In one of his latest interviews, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy once again accused countries of indirectly helping the Russian military machine.
On Thursday, BBCposted an interview with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the President of Ukraine, in which he talked about the current situation of the ongoing military conflict that started between Russia and Ukraine with an invasion by the Russian military back in late February.
The conflict has since become increasingly brutal, and news has surfaced about several incidents of sexual violence and directly killing civilians and prisoners of war,
which are considered to be war crimes according to the Geneva Convention agreed upon in 1949, following the brutalities of WWII.
Many people have made connections between some of the atrocities that have surfaced in the conflict between Ukrainians and the Russian military and those that were committed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
In his latest interview, the Ukrainian President singled out Germany and Hungary, accusing them of indirectly supporting the Russian military machine by not backing the embargo on energy sales from Russian sources. Zelenskiy said that with these deals, Russia will make approximately £250 billion (~ €302 billion) this year.
BBCinterviewed Zelenskiy on Thursday in Ukraine, in the President’s situation room in Kyiv, where he told his interviewers the following:
“Some of our friends and partners understand that it is a different time now, that it is no longer an issue of business and money. That it is an issue of survival. The United States, the United Kingdom, some European countries – they are trying to help and are helping. But still we need it sooner, sooner and faster. The key word is now.”
To the interviewer’s question of how Ukraine has been dealing with the fact that they only received a total of 1 billion dollars since the war started considering the fact that Europe “gives” the same amount to Russia every day, Volodomy Zelenskiy answered that
“we do not understand how you can make money from blood. Unfortunately, this is what some countries have been doing. European countries”.
According to Világgazdaság, Neste’s data shows that the Urals-Brent price difference of oil has been increasing since the war in Ukraine, and at this point, the difference is $35 per barrel.
Due to the war, the North Sea Brent oil costs significantly more, which is economically beneficial to Hungarian MOL, which mainly refines Russian oil, not necessarily by choice but by geographical location and infrastructure. Nonetheless,
this difference can make MOL 3.5 billion forints (€9.2 million) daily.
According to recent analyses, Hungary has the most intense price increase in the real estate market within the EU. Numerically, second-hand housing prices have increased by 20% nationwide. Meanwhile, the new property market has experienced a price increase of 21% in Budapest and 26% in the countryside compared to the same period last year.
In the last quarter of last year, the average price paid for a home in Hungary was 2.1 times higher than in 2015. Based on this,
house prices in Hungary have increased at the fastest rate in the last 7 years within the EU.
As the latest data from Eurostat reveals, Hungary is followed by the Czech Republic in second place with a two-fold increase. The third place in terms of expensiveness is taken by Luxembourg, where properties for sale are 1.8 times more expensive than in 2015.
According to the latest domestic analysis, new and second-hand housing prices in Hungary rose by 19.5% in the last quarter of last year. Such an intense price increase could only be observed before the pandemic in the second quarter of 2019. Although for a long time the Hungarian capital was the center of increasing real estate prices, now the big cities outside Budapest are also significantly affected.
This can be explained by the fact that buyers have moved away from more expensive areas to cheaper ones. As a result, house prices have risen significantly in municipalities in the countryside, where properties are available at much lower prices than in the capital.
In Budapest, the average price per m2 of new homes on the supply market in the first days of April was nearly EUR 2,908 (~ HUF 1.1 million). This means an increase of 21% compared to a year earlier. In the case of second-hand apartments in the Hungarian capital, the increase was 17%, reaching EUR 2,308 (~ HUF 873,000).
In the larger cities outside Budapest, the average price per m2 of new housing was EUR 1,946 (~HUF 736,000), which means a 26% annual increase. Meanwhile, the average price of second-hand housing rose by 28% to EUR 1,380 (~HUF 522,000).
According to an expert, the housing market is going through remarkable changes.
This is indicated by the significant drop in demand for homes for sale this year.
The reason behind this is the rising interest rate caused by inflation, thus the increase in the cost of home loans.
As the Hungarian news portal Forbes reports, the new and second-hand housing markets may diverge in the coming period. Presumably, new housing prices will rise faster than second-hand prices. For the latter, external factors unrelated to demand, such as labour shortages and rising costs of building materials, can also lead to price increases. Accordingly, the great question is whether buyers will be willing to purchase at these current price levels. Otherwise, in case of insufficient demand, investors will not build these properties.
Meanwhile, the popularity of panel housing is growing. Even though prices per square metre in Budapest increased by almost EUR 264 (~HUF 100,000) in a year, it usually takes less than 3 months to sell a panel apartment in the Hungarian capital. Based on the first-quarter data, the highest turnover was recorded in the 3rd, 11th, 13th, and 14th districts. The average price per square metre in the capital is EUR 1,760 (~HUF 666,000). However, more and more panels are offered for EUR 2,114-2,378 (~HUF 800-900,000), which means that the price of panel apartments is already the same as that of brick apartments – reported by atv.
The Hungarian forint has been up and down in the past weeks, but mostly down. One company has already been wrecked by the economic crisis.
As Forbes put it, the forint is tired. After the victory of FIDESZ, it has been jumping up and down, but by now, it is stuck in the same place. The forint strengthened slightly against the euro on Friday morning. Although it has already worked its way down from Thursday’s 380, it seems that the exchange rate has settled around 378.55. It is still not a good rate at all, given that prior to the parliamentary election, the price of one euro was HUF 366-367.
Rule-of-law mechanism and press conference
There are two main reasons for the continuous bounce of the forint this week: the launch of the rule-of-law conditionality mechanism and Orbán’s press conference. As we wrote earlier this week, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, has formally announced that the
European Commission is activating the rule-of-law conditionality mechanism against Hungary.
During a press conference earlier this week, PM Orbán said that when talking to Russian president Putin on the phone, he asked for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. What is more, he also said during the conference that if Russia wants Hungary to pay for natural gas in roubles, that would be no problem for the country.
However, Ursula von der Leyen was not so happy about it. She said that it indeed would be a problem and that if Hungary does proceed to pay Russia in roubles, that would be a breach of EU sanctions against Russia.
First victim of the economic crisis: Tungsram
From Monday, Tungsram will send the affected employees on leave due to partial factory shutdowns. The reason is that the company is facing an unsolvable situation due to the economic circumstances, as mfor.hu reported.
In a recent interview with Index.hu, the head of Tungsram explained that the pandemic, global supply difficulties, and the war in Ukraine have left the group facing
an unsolvable situation, and only immediate government support would allow the survival of the historic Hungarian brand.
Therefore, there will be a shutdown from Monday for a week, and at the LED section of the factory in Nagykanizsa, it will last until 22 April, and the workers concerned will be given leave for this period, writes the Zala County news portal.
According to Index.hu, Jörg Bauer, the company’s CEO, said that the crisis does not only affect Tungsram. He said that
the European industry, including the Hungarian industry, urgently needs EU and government help to survive.
At the European level, one of his proposed solutions would be to introduce programmes to curb energy consumption, which would also reduce the EU’s dependence on imported gas and oil. Another would be to promote more recycling, which would reduce dependence on the Chinese market.
Viktor Orbán said earlier this week that it is not a problem for us to pay for gas in roubles. However, the European Commission’s president said that that would be in breach of EU sanctions against Russia.
If Hungary were to pay for Russian natural gas in rubles, it would violate European Union sanctions against Russia, said Ursula von der Leyen, according to CNN. Russia charges countries it considers unfriendly in roubles for natural gas. This includes all EU countries. The Hungarian PM thinks this is not a problem for Hungary.
According to Telex.hu, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said that Russia’s demand for ruble payments concerns the contract between Gazprom and MVM’s subsidiaries and that the parties are in talks and will only present the details afterwards.
the EU has nothing to do with the agreement concluded by the two parties, and the Hungarian government does not support the EU’s position on gas imports.
As we can read in hvg.hu’s article, the next time Hungary will have to pay Russia will be at the end of May.
Hungary opposes the extension of sanctions to Russian fossil fuels and nuclear energy. In practice, however, on Thursday, the Fidesz group in the European Parliament approved a decision on this issue.
The President of the European Commission was interviewed by Christiane Amanpour on Friday.
“We did an analysis of the decree of Putin, and the legal case is very clear. What Putin is suggesting – this transforming euros into rubles and then paying the gas bill — it would be a breach of sanctions. If you do that, pay in rubles, you breach the sanctions, you circumvent the sanctions we put on Russia.”
As we can read in the CNN article, the EU held discussions with Budapest.
“So far, Hungary has stuck to the sanctions, so as long as we don’t see the opposite, it’s fine. Never before have we seen the European Union so united, so determined, so fast. And I think for each of our member states, also a question, do I want to be the first one to break that unity? I think no,”
said Von der Leyen.
However, Minister of State Zoltán Kovács said that Hungary stands by the decisions of the EU and NATO one hundred per cent, including in seeking peace. He said that paying in roubles does not mean circumventing international policy on sanctions.
Hungary will not send weapons and soldiers to Ukraine, this is a mandate given to the government by the Hungarian people, Zoltán Kovács, State Secretary for International Communications and Relations, stressed in an interview with CNN on Friday, according to szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu.
After a significant strengthening trend, the forint is weakening again. Read on to find out the main reasons why.
Rule-of-law conditionality mechanism
The European Commission has notified Hungary earlier this week that it is activating the rule-of-law conditionality mechanism against the country. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, announced this on Tuesday in the European Parliament. For the first time, this event was one during which MEPs could ask questions from the Commission President.
The rule-of-law mechanism is a tool that allows the European Commission to withdraw EU funding from a Member State if it is found to be in breach of the EU’s core values and, most importantly, to the detriment of the EU budget.
However, as we can read in 24.hu’s article, the launch of the mechanism does not mean that no money will come to Hungary from now on. A long dialogue between Hungary and the EU, which could last for months, will now begin.
The Commission will have to determine where and to what extent EU core values and the budget are being breached, and then impose a sanction.
Finally, the members of the European Council will vote on this.
The forint’s performance
After the first couple of rounds of election results, the forint strengthened minimally. However, during the first day of the fifth Fidesz government, the forint started to fall against the euro, according to Forbes.hu.
The euro fell to almost 366 forints immediately after Fidesz’s victory around midnight on Sunday. However, the forint fell on Tuesday morning, with the euro trading at around 369.15 forints at 7 am.
By the evening of the same day, the forint had also weakened significantly against the major currencies compared to Tuesday morning.
According to Forbes.hu, the euro jumped to as high as 377 forints after 1 pm, following the announcement of the rule-of-law case against Hungary. As we can read in another article of Forbes.hu, the loss of EU funds makes it very difficult to restart the economy. Current expectations are for growth to fall to essentially zero from the second quarter of the year.
According to a recent study, many Ukrainians think that Hungarians are the most hostile towards them in Europe, while they believe that Poland is the friendliest towards them.
How do Ukrainians see other countries’ behaviour towards them?
Szabadeurópawrote that, according to a study, Ukrainian people think that, after China, Belarus, and Russia, Hungary is the most hostile towards them.
According to the findings of this new study, the three countries respondents found the friendliest towards Ukraine were Poland, then Lithuania, followed closely by the United Kingdom and the United States of America, tied.
Hungary is on the other end of the spectrum, it seems, as only 45% of respondents thought that Hungary was friendly towards their country; however, 12% think the opposite, meaning that they think Hungary is openly hostile towards Ukraine.
What is most unexpected is that, according to these answers, Hungary is only 5% less hostile towards their home country than China.
Data: Rating Group Ukraine, Szabadeurópa
While the ratio of negative opinions is obviously highest towards Russia and Belarus, Hungary is not that far on the spectrum from their attackers.
An even more unexpected result is that not only did all other European countries score higher at being friendly towards Ukrainians but, apart from Germany, no country received over 5% of the respondents’ vote indicating that they are hostile.
In contrast, while Germany was considered hostile towards their home country by 6% of the respondents, Hungary received twice as many votes, 12%.
But how did the relationship between Ukraine and Hungary change over the past few years in the eyes of Ukrainians?
Data: Rating Group Ukraine, Szabadeurópa
According to the statistics of Rating Group Ukraine above, while more people think that Hungary is friendly now, also more people voted for Hungary being hostile since 2019.
While there are hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Ukraine – children, women, and men of many nationalities –, the majority of Ukrainians still believe that they can win the war Russia started.
The pie chart above shows that not only does the majority believe that Ukraine will come out victorious, in total, 61% of the respondents believe that the war will be over in a couple of months, and from that, 38% think this conflict will end in the coming few weeks, reported Szabadeurópa.
Additionally, nine out of ten respondents think that no peace treaty should be signed that allows Russian troops to be stationed in Ukraine, and 82% said that it is unthinkable that the country would be torn apart.
On the topic of joining NATO, the country seems – nearly perfectly – divided; 42% of the respondents think they should not join the alliance, while a little more, 44%, think that Ukraine must join NATO.
The number of Hungarian students studying in the UK has fallen dramatically since Brexit. The Hungarian Youth Association has launched a campaign across the EU: the SaveEUStudents initiative has been endorsed even by the European Parliament.
Brexit: changing rules and fees
The United Kingdom left the European Union on 1 January 2021, and since then, EU citizens have lost a number of benefits. Workers now have to comply with stricter residency rules, and they face a heavier administrative burden, which affects around 160,000 Hungarian citizens.
Young people were also affected by the exit: while the UK was a member of the EU, the maximum university tuition fee was £9250 (EUR 11,095), there was also a reduced student loan and no need for separate health insurance or a visa.
Since Brexit, however, they have either been discontinued or their costs are significantly higher. According to an older article on 444.hu, if a Hungarian student wants to study at a British university after Brexit, the tuition fees can range from 25,000 to 40,000 pounds (EUR 29,990-47,985). Another 348 pounds (EUR 417) for a visa is required, and one also has to pay for the Immigration Health Surcharge, which is an extra 470 pounds (EUR 564) compared to pre-Brexit time. Previously, the tuition fees could be covered in total by a student loan, which is now not available. On top of the already mentioned heavy expenditure, there are also the living costs.
Soma Pirityi, co-director of the Hungarian Youth Association Ltd., told Napi.hu about the situation:
“There has been a dramatic fall in the number of students studying in the UK. While in the year 2020-2021, around 705 students were accepted out of around 1,100 applicants, in the 2021-2022 academic year only 450 students applied out of which 190 have been accepted, but eventually only 60 began their studies.”
As we can read in Napi.hu’s article, according to Bálint Karagich, co-director of the Hungarian Youth Association Ltd., this does not stop Hungarian students from looking for universities abroad:
instead of British universities, most students are now looking for opportunities in the Netherlands.
This is also due to the fact that the Dutch system was the quickest to respond to the situation with foreign language courses. Austrian, French and German universities are also on the frontline.
In response to the problem, the Hungarian Youth Association and the Federation of Polish Societies in the UK have launched a petition called SaveEUStudents. The campaign calls for the creation of a comprehensive EU-UK student mobility scheme to cover the tuition fees and living expenses of EU students, contribute to visa and travel costs, and provide an immigration health supplement. If implemented, this could help more than 170,000 European students.
A recently published Eurostat survey reveals the number of average weekly working hours in EU countries. Based on this, we can get an idea of how hard we work in Hungary compared to other countries in the European Union.
An average European works 37 hours a week. However, the number of weekly working hours varies from country to country in the European Union. This is also reflected in a recently published Eurostat survey that shows how many hours we worked in previous years.
The ranking of working hours in EU countries is based on the answers of participants aged between 15-70 years. Accordingly, the Dutch work the least in the EU, with only 30 hours a week. In addition to the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, and some regions in Italy also have short working weeks of 33-35 hours.
In the range of 35-39 weekly working hours, we can find Austria, Sweden, Ireland, Finland, Belgium, France, Spain, Luxembourg, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Iceland.
Compared to the European average of 37 hours,
Hungary is listed in the middle rank with 39.5 working hours in 2019 and 39.3 weekly working hours in 2020.
Besides Hungarians, residents in the neighbouring countries also work hard. The number of weekly working hours is above 39 in Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, even exceeding 40 hours in Slovakia. The situation is the worst in Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, and Turkey, where people work up to 42 hours in an average working week.
Regional breakdown
In addition to the national comparison, we can also observe differences between regions within a country. Based on this,
Pest county has the highest number of working hours: 40 hours per week.
By 2020, this fell slightly to 39.7 but still kept the nationwide record. Hungarians also work a lot in the Central Transdanubian region where they worked 39.8 hours in 2019 and 39.5 hours in 2020. The number of working hours exceeds 39 hours in all regions of Hungary. People in South Transdanubia worked the least but still more than the EU average, with 39.1 hours in 2019 and 39.3 hours in 2020.
Gender differences are also reflected in the data. Accordingly, Hungarian men work slightly more than women. While the average number of weekly working hours in their case is 40-41 hours, Hungarian women worked an average of 38-39 hours in recent years. This is still well above the European average.
This might be due to the low employment rate of women with children that is generally low in all EU Member States, but statistically, it is the lowest in Hungary. Approximately one-fifth of Hungarian mothers with children under 2 are active in the labour market.
BOTANIQ Castle of Tura is often called a fairytale castle, owing to the building’s mesmerising looks that would perfectly fit into a fairytale anytime. Now, the castle has achieved another huge success. Keep on reading to find out more about it.
As we reported a while ago, BOTANIQ Castle of Tura received international tourism recognition twice in 2021. It received the Booking.com Traveller Review Award for 2021 in January and won the Best European Castle Hotel 2021 award at the International Travel Awards 2021 in October.
Now, as Roadster reported, Pagony Landscape and Garden Architects Kft. (Pagony Táj- és Kertépítész Kft.), which carried out the reconstruction of BOTANIQ Tura Castle Park, has received a prestigious award in the Landscape Architecture Award 2021 competition, winning the title of the best in the category of heritage conservation projects and historic gardens.
Dr Ágnes Herczeg’s entry was evaluated by a jury of ten experts, and the landscape architect’s office was awarded the prize for its five-year reconstruction work in the castle park.
As we can learn from the original website of the castle, the charm of the fairytale castle does not come only from the Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque elements but also from the love story that can be felt in every corner of the building. The castle was built by magnate and wholesale produce merchant Baron Zsigmond Schossberger for his wife, Teresa Mayer von Gunthof.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/botaniqcastle/
BOTANIQ Castle of Tura is surrounded by a lovely ten-and-a-half-hectare park of mature trees, which has been restored according to the original garden design and based on research into the history and architecture of the garden. Most of the works of Hungarian garden art have been destroyed throughout the centuries of history. This is exactly why it is extremely rare for a castle and its garden to survive in a salvageable state.
Tura is one of them, and it was therefore of paramount importance for the developer to restore the park to its original state, in accordance with the legacy of the two original designers of the park, Ármin Petz and Vilmos Jámbor.
According to Dr Ágnes Herczeg, the chief designer of Pagony Landscape and Garden Architects Kft., the preservation of quality guarantees the future success of the castle garden. She believes that the garden is not only a work of art, it is a living, breathing organism that needs attention. The Tura Castle Park is a jewel of garden heritage, offering a glimpse of the high standard of Hungarian garden art and garden culture.
The Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency (HFDA) organised the Budapest Central European Fashion Week (BCEFW) before the International Fashion Weeks to display the works of Hungarian brands and designers to the international scene early on.
The Budapest Central European Fashion Week (BCEFW) is one of the largest fashion events in Central Europe that “ensures the introduction of Hungarian and Central European designers to the fashion industry, the press, and the general public”.
According to Roadster, the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency (HFDA) organises events twice a year to showcase the designers’ Spring-Summer and Autumn-Winter collections.
The last event was organised in October 2021 and showcased the previous collection, while the current BCEFW is held between 31st January and 6th February.
Roadsterwrites that the HFDA has prepared an exclusive experience where over 30 designers from Hungary and its neighbouring region can introduce their collection to the market, retailers and the media, ahead of the larger international event.
The week will be dotted with public events and exhibitions all over Budapest.
The list of the events is easily accessible for English speakers HERE.
On the last three days of the BCEFW, the designers will hold catwalk shows in two different renowned locations to display their pieces on models.
This time, the venue for the catwalk shows on the 4th of February will be the Royal Guard & Riding Hall at Buda Castle, which has been recently renovated.
On Saturday and Sunday (4th and 5th of February), the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest will host the shows.
The CEO of HFDA said to Roadsterthat “[we] have made a strategic decision when we decided to organise the Budapest Central European Fashion Week nearly a month earlier in order to connect the Hungarian fashion industry to the international professional event and to strengthen the international recognition of BCEFW”.
The organisers expect a similarly diverse audience like the one in autumn with around 4,000 guests from the US, Europe and the Middle East.
In addition to introducing Hungarian brands and designers to the international professional scene, the two beautiful buildings and the city centre of Budapest host numerous side events all week.
If you cannot attend the show, you can still follow the event on the official website of BCFEW HERE, or on their TikTokchannel.
Another new introduction to the event is a virtual store in the Metaverse, where you can purchase items from the site of the Budapest Select Concept Store, Roadster reported.
Turizmus.com highlighted that similarly to last year, the ticket sales are offered by HFDA to the Hungarian Interchurch Aid, an internationally organised Hungarian charity organisation. The ticket sales were worth HUF 2 million (EUR 5,500) in October 2021.
Although the two countries are 2,000 kilometres apart, there are many similarities. Of course, differences can also be discovered. Here are some examples of these similarities and differences.
Baths – Similarity
Although Azerbaijan is the country of fire, there is a long tradition of spas, a part of the Muslim cleansing culture. In Budapest, in the Hungarian capital, you can find the recently reopened Veli Bej, as well as the Rudas and Király baths. While in Baku, HamamBath, Taze Bey Baths, and Almaz Qadin Klubu are popular places. It is interesting that
the population of Azerbaijan is around 10 million people, same as Hungary’s.
In addition, examining the capitals, we can state that both Baku and Budapest have about 2 million inhabitants.
Transport – Difference
In Hungary, we often think that the traffic is crazy. Especially in Budapest, traffic jams are common. However, Azerbaijan’s main export is oil, so the country has very cheap fuel. As a result, everyone is driving. Even though 8 or even 10-lane roads have been built, this is not enough for the amount of traffic. Everyone is trying to get to their destination on time, so the lanes easily fill up. This can be strange to the Hungarian eye, but the locals are driving their car in the safest way in this orderly chaos.
History – Similarity
There are geographical similarities between the two countries, and it was not only the Turks who appeared in the history of both countries. One of the most significant points in Hungarian history is the Trianon Peace Treaty of 1920. As a result, millions of Hungarians have been living outside Hungary ever since. In the lives of the Azerbaijanians, the peace treaty ending the 1828 Russian–Persian wars is similar. Azerbaijanian people believe that
50 million of their Azeri compatriots live outside the country.
Of these, 30 million live in Iran. In addition, the Soviet Union and Russia had a great influence on the past and present of both countries.
Azerbaijan has a long tradition of soups. One of their famous soups is the dushbara, which has noodles stuffed with minced lamb. Also,
you should not miss the different homemade breads and the real, authentic Azerbaijani kebabs.
Their famous dish is dolma, which is minced meat stuffed into grape leaves. They also make stuffed tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. The latter is a popular dish in Hungary as well, even though the method of preparation differs significantly from the recipe of the Azeri version.
There is an old tradition of consuming tea in the country. A tea session is essential after every meal. In addition to hot tea poured into special glasses, it is customary to consume sugar cubes or other hard candies. An interesting tradition is Şirin çay. When the engaged couple’s parents first meet, and the girl’s parents give sweet tea to the boy’s parents, it means giving their blessing to the union.
Loving sports – Similarity
Like Hungary, various sports are popular in Azerbaijan. Of course, football is also the most popular here. In addition to the national team, the Qarabağ Futbol Klub team may be familiar to many, as they often get into one of the European Cup series. It is not only football that is popular, but they are also at the forefront in chess and wrestling.
Azerbaijan has seven Olympic champions.
When it comes to sports, we cannot miss the Formula One race in Baku, organised since 2016.
Other curiosities include the fact that the Azerbaijani language is agglutinating, just like the Hungarian language. That is, the suffix comes at the end of the word. We have several words in common, such as ‘alma’ (apple), and ‘szakál’ (beard).
During the coronavirus pandemic, Hungary’s economy has shown itself to be among Europe’s most resilient, thanks to policies in the past twelve years focused on tax cuts and investment promotion, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Friday, opening a logistics centre for a Hungarian-owned tyre wholesaler.
The state supported the 5.5-billion-forint investment (€ 15 million) creating fifty jobs with a 693-million-forint (€ 1.9 million) grant, the ministry said, noting that Szijjártó attended the opening of Marso’s centre in Dunaharaszti, near Budapest.
Szijjártó said the status quo had been upturned in every area in the wake of the pandemic, creating immense global competition. This sets in stark relief which countries are best placed to exploit new opportunities which have arisen accordingly.
“Hungary belongs among the winners of the new global economy,” he said. “We have been able to put the changes to our advantage.”
Szijjártó cited a successful vaccination campaign which enabled Hungary to reopen six to eight weeks earlier than other European countries last year, while its economy, he added, returned to its pre-pandemic level of output by the end of the summer.
Current projections show that the global economy will achieve the same only by the end of 2022, he added.
The government has implemented one of the largest investment promotion schemes of all time and financed the preservation of jobs instead of spending money on policies underpinning unemployment, he said.
An internationally competitive category of Hungarian companies has emerged, he said. Hungarian-owned companies now form the backbone of the economy, reducing its international exposure, he added.
Transparency International published its corruption report.
Hungary is the second most corrupt country in the European Union, according to the recently published corruption report of Transparency International.” The international organisation calculates the Corruption Perceptions Index of countries every year using 13 different surveys. States are scored on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 indicating the least corruption and 0 the highest.” – writes 444.
In 2021, Hungary scored 43 points on the list. In the EU, only Bulgaria performed worse with 42 points. Out of 180 countries, Hungary is number 73 on the list, while Bulgaria is at place 78. This is the lowest score that Hungary has ever gotten.
Denmark, Finland and New Zealand lead the global list with 88 points, and Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany are also in the top 10. South Sudan is the most corrupt country, according to the list.
This was not the first time that Hungary was viewed in a negative light by an international organisation.
As we formerly wrote, Human Rights Watch harshly criticised the country. The organization expressed concerns about the LGBTQ community’s situation, the hardships independent media faces, negative discrimination against gypsies, the fact that acquiring a refugee status is almost impossible in the country, the Pegasus spyware, issues in the healthcare system, educational and workplace discrimination, and defamation campaigns against human rights defenders. They also condemned that regulatory governance has been still in place due to the prolongation of the crisis
Bernadett Szél, an independent member of the parliament also expressed how difficult it has become to get access to public interest data. “As an independent member of the parliament, recently we have spent more time at court, than in the Hungarian Parliament. We see that the restraining or delayed transfer of public interest data is making it almost impossible to inspect the politics of the government.” – the politician explained.
Finance Minister Mihály Varga has met with his Swiss counterpart Ueli Maurer in Bern, the Finance Ministry said on Friday.
Swiss companies operating in Hungary remained committed to their presence in the country even during the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus crisis, Varga said.
Hungary’s government contributed to almost 4 billion forints’ (€ 11.2 million) worth of investments by Swiss companies during the crisis, helping to preserve 1,800 local jobs, he added.
At present, it’s quite difficult to clearly identify the motives behind the increasingly inflamed protests in Kazakhstan. While news reports talk about a spontaneous unrest caused by the sudden rise of energy prices, President Tokayev and the Kazakh government have issued official statements on a foreign terrorist intervention aimed at destabilizing the Central Asian country. In contrast, several foreign analysts write about a national uprising to overthrow and democratize the authoritarian regime built and strictly controlled by iron-fisted dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev for three decades. Although Nazarbayev, who had already established his political career during the Communist times as one of the top executive decision makers of the Soviet Union and then as the president of the independent Kazakhstan for three decades after the Soviet Union’s collapse, resigned from the presidency in favour of his appointed successor in 2019, he still remained the country’s informal ruler pulling strings in the background.
That is to say until now, because Tokayev has recently removed his predecessor from every position in response to the seemingly never-ending protests. This means the official end of the Nazarbayev era.
Which of the above scenarios is true? Like in most cases, the truth probably lies somewhere between the partial truths above. Along with the social tensions brought more to the light by the pandemic, high energy prices must certainly have had a role in the unrest. On the other hand, you cannot rule out the possibility of a foreign destabilization attempt of a country in an extremely difficult geopolitical position, either. Undoubtedly, Nazarbayev’s Kazakhstan has not been a shining star of pluralistic democracy and the rule of law, and many of its citizens probably want to live in a country with more freedom.
Either way, and regardless of what led to the escalation of violence, the fact of the matter is that Moscow’s military assistance was once again needed to restore order in yet another former Soviet republic following Belarus, where Russia had to help out the local dictator after a fraudulent election in 2020.
Just a few weeks after Russian president Vladimir Putin made it clear for the EU’s leaders that he considered the post-Soviet republics as his own sphere of interest and that he would do whatever it takes to prevent these countries from turning toward the West in any shape or form, perhaps nobody is surprised to see Russian troops deployed to the streets of Almaty to restore order – just like they were in Budapest in 1956.
Beside the former Soviet republics however, these decisions may pose a risk to other countries as well. Putin’s statement revived the Brezhnev Doctrine which, back at the time, established the Soviet dominance over not just the now former republics but the ideologically bound Eastern Central European countries as well. Back then the connective tissue was the Communist ideology. Today it is the openly anti-Western, fundamentally corrupt, populist and anti-democratic illiberalism, which serves Russia’s geopolitical interests.
The supreme European leader of this ideology is Viktor Orbán, who copied Putin’s example and built up an absolute power in Hungary during his 12-year reign, complete with dominance over every area of life.
In today’s Hungary, nepotism and corrupt state redistribution not only permeate every segment of the economy, but they have subdued the President of the Republic, the Parliament, the prosecution service, the intelligence services and the entire media, while Hungary has drifted farther and farther away from the European democratic values and ended up in the Russian sphere of interest due to Orbán’s foreign policy. As a result, the ground is prepared to keep Viktor Orbán in power in the national elections next April. And if a wrench happens to be thrown in the works, Orbán could probably still rely on Moscow’s comradeship and assistance, just like his friend Lukashenka did.
Preventing the revival of the Cold War and the division of Europe is vital for not just Hungary, which had already committed to the West over a thousand years ago, but for the whole of Europe as well.
For this week, at least. We have light trams, light trolleys, and now came the light train as well. It has been on the road since the 24th.
The locomotive called SZILI is dressed up in a 350-meter-long string of LED lights. Since people are absolutely loving the Christmas train, MÁV has decided to let it run for another week. Here you can check the timetable of SZILI, which is updated every forenoon.
Light Train “Szili”, source: MÁV
“The SZILI locomotive, dressed up in its festive finery, will continue its cross-country tour this week to meet the great interest. The locomotive is decorated with a 350-metre-long string of 3,500 LEDs,”
They added that this was the first time that a decorated locomotive ran on the Hungarian high-speed railway network. Every day during the Christmas period, the train travelled in a different direction. During the holiday season, the train reached Pécs, Szeged, Kecskemét, on the IC line of the Eastern Circle and on the Debrecen-Nyíregyháza-Miskolc line.
“Szili will set off on its last journey on 30 December this year to illuminate the railway lines of the Transdanubian region with its thousands of lights”,
shared MÁV on its Facebook page. The light train will say goodbye to people at Balaton.
MÁV also shared a spectacular video of decorating Szili, check it out:
Perhaps the last major event of the year, the FCI European Dog Show opened on Tuesday 28 December, at Hungexpo. Helló Magyar thought that, as dog lovers, they must check out the first day.
The event, originally scheduled for May, had to be postponed to the end of the year due to the pandemic. Hence, the FCI Dog Show became the closing event of the “One with Nature” – World Hunt and Nature Show. The show was also visited by Helló Magyar.
The biggest event involving dogs in Hungary and Europe is held at Hungexpo in Budapest this year. Between 28 and 31 December, each day a colourful range of programmes will entertain dog lovers.
The exhibition is jointly organised by the World Canine Organisation (Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) in French) and the Hungarian National Association of Dog Breeders (MEOE Association).
Tickets are averagely priced. Adult tickets are available for HUF 3,500, while senior citizens and students can visit the dog fair for HUF 1,800.
The event can be divided into two parts. There is a large area (Pavilion A, D, E) where the dog show itself takes place with judges and “competitors”. Concurrently, there are programmes and performances, by and with dogs every day in Pavilion G.
Those professionally involved with dogs in Hungary were very much looking forward to the event. Understandably, as the last time our country hosted the FCI was in 2008. According to the organisers, around 16,000 dogs from 57 countries will take part in the four-day event. We can see it already in the car park that visitors have come from all around the world. There are several caravans and minibuses, meaning people traveled thousands of kilometres just to compete with their pets at the FCI.
The climax of the event will be on 31 December. The breed group winners (selected from the breed winners), will compete for the title of Europe’s most beautiful dog. On the afternoon of the 31st, the winner of the most valuable trophy will be chosen from 16,000 dogs. If you are a fan of the domestic breed, you are especially recommended to attend the World Meeting of Hungarian Dog Breeds on 30 December.
It is important to note that the show is a very serious competition for the participants. The winners of the breed championships and other prizes do not only bask in the glory of the awards. Winning also has a significant impact on breeding practices. The price of offsprings can easily be inflated due to international recognition.
The dog owners attendees invest an incredible amount of energy, time and money into their pets. It is more of a professional league, with very few enthusiastic “amateurs”. It is also clear from the equipment that some families or groups of friends have been competing in this field for a long while. Depending on the breed, competitors have their own beauty table and grooming products, and many take their own mobile stirrups and cages to the four-day European Championship.
One thing is for sure: if you are a dog lover, you will not regret attending the FCI show, where only the best of Europe compete. On top of that, you can meet some special dogs up close that you have only seen in pictures.
However, it is also fun to watch the more popular dog breeds compete so that you can see what a “real” German Shepherd, Dachshund or Golden Retriever looks like.
Presumably, the organisers are focusing on the competitors, because people who are simply interested like us are not really provided with information. There were no maps or descriptions at the entrances to the pavilions, so many people just wandered around the vast area without any clue.
There is also no timetable on the stages so that visitors could learn about the upcoming events. Unfortunately, we could not find any support staff when we had questions to ask. At such a large-scale event, the minimum expectation is to have organisers at the entrances who can direct guests and provide information. This is what we missed the most.
We would also have liked to get rid of our winter coats, but this was not possible, as to our surprise, the cloakroom was not open. It goes without saying how uncomfortable it is to walk around for hours like this, especially when you have to carry your winter coats but also want to take photos of your favourite breeds.
The huge stage and temporary grandstand in Pavilion G were very well designed and, for a better experience, you can even follow the demonstrations on large screens.
The organisers are planning to have obedience and rally obedience performances, service and search dog demonstrations, dog dancing performances, distance directing performances and the Hungarian breed agility championships. We checked out the obedience show, which attracted a couple of dozen people on Tuesday at noon. This venue will be full when the event moves here in the afternoon and the judges announce the winners of the day.
On the central streets between the pavilions, there were a few stalls where you could buy food specialities. In Pavilion G, there were dog souvenirs on sale (blankets, statues, mobile kennels and the like). This exhibition will not become the favourite event for gastronomy lovers, as the selection was moderate and also quite expensive. For example, we tried some pork cuts with chips, asked for mustard and bread on the side, and although it was a large portion, we ended up paying HUF 5500.
This event is truly only recommended for dog lovers, as the dogs often get up close and personal with the visitors, and people who are less fond of dogs could possibly feel tense during this time.
But those keen on dogs will love the closeness and even a few petting sessions, with the owners’ permission of course.
All in all, we do not regret visiting the FCI European Dog Show, and if you can, go to Hungexpo in the next few days. You can find the official website and the programme schedule here.
With Veganuary 2022 just around the corner, experts at Uswitch.com wanted to find the best European capital cities for vegetarians to live in. By analysing the average ratings of vegetarian restaurants across each European capital, they can now reveal all!
Budapest has the 11th highest rated vegetarian restaurants in Europe
Unfortunately, the Hungarian capital could not make it to the TOP10, but being the 11th with a typically meat-centered cuisine is a pretty good position. For the full research make sure to visit Uswitch.com.
With vegetarianism recently taking off in Hungary, Budapest has been crowned the 11th best capital for vegetarians to live, with an average rating of 8.57/10 for their veggie restaurants – a score almost 2% higher than other ‘food capitals’ such as Rome (8.41/10).
With an average vegetarian rating of 8.85/10, Belgrade, Serbia, is the European capital most suited for vegetarians! The average price of a meal in this Eastern European capital is just €15,98, 32% cheaper than Malta’s capital, Valletta, in second place. With a total of 381 restaurants to choose from, vegetarians in Belgrade will be spoilt for choice.
The Maltese capital of Valletta comes in second, just missing out on the top spot with an average veggie restaurant rating of 8.84/10. Despite the average price of a meal being slightly more expensive than Belgrade, the Mediterranean capital has 1201 suitable restaurants to choose from, the 11th most of all capital cities analysed!
With 264 suitable restaurants under their belt, Croatia’s capital, Zagreb, takes third spot with an average vegetarian rating of 8.78 out of 10. However, despite the array of options, the average price for a meal at one of these high-rated veggie restaurants is the seventh most expensive in Europe, at €32,48.
The eastern European capital of Albania, Tirana, takes fourth with an average rating of 8.76/10 for their vegetarian restaurants. Not only does this capital offer some of the best vegetarian restaurants across the continent, but it is also the highest rated capital city in Europe for brunch restaurants as well, scoring a whopping 8.95/10.
Helsinki, Finland, is the lowest rated European capital for vegetarian restaurants
Rated 8.08/10 for their vegetarian restaurants, Finland’s capital, Helsinki takes last place for their vegetarian restaurants. Despite 11% of their population being vegetarians, the fourth highest vegetarian population in Europe, the restaurants are not up to scratch compared with the rest of the continent.
You can find the detailed research at Uswitch.com.
