liberal VVD and the anti-elitist Christian-Democrat NSC will support their initiative.
Russian cyberattacks and espionage
Dutch security services regularly warn about the threat of Russian infiltration. Several security services issued a warning last week about the Russian cyberattacks concerning critical Western governmental infrastructure. The attacks aim to acquire data about the Western weapon deliveries for Ukraine and disturb that with sabotage.
Wilders won the elections in the Netherlands but could not become a prime minister. However, Telex says the most right-wing governments were formed in Dutch history. Despite not having the top job, Wilders has a defining influence on the country’s politics.
Minister says national security screenings are part of the process
Asked to comment on two Dutch parties having proposed the suspension of Hungary’s Schengen membership, Gergely Gulyás, the Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, said this was “not realistic in any way” during a Wednesday press conference.
He said there were far fewer Russian citizens working in Hungary than in Western European countries, and Hungary only issued visas after conducting national security screenings.
Putin and Orbán in July in Moscow. Photo: FB/Orbán
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If the government is serious about supporting housing projects in Budapest, it should support the construction of “Park City”, a project including affordable housing in the city’s 14th district, rather than earmarking the area for the “mini Dubai” office and apartment complex, which will drive prices up further and deepen the housing crisis, Mayor Gergely Karácsony said on Wednesday.
Commenting on statements of Gergely Gulyás, the head of the PM’s Office, at a regular press briefing earlier in the day, Karácsonysaid on Facebook that instead of supporting a Chinese investment in the south of the city, the government could throw its weight behind Student City, a project aimed at improving student housing.
Photo: FB/Gergely Karácsony
Budapest is ready to start the largest housing programme of the past 30 years. In the coming years, the municipality will spend 20 billion forints (EUR 50.0m) on rent support, affordable housing, and on bringing empty apartments into the programme, the mayor said. “I realise more would be needed, but that is up to the state, and this is still a lot more than what has been spent on housing in Budapest in the past decades.”
Photo: FB/Gergely Karácsony
One of the most important causes of the crisis is that only 4 percent of Hungarian apartments is community property, one of the lowest ratios in Europe, he said. In Vienna, 25 percent of flats is owned by the municipality: “That’s the direction we should take, if the government ever manages to surpass its antiquated fixation,” Karácsony said.
Here are some more visuals:
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Here’swhat to expect from Budapest’s real estate market in 2025
The government sees Debrecen as a “companion capital” and wants to continue to participate in the city’s development, Construction and Transportation Minister János Lázár said on Wednesday.
Speaking after a meeting of a working group established to coordinate economic developments in the city, Hungary’s second largest, Lázársaid the government aimed to put Debrecen among Europe’s 30 biggest industrial hubs. The government has ploughed HUF 500bn into developments there so far, including HUF 300bn at a business zone in the northwest of the city, home to BMW’s new factory, and HUF 200bn at an industrial zone in the south, he added.
He said everything was in place to allow the start of vehicle production in the city in 2025.
New roads to be built
He said a bypass to the east of Debrecen would be completed by 2029, while a road running to the northeast of the city would be turned into a dual carriageway, and the rail line to Nyíregyháza, to the north, would be reconstructed in the framework of a HUF 320bn investment.
He added that private capital would be involved in the reconstruction of Debrecen’s main train station which would become home to a number of commercial businesses.
He said a HUF 150bn stretch of the M4 motorway, between Törökszentmiklós and Kisújszállás, would be completed by the end of 2025 or early 2026. Afterward, a stretch extending to Berettyóújfalu, connecting with the M35 motorway, will be built, he added.
Here’s how Hungary’s new Museum of Transportation may look
Lázár said the Natural History Museum and the Transportation Museum would move to Debrecen. He added that the Transportation Museum would be built on a site near the BMW factory and construction could start in 2026 or 2027.
1st Prize:
Photo: MTI
Photo: MTI
Photo: FB/János Lázár
2nd Prize:
Photo: FB/János Lázár
Photo: FB/János Lázár
3rd Prize:
Photo: FB/János Lázár
Photo: FB/János Lázár
Mayor László Papp said infrastructure in the business zone in the northwest of the city was practically finished, while investments in the southern industrial park, home to battery manufacturing investments, were still needed. To complete those investments and ensure factories can start operating on time, development resources need to be secured for 2025 and 2026, he added.
Fielding questions, the mayor said greywater would account for two-thirds of the water used at the battery manufacturing facilities there, and surface water for the rest, in the interest of preserving the local groundwater supply.
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Transforming Budapest: Pest quay to be renewed greener and more welcoming – read more and check out the visuals HERE
The government approved an economic policy action plan with 21 measures at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said at a weekly press briefing on Wednesday.
Gulyássaid the pillars of the new economic policy action plan prioritised boosting the purchasing power of working Hungarians, ensuring affordable housing and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises.
The minister said it was necessary to introduce new economic policy tools, and while there was “growing willingness” in Brussels to interfere in such areas, the government rejected such attempts, noting that the cabinet has decided to launch a National Consultation public survey, at the request of the governing parliamentary groups, on the main elements of the new policy.
Hungarian voters will thus get the chance to weigh in on new policy tools aimed at boosting economic growth, he said, adding that such decisions should not be taken in Brussels.
Photo: MTI
Gulyás said the foundation of economic growth was Hungary’s policy of trade neutrality rather than joining trade wars, adding that Hungary would not comply with “Brussels diktats” on doing business exclusively on an ideological basis.
He declared that Hungary welcomed investments “from everywhere, from the West and the East”, adding that it was of prime importance that technologies emerging in the Hungarian economy “are among the best in the world”. “If it’s American, it’s American, if it’s German, it’s German, if it’s Chinese, then it’s Chinese,” he said.
The government’s economic action plan targets economic growth of 3-6 percent in the coming years, with growth benefiting the broadest possible swathe of society, especially Hungarian families and small enterprises.
Also, the government wants to conclude a wage agreement, preferably for 3 years, with employee and employer interest representatives, and it targets a big increase in minimum wage levels in line with the goals of the Hungarian economy, he said.
An employee loan program will be launched, and the personal income tax discount for employees with children will be doubled, by 50 percent on July 1 next year and by another 50 percent on Jan 1, 2026.
Gergely Gulyás in the Tisza Castle in Geszt briefing press after the government meeting finished. Photo: MTI
Other measures include building more dormitories for students in higher education, launching a national housing programme for young people and one for home renovations in rural areas. In addition, savings from voluntary pensions will be opened up for use in housing on an optional basis.
A tax discount on housing support provided by the employer will be maintained until the end of 2026, he said.
Meanwhile, Gulyás warned that Budapest faced a “serious a housing problem”, and the capital was responsible for solving it. Budapest’s administration, he added, had inherited reserves of more than 200 billion forints from former mayor Istvan Tarlos but had so far failed to “deal with this problem”.
Airbnb regulations will be tightened
The government has plans to tighten regulations of Airbnb, he said, though before a final decision was taken, it would be necessary to assess the extent to which Airbnb contributed to growing rents in the capital. And whereas flat rentals and related contracts were also in the government’s sights, there was no desire to follow “communist practices” seen in some western European countries, and the government fully respected property rights, he added.
The minister also listed new measures such as a capital financing and stimulus schemes for SMEs and financial support for digitisation. Further, Eximbank will relaunch its loan scheme aimed at incentivising exports, while a new investment programme will also get under way in cooperation between Eximbank and National Capital Holding, he added.
Meanwhile, the government wants to speed up EU programmes and payments aimed at SMEs and curb red tape with such measures as raising the value threshold of mandatory audits and dropping audits for micro companies. He called SMEs “the backbone of the Hungarian economy”, and boosting them would aid the goal of increasing wages, boosting the economy and protecting jobs.
Moreover, Hungarian economic growth should be outstanding in the region and in the EU as a whole in the coming years, the minister said.
In response to a question, Gulyás said the new National Consultation survey will have 11 questions, and the government will start announcing them this week. The questionnaires themselves will be sent out in the first half of November and people will have until Dec 20 to send them back, he added.
Gulyás said he would “surprised” if the left welcomed the public survey, arguing that they had “attacked” all of the past National Consultations.
Fines imposed on Hungary
Asked about the progress of Hungary’s talks with Brussels on the fines imposed on the country for its refusal to take in migrants, Gulyás said the government has appointed János Bóka, the European affairs minister, to conduct the negotiations. He said the talks were “a bit difficult” given the ongoing change in EU leadership. Gulyas said Hungary wanted to reach an agreement as soon as possible, “but it’s not yet clear as to what the commission is open to in this regard”.
Asked to comment on an image the European People’s Party (EPP) shared recently on social media featuring Prime Minister Viktor Orban in front of a red background with text that reads “Time to go”, Gulyas said only Hungarian voters had the right to decide who should be in government, as they had in 2022. He added that Hungarians last expressed their opinion on the country’s political parties in the European Parliament elections.
Gulyás said none of the EPP’s member parties had achieved a result as strong as Fidesz’s in the EP election, adding that the EPP party leaders had more of a reason to quit than the Hungarian prime minister.
He said the EPP and the European Commission had announced that they wanted a different government in Hungary, but the Hungarian electorate disagreed. Hungary, he added, had been a democracy governed by the rule of law since 1990 so that the question as to who governs it was not decided in Brussels, Washington or Moscow.
Gulyás said the EPPand the EC president had launched “a direct attack” against Hungary, adding, however, that Hungary maintained “constructive cooperation” with the commission’s president in a number of areas. Hungary’s responsibility, he said, was to observe and enforce the EU treaty and to remind the EC that it could not take any negative measures against Hungary in the event of any legal proceedings.
Asked to comment on two Dutch parties having proposed the suspension of Hungary’s Schengen membership, Gulyás said this was “not realistic in any way”.
He said there were far fewer Russian citizens working in Hungary than in Western European countries, and Hungary only issued visas after conducting national security screenings.
Albania should be EU member
Concerning migration, he said the number of attempts at illegal entry on the southern border were down 30 percent so far this year.
As regards Albania’s EU accession, Gulyás said Hungary has long been an advocate of EU enlargement in the Western Balkans, adding that it was in the bloc’s interest to ensure the possibility of EU membership for the whole of Europe. He said Hungary welcomed that it could facilitate progress on accession talks and close and open accession chapters as the president of the Council of the EU. Hungary’s interest lay in Serbia and the other Northern Balkan countries becoming EU members as soon as possible, he added.
Put to him that Brussels and most EU member states could not be relied on when it came to the competitiveness programme, Gulyás said Hungary was counting on everyone. He said Hungary wanted the EU to adopt a declaration on competitiveness at the Nov 7 EU summit in Budapest.
He lamented that when it came time to make practical decisions related to competitiveness, member states often “fall victim to ideological debates or completely flawed ideologically-driven green policy”.
Regarding the situation of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, Gulyas said that the rule of law only existed in the EU as a political weapon against “countries they don’t like”.
Minority rights at 2015 levels in Ukraine
Minority rights in Ukraine are yet to return to 2015 levels, he said, adding that there was barely a minority the EU was not standing up for, bur indigenous minorities were not among them.
Vitalyos said that reports of Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto being shunned by EP committees was “fake news”, adding that the meetings had fallen through due to scheduling issues.
Asked about a report on Péter Magyar, an MEP and leader of the Tisza Party on commercial channel TV2, Gulyás said that while government ads were running on all channels, the government had no intention to interfere with programme content. The Value and Quality award had been awarded to the channel’s Tenyek (Facts) programme last year, before the report had been broadcast, he added.
Commenting on fresh polls showing that the opposition Tisza Party was neck and neck with ruling Fidesz (IDEA Institute measured only 2% between them), Gulyás said the country and the government needed “calm, determined planning and decision-making”. Surveys had shown the opposition ahead in the autumn in 2021, before the 2022 election, and Fidesz won that election with a 20 percent margin, Gulyás said.
Surveys conducted long before the elections serve political ends, he said. “The government is also taking polls, and we are very calm.”
Put to him that Magyar had recently said he would “give up parts of Hungary’s sovereignty”, Gulyás said “he has done that several times”.
When it entered the EU, Hungary accepted the requirements of the EU treaties. “There is no need to cede more sovereignty than that; rather, we should take back as much as we can,” Gulyás said.
Ambitious minimum wage and average salary plans
At the same time, Gulyás said the EU was not abiding by the treaties, but was rather trying to take back as many competencies as possible. He also said that the concept that Hungary should “let go of anything” so that it can access EU resources was mistaken. Hungary was entitled to those monies, he said.
Regarding the 1,000 euro minimum wage and the 1 million forint gross minimum wage, Gulyás said the government was going to set a deadline within weeks. They are in the midst of negotiations with employers and employees on the next three-year agreement, he said.
The government’s 21-point economic action plan will cost hundreds of billions, he said. Next year’s growth is expected to be 3 percent at the least, “but could go as high as 4 or even 5 percent,” enough to cover those costs, he added.
Asked about resources to fund the investments aimed at easing the housing shortage, Gulyas said the problem was primarily Budapest’s, and that the municipality had very limited opportunities to use EU funding. If they drew down the full sum, it would still be insufficient, “so the relevant regulations and international practices must be reviewed”, he said. At the same time, he said: “I’m not a fan of communist solutions” such as rent control.
Asked about reports that the debts of hospitals had surpassed 100 billion forints, Gulyás said that hopefully, the 12.5 billion monthly surplus “would keep the health-insurance coffers in balance”.
Regarding corporate taxes, Gulyás said the government and localities support the aim that “parts of the tax should be used regionally, although there are debates as to the implementation”.
Commenting on the possible effect of the US election on directions of Hungary’s budget for next year, Gulyás said that if Donald Trump was re-elected, the war in Ukraine would come to a “swift end”. “And there isn’t an economist who would dispute that such a development would bring economic growth to Hungary and to Europe as a whole.”
Good Trump-deal
Meanwhile, “threats by a non-elected administration to introduce protective tariffs in some sectors” is an issue the EU “can handle if it wants to”, Gulyás said. “Making a good deal with Donald Trump is possible.”
Asked about the purchase of more Russian gas, he said it would be primarily used to serve households and economic purposes came only second.
Gulyás acknowledged the need of revamping the outdated carriages of Budapest’s suburban railway HEV or purchasing new ones. He noted the government’s plans to spend 2 billion euros on upgrading Hungary’s railway system and purchasing new trains over the coming years. “Talks are under way about a 1 billion euro loan also with the European Development Bank which the government would match with the same amount.”
Concerning a recent interview Hungary’s foreign minister gave to a Russian state news agency and in connection with which the minister had said that his words “had been twisted,” Gulyás said he had no information that the issue might have diplomatic consequences.
Asked about recent press reports suggesting that Hungary might host aircraft suitable for carrying nuclear bombs at its military airbase in Kecskemét, Gulyás said that no such request had been received. “Should such a request arrive, the government would request parliament’s position on an issue of this scale.”
Asked about plans to expand the powers of the Sovereignty Protection Office, he said that the government had not made such a decision, adding that in his opinion the office would not need to be assigned powers of authority.
Hungarian minister’s anti-Semitic post?
In response to a question on the House of Fates museum, Gulyás confirmed that “the project is off the agenda”. He said Hungary already has a Holocaust memorial centre which also functions as a museum. Gulyás argued that although the government had a different plan, it could not set up a museum commemorating the child victims of the Holocaust in absence of a consensus among Hungarian Jewish organisations.
Asked about a recent Facebook post of Construction Minister János Lázár, Gulyás said he struggled to grasp “how anyone could see that post as anti-Semitic.” The accusations levelled at the minister and the government were “unfair”, he said.
Gulyás confirmed that Prime Minister Viktor Orban will deliver a speech on the October 23 commemorations at the Millenaris centre at 11 o’clock.
Asked about the planned reopening of a dolomite mine in Csobánka near Budapest, Vitályos, the MP of that constituency, said such a project in a nature protection area was “outrageous”. “It is quite understandable that the local government, the residents and nature protection groups say that the project must not be authorised,” she said, adding that they would work to thwart the reopening with all available legal means.
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Big changes are coming: Orbán cabinet presentsa deregulation package for tourism
The Orbán government aims to allow Hungarians a one-off opportunity to use savings in voluntary pension funds for home purchase or renovation, or to repay home loans, in 2025, Zsolt Kovács, a National Economy Ministry commissioner, said on public television on Wednesday.
The government measure, which is in the public consultation phase, would allow Hungarians to apply as much as their entire voluntary pension fund savings for home purchase or renovation for themselves or their family members, Kovács said on news channel M1.
He noted that there were about 1m voluntary pension fund members at present. Some of those members could have as little as a few hundred thousand forints on their accounts, while the balances of others could be in the tens of millions of forints, he added.
Photo: FB/Orbán
More than HUF 2,000bn in savings are in voluntary pension funds, and if “a few tenths” of those savings are mobilised by the measure, it could be considered a “real success”, Kovács said.
Digital Hungary app popular
Government investments with a combined value of HUF 136bn have been completed over the past two years, government spokesperson Eszter Vitályossaid at a regular press briefing on Wednesday. The 31 projects included HUF 1bn of kindergarten and nursery renovations, HUF 1.3bn of transport developments and road reconstruction projects, and HUF 4.2bn of urban upgrades, Vitályos said.
Investments of around HUF 6bn were completed in the area of economic development, and major projects were finished at education, culture, sport, healthcare and social institutions, she added. She noted that the Digital Hungary mobile application had been downloaded more than 200,000 times, and the national healthcare mobile app could now be used to make appointments at more than 80 healthcare institutions.
Photo: PrtScr/Youtube
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The exhibition has been organised under the arrangements of the Hungarian-Turkish Cultural Year by the Parliament’s public collections directorate, the Hungarian embassy and the Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Centre Istanbul.
Kövér told the opening event that Hungarian-Turkish relations had a long history but “despite the ties of kinship, unfortunately the period when our countries when our countries were fighting against each other had lasted too long.”
Photo: MTI
He added, however, that the Hungarian people would never forget that Ilona Zrinyi, Imre Thokoly, Ferenc Rakoczi II, Lajos Kossuth and “many of our heroes found refuge on Turkish land.
The purpose of the exhibition is to present to visitors the Parliament building and its cultural features, and to attract tourists to visit the building in Budapest.
Photo: MTI
The Hungarian-Turkish Cultural Year organised to mark the 100th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Hungary and Türkiye offers an opportunity to strengthen cultural cooperation between the two countries.
Kövér will continue his official visit in Ankara where he will hold talks with his host Numan Kurtulmus, speaker of the Grand National Assembly, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
László Kövér opening the exhibition. Photo: MTI
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Spectacular military exercise, “Brave Warrior 24” has started near Kőröshegy, a small Hungarian village south from Lake Balaton. The Hungarian defence minister said the military drill’s aim was to strengthen EU defence capabilities. It is also an opportunity for the Hungarian soldiers to show their skills and knowledge for their allies.
The Hungarian presidency of the European Council sees the development of defence capabilities as a priority, the chief of the Hungarian Armed Forces said in Kőröshegy, near Lake Balaton, at the Central Training Base of the Hungarian Armed Forces, after a military show in the framework of a meeting of the EU Military Committee (EUMC). In a Facebook post, Hungary’s defence minister, Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, wrotethat Hungary was creating a 21st-century army.
Brave Warrior military exercise near Kőröshegy. Photo: FB/Hungarian defence minister
Gábor Böröndi told a press conference after the show that Hungary was a staunch supporter of strengthening Europe’s defence industry and crisis management capacity, so that the bloc can live up to the challenges of a changing security environment. The “dynamic presentation” concluding the Brave Warrior 2024 military exercise was attended by the chiefs of staff of the EU member states, as well as those of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania, and the military representative of North Macedonia. Besides Hungarian troops, Croatian, Romanian, Slovak and Slovenian units also participated in the exercise, Böröndi said.
Development of joint defence capabilities
It was a critically important step in the development of joint defence capabilities and future crisis management operations,” he said. The aim was to advance peace and stability, he said. Summarising the exercise, General Röbert Brieger, chairman of the EUMC, said the script was simulating the evacuation of EU citizens from a politically unstable third country. Besides the participating infantry and reconnaissance units of Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, experts from Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Greece contributed to organising and leading the exercise, the general said. The joint commitment showed the possibilities in the EU’s armed forces, he added.
Photo: FB/Hungarian defence minister
Photo: FB/Hungarian defence minister
A common aim is to strengthen the European Union’s defence and crisis management capability which is particularly important because of the migration situation, the chief of the Hungarian armed forces said after a meeting of the European Union Military Committee’s (EUMC) chiefs of defence in Budapest on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters, Gábor Böröndi noted that the current three-day EUMC meeting organised as part of the Hungarian EU presidency’s programme was the second one held outside Brussels.
Photo: FB/Hungarian defence minister
Photo: FB/Hungarian defence minister
Photo: FB/Hungarian defence minister
“Hungary is committed towards the European Union’s military operations and strives to further strengthen the EU’s military role, with a special focus on building up a common military force to tackle external threats,” he said. “Our common goal is to achieve that the EU should play a leading role in providing for its own security.”
He said that with their contributions the Western Balkan countries further strengthened Europe’s defence and peace.
Development of EU defence capabilities a priority
The EU’s EUFORAlthea peace-keeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the bloc’s largest land mission operating under Hungarian command, “illustrates well the military role Hungary has in the European Union,” Böröndi said. He also noted Hungary’s participation in the EU’s military mission in the North-West Indian Ocean (CMP NWIO).
General Robert Brieger, chairman of the EUMC, said that the strategic issues raised at Tuesday’s meeting included operations by the EU’s naval forces in the North-West Indian Ocean as well as the EU’s common rapid response units, support to Ukraine and the Western Balkan countries’ participation in the common defence and security policy.
He said the EU was “only one step away” from achieving full operational capability which will then allow the bloc to respond fast to various crisis situations.
The meeting’s participants discussed ways for the EU to help the training of the Ukrainian armed forces with the aim to strengthen its defence capabilities.
“Since the outbreak of the war, the EU has been providing enormous help to Ukraine in the form of financial support, training and supplying military equipment. We will continue this support in the framework of the new mission supporting Ukraine, because the stability of the region is crucial from the point of view of the continent’s peace besides Ukraine also in the Western Balkans.”
Answering a question, Böröndi said Hungary neither supported nor opposed the EU’s training mission in Ukraine, but added that Hungarian troops would not participate in it.
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Béla Kovács, the former European Parliament representative of the Hungarian Jobbik party, who was sentenced to five years in prison in Hungary for espionage in 2022, has resurfaced publicly in Russia. Known infamously by the moniker “KGBéla,” Kovács fled Hungary after being convicted of passing sensitive information to Russian intelligence between 2012 and 2014, allegedly to undermine European Union institutions and favour Russian interests.
Recently, Béla Kovács made an appearance at a Moscow forum titled “I Want to Live in Russia,” which was organised by the pro-Russian media outlet Ukraina.ru, Meduza reports. Among the speakers was Maria Butina, a member of the Russian parliament, who spoke about “ideological immigration” to Russia, framing it as part of a long-standing tradition dating back to German settlers fleeing religious wars to the Russian Empire.
During his speech, Béla Kovács asked Russians not to take offence at the often negative perceptions of their country among Hungarians.
According to him, these views were largely shaped by the Western media, which, he claimed, misleads many people in Hungary about Russia’s true nature, 24.hu writes.
Fleeing justice, speaking at Russian forums
Kovács’ appearance in Russia comes as no surprise, given that last year, a second arrest warrant was issued for him in Hungary, but he has so far evaded capture. The former Jobbik politician had already been found guilty of espionage and fraudulent misappropriation of EU funds, resulting in a suspended two-year prison sentence. His sentence was further intensified by Hungary’s Supreme Court, which handed him a five-year prison term along with a ten-year ban from public office. Instead of facing his sentence, Béla Kovács escaped to Russia, where he now resides.
The forum at which Kovács spoke is closely tied to a recent decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who simplified immigration procedures for foreigners wishing to move to Russia as a refuge from so-called “neoliberal ideologies” in their home countries. According to reports, the program, which officially launched on 1 September 2024, has already attracted interest, though exact figures on the number of participants remain undisclosed.
Hungary’s first political refugee in Russia?
Béla Kovács is perhaps the most prominent Hungarian political figure to seek refuge in Russia in modern times. His legal troubles began years ago, with investigations dating back to his time as a Member of the European Parliament. The Hungarian courts, after initially acquitting him of espionage charges, later overturned the verdict on appeal. The Court of Appeal in Budapest found him guilty of preparing to spy on EU institutions on behalf of Russia. His crimes did not end there, as he was also convicted of budgetary fraud and forgery of private documents.
Despite Hungary’s efforts to apprehend him, including issuing an international warrant, Kovács managed to flee, and his current status in Russia highlights a growing trend among individuals seeking asylum from countries they claim are under Western influence. At the Moscow event, Béla Kovács spoke openly about his decision to relocate, aligning himself with other speakers who praised Russia as a haven from the “oppressive” ideologies of the West.
The forum’s broader significance
The forum in Moscow touched upon a broader geopolitical narrative, with several speakers emphasising Russia’s role as a sanctuary for those disillusioned with Western liberal democracies. Kovács’ presence at the event, alongside other international figures seeking to paint Russia in a favourable light, is a sign of the country’s ongoing efforts to position itself as a counterbalance to Western influence.
While Kovács’ future in Russia remains uncertain, one thing is clear: his involvement in espionage and subsequent flight to Russia marks a rare case of a Hungarian politician becoming a high-profile refugee in Moscow. Whether his situation is a one-off or a sign of deeper trends remains to be seen, but for now, Béla Kovács seems to have found a new home far from Hungarian justice.
Transparency International on Tuesday called a report by the National Sovereignty Protection Office on the results of an investigation into the NGO’s activities “unlawful” and riddled with mistakes, misleading statements and “conjectures putting communist … conspiracy theories to shame”.
As we wrote on Monday, the sovereignty protection office noted in a statement that on June 18, it launched a targeted, comprehensive inquiry into the activities of TIM, and found that the assessment of the organisation’s financing, activities and network of relations “prove that it carried out political pressure activities as part of a global lobbying network operating for over thirty years, along the interests of the large powers that stood behind the network”. Read details HERE: Sovereignty Protection Office: Transparency International Hungary activity harmful for country
Transparency International Hungary (TIM) responded that, under the relevant regulations, the report should have been sent to them before publication, and the sovereignty office was obliged to respond to their observations. None of that happened, and the sovereignty office’s “accusations” were published in a manner that “doesn’t even respect the provisions of the law laying the foundations for the office’s operations,” TIM said.
In the report, “the state-funded organisation … fantasises about a global conspiracy led by the US, secret games of espionage between world powers, and, who else, George Soros,” TIM said.
The report also delves into Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI), the statement said. CPI’s methodology is public information, “so there’s no sense in launching an investigation into TIM to obtain information which is already in the public domain.”
“TI Hungary remains what it always has been: a non-partisan NGO uncovering and fighting corruption, striving to further Hungary’s development,” the statement said.
In response to the sovereignty office’s assessment that TIM had not operated transparently, the NGO said its annual Declaration of Public Use was published in accordance with all regulations and voluntarily prepared an audit.
It said TI Hungary and several NGOs had criticised the law on the protection of sovereignty before its adoption and turned to the Constitutional Court with a complaint after the Sovereignty Protection Office launched a “specific investigation” targeted against TI and investigative reporting site Atlas.hu in the summer. It added that TI did so because it considered both the existence of the office and the law establishing it to be unconstitutional.
“TI Hungary is considering taking further legal action against the sovereignty protection office for the error-ridden and groundless findings in the report,” it said.
The European Union has opened the first chapters of Albania’s accession negotiations, paving the way for a swift process ensuring the country’s membership, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said in Luxembourg, where he attended the second intergovernmental EU-Albania conference.
Tuesday’s accession conference is the second held between the EU and Albania since it became a candidate country in 2014.
“This is historic,” he declared, noting that speeding up the EU integration of Western Balkan countries is a priority of the Hungarian EU presidency.
He said the bloc needed new momentum, which Western Balkan countries could provide.
“Urgent action is needed to preserve the credibility of the enlargement policy, so we must speed up enlargement procedures,” the minister added.
As we wrote on Friday, Albania views Hungary as a role model, the country’s prime minister said in Budapest after meeting Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for talks on Friday. Details HERE.
UPDATE
Most member states want merit-based enlargement, he said, adding that Albania’s merits in terms of the economy, politics and social issues were clear for all to see.
Szijjártó called it an “honour” that substantive negotiations with Albania have begun under the Hungarian presidency, adding that hopefully “we won’t have to wait until the next Hungarian presidency” before another country was able to join the EU.
He said Hungary pursued a responsible neighbourhood policy, adding that he was sharply aware of how the integration process could foster “peace, calm, developments and stability” in the region.
Olivér Várhelyi, the EU commissioner for enlargement and neighbourhood policy, told the same press conference that the EU and Albania were celebrating a “landmark moment” and the path of meaningful negotiations ahead was clear.
He added that thanks to Hungary’s presidency, it was now doubtless that enlargement was among the three key priorities for the EU and its leaders.
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published today its conclusions on implementing its priority recommendations for Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, and Monaco over the past few years.
Anti-racism commission reviews
Cyprus
ECRI recommended to Cyprus that a national LGBTI strategy be prepared, accompanied by a national action plan, with a sufficient separate budget for its implementation. While it is positive that the Cypriot authorities have demonstrated a willingness to work on such a strategy, it has not been issued yet, and thus, this recommendation has not been implemented.
ECRI’s second priority recommendation was to take immediate action to support child asylum seekers and other migrant children in acquiring the Greek language skills necessary to allow them to follow ordinary primary school classes taught in Greek and to conduct individual skills assessments. ECRI welcomes the prompt action taken and concludes that the recommendation has been implemented.
Denmark
Denmark was requested by ECRI to implement two priority recommendations. Firstly, ECRI recommended that the Danish authorities introduce a national action plan against racism, with a particular emphasis on preventing anti-Muslim racism and discrimination and including steps towards securing a proportion of staff from Muslim and other minority backgrounds in such professions as law enforcement officials and teachers. While welcoming the preparations for such an action plan, including the budget allocation, ECRI concludes that the document has not been adopted yet and, therefore, the recommendation has not been implemented.
Secondly, the Council of Europe body recommended that the Danish authorities should introduce positive incentives for all to avoid forced evictions to achieve the objectives of the so-called “parallel society” legislation as regards a more balanced composition between “non-westerners”, EU citizens and “native Danes” in the neighbourhoods concerned. While the Danish authorities’ position is that no eviction of tenants takes place based on their ethnic or national origin from non-Western countries, ECRI nevertheless notes that the aim of the Danish legislation and related policy remains to reduce the share of “non-westerners” in “parallel societies” and “transformation areas” (formerly called “ghetto areas” and “hard ghetto areas” respectively) and that the implementation of the policy has inevitably resulted in forced evictions, decisions on which are being challenged in Danish courts. ECRI concludes that this recommendation has not been implemented.
Estonia
In its most recent report on Estonia, ECRI recommended that the authorities take urgent steps to amend the Penal Code with a view to ensuring that anyone, be it groups of individuals, engaged in hate speech of a criminal nature is duly prosecuted and punished and that citizenship and gender identity be included among the prohibited grounds. ECRI welcomes action initiated by the Estonian authorities to amend the Penal Code, but notes with regret that the government did not propose to insert explicitly citizenship and gender identity among the prohibited grounds and has not yet been able to move forward in parliament after the first reading. The Commission concludes that this recommendation has only been partially implemented so far.
The other priority recommendation was to organise a broad consultation of teachers working with pupils and students with Russian and other non-Estonian backgrounds, as well as parents’ associations and community organisations, to implement the new strategies related to education in Estonia effectively. ECRI acknowledges that the transition to Estonian-language education is a very sensitive topic and welcomes the action taken, but it recalls that consultations should be regular and dissenting voices should be taken into consideration as far as possible. This recommendation has been implemented, ECRI says.
Monaco
ECRI recommended to Monaco strengthening the High Commissioner’s powers of inquiry, to enable the institution to obtain the information it needs for its inquiries – including information not in the public domain – within a set time frame. ECRI takes positive note of some steps taken to facilitate the Commissioner’s requests for information since 2023, says that these measures should be enshrined in law, and concludes its recommendation has been partially implemented.
The second recommendation concerned combatting online hate speech by giving judicial authorities the power to authorise, approve and order the deletion of hate speech or the blocking of sites that use it, in co-operation with the Monegasque Data Protection Authority and, where appropriate, the relevant bodies in other countries concerned. No information on any taken or planned steps was received by ECRI on this matter. ECRI considers that this recommendation has not been implemented.
Hungary
In its most recent report on Hungary, ECRI recommended that the authorities commission an independent review of the legislative measures adopted during the period of “state of danger”, their impact on groups of concern to ECRI, including LGBTI persons, and their compliance with Council of Europe and other human rights standards. ECRI regrets that the Hungarian government has not taken any action to commission such an independent review. ECRI reiterates that the restrictive legislative measures taken during the period of “state of danger” have a strong bearing on the life of LGBTI persons and should be thoroughly and without further delay reviewed by independent experts. It concludes that its recommendation has not been implemented.
The second recommendation by ECRI to Hungary was to enhance the capacity of law enforcement agencies to effectively identify and address racist and LGBTI-phobic hate speech and hate crime by providing more targeted and practical training. While ECRI welcomes the steps taken by the Hungarian authorities so far, it considers that the Hungarian authorities should further expand and improve the provision of such training, with a focus on addressing racist and LGBTI-phobic hate speech and hate crimes and ensuring that the 2019 Hate Crime Protocol is part of the daily police practice. Therefore, ECRI concludes that its recommendation has been partially implemented.
These anti-racism commission conclusions are based on government responses and information gathered from other sources. They only concern ECRI’s priority recommendations and do not aim to comprehensively analyze all developments in the fight against racism and intolerance in the countries concerned.
EU cooperation with Central Asia could reap huge rewards, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said at an EU-Kazakh Cooperation Council meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, adding that Europeans had cottoned on to the region’s significance 10-12 years after the Hungarian government decided to intensify ties with the region.
Chairing the meeting, Szijjártó said that nobody any longer called in question Central Asia’s significance, but 14 years ago the Hungarian government had been slammed for building strong strategic relations with the region.
“I’m glad that … today everybody acknowledges the region’s significance,” he added, noting the new trade routes, energy security, and bulwark against terrorism that it provided.
“I believe that the freshness, the new energies and the new impetus the European Union needs can be won from your region,” Szijjártó said.
He said global energy networks were more and more burdened by the intensive use of heating and cooling systems as well as transport electrification, and nuclear energy was the safest, most sustainable and environmentally friendly way of meeting these needs.
The foreign minister noted that a recent national referendum held in Kazakhstan concerning the peaceful use of nuclear energy had paved the way to the construction of a nuclear power station in the country. “This could open new paths for energy cooperation with the EU as well,” he said.
“Our view is that the coming period must be about increased connectivity, and we firmly argue for this. I believe that cooperation between the EU and Central Asia could contribute to that goal,” the minister said.
At an earlier press conference, Szijjártó recalled that when the Hungarian government started to form ties with Central Asia in the early 2010s, “there were some who laughed at us and called our plan ludicrous, and there were others who heavily criticised us for political reasons. “Today those people and their successors are standing in line in Central Asia trying to build close cooperation.”
He noted that Kazakhstan, with the world’s second largest uranium reserves, is a leading uranium producer, and he argued that the EU would have to tap all kinds of international cooperation in order to harness the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
