Europe

Budapest voted one of the best cities in the world, ahead of Dubai!

Budapest's superb open-air ice skating rinks remaining open in the following weeks (Copy) ice rinks in Hungary

Budapest, the Hungarian capital, has bagged another honourable mention. Time Out, an internationally renowned travel magazine, has ranked the best cities in the world. Budapest was ranked 26th, even ahead of Dubai.

“What makes a city great?” – Time Out asks. “Some would say it’s all about buzzing neighbourhoods, affordable food and drink and a mighty selection of things to do, from art galleries and museums to live music and theatre,” the answer goes. “Others might highlight things like the happiness of its locals, access to green space and strong community vibes,” the travel magazine adds.

The magazine took this and many other factors into account when it asked city dwellers from around the world to tell them what it’s like to live, work and have fun in their hometown. The magazine’s global rankings are the result of the opinions of locals and the input of tourism experts.

Read also:

This ranking lists the 50 best cities in the world for the year 2024.

Budapest has also made it into the list, and in a very high position: the Hungarian capital is ranked 26th in the world. The city has overtaken places such as Beijing, Dubai, Montreal and Syndey.

New York came first, Cape Town second and Berlin was voted the third best city in the world. The full list is available HERE.

What sets Budapest apart?

budapest city autumn fall
Source: Pexels/Andrea Imre

As Time Out magazine writes in its review, Europe’s most beautiful capital city lies on both sides of the Danube, connected by elegant bridges and excellent public transport. They remind the reader that the Hungarian capital recently celebrated the 150th anniversary of its unification. Time Out also highlights the number of cycle paths, safe recreational facilities and architectural treasures.

Budapest’s spas are hailed as a unique attraction, while Michelin-starred restaurants are putting the city on the world map of gastronomy. The House of Hungarian Music is also considered an unmissable attraction.

International community should ensure free navigation and trade at sea

szijjártó east west cooperation

An “important task” for the international community “is to maintain order at sea across the world, such as ensuring free navigation and trade”, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Brussels.

The minister added, however, that steps by the international community should not lead to “an escalation of the security threat … or else it could result in a vicious cycle.”

Speaking at a press conference held on the sidelines of a meeting of trade ministers of the EU on Tuesday, Szijjártó said freedom in global trade and “undisturbed procedures” were especially important for Hungary.

“Security threats impact the freedom of trade in the first place, while political-ideological threats could impediment the free flow of investments,” the minister said. The freedom of trade is impacted at the Red Sea, he said, adding that “it demonstrates the vulnerability of global supply chains, which could be compromised by armed conflicts at any part of the world.”

Read also:

The situation at the Red Sea and the resulting delays in shipments of goods from the East to Europe “demonstrates this interdependence because it impacts the European economy, leading to the temporary closure of businesses while jeopardising jobs,” he said.

Trade cooperation between Europe and Asia, he said, was crucial for Hungary, adding that endeavours to thwart that cooperation were “a lot more dangerous than what is happening at the Red Sea.” “The Red Sea problem will be resolved by those that are strong enough … but there’ll be far-reaching negative consequences if East-West cooperation is undermined through political means,” Szijjártó said.

Fidesz politician: ‘EP left-liberal majority passes judgment without evidence’

trócsányi ep election 2019

The left-liberal majority in the European Parliament acts as if it were a court and passes political judgment without evidence, without giving real reasons, ruling Fidesz MEP László Trócsanyi said on Tuesday.

Trócsányi told an event organised by The European Conservative that Hungary’s judicial system was in line with European standards from all aspects. On the EU Justice Scoreboard, Hungary’s justice system and its administration have been granted excellent scores, he added.

Commenting on a report approved last week at the EP plenary session in Strasbourg concerning the 2021-2027 implementation of the Erasmus and Horizon EU student programmes, he said the EP had “robbed Hungarian researchers and young people” of the opportunity to participate, “without explanation of any kind or citing false arguments”.

Read also:

Trócsányi said that the EP decision was “outrageous and unacceptable” considering that neither Erasmus not Horizon affect the EU budget. “Hungary’s participation would not endanger the EU’s financial interests under any circumstances,” he said.

He added that it was “shameful” that the EP plenary had made such a decision ahead of the June EP elections.

“The decision was motivated by fear that centrist-right political parties would gain strength not only in Hungary but throughout Europe,” he said.

Hungarian FM: W Europeans want to undermine CEE’s competitive edge

Szijjártó Munich

Western Europeans are mounting legal and political attacks in an attempt to undermine central Europe’s competitive edge, Páter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said in Brussels on Tuesday, insisting they were envious of CEE countries’ ability to attract investments from the East.

“Security threats largely undermine free trade, while political and ideological attacks threaten the free flow of investments”, affecting export economies like Hungary’s, Szijjártó told a press conference after a European Union Council meeting on trade affairs.

He said Hungary supported a global investment facilitation agreement to be adopted by the World Trade Organisation at its next meeting. This would undercut political and ideological obstacles in the way of the free flow of investments, he added.

Szijjártó reiterated Hungary’s objection to de-risking — essentially separating the Chinese and European economies — saying this was “an artificial political intervention” which went against Europe’s economic interests.

Read also:

Dressed up in bureaucratic language, “they want to … security screen investments from … China,” he said.

The minister said Hungary did not want to be forced to return to artificial interventions in the economy redolent of the communist era.

The next decade, he said, would be “a decade of Eastern investments in Europe”. Most investments in Hungary in the past four years came from South Korea and China, respectively, nudging Germany and the US out of first place, he added.

He said central Europe was more competitive than Western Europe in attracting investments, “and we Hungarians are the main driver of central Europe’s success”.

“The global automotive revolution is essentially based on German-Chinese cooperation, and Hungary has become the European hub for all this,” he said.

Hungary, Szijjártó added, did not take the nationality of a company’s owners into consideration, only that it should comply with Hungarian laws.

Hungarian socialists urge opposition to unite

Socialists Bertalan Tóth

The Fidesz party could “recapture” Budapest unless parties of the opposition field joint candidates in the June municipal elections, the Socialist Party’s co-leader, Ágnes Kunhalmi, said on Tuesday.

The Socialists will launch a signature drive to gather support for the opposition to cooperate in the municipal and European parliamentary elections held on the same day, she said, adding that the goal was to collect 100,000 signatures before March 15.

The initiative could send a message to the opposition parties that “it is their hard and fast duty to cooperate with each other,” she said.

“In an anti-democratic authoritarian system, opposition parties should not compete with each other,” Kunhalmi said, adding that Fidesz could be defeated in both elections if the opposition united.

Read also:

She also proposed “systematic cooperation in periods between elections”, adding that this was “the one method the opposition has not tried yet”.

Socialist group leader Bertalan Tőth cited a recent survey indicating that 80 percent of voters supported the opposition fielding joint candidates and 94 percent would support joint opposition lists. “Opposition voters do not blame cooperation itself for the election fiasco of 2022, but the quality of that cooperation,” Tőth added.

Also, he said that separate opposition parties would receive fewer votes than if they stumped together for the EP election, insisting that a united opposition could win ten EP mandates against nine for Fidesz.

Fidesz politician: Legality of Serbia elections can’t be questioned

Zsolt Németh Member of Parliament in Washington

Possible irregularities that may have been experienced in Serbia’s early parliamentary elections this month did not reach a level that would warrant questioning the legitimacy of the vote, the head of the Hungarian parliament’s foreign affairs committee said in Strasbourg on Monday.

Zsolt Németh told MTI by phone on day one of the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) that it would be “preferable if certain political forces didn’t question the legitimacy of the vote in Serbia just because it was won by a political side that they don’t sympathise with”.

He praised the recent achievements of the CoE, namely the relations it has fostered with the opposition in Russia and Belarus as well as its contributions to the representation of human and minority rights in Ukraine despite the war.

He said that without the CoE’s contributions, it would have been impossible to achieve “even the relative improvement” that has been Ukraine’s amendment of its minority law. He added that while the amendment was “an important step in an encouraging direction”, it was not enough, and more efforts would need to be made to restore the rights of Transcarpathian Hungarians and other national minorities in Ukraine.

Read also:

Concerning the Israel-Palestine conflict, Németh said it was “regrettable” that the Hamas terrorist group’s attack on Israel could not have been prevented, that there was no progress in ending the war, and that anti-Semitism was on the rise again in Europe.

Meanwhile, Németh said he was hopeful of good cooperation with newly-elected PACE President Theodoros Roussopoulos based on the new president’s inaugural speech on Monday. He said he had supported Roussopoulos in the hope that the new president would be a partner in the enforcement of human and minority rights norms.

Németh also told MTI that he had been re-elected deputy leader of PACE’s conservative group.

Is he PM Orbán’s new ally in the EU?

Luc Frieden

The newly elected Prime Minister of Luxembourg has expressed his wishes to connect to the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and establish a refreshed relationship between their countries.

Luc Frieden took his seat four months ago at the capital of the Grand Duchy, taking over from Xavier Bettel, who has been the Prime Minister of Luxembourg for the last decade. The former Prime Minister now serves as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the coalition government.

Luc Frieden is also a member of the largest faction in the European Parliament, the center-right European People’s Party, from where he feels a realistic chance to reconcile the relationship between the EU and Hungary.

Pacifying power

The new Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Luc Frieden hopes that, through his mediation, the tension between the European Union and Hungary will start to ease up. To achieve this, Luc Frieden plans a visit to Budapest, thus breaking the ice between the two parties. This political diplomacy goes back to a long history of Luxembourg being one of the founding Member States of the European Union.

Not only this, but going back in time, the Prime Ministers of this lovely little country have held the position of President of the European Commission for three terms so far. That is quite a high number. Based on all this, it’s safe to assume that they have a rich history with diplomacy and mitigating political issues. Staying true to this diplomatic legacy, Luc Frieden hopes to bring the two parties at hand closer, by endorsing the accepting of different worldviews and trying to see the world through each other’s eyes. According to Index, in a recent interview he stated that “Hungary is more pro-European than we might think”.

Conflicting sides

The two parties, between which Luc Frieden is trying to mediate, have already had their fair share of disagreements. Viktor Orbán has expressed his stance on a few of the current issues raised in the European Union. The most important of these is Ukraine’s EU membership and the long-term budget. This was all before Luc Frieden took his seat as Prime Minister of Luxembourg. Now that Freiden entered the scene he would like to change things for a more diplomatic approach.

Coming soon?

“I need to get to know Orbán Viktor more” Luc Frieden stated in the name of diplomacy. “If someone disagrees with another’s politics, they must try to understand where it comes from,” he argues. He revealed that he has considered traveling to Hungary in the coming months to better understand the mechanisms of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s politics.

Last time a high ranking representative of the European Union came to Hungary, the reason was a bit different. When Charles Michel, President of the European Council visited, he tried talking with Orbán about the issue of Ukraine’s accession to the EU. It was later solved by the German Chancellor at the summit, when he politely asked Orbán Viktor to take a coffee a break, while they passed the proposal without him. Although, as sweet revenge, Orbán vetoed the EUR 50 million aid package to Kyiv.

An optimistic outlook

When looking at the political map of the European Union, we can confidently say that with Donald Tusk winning the recent Polish elections, Hungary has lost a significant ally on the scene. Frieden stated that the isolation of the Hungarian Prime Minister can be blamed partly on the EU. Ever since taking office, in the last three months he has negotiated with several European leaders, such as the French President or the German Chancellor.

He has also warned that Hungary needs to take out its part in doing the work in “sorting out the Brussels relations”. A significant portion of EU funds has been frozen because the Union is concerned about the decline of democracy and the erosion of the rule of law, which is a severe issue that Hungary urgently needs to work on.

To conclude, Frieden said that he feels quite optimistic about mediating. He hopes Hungary will work on the above mentioned issues and implement the new reforms, this way lightening the tension between the European Union and Hungary.

This could also interest you:

  • Read more about Hungary’s current diplomatical endeavours HERE.
  • Read more about Viktor Orbán’s projections for 2024 in terms of diplomacy HERE

Minister Nagy: Europe slow at adapting to new trends

márton nagy

Márton Nagy, the minister of economic development, addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday and discussed new economic trends, the dynamism of change to new industries and the need for adaptability, the ministry said in a statement.

Nagy said Europe was slow at adapting to new trends while significant structural changes were taking place in the world. Asian countries, especially China, had responded well to the global challenges of recent times and strengthened their economies, but the EU, by seeking a return to Maastricht criteria, could significantly harm its growth and the competitiveness of member states, he said.

He said Hungary had learnt that economic growth and peace hinged on international relations based on mutual respect. Hungary’s goal, he added, was to maximise the advantages of its good geographical position and become a meeting point for Eastern and Western economies and technologies.

Nagy praised the achievements of the Hungarian prime minister’s policy of opening to the East, noting that Hungary had managed to increase the proportion of direct investments from the East from 10 percent in 2010 to 34 percent today.

The government strategy, he said, was beneficial for the national economy, with exports expected to rise to 100 percent of GDP by 2030, while FDI was projected to double from the current 100 billion euros, Nagy said.

Additionally, the multiplier effect of FDI was also beneficial, he said, because through horizontal and vertical integration it enhanced research and development activities in cooperation with universities, while strengthening Hungarian businesses by linking them to supply chains in increasingly value-added positions, he said.

Also, the big expansion of logistics opportunities was expected to result in the sector expanding from 5 percent to 10 percent of GDP by 2030, he added.

He said Hungary was pursuing its own strategy and aimed to be a bridgehead between East and West. The development of the vehicle industry was a good example, he said, with German carmakers like Audi establishing links with Chinese battery makers such as CATL in Hungary, he added. Also, Chinese electric carmaker BYD is launching its first European production in Hungary, he said.

Nagy said Hungary was making every effort to enhance competitiveness, and he argued that the EU should also take urgent steps to strengthen new industries and competitiveness instead of seeking a return to the fiscal and financial criteria of 30 years ago.

Read also:

FM Szijjártó: Nuclear energy faces discrimination and ideological attacks

Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó

Hungary is creating new energy links with neighboring states, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said in Athens on Friday, adding that the past period had shown that the more links there were, the more secure the respective countries involved were.

Energy supply in future would rely on producing large amounts of cheap and green electricity, and nuclear energy was indispensible to this aim, Szijjártó said at a meeting of a working group on strengthening energy connections in Central and South-Eastern Europe (CESEC).

Hopefully, central and south-eastern European countries would unite to combat “discrimination and ideological attacks against nuclear energy”, he added.

After the expansion of Hungary’s sole nuclear power station in Paks, nuclear capacity in Hungary would increase from 2,000 megawatts to 4,400 megawatts by the beginning of the next decade, the minister said.

The regional energy network, he said, must be expanded as soon as possible so as to maximise the benefits of mutual developments.

He referred to major infrastructure development projects which the government and several neighboring countries had agreed to. The capacity of the 400 kilovolt transmission line between Hungary and Serbia will be doubled, and construction of a new high-voltage connection between Hungary and Romania is in the planning phase, he noted.

Szijjártó said Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia had requested EU funding for a new central European regional electricity exchange, and agreements with the relevant companies have already been signed. It is planned that the system will be operational by the end of the first half of this year, he added.

Such projects, he added, not only served the interests of Serbian, Romanian, Hungarian and Slovenian citizens, but the interests of all European citizens too.

Read also:

One of the world’s most expensive streets is in Budapest

One of the world's most expensive streets is in Budapest - Váci Street

Budapest is home to one of the priciest streets in the world. Váci Street is among the global high street elite according to Cushman & Wakefield‘s yearly “Main Streets across the World” list. It shows Budapest’s position in the cutthroat world of international retail real estate.

Global leaders and trends

New York’s Fifth Avenue consistently tops the list as the world’s most expensive street, setting the benchmark at a staggering HUF 7.7 million (EUR 20.300) per square meter. Milan’s Via Montenapoleone follows it closely. London’s Bond Street and Paris’s Champs-Élysée also command high rents. Notably, Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich holds the title of the most expensive street in the Central European region, Index writes.

Shifts in Central and Eastern Europe

Munich slipped to 14th place, and Central and Eastern European capitals, including Budapest, Belgrade, Warsaw and Zagreb, followed closely. Surprisingly, despite a pandemic-induced decrease in property prices in the region, downtown streets like Váci Street saw a 27% drop in rent compared to 2019.

Local vs. global rankings

Understanding the rankings requires a distinction between global and local perspectives. The global list provides insights into the most expensive high street within each country. Delving deeper into the European ranking, Váci Street secures the 44th position, emphasising the significance of international competition. Notably, Central European streets outshine their counterparts in Italy, France, Germany and even London, revealing the heightened significance of Váci Street on the European stage.

The dominance of Vienna’s “Golden U”

Kärtner, Graben, and Kohlmarkt Straße in Vienna, collectively known as the ‘Golden U,’ continue to be the luxury heartbeat of the region. Home to renowned boutiques and the prestigious Steffl department store, these streets maintain their allure. Recent uncertainties around luxury department stores, such as Lamarr in Mariahilfer Strasse, hint at potential challenges for Vienna’s retail landscape.

Vienna’s little sister in luxury: Prague

Contrary to the past, Prague now challenges Budapest as Vienna’s luxury counterpart. Pařížská Street, connecting Prague’s Old Town Square to the Vltava River, hosts international fashion giants like Cartier, Dior and Chanel. The upcoming Fairmont Golden Prague Hotel and additional retail spaces suggest continued growth for Prague’s luxury scene.

Factors influencing street rankings

A street can attract prestigious tenants for a variety of reasons. The presence of competitors, tourist spending habits, local economic conditions, street length, and ownership structure all play pivotal roles. Streets owned by parent companies of high-end brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel, or Hermès often emerge as prime locations.

The global ranking of main shopping streets provides a fascinating glimpse into the dynamic world of retail real estate. While Vienna‘s ‘Golden U’ maintains its prominence, Prague emerges as a rising luxury destination, challenging Budapest’s historical status. As factors such as economic stability, brand presence, and ownership structures continue to shape these rankings, the landscape of high streets in Central and Eastern Europe promises to evolve in the coming years.

Read also:

Orbán Cabinet: ‘New EU migration pact could have serious consequences’

migration

The EU’s new migration pact could have serious consequences to the continent, the prime minister’s chief security advisor said on Thursday.

György Bakondi told commercial channel TV2 that the passing of the legislation had been “strange”, calling it “a hasty, non-unanimous and clearly politically motivated vote held deliberately early enough to finalise the issue before this year’s EP election”.

He said that under the pact, migrants aiming for Europe had the option to wait through their application procedure in “migrant centres” in EU territory. “But the western experience is that only 20 percent of those rejected can in fact be expelled”, he said, adding that the new pact could be an incentive for mass migration from Africa and Asia.

Bakondi noted that a total of 355,000 migrants had come to Europe on the three main migration routes last year, a record number since 2016, adding that “atrocities were an indication of the serious national and public security threats posed by uncontrolled migration”.

He noted that Hungarian parliament last month had adopted a law amendment allowing the firing of warning shots to stop violent people who damage the border fence or threaten border guards.

Read also:

Interior ministry: Western Europeans move to Hungary because of migrants

Budapest people streetcar villamos tram everyday traffic

Because of the migration pressure, the number of people coming from western Europe to settle in Hungary has gone up between 20 and 40 percent over the past several years, the interior ministry’s parliamentary state secretary said at a farewell ceremony for a police contingent in Budapest on Tuesday.

Since 2015, the number of those coming to Hungary from Belgium has increased by 47 percent, from Italy by 45 percent, from the Netherlands by 43 percent, from Spain by 40 percent, from Switzerland 28 percent, from Austria 25 percent, from Britain by 22 percent and from Germany and France 20 percent, respectively, Bence Rétvári said. Their motivation was to find security and safe conditions in public domains, he said.

Rétvári addressed the ceremony for the next contingent of Hungarian police officers dispatched to serve in Serbia in partnership with their local and Austrian colleagues, noting that “their task is becoming more difficult and more important as they are protecting the EU, and Hungary, against the increasing pressure posed by migration”.

The state secretary noted that he had visited the Hungarian contingent in Serbia last year and had met officers serving on their 8th mission there. “Last year, close to 400 Hungarian officers served on the missions,” Rétvári said.

Read also:

Hungarian soldiers’ wages to increase further in 2024

Hungarian Defence Forces Military Army NATO

Hungarian soldiers’ wages will increase further in 2024, the minister of defence said on Thursday.

The ministry cited Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky as saying that wages are increasing by an average 11 percent from January 2024 but it may vary depending on the category of staff.

The government decided in 2022 to increase wages for soldiers in two steps: from September 2022 and from January 2024, he said.

The tasks of the Hungarian Army increased considerably last year, with the Russia-Ukraine and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, and the migratory wave affecting Europe making it necessary to heighten the state of alert, he added.

“These factors, and the Hungarian Army’s international roles make it necessary to further enhance the appreciation of soldiers,” he said.

The first phase of increase was an average of 26.4 percent in September 2022.

Voluntary reserve soldiers and officer candidates are also eligible for the current increase of average 11 percent, the statement added.

Read also:

State secretary Azbej talks about Christian persecution in Europe

azbej tristan

The law on the Hungary Helps humanitarian aid programme has been amended to allow broader Hungarian contribution in economic development and peace-making as of 1 January, the foreign ministry’s state secretary overseeing the scheme told public broadcaster M1 on Wednesday.

“The amendment allows Hungary to strengthen its role and better enforce solidarity with Christian communities as well as to represent the concept that help must be provided where the problems are,” Tristan Azbej said.

He said Christianity had become the most persecuted religion in the world, with some 5,000 followers murdered each year. Around 80 percent of the attacks occur in Nigeria, Azbej said, noting that “Jihadist, Islamist tribes” had mounted attacks on 20 Chirstian settlements and killed some 200 Christians around Christmas.

The state secretary said that the few reports covering the event in the western press had presented it “as an attack by shepherd tribes against farming villages”. “They failed to mention that behind the attacks were according to information Jihadist tribes trained and armed by the Al-Kaida Islamist terror organisation,” he added.

“It is important to break the silence, the disinterest and the denial and to say out loud that this is Christian persecution,” said Azbej, cautioning that “Islamist terrorism is now present in Europe”.

Read also:

Hungarians are in danger due to others’ bad decisions, says defence minister

Szalay-Bobrovniczky minister hungary defence

Hungary’s defence minister said Hungary was living in an “era of dangers due to the bad decisions of others”, in a video posted on Facebook on Wednesday.

The year 2023 had brought wars, migration, the threat of terror and “explosive social tensions” to Europe, Kristóf Salay-Bobrovniczky said.

“Bad decisions such as endless weapon deliveries, encouraging and financing migration, and the tensions, security risks and terror threat brought on by immigration impact Hungary too,” he said.

While Hungary doesn’t participate in the war, it will prepare to strengthen its defence capabilities to protect its peace and security, Szalay-Bobrovniczky said. Besides building a “high-tech Armed Forces”, that includes developing the country’s military industry, he added.

“We will protect our sovereignty from those expecting us to hand over the decisions on the fate of Hungarians,” he said.

Read also:

Hungary well positioned in competition for electric car R and D investments

electric car ev sales

After securing electric car manufacturing investments in the first phase of the competition for attracting such businesses, now Hungary has a good chance of attracting R and D projects in the sector as well, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Tuesday, announcing an investment by the German-owned Schaeffler Savaria, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers.

The HUF 5.2 billion (EUR 13.6m) R and D project at its plant in Szombathely is connected with parts for hybrid and pure electric vehicles, with the state providing 1.3 billion forints in support, the ministry said in a press release. One hundred new jobs linked to engineering will be created as a result, it added.

Szijjártó said in a speech at the inauguration that the “revolutionary transformation of the automotive industry” was the “backbone of the European and global economy”.

This automotive revolution was completely rewriting the global economy, and countries would either be winners or losers in this new era, he added.

The competition, he said, had two phases. First, it was about which countries succeeded in attracting electric automotive manufacturing, and in this respect Hungary was a “European champion” and “among the best in the world”.

The world’s second largest electric battery plant will be operating in Hungary from 2025, and all three major German premium car brands manufacture here, he noted.

The second phase was about R and D, he said. Since Hungary has laid good foundations for manufacturing, and in terms of infrastructure developments and revamping its higher education, the country now has a “good chance of entering the second phase of the competition” for R and D bases, Szijjártó said.

Schaeffler’s R and D units for electric motors will be located in Szombathely, he noted, and the clutch or flywheel for every tenth car on the world’s roads was made at its plant there.

Fully 93 percent of the plant’s output is for export, he said, adding that the company maintains excellent cooperation with several Hungarian universities.

Last year, Hungary’s automotive industry set a record, with 12,000 billion forints worth of sales, while the sector grew by 16 percent in the first ten months, he said.

Read also:

Hungary struggles at the bottom in Europe’s happiness ranking

Budapest

In a survey conducted by Eurostat in 2022, Hungary emerged as the 22nd happiest country. The survey sheds light on the subjective well-being of EU countries, using a self-report method where individuals rate their life satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 10.

Factors influencing happiness

The results of recent Eurostat statistics published by the Independent prompt a closer examination of the factors influencing a country’s citizens’ life satisfaction. While Austria secures first place, Hungary’s position at the bottom sparks a conversation about the nation’s distinct circumstances. With an average score of 6.9, Hungary faces a happiness deficit compared to its EU counterparts, 24.hu reports. Austria claimed the top spot in the happiness rankings, boasting an average score of 7.9. Following closely behind is Romania, tied with Poland and Finland for second place, each with a score of 7.7. Notably, Bulgaria found itself at the bottom of the list with an average score of 5.6. Another notable change is Germany’s decline, dropping from 7.1 to 6.5 over the past year.

Income and satisfaction

The self-report method employed in the survey brings attention to the critical role of factors such as education, personal stability and financial well-being in shaping individuals’ perceptions of their lives. One intriguing aspect highlighted by the research is the positive correlation between satisfaction and low income in certain countries, such as Romania and Poland. This paradoxical finding emphasises the complexity of the relationship between subjective well-being and economic factors. It suggests that factors beyond financial stability contribute significantly to an individual’s overall happiness.

Lessons from the rankings

Eurostat stated that the goal is “to capture trends in the subjective well-being of European citizens”. Additionally, the study discovered that 9% of adults were “uninterested and withdrawn”, and that up to 20% of adults were “overwhelmed by anxiety”. The findings showed that the EU average is 7.1 percent, a level reached by two-thirds of member states. The rankings offer valuable insights into the nuances of happiness across the EU. They prompt reflection on the interconnectedness of various elements contributing to life satisfaction.

Happiness rankings across the EU

Here is a snapshot of the happiness rankings of EU countries based on the survey:

  1. Austria: 7.9
  2. Romania: 7.7
  3. Poland: 7.7
  4. Finland: 7.7
  5. Belgium: 7.6
  6. Netherlands: 7.6
  7. Denmark: 7.5
  8. Slovenia: 7.5
  9. Czech Republic: 7.4
  10. Ireland: 7.4
  11. Malta: 7.4
  12. Sweden: 7.4
  13. Estonia: 7.2
  14. Italy: 7.2
  15. Cyprus: 7.2
  16. Luxembourg: 7.2
  17. Spain: 7.1
  18. Lithuania: 7.1
  19. France: 7.0
  20. Portugal: 7.0
  21. Slovakia: 7.0
  22. Hungary: 6.9
  23. Croatia: 6.8
  24. Latvia: 6.8
  25. Greece: 6.7
  26. Germany: 6.5
  27. Bulgaria: 5.6

Hungary in a global context

In a broader context, the World Happiness Report, published in March, reaffirmed Finland’s status as the happiest country in the world for the sixth consecutive year. Hungary, in contrast, found itself ranked 51st, indicating a disparity in global and regional happiness trends.

In conclusion, the happiness rankings offer a valuable glimpse into the well-being of EU nations, providing an opportunity for introspection and exploration of the complex factors influencing individual satisfaction and contentment.

Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia to launch electricity bourse in 2024

france flamanville nuclear energy plant

Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia will start operating a regional electricity market in 2024, the energy ministry said on Thursday.

A Budapest-based holding company will be established for the purpose by the end of 2024. The company will be owned by the transmission system operators of Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia. European power exchange EPEX SPOT, to provide the technology for the new bourse, will also hold a stake. The new bourse will cover the regions of Central Europe and the Northern Balkans.

The ministry said the regional cooperation would boost the enterprise value of the Hungarian Power Exchange (HUPX) on which transactions affecting 60-70 percent of domestic consumption are brokered.

Read also: