House Speaker: Trianon anniversary opportunity to assess 100 years’ achievements – Interview
Speaker of Parliament László Kövér has called the 100th anniversary of the post-WW1 Trianon Peace Treaty an opportunity to assess the achievements of the past hundred years.
In an interview published in the daily Magyar Nemzet on Wednesday, Kövér called the treaty under which two-thirds of Hungary’s territory was ceded to neighbouring countries and large ethnic Hungarian communities found themselves living beyond the country’s border, one of the greatest tragedies of Hungarian history.
Kövér said
the Trianon Treaty signed on June 4th, 1920 had “doomed” Hungary.
Yet the “severed territories”, he added, had made achievements since, both jointly and independently, that “are a source of justified pride”.
Regarding Hungary’s relations with its neighbours, Kövér said the Hungarian nation had “learned much” in the past hundred years. Kövér insisted that Hungarian intellectuals had been “clear-eyed” about the shared fate of the nations in the Carpathian Basin and, in a wider sense, central Europe, years before Trianon.
Hungary wants to turn a new leaf in its approach to its neighbours in the 21st century, Kövér said. It is clear that
“we need not fear each other but rather the forces aiming to wipe out our national identity and sovereignty.”
Regarding territorial autonomy for ethnic minorities in the region, Kövér said western European states had “looked down on central Europe” for centuries. Therefore, they are not prepared to grant Hungarians beyond the borders the rights enjoyed by the Basque minority in Spain, Germans in Belgium or Swedes in Finland, he said.
One-tenth of Europe’s population, some 50 million people, live as part of a minority on their ancestral land, Kövér said. However, their needs took a back seat to the “aggressive and sly campaign to have countless forms of sexual aberration accepted”, or the issue of illegal migrants, “against whom we cannot even voice criticism any more”.
Those “so-called minorities” are “excellent tools for dismantling European culture”, a pre-requisite of “imperial centralism”, Kövér said.
Answering a question on Hungary’s dual citizenship law for ethnic Hungarians across the borders, which the Hungarian parliament passed in 2010, Kövér said
the law had bolstered the “cross-border reunification of the nation”.
Some neighbouring countries’ elites have also accepted the Hungarian decision which aids the reorganisation of “the Carpathian Basin and central Europe as a united economic and cultural region,” he said.
Referring to left-wing Hungarian opposition parties, Kövér said
the “Hungarian left has attacked its own nation repeatedly over the past hundred years”.
Referring to the Bolshevik uprising of 1918-1919, Kövér insisted that the “Trianon borders would have been drawn very differently had the Hungarian left not betrayed its country”.
Regarding Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony’s call for a moment’s silence in Budapest at the time of the treaty’s signing, at 4.30 pm on Thursday, Kövér insisted the initiative was “disingenuous”. Kövér said that
some leftist politicians, Karácsony among them, “try to cast themselves as patriots for political gain but then are revealed as leftist liberals”.
Others are “ashamed of their views on the nation”, and a third group are “raving haters of the nation”, he added.
Read alsoHouse Speaker: Trust in democratic institutions eroding
Is the image of Hungary in surrounding countries improving? – survey
The image of Hungary in surrounding countries is improving, according to a survey by the Central European Nézőpont Institute.
Nézőpont said in its report released on Tuesday that the “wounds” of the Trianon arrangements that deprived Hungary of two-thirds of its territory one hundred years ago were healing slowly thanks to cooperation and mutual respect in central Europe, and Hungary’s image in the Carpathian Basin had improved in the past year.
Slovakians have the most positive view of Hungary (78 percent), followed by Croatians (68 percent) and Serbians (60 percent).
More than half of respondents in neighboring countries, with the exception of Romania (47 percent), had positive views of Hungary.
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In Croatia, favourable opinions increased by 12 percentage points in a year while in Slovakia they were up 11 percentage points. In Austria there was a 10 percentage-point rise. Only in Romania and Serbia was there a decline.
Hungarians also have more positive views of neighbouring countries, with 82 percent of Hungarian respondents expressing a good opinion of Austria, up 9 percentage points compared with 2019, while 74 percent felt positive about Croatia. Positive sentiment in relation to Slovenia and Slovakia was 64 percent and 62 percent, respectively.
Less than half of respondents were upbeat about Serbia (40 percent) and Romania (36 percent).
Data presented at the panel discussion was evaluated by CEPER analysts Gergely Illés and Géza Tokár, experts on Romania and Slovakia, respectively, while the meeting was moderated by Mihály Rosonczy-Kovács.
Regarding the background of the constantly improving trend in Slovakia, Géza Tokár said that
previously conflict-generating issues, such as the Malina Hedvig case, had been removed from the agenda and replaced by those in which the official positions of the two countries were closer aligned, and that these were also shared by the majority of the public.
Examples include managing the issue of asylum seekers or representing Christian-conservative values in the discourse on the future of Europe. Tokár emphasized that the Slovak society in general is even more conservative than the Hungarian, and the positive opinion about Hungary is also a reflection of the fact that Hungary strongly represents conservative values at the international level as well.
In addition, Slovakia unlike Romania, is committed to Central European cooperation. Géza Tokár said that Slovak diplomacy is characterized by a high degree of pragmatism.
“If there is a Slovak foreign policy doctrine, it is to try to work with everyone in the light of the possibilities.” The V4 currently has no alternative, its economic benefits are known to the entire Slovak political elite, so Slovakia is expected to remain a secure partner in regional cooperation.
In connection with the events in Romania in the recent period, Gergely Illyés emphasized that
President Klaus Iohannis had been condemned by leading Romanian and Western, mainly German-speaking circles, which otherwise supported him, for his anti-Hungarian statements.
The Romanian President’s actions were primarily driven by domestic politics, the analyst added. Regarding the opportunities for co-operation in Central Europe, Illyés explained that the basic principle of Romanian diplomacy was to consider the United States as their main ally, followed by the large EU member states, primarily Germany. They are trying to strengthen Romanian-Polish bilateral relations in the region, thus trying to move Poland away from the V4 and reduce Hungary’s influence in the region. According to Illyés, any initiatives in Romania that would call for the strengthening of the Central European region do not currently receive media coverage. The view often expressed by Iohannis, which considers regional cooperation to be unnecessary and remains committed to the federal European Union, can be considered as the generally accepted position of the Romanian political and diplomatic elite. According to Illyés, the spread of pro-Central European views would require a radical, systemic change, for which there is very little chance in the short term.
Five-party support for European Citizens’ Initiative on protecting national regions
Hungary’s five parliamentary parties have put forward a proposal for a resolution in support of a European Citizens’ Initiative on protecting national regions.
The proposal by the governing parties, Jobbik, the Socialists and LMP published on parliament’s website on Wednesday backs the initiative of the Szekler National Council.
The initiative for the Equality of the Regions and Sustainability of the Regional Cultures aims to convince the European Commission to create a cohesion policy that pays special attention to regions with national, ethnic, cultural, religious or linguistic characteristics that are different from those of the surrounding regions.
The proposal has symbolic weight, too, given the declaration of the year of national cohesion 100 years after the signing of the Trianon Peace Treaty, parliament’s statement said.
The proposed resolution states that the deprivations of such regions, including geographical areas without administrative powers, can be addressed by ensuring equal access to structural funds and other EU funds, resources and programmes, while promoting their regional identity.
The resolution also calls on Hungarians at home and abroad to support the citizens’ initiative and to sign it.
Read alsoGuess how many Hungarians agree that some parts of the neighbouring countries belong to Hungary?
The origins of animal domestication in the Carpathian Basin
The buffalo can be considered to be one of the ‘most’ indigenous livestock in the Carpathian Basin – says József Marticsek, breeding director of the Hungarian Buffalo Breeders Association. He adds that buffalos that had lived near Lake Fertő 6000 years ago had already been subject to the deformation of their skulls caused by yokes. This means that they were among the first to be kept as farm animals in the Carpathian Basin, reports Magyarmezőgazdaság.
The buffalo was the most widespread in our country during the Turkish occupation. In the late 19th and early 20th century, 150,000 buffaloes lived in Hungary. Back in those days, they were mostly used to move heavy machinery, carry large loads or to plough. Besides their draft purposes, their meat and milk were also significantly utilised.
Later, the industrial revolution and the spreading of motorised tractors pushed the buffalo to the background to such a degree, that stocks of any significance could only be found in Transylvania around Méra and Kalotaszeg, where buffalos were still kept for their milk and draft purposes.
In 1989, in order to save Hungary’s buffalo population, Hungarian national parks had joined together. The animals came from three sources. One of these was a sizeable Transdanubian estate herd, which was transferred to the Nagyberek State Farm and then to the Balaton-felvidéki National Park. The Hortobágy National Park Directorate collected the buffalo population of small farmers in Hortobágy, and the third source was a herd from Transylvania. Today, there are about six thousand buffalos in Hungary.
The Carpathian Basin is a fascinating area and hides many exciting secrets. If you would like to know more about a possible volcano hidden under our feet or would like to hear more about the research behind the wildlife’s collapse, just read those two articles.
The buffalo’s nature-conservation role is unsurpassed. They not only trample down the reed but also eat it and they graze on an area where other species like cows would not survive.
Besides, the utilisation of buffalo meat is significant in Hungary, but only a few people utilise their milk. However, there are places, like Italy, where they breed it mainly for their milk, and their population can reach over half a million animals. There, the tradition of making and selling mozzarella cheese is the key to the success of the buffalo. Buffalo milk is exceptional. One cow only gives about 5-7 litres of milk a day, but its fat content is between 6-16%.
József Marticsek, breeding director of the Buffalo Breeders Association, said their association has 120 members. Their most important task is to keep the animals registered and to raise breeding bulls. An EU-funded program is under way to ensure that bulls are distributed to the association’s members free of charge. Thus, every opportunity is given to keep the number of buffalos and the tradition of keeping them as livestock ever growing.
Could a volcano erupt in the Carpathian Basin?
The Csomád volcano embracing St. Anna’s Lake was the last to erupt in the Carpathian Basin 30,000 years ago, but its magma chamber still contains molten lava. At present, there is no indication that it will become active, but there is no guarantee that it will remain dormant either, reports 24.
We Hungarians are horrified to receive news of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes from far away in the world, but with the reassuring feeling that such things can never happen to us. Although Hungary is far from the great fractures of the earth’s crust, that in itself does not mean that these geological hazards cannot reach us.
It is worth noting that earthquakes are not uncommon in Hungary.
Most of them can only be detected by instruments, but every year there are ones that the populace can notice as well, and there have even been earthquakes claiming lives in the past.
The last volcano
Although most of them have been dormant for millions of years, the Transylvanian Csomád volcano erupted 30,000 years ago – which is like yesterday if measured on a geographic scale – and did so with a huge explosion. By the way, this was the last volcanic eruption in the Carpathian Basin. The name may not be familiar to many, but inside the Great Csomád, the only crater lake of the Carpathian Basin, Saint Anna Lake, can be found. The volcano is young in geological terms and is far from being a “permanently extinct” volcano.
Photo: Ignácz Szabolcs; facebook.com/visitharomszek/
At present, there is no indication that it will become active again, but there is no guarantee that it will not erupt either.
Although it may seem inactive, it has been under investigation for over a decade. Getting to know the volcano better is important in many ways. Szabolcs Harangi, a geologist and a volcanologist, the head of the Department of Petrology and Geochemistry at Eötvös Loránd University and the Research Center for Vulcanology at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, works on the research with his team.
The Carpathian Basin is a hot-spot for scientists nowadays. Some of them even think that signs of the wildlife’s collapse can be found in the Fogaras Mountains. And if the beautiful landscape got you in the mood for travel, here are some of the most beautiful places you should visit in Hungary.
We experienced the largest volcanic eruptions
As calm as the ground may look now, it had been just as active in the past. In the last 20 million years, volcanoes of the Carpathian Basin have produced the largest eruptions in Europe.
The Mátra, Börzsöny, and Tokaj Mountains, for example, are known to have been created by volcanic activity as a result of a process that began 16 million years ago. These can be considered extinct volcanoes, although it is difficult to find a simple definition. We can say that once the material in the volcanic nucleus has solidified, it is unlikely that it will become active again.
Basalt volcanoes can never be fully predictable
The situation with the so-called basalt volcanoes is slightly different. Often, these are not a high volcano but rather a volcanic field with many small volcanoes. These include the Tihany Peninsula or formations known as the Witness Mountains, from Ság Mountain to Badacsony. Basalt volcanoes are characterised by a rather gentle lava flow, with lava erupting like fireworks and lava fountains.
This kind of activity started around 8 million years ago in our region, but it was extremely unpredictable: between eruptions, there were often periods of 100,000 to even 1 million years of dormancy. The last basalt volcano, Putikov, near Banská Štiavnica, was formed only 100,000 years ago.
Thus, the assumption that if there has been no eruption for many years, there will not be any in the future creates a false sense of security. Basalt magma can – within days or weeks – appear out of the blue and produce eruptions, even in areas that had not been active for millions of years.
Under the Carpathian Basin, the condition of the earth’s mantle may still be suitable for the formation of basalt magma, and if the magma is capable of surfacing, a basalt volcano may be formed. Szabolcs Harangi summarises that on a scientific basis, the possibility of basaltic volcanic activity exists in Hungary, although it is very slim.
There is a chance of an eruption
Following the volcanic activity of the region, which began 11 million years ago, the Clement Mountains were born first, followed by the Gurghian Mountains and the Harghita. The youngest and last element is the Csomád Mountains. We are talking about an 11-million-year-long process, so the now seemingly calm landscape does not necessarily mean that everything is safe and calm.
The investigation of Csomád’s seemingly inactive extinct volcano for about 15 years has revealed that it is not extinct. Moreover, based on their scientific results, Hungarian scientists suggest introducing a new concept into volcanology: a volcano with a potentially active magma chamber.
Although the most recent eruption of Csomád occurred more than 10,000 years ago and therefore cannot be officially called a potentially active volcano, research still indicates magma. And as long as there is magma, there is the potential for a volcanic eruption.
Szekler Vesuvius
Like the ember left after the campfire: if the wind rises, the flames can easily catch on, but if there is no air movement, the whole thing will burn out. There must be ember so the flame can catch on. If there is no ember, the wind can blow, and the flames will not burst. The same is true for the magma chamber: as long as there is liquid magma in the reservoir, there is a chance that it will erupt. But when this will happen cannot be said for sure.
The Csomád is not a gentle volcano, its most recent eruption had been accompanied by violent explosions – at least that is what we can infer from the volcanic pebbles scattered across vast areas. It could have been something like the eruption of Vesuvius’ Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 AD.
Professor Harangi emphasises that there is obviously no need to be afraid and that tens of millions of people live in the immediate vicinity of active volcanoes. Csomád is also a fantastic place, a real tourist attraction, and knowing about the volcanic activity can only add to this. But it is important to get a better understanding of the nature of such long-dormant volcanoes.
An unexpected eruption could have serious consequences. And the results of such research can be used anywhere in the world. Csomád is a volcano with long-dormant but potentially active magma chambers.
The knowledge gained from the volcano is of great value to the science of volcanology at an international level.
Photo: Ignácz Szabolcs; facebook.com/visitharomszek/
The fingerprint of Csomád
In a recent study, by Szabolcs Harangi and his team determined the volcano’s ‘fingerprint’, that is, the ash layer left after eruptions which are uniquely characteristic of Csomád. Large amounts of volcanic debris and volcanic ash could be carried hundreds or thousands of kilometres away by the wind, resulting in thin volcanic layers, sometimes called tephras. These ash layers are sometimes found in sediment layers.
Connecting such a layer to Csomád or other similar, not-too-distant volcanoes and eruptions of known ages will facilitate the search for traces of climate change as well as the identification of archaeological finds. A recent scientific paper explores the characteristics of the tephra resulting from the Csomád eruptions.
Bach for Everyone Festival begins on March 16, 2020
Bach for Everyone Festival (Bach Mindenkinek Fesztivál) is taking place this year, free of charge, in 100 cities and localities in the Carpathian Basin in concert halls, churches, schools, hospitals, underpasses and squares from March 16 to 22, with artists volunteering their time in aid of the child ambulance charity foundation Magyar Gyermekmentő Alapítvány.
Audiences will be asked to make donations to the charity, László Zalán Kovács, the festival’s director, told a news conference on Tuesday.
The festival features the National Philharmonic Orchestra, Honvéd Male Choir, Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, Kodály Philharmonic Orchestra in Debrecen and the Kodály Choir among others.
The opening concert takes place in the Eiffel Workshop of the State Opera House, and the closing concert will be hosted by the Gödöllő Royal Palace.
Éva Gesztes of the Hungarian Children’s Rescue Foundation said
money raised will go towards purchasing a mobile ventilator suitable for babies, children and adults.
At the press conference, a new ventilator-anesthesia machine, purchased from 3.5 million forints raised at the festival in 2019, was unveiled at Bethesda Children’s Hospital.
2020 year of Hungarian community building abroad, says PM’s Office
The government has designated 2020 the year of Hungarian community building, with the aim of helping Hungarian communities abroad prosper in their homeland, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Sunday.
Policymaking will continue to be geared towards supporting Hungarian families living in neighbouring countries while strengthening the economies of Hungarian communities abroad, the statement said.
Youth in particular will be the central focus of the various schemes, it added.
A series of thematic programmes is being launched in order to present the common achievements of the Hungarian nation over the past hundred years, focusing on Hungarian communities from across the Carpathian Basin and around the world.
A training scheme that started in Vojvodina last year, with a view to strengthening the economies of Hungarians communities abroad, will be extended to other Hungarian regions abroad.
A development programme for nurseries will continue in the Carpathian Basin, with the building of 110 new kindergartens and nurseries, while more than 700 will be renovated.
Also, in the current school year 101,000 Hungarian schoolchildren will have a chance to visit places abroad where Hungarian communities live.
Support for culture, education and the diaspora will be doubled,
and the Kőrösi Csoma Sándor and Petőfi Sándor schemes to strengthen the identity of the Hungarian diaspora will also continue.
Further, more than 200 scholarships will be available with the aim of helping Hungarian communities around the world prosper.
The Transcarpathian social programme, which was doubled last year, will also continue to receive considerable financing this year.
Researchers are looking for signs of the collapse of wildlife in the Carpathians
Materials falling into the lake and the remains of animals and plants in and around the lake produce centimetres of sludge every year which – as more and more layers are deposited – gets compacted. So, in the bottom layers of the sludge, many decades of remains are condensed into a single centimetre of mud, reports 24.
Dr Enikő Magyari, a prehistoric environmental researcher and the head of the Department of Environmental and Landscape Geography at Eötvös Loránd University, along with other researchers are looking for fragments of pollen, lake flies, and diatoms as samples of each period. These produce well-preserved and distinctive fossils; for example, the head of the lake fly larvae is conserved in a semi-petrified state, quantifiable and distinct by species, MTI quoted the statement of Eötvös Loránd University.
Researchers are looking to find out the numbers of several subspecies of lake flies and diatoms that lived in the area of the lake. They analyse the numbers of these species that lived 5,000 years ago when the climate was warmer than today, and also analyse the numbers of a later period in the past when the climate was cooler than today. After this, the researchers take the gathered data and compare it to the number of these animals present around the lake today.
According to their findings, the composition of the studied species is changing very rapidly today. Such a rapid climate change has not happened since the great melting following the Ice Age.
“If during a warming period, the number of cold-loving lake flies slowly decreases, and warm-loving species take their place evenly, we would hardly notice it. There would be as many flies as before, at most, one indistinguishable other subspecies takes the place of another,” explains Enikő Magyari in the announcement.
In this article, you can read more about the beautiful Fogaras Mountains and even watch a video about the mesmerising scenery.
In the past ten thousand years, even today, climate change has caused a drastic decrease in the number of studied species. If the climate changes rapidly, the diversity of a species might suddenly decline, the ecosystem collapses, and a new, better-adapted species will “populate” the lake only after a few decades.
The researchers warn us that: “At this point, it is impossible not to think that our Earth is a huge Carpathian lake and that the rapid climate change could have the same effect on us humans as it had on those little creatures in the Fagaras Mountains.”
If you are more interested in technological research, you can read this article about AI.
These pond microcosms, only looking at changes over the past decades, warn us that the rate of change has accelerated significantly. There are communities of organisms that have not been present for the past 10,000 years. These changes are difficult to relate to anything other than human activity.
Biological systems have a tolerance, and if this is exceeded, a sudden collapse will occur. From this collapse, the biological system will be rebuilt in a different state, leading to the local extinction of several species.
Hungary supports UN efforts to protect national minorities
Hungary resolutely supports United Nations efforts to protect the language rights of indigenous and national minority communities, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said after addressing a high-level UN event in New York on Tuesday local time. Hungary actively protects the rights of its ethnic kin beyond the borders, he said.
Szijjártó told MTI by phone that Hungary was a country where the borders of the nation and the country were not the same.
“We therefore find it especially important that the UN also acts as a protector of the rights of national minorities and indigenous groups.”
“Ethnic Hungarians who live beyond the borders are there not because they have migrated but because they have always lived there,” he said. “It is one of the consequences of history that they now live in the territory of another country and their rights indeed must be protected.”
Hungary supports UN efforts to protect national minorities said Hungary always acts resolutely to protect the rights of ethnic Hungarians.
Language is clearly the most important means of preserving the identity and culture of national minorities, he said. Special attention must be paid to ensure that the language rights of ethnic Hungarian minorities abroad are not violated, he added.
“There are both positive and negative examples in the Carpathian Basin, and in central Europe more generally, in this respect,” he said.
“Serbia must be highlighted as a positive example, where the ethnic Hungarian community enjoys the most rights from among the neighbouring countries.”
He said the ethnic Hungarian minority in Vojvodina was involved in national decision-making and viewed as an important resource for developing relations between Hungary and Serbia.
Szijjártó cited Ukraine as a negative example. He said the rights of ethnic Hungarians there had been systematically thwarted in the recent period, including the right to be educated in the mother tongue.
“The international community must not tolerate such systematic violations of rights, and we cannot tolerate Ukraine having introduced a number or laws in recent years that have withdrawn the rights ethnic Hungarians used to have, connected to education and the general use of the mother tongue.”
“We expect the current Ukrainian leadership to respect Ukraine’s international undertakings, the rights of Transcarpathian Hungarians … and to adhere to the Venice Commission’s recommendations which make clear that Ukraine should not have implemented the new minority language law before approval of the general legislation on minorities,”
he said.
Central bank governor: Hungary’s target to be among Europe’s top five
Hungary’s targets for the upcoming decade include becoming one of the top 5 European countries in terms of level of development and quality of life, the central bank governor, György Matolcsy, said in an article published by economic news portal novekedes.hu on Monday.
The goal is to approach Austria’s level of development and to reach the European average, he said. He said that in order to achieve these goals, various tasks have to be fulfilled, including some that have already been introduced. These include carrying out a complete turnaround in terms of competitiveness and achieving world-class education, health care and transport infrastructure.
He said
complete re-industrialisation is also required, as well as a monetary revolution based on 2.0 central bank innovations.
He also cited a successful turn in demographics to ensure at least 110,000 new births each year and developing Budapest and other large cities into a united network, while creating a single Carpathian Basin economic area.
Additionally, he said a north-south axis linking the Visegrad Group was needed, creating a European region of 60-70 million inhabitants through speeded up developments and to carrying out a green and sustainability agenda in all areas of life.
Read alsoOrbán: Hungary ready to build new central Europe
Respect for history not revisionism
Respect for historical facts cannot be seen as revisionism, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said at a meeting of parliament’s committee for national cohesion on Tuesday.
At his annual hearing with the committee, Szijjártó said that the situation of Hungarian minorities across the borders have improved in the past five years. However, many issues remain unsolved, he said.
Policy for Hungarian minorities across the borders is one of the most important aspects of Hungarian foreign policy and will not be “sacrificed for geopolitical games”, he said. National interests must be the cornerstone of foreign policy decisions, he said.
“We have to accept” that the government comes regularly under pressure as a result of that principle, he said.
The government’s joint achievements with neighbouring countries have improved ethnic Hungarians’ situations, and provide an opportunity to discuss complicated issues in an atmosphere of mutual trust, he said.
Serbia treats Hungarian communities “the fairest”, even in comparison with European Union member states, Szijjártó said, and so Hungary is justified in arguing for the country’s EU accession.
Ukraine is on “the opposite end of the spectrum”, Szijjártó said. Since the new administration started work in that country, pressure has grown on the Hungarian community there, he said, adding that Hungary’s government rejected such pressure. Measures taken to improve the situation of Transcarpathia Hungarians have been interpreted as “revisionist”, he said.
“We have great hopes” regarding the new Ukrainian leadership, although little progress has been made “apart from positive statements”, he said.
Hungary will only lift its veto of a rapprochement between Ukraine and the NATO when Ukraine reverses measures seen by Hungary as harmful to ethnic Hungarians, he said.
The government’s economic development programmes for ethnic Hungarian communities have supported over 44,000 bids in a total value of 228 billion forints (EUR 682.4m), Szijjártó said.
IT minister: Hungary’s govt aims for SME friendly environment
The Hungarian government aims to create a regulatory and tax environment friendly for small and midsize entrepreneurships, Innovation and Technology Minister László Palkovics said on Monday in Budapest, at the economic exhibition and conference Kárpát EXPOrt.
The government wants to create a business environment boosting SME’s innovation and digitalisation, Palkovics said.
Speaking to journalists afterwards, Palkovics noted the importance of the cooperation of companies and universities in Hungary and in the Carpathian Basin, especially in the regions with ethnic Hungarian minorities.
Levente Magyar, a state secretary at the foreign ministry, said in his opening speech at the two-day conference that Hungary could only be successful if it cooperates with Serbia, Slovakia, Romania and its other neighbours. Magyar noted that investments in the region reached 200 billion forints (EUR 602.1m). They mostly went towards improving the Carpathian Basin‘s agriculture and the cooperation in that sector, he said. Another target is to develop the infrastructure for high-standard touristic facilities, he said.
Kárpát EXPOrt is being organised for the third time by the Central European Economic Development Network Nonprofit (CED) and the Hungarian Export Promotion Agency (HEPA), with some 300 companies from Hungary and across the borders participating. The event is expected to draw some 2,000 visitors.
State supports ethnic Hungarian parties, organisations abroad, says deputy PM Semjén
The Hungarian state supports ethnic Hungarian parties and organisations abroad because this serves Hungarian interests and it is in line with the constitution, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén said at the summer university in Baile Tusnad (Tusnádfürdő), central Romania, on Friday.
Semjén told a podium discussion held with the participation of representatives from Hungarian communities abroad that it was not indifferent whether there were ethnic Hungarian mayors in towns and villages and whether Hungarians were represented in parliament or were part of government coalitions.
The Hungarian state is currently spending an annual 130 billion forints (EUR 400m) on ethnic Hungarian communities as against 9 billion forints in 2009, Semjén said.
The initial aim for supporting these communities was to help them preserve their identity, he said. Then a few years ago economic development schemes were launched and these have created win-win situations, he added.
“This is good for [ethnic] Hungarians, for the majority nation, and also for Hungary because every forint invested resulted in another forint of growth and this had a positive impact also on the growth of the Hungarian economy,” he said.
Semjén said the number of individuals who were granted Hungarian citizenship in a fast-track naturalisation process was near 1.1 million. In contrast with 1990, when Hungary was one of the weakest states in the Carpathian Basin, it has become the strongest in the region after the breakup of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, he added.
“We are strong, we have self-awareness and we are progressing further,” he said.
Speaking at a roundtable discussion evaluating the European Parliament elections in May, the head of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office said that parties with a strong, right wing, Christian Democratic conservative agenda that had been most sharply “attacked” had cleared the ballot with the best results.
Hungary’s ruling Fidesz had gained the best result among parties in the European People’s Party group, Gergely Gulyás said. He told the forum that the incumbent Hungarian government had the strongest support possible in a democracy, adding that the opposition was “in a state of crisis”.
As we wrote a few days ago, the Hungarian state will provide financing for 66 large agricultural projects in Romania’s Szeklerland, read more details HERE.
Summer camp hosts 350 diaspora Hungarians
Policy for Hungarian communities abroad achieves ‘breakthrough’, says state secretary in Szeklerland
The government’s policy for Hungarian communities abroad achieved a “breakthrough” in the 2010s, an official said at the opening of this year’s “Tusványos” Summer University.
Árpád János Potápi, the state secretary with the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for Hungarian communities abroad, said Hungarian communities were now stronger and ready to get through tougher times should there be any hardships.
He said for the past thirty years the summer university in Baile Tusnad (Tusnádfürdő), in central Romania, had been a hotbed of ideas shaping today’s Hungarian policy for Hungarian communities abroad.
Between 2018 and 2022, the Hungarian government is further strengthening the national identity of Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin, as well as supporting families and competitiveness by boosting Hungarian companies and communities in the region, Potápi said.
Besides strengthening Hungarian communities, the Hungarian government also aims to promote cooperation among central European nations, Potápi said.
Zsolt Németh, head of the Hungarian parliament’s foreign affairs committee and one of the founders of the summer university in 1990, said national cohesion among Hungarians was now stronger than ever.
Central Europe is now capable of standing up together against an “aggressive utopia called federalism promoted throughout Europe”,
aimed at “dismantling” national identities, sovereignty and Christian values. The Hungarian government is committed to reuniting Europe, but as a Europe of nations, he said.
The Baile Tusnad summer university is being held for the 30th time this year.
The event provides a forum for ethnic Hungarians to talk with each other as well as to the many visitors from the Carpathian Basin, the Hungarian government and neighbouring countries, with guests from Slovakia, Croatia and Serbia as well as Hungary and Romania.
Photo: MTI Illustration
Hungary to support 66 farming projects in Romania
Hungary refurbished reformed church in W Ukraine
The head of the Prime Minister’s Office inaugurated a reformed church refurbished with a Hungarian government grant in Palágykomoróc, in western Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region, on Monday.
Addressing a gathering at a service, Gergely Gulyás noted the church’s origins in the 13th century and “hardships” faced by the local Hungarian community over the past hundred years.
“The Hungarian nation can only survive if the Hungarian communities forming it can carry on preserving their past, religion and traditions,” Gulyás said.
“That is why it is important that the 800-year-old Palágykomoróc church has been restored to its original shine and can in the future serve a strong local reformed community,” he said.
Gulyás thanked Hungary’s Teleki László Foundation for the work it had contributed to the church’s upgrade since 2006.
Government official inaugurates revamped Pécs square
The biggest Hungarian festival in Szeklerland: 30th Bálványos summer university is coming!
Between July 23 and 28, the 30th Bálványos/Tusványos Summer University and Student Camp will take place in Baile Tusnad (Tusnádfürdő), in central Romania.
The main themes being explored this year are the future of Europe and Transylvania, Hungarian national unity and the change of political system 30 years ago, the organisers said at a press event in Miercurea Ciuc (Csíkszereda) late on Monday.
The event provides a forum for ethnic Hungarians to talk with each other as well as the many visitors from the Carpathian Basin, the Hungarian government and neighbouring countries, with guests from Slovakia, Croatia and Serbia as well as Hungary and Romania.
Famous Hungarian bands perform in Tusványos Festival: Quimby, Ákos, Magna Cum Laude, Anna and the Barbies, Bagossy Brothers Company and many more.
PM Orbán will give a lecture on Saturday on the big stage together with László Tőkés, head of the Transylvanian Hungarian National Council. Fidesz lawmaker Zsolt Németh, the event’s founder and chairman of the Hungarian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, will moderate.
Also, podium discussions will be held to mark the 100th anniversary of the first world war and the Trianon Peace Treaty.
Orbán marks Cohesion Day in Sátoraljaújhely
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, addressing a commemoration of the Trianon Peace Treaty on Tuesday, said: “We can stand proud and declare that we have survived.”
“Here we are at the heart of Europe, despite being divided up, despite wars and dictatorships,” Viktor Orbán said in his address in in Sátoraljaújhely, north-east Hungary, marking Hungary’s National Cohesion Day.
Hungarians, he said, had “not only survived but they are now the largest nation in the Carpathian Basin”.
“Together we will again be great, successful and victorious,” Orbán told his audience, some 1,000 young people from ethnic Hungarian communities participating in a camp organised by the Rákóczi Association. He added that Hungary seeks to cooperate with its neighbours and anyone willing to cooperate “will do well”.
Orbán said
Hungary’s “economic, cultural and military powers” were rising “noticeably”.
It is time to use those powers to increase cooperation with the peoples of central Europe, he said. “Hungary’s hundred years of solitude is over … now we’re miles away from where we set off thirty years ago, when we broke away from the Soviet Union”.
Concerning the Trianon treaty, Orbán said that “whatever was unjust at some time, will continue to be unjust until the end of time, because while time heals wounds it does not heal an amputation”.
What happened 99 years ago “was not an agreement but a diktat and punishment for losing the war”.
The winners had power but no moral superiority, he said. They punished millions of people who had been summoned to war by their country and who “cannot be blamed for fighting in a war which had no good or fair side”, Orbán said. The victors’ decisions “sowed the seeds of further animosity, dictatorships and future wars rather than freedom and peace,” the prime minister said.
“We received the blows of national socialism and then of communism one after the other, for which the soil had been prepared by the peace diktats,” Orbán said. “Wherever you come from, you are at home; Hungary is your home, too,” he concluded.
Trianon anniversary: 5,000 children was singing the Hungarian national anthem – VIDEO
The almost 100 years that have passed since the signing of the Trianon peace treaty is proof of the strong will of Hungarians to survive and keep their country alive, the state secretary for Hungarian communities abroad said on Tuesday, marking National Cohesion Day.
The treaty “forced upon” Hungary was signed 99 years ago on this day in the Grand Trianon chateau of Versailles,
Árpád János Potápi told public broadcaster M1’s morning programme. It was aimed at “destroying Hungary’s political system, as well as its economy, military and society”, he said.
Speaking at a ceremony in front of Parliament, Potápi said the future of the Hungarian nation was “in the hands of Hungarian mothers and fathers” and thanked grandparents and parents who decided to raise their children and grandchildren to be Hungarians.
“Those parents and grandparents have passed on not only their mother tongue, but the notion that we belong somewhere: to the global family of all Hungarians. On this day we are celebrating this outstanding unity,” he said.
Closing the commemoration, 5,000 children joined together from the Carpathian Basin to sing the Hungarian national anthem in Kossuth Square.
Hungary’s parliament declared June 4 the Day of National Cohesion in 2010.
