Bulgaria

Travel Exhibition 2024 in Budapest: we visited – until Sunday, you can too! – PHOTO GALLERY

Travel Exhibition, Budapest Hungary, 2024. Photo: Daily News Hungary

Visitors interested in tourism, boats, motorhomes and electric bicycles are also welcome at the Travel Exhibition in Budapest at the Hungexpo Budapest Congress and Exhibition Centre. We took part in the ‘professional day’ to see what they have to offer the general public this weekend (23-25 February).

This year, the focus of the 46th Travel Trade Fair and 32nd Budapest Boat Show will be on active and adventure tourism, which will be presented in a renewed format and content this year. The Travel+Exhibition will include the Budapest Boat Show, the Caravan Salon and the E-bike Test&Show. With 23 domestic and 28 foreign destinations offering their travels at stand-alone stands, nearly 150 exhibitors are waiting for visitors at Hungexpo. As usual, the first day and a half of the event is dedicated to the professional audience, with tourism conferences and round-table discussions alongside business meetings.

Foreign pavilions

Bulgaria is this year’s guest of honour

Bulgaria is the foreign guest of honour at the exhibition. Mariela Modeva, advisor to the Bulgarian Ministry of Tourism, graced the event with her presence. In her speech, she said that Bulgaria will partially join the Schengen area (air and maritime traffic) in March and that this is expected to give a big boost to tourism. She stressed,

Bulgaria is not only worth visiting for its beaches, but also for its excellent cultural programmes, with some 40,000 historical monuments (7 of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage List), 36 cultural reserves, 160 monasteries and some 330 museums and galleries.

Christo Polendakov, Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Hungary, said it was a great opportunity to be the guest of honour at such an event and hoped that the travel agencies in their pavilion would be able to introduce more Hungarian travellers to the beauty of the Bulgarian coast. He stressed that Bulgarians welcome Hungarians and that it is worth trying Bulgarian hospitality.

Near and far destinations abroad

In addition to Bulgaria, many other countries were represented, such as the tourist offices of neighbouring Slovakia, Slovenia and Serbia, which were also present in large numbers, but also tourist destinations in far-off countries such as Peru, where Ambassador Edgard Pérez naturally highlighted Machu Pichu as the most famous attraction in the South American country.

He said that Lima is home to two of the six best restaurants in the world, so it could be a great experience for gastronomy lovers. Indonesia was also represented by two travel agencies, organised by the embassy and ITPC Budapest, so we were able to learn more about Bali and other Indonesian attractions. Georgia, Tunisia, Japan and South Africa were also present, but Italy and Greece were among the classic Hungarian tourist destinations represented by several exhibitors.

Domestic pavilions

The domestic guest of honour is Gyula and the county of Békés. Ernő Görgényi, mayor of Gyula, said that they would focus on active tourism, presenting, among other things, hiking and cycling trails, the castles of the county, the countryside of the Körös and the deltas, and natural values.

On the stand, which covers an area of around 100 square metres, visitors will be able to discover the county’s unique thermal waters and its rich cultural and gastronomic offer, including the Gyula pálinka festival and the Csaba sausage festival. Organised by the Budapest Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BKIK), tourism businesses from 11 Hungarian regions will present their local attractions, products and services at a joint chamber stand. Several exhibitors have come from all over the country to showcase the beauties of Hegykő, Szentgotthárd and even Lake Tisza.

Caravan Salon, Boat Show, E-bike

A traditionally popular and spectacular event of the exhibition is the Caravan Salon, where visitors can view and drive around the vehicles.

The Hungarian Sailing Association is traditionally the strategic partner of the Budapest Boat Show. This year, the organisers of the exhibition have invited the Hungarian Sailing Academy and its Sailing at Home programme to be the guest of honour at the boat show. This year is the year of the five Olympic Games, which is why Olympians, former top athletes and Olympic hopefuls will be given a special place.

The E-bike Test&Show, which debuted last year, was a great success. Thus, the organisers have built a test track of almost 3,000 square metres where visitors can try out the electric bikes on display.

Wizz Air rewrote summer timetable: European riviera flights called off, modified

Wizz Air rewrote summer timetable European riviera flights called off, modified

A Hungarian media outlet wrote that the Hungarian budget airline, Wizz Air, rewrote its summer timetable, so multiple flights will not operate or their frequencies change. The company will inform its passengers about the changes in the next few days.

According to okosutas.hu, such decisions are not unique to the Hungarian low-cost airline. Wizz Air rewrote its January-March timetable last December, causing inconvenience for many of its passengers. That is because they introduced night or early morning flights in several directions. We wrote about that decision in THIS article in detail.

Now, they did the same concerning the first part of their summer timetable. That means even though passengers bought their ticket in advance for a e.g. June flight, it might happen the plane will not depart at 8 AM but at 8 PM. That may cause headaches for some.

Okotustas’s (‘Smart Passenger’ in English) advice is not to book a non-refundable accommodation on popular Wizz directions since timetable modifications frequently happen on those.

Read also:

  • Hungarian authority probes Wizz Air for concealing information from passengers – Read more HERE
  • Wizz Air to offer 70 destinations from Hungary this summer

Cyprus, Türkiye, and Bulgaria were affected among others

The Hungarian news outlet mentioned some of the most outstanding modifications. In the original timetable, Cyprus was present with daily flights. However, Wizz cuts that back to three flights per week from end-March.

Meanwhile, Wizz will fly to Basel (Switzerland) more frequently: there will be flights twice a day on some days. However, on Monday, two flights will depart after one another, which Okosutas regards as strange.

The budget airline will not fly to Antalya or Burgas in the pre-season. That means you will only be able to travel there from mid-June despite the company selling tickets for the last few months on them.

Of course, ticket prices will be refunded, or the tickets can be rebooked. However, the latter works for only one month in advance concerning the Bulgarian and the Turkish seashore. Therefore, March travellers will not be able to rebook their flight since in April or in May, no Wizz-flights will commute there. The system does not allow the modification to Istanbul.

All in all, provided you have a Wizz ticket between March and June, you should check out your email address in the following days.

CEE ministers press EC for steps to manage Ukraine grain glut

harvest tractor agriculture grain

Central and eastern European agriculture ministers have once again turned to the European Commission for support in managing the impact of market disturbances caused by the flood of grain imports from Ukraine, Minister of Agriculture István Nagy said on Monday.

In their letter to EC Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis and European Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski, the agriculture ministers of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia gave an outline of the market losses their countries’ agricultural products suffered due to Ukrainian grain imports, Nagy said in a statement.

He said the flood of cheap Ukrainian grain was forcing central and eastern European farmers out of their traditional export markets. The minister said that in addition to high production costs, price and revenue risks and adverse weather conditions, the influx of Ukrainian grain caused extra concern for farmers in the region.

Nagy said that because these five countries were key contributors to Europe’s food security given their grain exports, Brussels had a duty to take steps to protect their markets and give them the opportunity to exploit their export potential. One way of doing this, he added, was to introduce tariffs on the “most sensitive agricultural products”.

The minister said he and his counterparts were calling on the EC to prepare a report on how Ukraine’s agricultural production regulations comply with EU regulations.

read also:

Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria presidents sign declaration for families

serbia

The presidents of Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria, published a New Year’s declaration raising their voices for the importance of families.

In the declaration published in Hungarian and English on the website of the Sándor Palace on Monday, Katalin Novák, Aleksandar Vucic and Rumen Radev said they saw families as “the foundation of our society, the source of our values, and the strength of our nations”.

“The family provides support, guidance and love and shapes our character and identity. The family is also the best environment for raising children, who define the paths of our nations and shape the future of our globe,” the members of the Network of Family-Friendly Presidents said.

They said families were the source of “the culture of responsibility” that would contribute to sustainability and to curbing the threat of climate change.

“We believe that families deserve protection, assistance and recognition from states and societies. Therefore, we strongly support policies that promote the well-being of families, and strengthen family cohesion, provide a supportive environment to family foundation, enable women to strive both as mothers and professionals … We encourage our citizens, in this New Year to continue to nurture the family as the most important institution in our societies, and reach out to those in need,” the declaration said.

The full declaration

We, the Network of the Family-Friendly Presidents consider the beginning of each and every year a proper time to learn from the past and plan for the future, renew our optimism and hope, and embrace the opportunities that lie ahead and issues that are important to us.

We raise our voice, on this occasion for the importance of families in today’s world. We are convinced that families are the foundation of our society, the source of our values, and the strength of our nations. The family provides support, guidance and love and shapes our character and identity. The family is also the best environment for raising children, who define the paths of our nations and shape the future of our globe. Strong families guarantee the culture of responsibility which contribute to sustainability and diminish the threats of climate change.

We believe that families deserve protection, assistance and recognition from states and societies. Therefore, we strongly support policies that promote the well-being of families, and strengthen family cohesion, provide a supportive environment to family foundation, enable women to strive both as mothers and professionals, uplift those in need, and provide a secure future for children.

We encourage our citizens, in this New Year to continue to nurture the family as the most important institution in our societies, and reach out to those in need. Let’s make a difference for our families, and thus for our countries.

From our family to yours, we wish you peace, prosperity, health, and a happy New Year.

Katalin Novák, President of Hungary
Aleksandar Vučić, President of the Republic of Serbia
Rumen Radev, President of the Republic of Bulgaria

As we wrote earlier, Bulgaria is repealing a law on hiking the transit fee for Russian gas which has put a question mark over Hungary’s energy security, details HERE.

Hungary may open up the gates of the Schengen Zone for this country

Schengen Croatia Hungary border

Bulgaria’s law repealing the increased transit fee on gas deliveries to Hungary has taken effect with its publication in the official gazette, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said on Facebook on Friday.

Péter Szijjártó said that his counterpart Mariya Gabriel told him about the development by phone. “This deal is done, too,” he said.

Before, Hungary said Bulgaria would not get a green light to the Schengen Zone until they do not abolish their extra tax on energy transit.

Read also:

  • Hungary will veto the Schengen accession of an EU member state? – Read more HERE
  • Another kick into Schengen: border control prolonged at this Hungarian border – Details in THIS article

Hungarian FM: Bulgaria repealing law hostile to Hungary’s energy security

Bulgaria is repealing a law on hiking the transit fee for Russian gas which has put a question mark over Hungary’s energy security, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Tuesday, adding that “previous cooperation based on mutual respect” may resume once the law has been fully annulled.

The Bulgarian law imperiled the gas supply of North Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary, and Russia’s Gazprom, the supplier, contested its legality, Szijjártó said in a ministry statement.

He noted that the law had been enacted without prior warning, and was as such “hostile”.

After unsuccessfully appealing to Sofia to repeal the law, “we made clear that if it remained in force, Hungary would veto Bulgaria’s Schengen entry,” the minister noted.

The Bulgarian government then indicated that parliament was prepared to withdraw the legislation.

Szijjártó said that his counterpart Marija Gabriel told him yesterday that parliament would repeal the law that imposed an extra tax on transporting of natural gas to Hungary.

“This good news,” he said, adding that it would be possible to return to the situation a few months ago in terms of the security of Hungary’s gas supply.

“In the past, Bulgaria had been a reliable transit partner, and we sincerely hope that by revoking this hostile law we can return to cooperation based on mutual respect that always characterised our relations in the past,” he said.

Szijjártó said he would instruct Hungary’s permanent representative in Brussels to withdraw Hungary’s veto of Bulgaria’s accession to Schengen as soon as Bulgaria’s intent was made official.

Read also:

Hungary will veto the Schengen accession of an EU member state?

Border control Slovenia Hungary Schengen

Hungary has made it clear to Bulgaria that it will veto the country’s Schengen membership if a “punitive tax” on gas transits is maintained by Bulgaria in the long term, the foreign minister said on Saturday.

Péter Szijjártó said on Facebook that Bulgaria’s move was “scandalous and hostile” because it endangered gas transfers to North Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary.

As a result of the current geopolitical and security circumstances, a major part of natural gas supplies required by Hungary arrive through the affected pipeline and Bulgaria’s decision “goes fully against European regulations,” he said. “It carries the risk of natural gas deliveries to, among others, Hungary, stopping completely,” he said.

Szijjártó said that a decision on Bulgaria’s Schengen membership is scheduled to be made next week, “so they have suddenly started making efforts to scrap the law”.

“If they cancel it, we will also withdraw our decision concerning the veto,” he added.

Read also:

  • Schengen in serious trouble: strict control prolonged at Hungarian border again
  • Romania Schengen accession priority for Hungary, foreign minister says – Read more HERE

Romania preceded Hungary again: Hungarians second poorest in the EU

market újpest hungary price vegetable fruit food

Based on consumption per capita, Hungary is the second poorest country in the European Union preceded only by Bulgaria at the negative end of the list. Even Romania preceded Hungary in that respect and many other factors.

According to index.hu, consumption per capita is very different in the EU countries and regions. Eurostat said in their latest survey that the highest consumption per capita was in Luxemburg, Austria, and Germany compared to the EU’s average. According to their list, consumption is the second lowest in Hungary. Only Bulgarians are poorer than the Hungarians. Meanwhile, Hungary joined the EU almost 20 years ago, in 2004, and received lots of EU development money. Bulgaria joined the community only in 2007, together with Romania, but Romanians have become richer than the Hungarians in the last almost two decades.

Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics institution, measured actual individual consumption (AIC) in 2022 and data ranged between the 69% and 138% of the EU average. On the top of the list is Luxemburg. There, people consume 38% more than the average EU citizen. Austria and Germany follow the small Western European state with 18%.

In 2022, nine EU member states were above the EU average, the Eurostat report said.

Only Bulgaria performed worse than Hungary in this respect. The Bulgarians’ actual consumption is only 69% of the EU average, while that rate is only 71% in Hungary. The consumption of Bulgarians increased by 4% compared to 2021. Romanians are currently at 86% of the EU average.

Croatia and Latvia follow Hungary on the other end of the list with 76-76%.

Hungary struggled with the highest inflation in the European Union after the Orbán cabinet’s fourth landslide victory in 2022. Among the reasons, experts mention the increased government expenditures before the elections, the energy crisis, the war in Ukraine and the import-based Hungarian energy sector. Since salaries could not follow skyrocketing inflation, people in Hungary cut their consumption radically in the last few months.

Construction sector output flat in October

The output of Hungary’s construction sector in October edged up an annual 0.1%, after falling by 6.0% in the previous month, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Friday. Output of the buildings segment grew by 2.0% while civil engineering output slipped by 2.6%.

In absolute terms, construction sector output was worth 660 billion forints in October. The buildings segment accounted for 61% of the total. Month on month, construction sector output rose by 1.0 pc, adjusted for seasonal and working-day effects. Construction sector output fell by 4.2% in January-October from the base period.

Read also:

  • Hungary struggles at the bottom in Europe’s happiness ranking – Read more HERE
  • Hungarian parliament adopts law on guest workers – Details in THIS article

DNA of our Romanian neighbours has shown that their theory of origins needs to be rethought

romania flag

Romanians will be surprised by a recent study that has established their ancestry based on DNA.

Pioneering DNA research covering Bulgaria, northern Macedonia, Serbia, Romania, Albania and Greece has led to startling discoveries about the genetic make-up of the Balkan population, Novinite reports.

The Romanian genome is 50-60 percent Slavic in origin, similar to Balkan countries such as Bulgaria and Croatia

The research, a collaboration between Serbian, Spanish and American scientists, sheds light on the prevalence of Slavic genes in the region.

And it’s all for nothing. According to the results, published by the Serbian agency Tanjug, Bulgarians, Romanians and Croats have the highest concentration of Slavic genes. In contrast, Greeks have the lowest concentration of this genetic heritage, ranging from 4 to 20 percent.

There are several theories among the Romanians as to where they actually originated, but the state theory is that the Romanians of Transylvania were inhabitants of the former Roman Dacia, descendants of Romanised Dacians and Roman settlers, and are therefore the ancestral inhabitants of Transylvania.

However, after the latest findings, Romanians may reconsider their genealogy, because it seems that the Dacian-Romanian theory, which has been promoted for decades, based on the affinity between Romance and Latin, has failed.

The primary aim of the study was to show the continuity of genetic traits between modern Balkan inhabitants and ancient populations from the Bronze Age, reflecting two millennia of genetic population shifts and migration patterns.

As the site states:

‘This comprehensive analysis not only sheds light on the distribution of Slavic genetic heritage, but also provides insights into the complex genetic composition and historical migrations that shaped the different populations of the Balkans.

It seems that the Romanian origin theory, questioned by many, has to face new facts.

Read also, Why are more than a million Hungarians very sad today, while Romanians celebrate?

As we wrote a few days ago, a new Romanian proposal would split Szeklerland in two, details HERE.

Hungary buys a lot of green energy, joining forces with four other countries

green energy hungary azerbaijan, georgia romania bulgaria

The future of the Hungarian economy and environmental protection lies in green energy, and the country has taken a major step towards meeting the goals related to it with broad international cooperation, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said in Budapest on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the management committee of the so-called green energy corridor, Péter Szijjártó said Hungary, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Bulgaria had signed a declaration of intent on cooperation on green energy which would see them coordinate their green strategies, developments and innovation via a shared platform.

The electricity companies of the five countries will set up a joint venture to manage the project’s technical and technological implementation, he told a joint press conference with the energy ministers of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Romania and the deputy energy minister of Bulgaria, according to a ministry statement. Also, a tender will be called for a joint feasibility study, with the winning bidder to be decided early next month, he said.

The participating countries will also take joint steps to ensure that the financial resources for the project are in place, Szijjártó said, noting that the European Commission was also present at Tuesday’s meeting.

Amid the crises of recent years, Hungary has maintained its economic growth thanks to record investments, but the startups of new plants will also increase energy consumption, Szijjártó said.

Hungary aims to continue expanding its economy while reducing its harmful emissions, he said. Meeting this goal requires green energy, he said, adding that in the coming years electricity would become even more important in Hungary for transport, industry as well as heating and cooling technologies.

Electricity consumption in Hungary is set to rise by 50 percent by 2030, and the country plans to produce this electricity carbon-free, which is why it is expanding its nuclear and solar energy capacities, the minister said.

At the same time, Szijjártó said, it was important that the electricity Hungary imports also be carbon neutral, adding that the green energy corridor was key to this. “We’ve allied with Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Bulgaria to import large volumes of green energy to Europe,” he said.

Azerbaijan and Georgia are undertaking huge investments in hydro and wind power, and central Europe has started developing its own infrastructure so that it can handle as much green energy imported from the South Caucasus as possible for consumption and being transported further west, Szijjarto said.

This project, he said, required linking Georgia and Romania with what would be the world’s longest, 1,100km submarine cable.

If all goes to plan, energy deliveries along this route can begin by the beginning of the next decade, he added.

In response to a question, Szijjártó said the project demonstrated that energy imports were a question of “physical reality rather than a political issue or a matter of dreams or desires”.

As regards the project’s financing by the European Union, Szijjártó said the matter was a European one and the infrastructure upgrades would require support.

As we wrote today, Hungarian-Kazakh Foreign Ministers held a meeting in Budapest, details HERE.

Hungary, Serbia, North Macedonia join against Bulgaria

szijjártó in serbia

Hungary, Serbia and North Macedonia are taking joint action against Bulgaria in connection with the hike in its fee to forward natural gas, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign affairs and trade minister said in Belgrade on Friday.

At a joint press conference with Serbian energy minister Dubravka Đedović, Szijjártó said Serbia helped to undergird Hungary’s energy security, while some EU countries did the opposite.

He said no one had the right to threaten the security of another country’s energy supply. Bulgaria’s “hostile” measure was, he said, “unacceptable”.

“We’re ready to give a sufficiently weighty response to this hostile Bulgarian step within the framework of the European Union,” he said, noting their request for an infringement procedure.

He said North Macedonia was also “on board”, referring to “tight” cooperation and coordination with the country.

Bulgaria’s move, he said, put European solidarity in doubt. “Allies don’t do this to each other.”

Also, Bulgaria was going against EU rules by levying what amounted to a customs duty, he said, adding that it hindered the free movement of goods and undermined common EU trade rules.

“We expect Bulgaria to withdraw this hostile decision,” he said. Also, the EU should enforce its own rules should Bulgaria refuse, he added.

Szijjártó called Serbia a “reliable ally” in helping Hungary to ensure the security of its energy supply.

Fully 4.7 billion cubic meters of gas was piped to Hungary via Serbia this year, he said, while Serbia currently stored more than 200 million cubic meters of gas in Hungary.

The minister said that work was progressing well on preparations for a new oil pipeline connecting the two countries, while electricity transmission capacity would be doubled by 2028.

“This is hugely important for us as we’ll need a large amount of new electricity to supply investments related to the electric car industry,” Szijjártó said.

Read also:

Breaking: Hungary qualifies for European Championship! – PHOTOS

hungary bulgarian Euro 2024 Qualifier

The Hungarian national football team secured their place in the 2024 European Championship with a draw against Bulgaria tonight, on 16 November, in Sofia, Bulgaria.

With the success against Bulgaria, the Hungarian national team has already secured its participation in the European Championship. However, the qualification series is not over yet: on Sunday at 15:00, the national team will host Montenegro in the Puskás Arena, m4sport.hu reports.

According to Index, the Hungarian team played much better for most of the meeting. Still, they were losing 2-1 at the end of the 90 minutes. Then came the 97th minute and an own goal on the Bulgarian side. This own goal means a third European Championship in a row for Hungary.

European Championship qualification
Round 9
Group G

Bulgaria-Hungary 2-2 (1-1)
Sofia, Vasil Levski National Stadium, behind closed gates. Led by Stefanski (Poland)

BULGARIA: Naumov – V. Popov, A. Petkov, Antov, Nedyalkov – F. Krastev, Chochev (Atanasov, 43.), Gruev – Despodov (Rusev, 83.), Minchev (Kolev, 72.), Delev (S. Ivanov, 83.). Head coach: Ilian Iliev

HUNGARY: Dibusz – Botka (Kalmár, 81.), Lang, Szalai A. – Nego (Gazdag, 81.), Nagy Á., Styles, Kerkez – Szoboszlai D., Csoboth K. (Nagy Zs., 59.) – Ádám M. (Németh A., 74.). Head coach: Marco Rossi

Sent off: Antov (36.), Kerkez (57.)

Read also:

EU infringement procedure against Bulgaria will start due to Hungary?

Viktor Orbán China

Hungary has called on the European Commission to launch an infringement procedure against Bulgaria over recently introduced energy transit fees, the minister in charge of European affairs said on Friday.

János Boka said on Facebook that the new Bulgarian regulations imposed an energy fee on forwarded Russian gas arriving in Bulgaria, but the new rules had been approved without preliminary information or consultation with Hungary.

The fee, he said, seriously endangered the security of energy supplies in Hungary and the entire region while contravening European Union law because “it has the effect of a customs fee, which runs afoul of EU internal market directives”. The regulations also violated the rules of the Energy Charter agreement, he added.

Boka said he had asked the EC in writing to launch an infringement procedure against Bulgaria without delay and to call on Bulgaria to suspend the application of the fee while the procedure is under way.

If the EC does not fulfil the request, Hungary will go to the EU court before the end of this year, he added.

Read also:

  • Hungary and Serbia protest Bulgaria’s tax on transit gas from Russia – Read more HERE
  • Hungary left behind – We are to be taken over by Bulgaria as well

Minister: Gas supplies secure this winter

There is no risk as far as the security of gas supplies is concerned this winter, the minister for energy affairs said after a meeting of the operative group for energy emergency on Friday. Csaba Lantos said that during the 12 months up to the end of September, gas consumption totalled 8.3 billion cubic metres, a 20 percent drop from the same period of the previous year. Gas storage facilities are 98 percent full, and the 6.5 billion cubic metres of gas available covers two-thirds of annual demand, he added.

Calculations for the heating season show that back-up reserves need not be used even if consumption returns to the previous level, he said. Undisturbed supplies to domestic consumers can be guaranteed this winter even if supply routes drop out permanently, he added.

The operative group was also briefed about preparations for programmes to encourage the storage of green energy by domestic and industrial users, he said.

Fidesz: Hungary using EU funds effectively

euro money chinese loan fine

Hungary is among the member states to have used European Union funding the most effectively, Regional Development Minister Tibor Navracsics said on Thursday.

Speaking at the closing event of two comprehensive regional development programmes, TOP and VEKOP, Navracsics said that the two schemes supported 13,000 projects aimed at closing the gap between developed and laggard regions of the country.

Navracsics thanked the European Commission for the timely disbursement of the funds, and saying it had contributed to “Hungary becoming more liveable and competitive”.

He called on representatives of the EC to “move on from their political fears and decide on funding based on their professional stance rather than the European Parliament’s political statements.”

Agnes Monfret, head of the European Commission’s unit for programme implementation in Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovenia, noted that TOP and VEKOP projects had created or revamped some creches offering 10,000 places and 50,000 places in kindergartens.

The programmes also contributed to building 3,700 hectares of industrial parks in less-developed localities, to upgrading 3.3 million square meters of public spaces, to building 500km of bike roads and to revamping 2,000 GP’s offices. Almost 65,000 people participated in training for the labour market, and 99 local groups received help in implementing their development strategy, she noted.

Hungary’s cohesion funds in the 2021-2027 financial cycle come to EUR 22 billion, or 12 percent of the country’s GDP, she said. “I count on my Hungarian colleagues to work together with us … and to communicate our joint achievements as partners.”

TOP used EUR 4 billion of EU co-financing in disadvantaged regions of the country, and VEKOP received EUR 582 million to develop projects in central Hungary.

Bulgaria has blocked the Hungarian national team from playing their crucial match in front of spectators

fans szoboszlai

The Hungarian team will play against Bulgaria in Plovdiv instead of Sofia, and the Bulgarian Football Union has issued a press release that the match will be played in front of empty stands.

The host association, responsible for organising the national team’s European Championship qualifier on 16 November, has changed the venue and time of the Bulgaria-Hungary match for security reasons and has chosen to bar fans from entering the stadium.

The Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) has asked UEFA to allow the 16 November Bulgaria-Hungary EURO2024 qualifying match to be held in Plovdiv instead of Sofia, with a kick-off time of 6.45 p.m. instead of the originally announced 8.45 p.m. Hungarian time.

UEFA also agreed to hold the match behind closed gates due to the exceptional circumstances, so the match will be played without any fans in attendance.

The host association took this decision 10 days before the match to avoid any unwanted incidents or potential atrocities. The MLSZ, while regretting the inconvenience caused to fans who have already bought tickets for the match, will of course arrange for their refunds. Even though the decision was not taken by the Hungarian FA, it offers its apologies to Hungarian fans planning to attend the match. Ticket holders will be contacted by e-mail shortly.

As we wrote earlier, the Hungarian national team could not secure a place at the EC in Lithuania, details HERE.

Also, we wrote about the Israeli national football team relocating matches to Hungary, details HERE.

PM Orbán’s European representatives mad at Bulgaria: a ‘hostile’ move

Orbán government and parliament group

Bulgaria’s decision to raise the transit price of gas is a “hostile move” and against European Union regulations, and Hungary is expecting immediate answers from the European Commission on the matter, Fidesz MEP András Gyürk said on Friday.

Bulgaria’s decision to raise trasit prices a week ago without prior notice may put Hungary’s energy supplies at risk and contradicts the principle of energy solidarity enshrined in the European Treaty, Gyürk said.

The MEP group of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz has turned to the EC with questions requiring immediate answers on the matter, he said.

The price hike could put the energy supplies of Hungary and Serbia at risk and destabilise energy markets, he said.

Fidesz MEPs expect information on planned countermeasures from the EC. It also expects the EC to state that it still sees member states’ energy mix as a national competency, he said. The transit fee hike may put limits on that competency, he added.

Energy security and protecting citizens from high energy prices is a matter of sovereignty, he said.

“We will not leave the hostile Bulgarian step without answer. Hungary will defend its sovereignty, whether together with the EC or against Brussels bureaucrats,” he said.

Read also:

Hungary and Serbia protest Bulgaria’s tax on transit gas from Russia

The governments of Hungary and Serbia said a decision by Bulgaria to levy a tax on the transit of their gas from Russia was “an adversarial step” that put “the safe supply of energy at risk” for both countries, in a joint statement issued on Tuesday.

“This decision goes against European solidarity, endangering the energy security of a fellow EU member state and a candidate country,” the sides said in their statement.

“Hungary and Serbia will coordinate their positions and will not leave this hostile Bulgarian decision without a proper response,” they added.

Szijjártó: Gazprom will continue fulfilling gas supplies obligations

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the director of Gazprom have confirmed that the company will continue fulfilling its contracted gas supplies obligations in the direction of Hungary despite increased transit fees by Bulgaria, the foreign minister said on Tuesday.

The ministry cited Péter Szijjártó as saying in Beijing following Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s meeting with Putin that the situation in Ukraine was an important topic on the agenda of talks. Hungary faces the negative consequences of the war on a daily basis, in the form of the migrant crisis, high inflation and soaring energy prices caused by the policy of sanctions, while ethnic Hungarians are among those that die in the fights, he added.

“The prime minister talked about the possibility of peace at today’s talks, as well, and stood up for peace,” Szijjártó said. “The answer we received and the message of the entire meeting, all that was said there, offer no reason for too much positive hope,” he added.

The other focal point of the talks was energy cooperation between the two countries because Hungary must maintain relations based on common sense and mutual respect in order to guarantee the security of supplies, he said.

“Whether we like it or not, Hungary’s energy security cannot be guaranteed without Hungarian-Russian cooperation,” he said. “The question of energy supplies is not a political or an ideological question,” the foreign minister added.

“Concerning energy cooperation, a review of the situation established that the country’s energy supplies are secure and Hungarian-Russian cooperation serves this,” he said.

Commenting on Bulgaria’s increasing the transit fees on Russian gas in a measure introduced without preliminary warning, he said the decision was unfriendly towards Hungary and Serbia because it threatened the security of energy supplies. The measures go against European solidarity and may violate community rules on the introduction of duties and the free movement of goods, he added.

Szijjártó said that he had held several talks with Serbian deputy Prime Minister Sinisa Mali about the issue and agreed to coordinate steps in the future.

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Hungary left behind – We are to be taken over by Bulgaria as well

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Global economic growth is set to slow this year and next, according to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest economic forecast. As we reported, Romania has already overtaken Hungary in terms of GDP. It seems that not only Romania but also Bulgaria will do better than Hungary this year.

Economic fall of the V4 countries

According to the IMF’s latest forecast, global economic growth could fall from 3.5% in 2022 to 3.0% this year and 2.9% in 2024. This is well below the historic peak of 3.8% last recorded in 2019, Pénzcentrum reports. How can Hungary and the countries in the region perform? The Hungarian economic news portal has investigated this question.

According to the IMF data, while last year the V4 countries had a relatively buoyant economic growth rate of between 1.5 and 4.6%, this year it is a very modest -0.3-1.3%. Sadly, there is little prospect of a return to the previous pace in the near future, with the IMF forecasting an expansion intensity of between 2.3 and 3.1% in 2024. Hungary and Poland are likely to be hit hardest by the slowdown, as these two countries saw their economic growth rates fall the most between 2022 and 2023.

Romania, Bulgaria far from recession

As we reported, Romania has taken over Hungary in terms of GDP. Romania’s economy grew by 4.7% last year and the IMF forecasts a 2.2% increase this year. Meanwhile, in 2024 the economy of the country could grow by 3.8 percent overall. This means that Romania will be far from the recession that Hungary is likely to sink into this year.

The Bulgarian economy is also far from recession. In 2022, it grew by 3.4%, and this year, it is forecast to grow by 1.7 percent. In 2024, the growth is expected to be 3.2 percent, which is also higher than in Hungary.

There’s no reaching Austria

“Forget about catching up with Austria! The goal is to avoid being left behind Romania.” This is one of the ways Zsolt Balásy summed up the crisis period of the Hungarian economy. The analyst of Hold Alapkezelő (Hold Fund Management) told Pénzcentrum that it is worrying that we have failed badly in the economic stress test of recent years. He added that this is not only worsening the country’s prospects in the short term.

According to the expert, we are now on the Serbian path instead of the EU integration path. This almost guarantees that the economic prosperity of the 2010s will not return.

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Unfortunately, it is not only the economy that is experiencing a falling trend in Hungary. The country’s main railway company, MÁV, is not at the top of the situation either: The entire Budapest-Vienna railway line will be closed: chaos will reign?