Austria

Number of foreigners living in Hungary doubled since 2000

It is a global trend that people go to countries where wages and the standard of living are higher. Thousands of Hungarian citizens have left the country since the EU accession. Meanwhile, the number of foreign citizens doubled in Hungary in the last two decades. Today, more than 200 thousand foreigners live here.

According to Népszava, the coronavirus affected all aspects of global migration. The Central Statistical Office (KSH) published its summary of the immigration and emigration trends in Hungary (Demographic Portrait). They said that, between 2009 and 2019, the number of foreigners coming to Hungary remained steady, around 20-25 thousand. This number jumped to 55 thousand in 2019, while it dropped to 44 thousand in the first year of COVID, in 2020. The trend regarding the number of foreigners living in Hungary is clear. The number has doubled since 2000.

Thanks to government measures, the composition of the foreigners working in Hungary changed. In 2016, the cabinet accepted a decree

allowing citizens of neighbouring countries to work in Hungary without any special permit.

The only condition was that they had to work in sectors struggling with a labour shortage. That is why half of the 55 thousand immigrants came from Ukraine, Slovakia, Serbia, and Romania in 2019. In 2020, this rate decreased to 35 pc. For example, the number of Ukrainian guest workers was 21 thousand in 2019 and only 13 thousand in 2020. 

Meanwhile, the number of Slovakian citizens with an address on the Hungarian side of the border jumped four times. They did not move here, they only needed a Hungarian address to continue their work as a commuter undisturbed.

Interestingly, a third of the immigrants is still from Germany, while a quarter is from Asia.

The data show similar trends concerning emigrating Hungarians. 7.3 pc of Hungarians left the country, a much lower rate than in Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria or Romania. There, the rate is around 20-24 pc. According to KSH, the number of emigrant Hungarians has decreased since 2016. Furthermore, from 2019, more of them come home than go to the West. 

For example, the United Kingdom lost much of its popularity because of Brexit.

There were years when the number of Hungarians getting a social security number in the UK reached 20 thousand.

In 2020, this number was only 4,500. The trend is similar in Germany, even though the numbers did not drop much. According to the authors of the Demographic Portrait, the number of immigrants exceeded the number of emigrants in the last 20 years in Hungary.

Currently, 490 thousand Hungarians live in the countries of the European Economic Area (EU+UK, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland). 400 thousand of them left Hungary after 2000. According to the data of the United Nations, 714 thousand Hungarians who left Hungary now live in 64 countries all over the globe.

71 thousand of the foreigners living in Hungary work here. 29 thousand are studying, while 33 thousand would like to live here permanently. More than 23 thousand of them came because of their families, while the aim of 33 thousand is unknown to the authorities. There are only 5,110 foreigners who received international protection in Hungary. In 2020, only 83 people received refugee status while 43 got protected status. The authorities admitted only four foreign citizens that year.

 

Border Control Migration Fence
Read alsoMigrants are attacking the border more and more violently – VIDEO

Smuggler who shot at border guards near Austria had mafia relations!

He wanted to ignore the soldiers at first, then he shot at them while running away. He can face up to 15 years in prison.

The Moldovan human trafficker

The human trafficker, who brought illegal migrants from the southern border of Hungary to the border of Austria, was a 25-year-old Moldovan man, it seems to be confirmed that he received his order from the human-trafficking mafia. The 25-year-old man tried to break into Austria on Sunday, driving his car ignoring the signs of the soldiers, and then when he understood it would not work out, he got out of his car, started running towards Hungary, and shot twice at the Austrian soldiers, says magyarnemzet.hu. He was arrested by the Hungarian police in the border town of Körmend.

The court case has begun

The 25-year-old Moldovan man is suspected of human trafficking. The Austrian authorities are investigating the violent acts he committed against their officials. In accordance with the Unity Convention, the Austrians will most probably offer to start the case to the Hungarian judicial authorities, as the man was arrested on the Hungarian side.

The 25-year-old Moldovan, along with two compatriots – two men, aged 22 and 26 -, was arrested on January 19 in Körmend, driving an Audi with a Hungarian license plate. His companions were also arrested for helping with human trafficking. The 25-year-old man went to Austria on January 16 with his van crossing the Szentpéterfa / Monyorókerék (Eberau) border, with 12 illegal migrants and a Moldovan helper in his van. The Austrian soldiers tried to stop him, then he drove over the feet of one Austrian soldier. He still got stuck with his vehicle between the soldiers later, so he jumped out and ran back to Hungary while shooting at the Austrian soldiers twice. His accomplice and the illegal migrants were captured by the Austrians.

Criminal proceedings have been initiated in Austria against the shooter for violence against an official, which is expected to be handed over to the Hungarian authorities where they could be joined with human trafficking proceedings. The latter is normally punishable by one to five years’ imprisonment, but if the crime is stopped, and the violence against an official is punishable, it can be punishable by up to 15 years.

Vienna located smuggler mafia

The suspicion of a criminal organisation is already based on the fact that two of his accomplices, who were suspected of supporting the crime, assisted in human trafficking, but there are far more compelling arguments for the aggravating circumstance. According to some  information, the Moldovans smuggling in the Austro-Hungarian border area work for human trafficking gangs operating in Vienna, typically organised by Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis, Pakistanis, Turks, or Bangladeshi people, says origo.hu.

Joint actions of Austro-Hungarian team

The shooter was relatively easy to identify, his captured accomplice told the police who he was at the first request, and since he was on the Austrian records as he had a criminal past, a photo of him was also found just in a few minutes. The joint Austro-Hungarian investigation team in Nickeldorf is in constant contact regarding information about the human traffickers.

The situation in Serbia does not seem easy

According to information from the Hungarian police, Syrian, Afghan, and Turkish smugglers have established their control all over Serbia. These gangs have fought a bloody battle over the division of territory.

Here, you can see a video where the local field guards of Ásotthalom are looking for illegal migrants on the Hungarian-Serbian border:

Toroczkai and his crew
Read alsoArmed migrant hunters on the Hungarian border?

Manhunt ended near the Austrian border!

TEK
Hungarian police on Wednesday morning apprehended a suspected people smuggler, a Moldovan national, who had fired shots at an Austrian police officer while fleeing a border check earlier this week, the police said on their website.
 
The 25-year-old man was one of the three passengers travelling in a Hungarian registered car which was stopped in Körmend near the Austrian border, the police said in a statement.
 
Notified by Austrian authorities, Hungary’s Vas County police and counterterrorism (TEK) force launched a manhunt for the suspect on Tuesday morning in the area of Szentpeterfa, near the border, where the man was believed to be hiding after fleeing Austrian border guards. The Moldovan is suspected of attempting to smuggle a group of illegal migrants to Austria.
 
 
According to Austrian press reports,
 
the Moldovan fired shots at the Austrian police near the Eberau border crossing.
 
Featured image: illustration
Read also Here is what you receive for trafficking 20 migrants in Hungary

Hungary and Austria agreed to set up a joint criminal investigation unit

Pintér austria

Hungary and Austria have agreed to set up a joint criminal investigation unit, organise joint patrols and expand information sharing on criminal cases, Interior Minister Sándor Pintér said after talks with his Austrian counterpart in Budapest on Tuesday.

Hungary and Austria are both working to guarantee the security of their countries and safety of their citizens, Pintér told a joint press conference with Gerhard Karner.

Pintér thanked Karner for Austria’s assistance in the protection of the European Union’s external borders.

He said they were also in agreement that ensuring Europe’s security required more than just border protection. The two countries have therefore also agreed to participate in police operations in the Balkan region that will ensure Hungary and Austria’s security.

Pintér said he and Karner had also discussed bilateral cooperation in the response to the pandemic, adding that they had promised to continue taking into consideration new information about the pandemic when coordinating their border activities.

Karner said

his visit to Hungary was his first international trip since taking office last month, adding that this was a sign of strong bilateral cooperation.

He said they had agreed to intensify their efforts against organised crime, specifically human smuggling and trafficking.

The minister added that

Austria and Hungary expected the European Commission to strengthen the protection of the bloc’s borders.

Meanwhile, in response to a question concerning Monday’s shooting incident on the Hungary-Austria border, Pintér said the authorities had identified and would catch the suspect who allegedly fired shots at Austrian border authorities.

police car siren
Read alsoShocking: shooting at the Hungarian-Austrian border

Breaking – human smuggler fired on police at the Hungarian-Austrian border!

Police-crime-migrants-Szentpeterfa-TEK-dead-body

Agents of the Counter-Terrorism Centre are already in Szentpéterfa, where the shooting happened earlier today. 

According to vaol.hu, the news portal of Vas county, there are a lot of police units in Szentpéterfa, a small Hungarian village just metres away from the Hungarian-Austrian border. They wrote that a human smuggler opened fire on Austrian border guards from the Hungarian side. Then he escaped and tried to hide in a former border guard barrack nearby. The officers of the Counter-Terrorism Centre surrounded the building. A couple of minutes later, their Austrian colleagues sent a drone to help. Based on unconfirmed information, the smuggler is not alone. 

Afterwards, police caught a Moldavian human smuggler in the village. Officers found 14 people in his van, who claimed to be Syrian refugees. To sum up, there are two cases. One of them is already solved, while the other is still going on.

szentpéterfa_border_crossing
Szentpéterfa border crossing. The other side is Austria. Photo: PrtScr/Google Maps

Regarding the latter issue, local police issued a statement a couple of hours ago. They said that the Syrians could not provide any documents proving their national identity or citizenship. However, they could not demonstrate the legality of their stay in Hungary. As a result,

police will escort them to the border fence. Meanwhile, the Moldavian citizen will be brought to court for human trafficking.

Regarding the former issue, vaol.hu wrote that Hungarian police officers wanted to check a vehicle at the border of Szentpéterfa. However, the driver escaped and opened fire on an Austrian border guard. Thus, the Counter-Terrorism Centre swarmed the village with police officers.

According to Blikk, the perpetrator(s) barricaded themselves in a former Hungarian border guard barrack. They added that the human smuggler first drove to Austria. However,

Austrian police officers caught him and wanted to check his car. That is when he opened fire and went back to the Hungarian side. 

The spokesman of the Austrian Army, Michael Bauer, wrote on Twitter that the driver of a bus refused military check and a soldier suffered light injuries. They went after him, but he drove back to Hungary. A couple of shots were fired during the pursuit in the Austrian side but nobody suffered an injury.

 Featured image: illustration

All Saints Day, candle, mourning
Read alsoSHOCKING – Hungarian man killed himself and his 6y/o daughter in Austria

SHOCKING – Hungarian man killed himself and his 6y/o daughter in Austria

All Saints Day, candle, mourning

A 38-year-old Hungarian man jumped in front of a Railjet train in Lower-Austria, together with his six-year-old daughter. The incident happened on Tuesday night, and since then, the shocking tragedy has become national news in Austria.

At first, the driver thought he had hit 3 people

At first, the news announced said that a man who lives in Austria had jumped in front of a train in Sollenau, together with his child, and they both died, says Index.hu. The driver of the train reported that he could have run over a third person in the dark as well, but the search teams found nobody else in the area.

read also: Tragedy in Budapest: shop collapsed, one died – PHOTOS

Police are still investigating the shocking matter. It seems very likely that it was a suicide. This also seems to be confirmed by what has been published in the Austrian media about the man and his family.

Previous problems

The Austrian newspaper, Kronen Zeitung, figured out that the man was an amateur tennis player with family problems. His wife, who had previously been chosen as the beauty of Lower Austria, divorced him a few years ago. The man could never accept this and repeatedly threatened to kill her and their daughter as well.

read also: Shocking: shooting at the Hungarian-Austrian border

The first threats, according to the Austrian court, were made around the fall of 2017, and from then until February 2018, they were repeated several times.

For the next three years, he reportedly abandoned them, but in July 2021, he once again threatened his ex-wife. He was saying that he would push her in front of a train with her daughter.

He was sentenced to 12 months in prison

That threat was already followed by a court case: on November 15, 2021, the man was finally sentenced to twelve months in prison and a fine of €720. In addition, they were required to undergo psychotherapy during the probationary period.

The police is doing their best to figure out what happened, says spokesman Andreas Winter.

Balcony fell down in Budapest, one woman died
Read alsoTragedy! Balcony fell down in Budapest, one woman died – PHOTO

Shocking: shooting at the Hungarian-Austrian border

police car siren

As Helló Magyar wrote, there was a shooting yesterday afternoon at the Harka crossing point on the Hungarian-Austrian border. The police wanted to check a van, but the driver tried to hit the patrol officer to avoid being checked, police.hu reported.

Early Thursday afternoon, border control officers spotted a vehicle with Lithuanian licence plates. Due to the suspicious behaviour of the driver and the passengers, officers suspected that they might be members of a human trafficking gang, Helló Magyar wrote.

They informed their colleagues on the Hungarian side, alerting them to be more vigilant. The result of this was that soon afterwards, they spotted the van they wanted to check.

The driver did not stop

One of the officers, as usual, stepped out onto the road and ordered the driver of the van to stop. However, the driver, increasing his speed, steered the vehicle towards the officer and tried to run him over.

Fortunately, he was able to jump out of the way in time. In the meantime, his partner, noticing the incident, drew his service weapon and fired several shots at the van. But the vehicle did not stop, and it drove across the border.

The bullets probably caused the van to become inoperable and stop after crossing the border. The Hungarian police informed their Austrian counterparts, who arrived at the scene and checked the vehicle.

hungarian austrian border van
The van caught at the Hungarian-Austrian border, source: police.hu

Suspicions were confirmed

The investigation revealed that the officers’ suspicions were not unfounded. Thirty people of unknown nationality were travelling in the cargo hold of the van, which was otherwise registered in Hungary.

The authorities took both the passengers and the Egyptian driver to the authorities and have started an investigation. No one was injured during the incident.

The offence of human trafficking is punished by imprisonment of between one and five years but may increase to five to fifteen years in aggravated cases.

Read alsoThese celebs shot movies and visited Hungary in 2021

Ministry marks bicentenary of first finance minister of Austro-Hungarian monarchy

finance_ministry_marks_bicentenary_of_menyhért_lónyay
Finance Minister Mihály Varga on Thursday attended a commemoration marking the 200th birth anniversary of Menyhért Lónyay, the first finance minister of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy after the Compromise of 1867, which established the dual state.
 
Varga praised Lónyay as a “responsible, knowledgeable and broadminded politician who believed that an independent Hungary will have a place among developed nations.”
 
He noted that in the first budget of the dual monarchy, Lónyay prescribed stringent austerity but promoted raising state revenues without raising taxes. “He contributed to the material and spiritual growth of the country through investment support,” Varga said.
 
 
The Orbán government’s similar actions in the past decade are starting to bear fruit, Varga said. Growth is expected above 6 percent this year and above 5 percent in 2023, he said. Unemployment in Hungary is one of the lowest in the European Union, he said.
 
Financial stability and investment readiness are expected to improve further next year,
 
he added.
finance_ministry_marks_bicentenary_of_menyhért_lónyay
Read alsoMinistry marks bicentenary of first finance minister of Austro-Hungarian monarchy

Shocking number of Hungarian women go to the West to care for the elderly

Elderly Care Hungary

An ageing society is a growing problem within the European Union. In most cases, the task of caring for the elderly is performed by women. The problem has spread to Western Europe as well, but there, people can afford to get help from outside of the family. The result is an influx of workers from the East to the West, and it affects women the most.

Workflow from East to West

According to a survey, a third of Hungarians know a woman who works abroad as a nurse or caregiver, writes telex.hu. The flow of workers from East to West is affecting more and more people. As society ages in most European countries, the elderly make up an increasing proportion of the population.

The situation in Hungary is special, as many caregivers come from the East, but many also go to the West from Hungary.

read also: EU to send money only after a government change?

They come to Hungary from the East mostly from Romania, while from Hungary, Austria and Germany are the most popular destinations. The lack of language skills or former experience is not a problem. They have similar positions as professional caregivers or nurses. So, they monitor the condition of the elderly and are also responsible for administering medications and helping the elderly to wash.

In the case of an inpatient, it is also important to change diapers and to move and keep the elderly clean to avoid illnesses. Despite the fact that it is hard physical work, many nurses are old and retired themselves, writes ujegyenloseg.hu.

Personal stories from Hungary and Romania

Telex.hu visited many women in both Hungary and Romania. Many Transylvanian women working in Hungary started to work due to low pensions, while others chose this career for the sake of preserving tradition. After all, it has always been a habit to care for the elderly, why not get paid for it.

read also: Another 46 cases of omicron variant identified in Hungary!

Hard physical work is not a problem either. A Transylvanian woman said she only treats outpatients because of her spinal cord injury.

“As long as my health lasts, I’ll go and help,”

she said. It is not only physically but also mentally demanding work. “He was perfectly normal during the day. He talked about laws and talked to doctors. But at night, they seemed to have changed completely. He did things I could not take anymore,” says another caregiver.

Read alsoRent prices have been climbing all across Hungary for the past 10 months

Hungary, Russia, Austria to ship Chinese goods to Europe together

Hungary-China-railway-cargo-Russia
Hungarian-owned CER Cargo Holding SE, Russian-owned RZDL Europe Kft and the Hungarian unit of Austria’s Rail Cargo Group, Rail Cargo Hungaria Zrt, signed a memorandum of understanding on setting up a joint venture to bring cargo between China and Europe in Budapest on Tuesday.
 
Administrative and operative preparations for the establishment of the JV are underway and it is expected to start operation in the first half of 2022. The JV will focus on bringing imports from China to Europe and exports to markets in Asia.
 
Speaking at the signing, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said a cargo hub being established in Záhony, on Hungary’s eastern border, is of
 
“strategic importance” for Europe as a bridge between countries in the East and the European Union.
 
The Záhony cargo hub, together with an upgrade of the rail line connecting Budapest and Belgrade, will make Hungary a “key player” in the flow of trade of goods between East and West, he added.
 
 
Innovation and Technology Minister László Palkovics said railway developments will be prioritised in the coming years, adding that emissions reductions targets cannot be met without a well-functioning railway network. He said a “significant increase” in
 
trade of goods between Europe and Asia was expected in the coming years and pointed to changes to delivery networks during the pandemic as well as the “standout importance” of cargo trains.
 
Russian Deputy Minister of Transport Vladimir Tokarev acknowledged the working group’s efforts in the cooperation over the past two years and noted the importance of developing rail cargo between Europe and Asia.
railway frankfurt high speed
Read alsoHigh-speed railway between Budapest and Warsaw to cut travel time from 12 to 5 hours

Government not to follow Austrian restrictions

Hungary-government-info

Gergely Gulyás, the PM’s chief of staff said yesterday that current epidemic rules differed from previous ones since now everyone had a free choice on whether to get vaccinated or not, and the government did not plan to introduce restrictions like those in Austria and Slovakia. The consensus is that the fourth wave of the epidemic was now peaking and the descent would start at around Christmas, he added.

Asked about vaccine mandates, Gulyás said decisions on making Covid jabs mandatory had to remain a national competency. Hungary has introduced strict vaccine mandates in workplaces where workers interact with many people, the health-care sector, public administration and schools, he noted.
 
Employers can also mandate their employees to get vaccinated,
 
he added.
 
More than 100,000 people got jabbed each day last week during the national vaccination campaign, Gulyás said. And though only half as many people are getting a shot this week, the daily vaccination rate is still significantly higher than in the weeks before the campaign, he added.
 
 
 
Because many people got their second dose over six months ago, a booster shot would be timely for them, since they are now less protected against the virus, Gulyás said.
 
Whether there will be another wave of the pandemic and how severe it will be depends on the number of people who get the booster jab,
 
he said.
 
Hungary has more than 2.8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine in stock in addition to 778,000 doses of Moderna, 3.1 million doses of the Janssen jab, and more than 2 million doses of Sinopharm, he said. Also there are more than 1.6 million doses of AstraZeneca which will soon reach their expiration date, so the government will donate them to other countries, he added.

Gulyás said current epidemic rules differed from previous ones since now everyone had a free choice on whether to get vaccinated or not, and the government did not plan to introduce restrictions like those in Austria and Slovakia. The consensus is that the fourth wave of the epidemic was now peaking and the descent would start at around Christmas, he added.
 
 
Regarding compulsory vaccinations, he said 92 percent of teachers in public schools have been jabbed, and the Dec. 15 deadline for a first shot still applied. Gulyás said that those who got
 
the Sputnik jab would have to wait for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to approve the vaccine in order to travel freely within Europe,
 
and Hungarian diplomacy was doing everything possible to get the EU to change its standpoint on the Russian vaccine.
 
He also broached the subject of a possible fourth shot,
 
saying enough supplies would be at hand should the medical establishment advise getting one. Regarding the change in how ventilator data is reported, he said the new data reflected the distinction between intubation, which qualifies as a life-saving intervention, and other forms of assisted respiration. He added there was no reason not to disclose data on non-invasive ventilated patients.
 
He said the operative board responsible for handling the pandemic could soon decide on changes to the validity of Covid immunity cards. However, the government will not have to issue new cards even if they were to be made invalid six months after the receipt of the second vaccine dose, as they contain information on the number of jabs the card-holder has received, he said.
 
Meanwhile, Gulyás said he preferred not to comment on information provided by the mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karácsony, that Fudan University had
 
abandoned its plan to build a campus in Budapest,
 
adding that the government’s position on the Fudan project was clear. The question of when the land would be transferred was, for example, “a technical question”, he added.
Vaccine-hospital
Read also EU to introduce mandatory vaccination soon?

Is the price of groceries really skyrocketing in Hungary?

Grocery price Hungary

Aldi and Lidl have very different prices abroad than in Hungary. But where is it more expensive to shop?

In Austria or the United Kingdom, there are products with a cheaper price than in Hungary. Despite this, however, the overall cost of shopping was higher abroad, writes G7. However, the situation is more complicated. Prices do not seem so budget-friendly after a short analysis of the situation. The portal made some calculations regarding prices in Hungary and abroad. The conclusion was quite interesting. 

In Germany, out of 29 products, 7 were cheaper in Aldi and 12 in Lidl. In the United Kingdom, 14 products were cheaper out of 31. The most attractive prices were found in Germany. There, 17 products were cheaper out of 33. Only meat and milk were more expensive. Vegetarian products in Germany are cheaper than in Hungary. 

budapest_chain_bridge_hungarian_flag
Read also Hungary to unite the Carpathian Basin economically?

Despite this, Aldi in Germany is actually 32% more expensive than in Hungary, while Lidl is 35% more expensive. Based on the median pay, the numbers get a different meaning. Shopping in Germany takes 2.28% of people’s wages, while in Hungary, the number is 6.28%.

This means that it has no importance whether products are cheaper in Germany and the overall cost is still higher there. Looking at the median wage and shopping cost ratio, Hungarians leave more money at the stores. Portfolio also looked into how much people spend.

In the European Union, people spent over 1,000 billion euros on food and non-alcoholic beverages in 2020. This made up 7.5% of the European Union’s GDP.

The average spending on groceries in the EU is 14.8%. Romanian households spent 26.4% of their expenses on groceries. The number is 19.4% in Slovakia, 17.1% in the Czech Republic, and 18.7% in Hungary.

People may have the impression that in countries where the cost of living is higher, prices match this standard. However, some expensive countries actually spend less of their wages on groceries.

Belgians spend 14.4%, Norwegians 13.3%, Swedes 13.2%, the Dutch 12.9%, Danes 12.3%, Germans 12%, and Austrians 11.3% on buying food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Bar Restaurant Étterem Food Étel Bár
Read alsoHuge economic losses affect tourism and hospitality sectors in Hungary

dm-drogerie markt products are more expensive in Hungary than in Germany or Austria!

dm Hungary Germany

A very popular store is more expensive in Hungary than in Germany or Austria. This may be due to the 27% value added tax.

In other countries, the value added tax is not as high, writes HVG. In Austria, the tax is only 20%, and in Germany, the tax is only 19%. Taking this into consideration, it is not surprising that necessities are taking more money out of the customers’ pockets here than abroad.

G7 looked into this issue and checked how much certain products in DM would cost. The portal put items into an online shopping cart in Hungary, Austria, and Germany. Of course, this was done not physically being in the country but using the Hungarian and the foreign websites. They bought shower gel, soap, toothpaste, shampoo, hair conditioner, body lotion, hand cream, deodorant, lip balm, a comb, tissue paper, toilet paper, pads, and tampons. These products are a necessity for everyone, except for the women’s hygiene products, of course. That is why the prices are an important factor to consider.

tesco hungary lake balaton
Read alsoAuchan, Penny and Tesco to be sold to Hungarians?

The shopping carts’ content was the same. Only the cheapest items were in it, but there were some interesting conclusions to be drawn. Out of a total of 15 products, 9 were the most expensive in Hungary.

The total price of the products does not differ much, we are talking about smaller amounts of money. However, an important factor in understanding the market is the fact that the wages differ significantly. First and foremost, the currency differs. Then, it should be considered how much money people make on average in these countries.

The median pay did not grow in Austria or Germany, while in Hungary, the median salary increased by 8 per cent.

This seems to be good news, but looking at the correlation between the median pay and prices, we can see how much people spend on various products. In Hungary, 2.07 per cent of wages are spent on the aforementioned shopping list. The percentage in Austria and Germany, however, is only 0.52 per cent.

The price difference is bad news for women especially. Those who do not make much money could feel the difference caused by the value added tax. In Hungary, the tax is 27 per cent, while in Austria, it is 20 per cent, and it is 19 per cent in Germany.

Female hygiene products, however, are even cheaper abroad. In Austria, only 10 per cent tax is added to these necessities. In Germany, only 7 per cent tax is added to the products. This results in Germany collecting half the tax that Hungary puts on a standard shopping cart of a Hungarian woman.

Read alsoEconomy’s ‘dimensional shift’ further accelerated despite pandemic, says FM Szijjártó

Fidesz MEP: Hungary safe from power failures despite energy crisis in Europe

tamás deutsch fidesz brussels

Hungary is safe from the power cuts threatening Southern and Western Europe as a consequence of the energy crisis gripping the continent, a Fidesz MEP told public radio on Sunday.

“It is an undeniable fact that citizens may experience blackouts in the winter months,” Tamás Deutsch, who also heads the Fidesz delegation in the European Parliament, said.

While Hungary’s energy supply is safe thanks to the long-term contract the government closed with Russia earlier this year, German and Austrian authorities are already preparing the citizens for possible days-long blackouts, Deutsch said.

The government’s utility price cuts have prevented energy prices from skyrocketing, unlike in southern and western Europe, he said. Household gas prices are currently the lowest in the European Union, and electricity prices are the second lowest, he said.

Hungary’s GDP to skyrocket in 2021

PM Orbán: the Commission’s plan is to destroy Europe’s middle classes

Meanwhile, the Hungarian opposition continues to attack the measure, Deutsch said. “They approve Western pricing policies, even though they led to a 300 percent rise in gas prices, and 400 percent in electricity prices,” he said.

The opposition’s plans would bring an annual 380,000 forint (€ 1,050) rise in utility prices for an average Hungarian family, he said.

“In addition, they are also enthusiastic supporters of an absurd idea of Brussels that would burden citizens with the costs of climate protection. That would mean another 150,000 forints in annual expenses for every family,” he said.

The incumbent government’s policy has brought down utility prices by 25 percent for households since 2013-2014, Deutsch said.

István Hollik
Read alsoFidesz MEP: Brussels responsible for ‘public utility crisis’ in Europe

Hungary is ready to open a corridor for migrants to “march up to Austria, Germany and Sweden”

Hungary helps program migration

Commenting on migration, PM Viktor Orbán said in his regular Friday morning interview that over the past six years since 2015, border fences have been built not only by Hungary but also by Greece, Spain, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. This shows that Hungary’s position which it took “in solo” in 2015 is slowly becoming a majority view in Europe, he said.

A total of 92,000 illegal border entries were prevented in the first nine months of this year, which shows that the pressure of migration increased three to four-fold over one year, Orbán said.

Hungary has

spent nearly 600 billion forints on border protection so far,

which is approximately the same sum that the government will give to parents in the form of tax rebates next year, he said. As a result, it is a reasonable demand by Hungary that the EU should pay back at least a part of this money, he added. Orban warned that migration was making the pandemic spread faster, with illegal migrants transmitting infection.

Hungary is ready to

open a corridor for migrants to “march up to Austria, Germany and Sweden”

but refuses to allow Brussels to force its opinion on Hungary, Orbán said.

It is up to the Hungarian people to decide who should be allowed to enter the country and whom they want to live with, he added. “This debate will stay with us for years because we live in an age of epidemics and migration,” Orbán said.

Orban calls on EC to reimburse Hungary’s border protection costs

 

On the topic of utility costs, Orbán said Hungary’s left-wing opposition had made it clear that they would raise the price of electricity and gas to market level if they won next year’s general election. “The left’s position is clear: if market prices are rising, the people should also pay more,” Orban said. He added that his government, on the other hand, had fixed household utility prices in the interests of families and pensioners. Even though the price of electricity and gas has increased two to three-fold in Europe in recent months, Hungarian households have not seen their utility bills rise, Orbán said.

“That’s how it’ll be as long as the country is governed by a nationally minded government,”

he said.

Meanwhile, Orbán said it was a “foolish idea” on the part of Brussels to introduce “a so-called climate protection plan that will further raise prices” when energy prices were already rising. But governments have room for manoeuvre, Orbán said, adding that it was possible to fight climate change by making the biggest polluting companies bear the costs for it instead of households.

He said this was currently the most contested issue in Brussels,

as the more prosperous western European countries wanted to impose a tax on homes and vehicles while the central European countries were resisting such a measure. The main question at next month’s summit of European Union leaders will be which side prevails, he added.

Orbán said the increase of the minimum wage to a monthly 200,000 forints had been a “great achievement”, adding that he had not heard of any international example of a 20 percent minimum wage increase within one year. In order to achieve this, the government agreed to a significant tax cut at talks with employers, he added.

Ten years ago, when the Gyurcsány-Bajnai governments were in power,

the average wage was at the same level that the minimum wage will now reach,

he said.

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Is food in Austria cheaper than in Hungary?

Lild Aldi Food Groceries Products Store Shopping

Have you ever been curious about what food costs in different countries? What could people buy in different countries for the same sum of money?

Since the last instalment of their article was quite popular, G7 continued their series. This time they compared the prices of Aldi (Hofer in Austria) and Lidl in Hungary and Austria to see which country is the cheaper.

The Hungarian news site has been making comparisons of prices of essential food products between stores and countries for some time now.

They have gone after the legend that Austrians not only earn more than Hungarians, but the food is cheaper as well.

To conduct the comparison – keep in mind, it is not representative –, they use prices per kilo or litre and sales are excluded. If there are more products in a category, they always use the cheapest. This time they ended up comparing 29 products. In the following charts, you can see how much certain essential products cost in Hungary and Vienna on the same day.

Is food in Hungary three times more expensive than in the UK?

Food in Hungary vs Austria

G7 have found that in Aldi, seven products of the 29 examined were cheaper than in Hungary (flour, oil, butter, tomato, banana, rice and gouda) while in Lidl’s range, 12 were more affordable than the Hungarian price (oil, butter, tomato, pepper, apple, banana, coffee, rice, spaghetti, onion, gouda, orange).

This is quite a large portion of the examined essential products, but does that mean that food in Austria is cheaper than in Hungary? While it is true that certain products are cheaper in Austria, it does not necessarily imply that shopping altogether would be cheaper too.

 

In their research, the news site found that in Aldi, their cart would have cost 9,588 forints (€ 26.63) in Hungary, while 12,404 forints (€ 34.46) in Vienna.

 
 
The results in Lidl were quite similar. In Hungary, it cost around 9,605 forints (€ 26.68), and in Wien, it was 11,994 forints (€ 33.32).

Conclusion

According to their findings, the overall price difference in the Austrian Hofer (Aldi) was 29.4%, and in the Austrian Lidl, it was 24.9% higher than the price of the shopping in Hungary.

How well do you know Hungarian cuisine? – QUIZ

G7 noted that while it is certainly possible, what is more, pretty easy to find certain products in Austria that are cheaper, but overall, the cost of weekly grocery shopping is still relatively more affordable in Hungary. Although it might not be factually cheaper but is a weekly shopping less demanding on the average person’s salary in Austria or Hungary?

To answer that question, the news site used the median wages of both countries. Hungarian median wage, according to last year’s data and 8% inflation, is around 210,000 forints, or roughly € 583.33. Austrian median wage, however, is 807,000 forints, or approximately € 2220.

Comparing these wages to the price of a shopping, it turns out that while it takes about 4.6% of the Hungarian median wage, it is only 1.5% of the median salary of Austria, says Hvg.

This means that it is almost three times more demanding for a Hungarian to buy the same products.

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Migrants found dead in a Hungarian van in Austria – manhunt for driver began

There were altogether 29 migrants travelling in the truck. Two of them were found dead the day before yesterday. Hungarian and Austrian police are still searching for the driver.

Migrants found when soldiers opened the van

It was not clear on Tuesday that the yellow Renault had a Hungarian license plate. The authorities cleared that information only on Wednesday – telex.hu reported.

They started a manhunt to catch the van driver yesterday but have not been able to find him yet.

Soldiers stopped a suspicious truck only some kilometres away from Sopron, near Siegendorf, in Austria. When they stopped it, people started to scream in the back of the van gasping for air. They found 29 migrants, but two of them were already dead. Meanwhile, the driver could escape, and authorities could not find him yet.

Police searched the area near the border on Tuesday with helicopters, dogs and drones. Furthermore, multiple eye-witnesses reported that they saw the suspect.

International tour for prostitutes? A Hungarian couple was caught for it – VIDEO!

Manhunt after the driver

All of the migrants in the truck were adults, Kurds and Syrians. The two dead were in their twenties, and the authorities will only determine the cause of their death based on the autopsy.

Others did not require medical attention.

Therefore, the authorities transferred them to Nickelsdorf and started to interrogate them. Gerald Tatzgern, the leader of the local department of human trafficking issues, said that the men found in the car probably arrived from Western Balkan refugee camps. “Supposedly, they did not want to spend another winter there” – he added. He also said that Hungarian authorities helped their Austrian colleagues in solving the case.

According to 168.hu, ORF, the Austrian public broadcaster, said that the driver ran towards Hungary. His citizenship is not yet known, but he might carry a weapon. The police officially closed all roads and searched nearby forests with helicopters, drones and dogs. Furthermore, they interrogated the remaining 27 migrants found in the van as witnesses.

Featured image: illustration

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Austria, Hungary to continue close cooperation, says FM Szijjártó in Vienna

Austrian flag

Austria and Hungary can count on one another as friends and will continue to closely cooperate in the future as well, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said after meeting Michael Linhart, his Austrian counterpart, in Vienna on Tuesday.

“Although new in the post of foreign minister, Michael Linhart is a good old friend, we have been working together for several years as he has served in various positions in the Austrian foreign ministry,” Szijjarto told journalists.

Szijjártó noted that Austria is the second major trading partner of and the third major foreign investor in Hungary. He welcomed that similarly to Hungary, Austria’s economy has recovered to pre-pandemic levels and expressed trust that the two countries could economically help one another in the months and years to come.

Szijjártó said they were in full agreement as regards issues that pose the biggest challenges to the region.

“We both stated our firm position concerning migration and agreed that we must in the first place protect our borders. We also agreed that the policy of encouraging migration to Europe must be stopped. Further, we also agreed that the Western Balkans must be integrated into the European Union as soon as possible,”

Szijjártó said.

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