conference

Hungarian minister calls for changes in Europe’s migration policy

szijjártó minister hungary

The European Union has “fully delivered the continent” to illegal migrants through “practically handing them invitations to Europe”, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told MTI on the sidelines of a conference in Slovenia’s Bled on Tuesday.

The EU’s migration policy must be changed, Szijjártó said. He added that “the only protection” against illegal migration was provided by the EU-Turkey agreement.

“Should that agreement fail for some reason, hundreds of thousands and millions will flood Europe and the Western Balkans will certainly not be able to stop them,” he insisted.

Stopping illegal migration requires protection of the borders, but “the EU has done nothing to that end south of Hungary. Moreover, it has encouraged hundreds of thousands to violate and cross the borders,” Szijjártó said. Rather than “advocating the permeability of borders” the community should concentrate on border control, he added.

As a further measure, Szijjártó called for accelerating the European integration of countries in the Western Balkans. The sooner Serbia and Montenegro join the EU the more likely it will be that illegal migrants can be stopped before they reach Hungary’s borders, he said. Integrating the Balkans equals shifting the EU’s line of protection further south, the minister added.

In recent months the pressure of migration has again increased in the Western Balkans, Szijjártó warned, adding that as many as 224,000 illegal migrants arrived in Turkey in the first eight months of this year, and some 6,000 arrived in Greece over the past two months.

On the sidelines of the conference, Szijjártó had bilateral talks with his Spanish, Slovenian and Finnish counterparts, as well as with the general secretary of the Mediterranean Union.

Sail of Shanghai: Shanghai Fair will be held in Budapest

china flag chinese

Sail of Shanghai: Shanghai Fair is one of the largest and all-round exhibition projects, which fair showcases Shanghai’s local enterprises. Since 2012, Shanghai Fair was held in many Eastern European countries, such as Albania, Serbia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine and so on.

Sail of Shanghai: The 8th Shanghai Fair 2019 will be held in Hungexpo (1101 Budapest Albertirsai út 10.) in Budapest, Hungary on the 26th-27th of August 2019 — Together with Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association and Committee for Friendship with Foreign Countries of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Shanghai Committee, Shanghai Federation of Economic Organizations, Shanghai Federation of Industrial Economics, Sail of Shanghai “B&R” Trade and Economic Committee will organize

“The 8th Shanghai Fair 2019” in Budapest from 15:00-18:30 on Monday and from 09:30-16:30 on Tuesday, 26-27th of August.

More than 110 companies from China will participate in this event, seeking trade and business opportunities in Hungary. The total number of booths will be 170 in the exhibition, and the exhibition area will be over 3300 square meters. Shanghai Fair covers a group of Shanghai top local brands and it has also cooperated with some Chinese well-known enterprises, such as Warrior rubber shoes, Daketang Teahouse, Son Lu ShangLin, GW Industry, etc.

Shanghai Fair is free of charge to the public.

It covers Apparel Accessories & Consumer goods, High-end Intelligent equipment, Chemical & Nonferrous Metals Products, Medical Equipment and Health Care Products, etc. Shanghai Fair organizes various events including B2B meeting, New Products launch, Gourmet Tasting, Lottery Drawings and etc. The tickets downloaded from the official registration website can be redeemed for one Chinese distinctive gift and the tickets can be seen as a lottery coupon.

International attosecond science and technology conference begins in Szeged

szeged

An international conference bringing together some 400 laser scientists from 29 countries began in Szeged, southern Hungary, on Monday.

The five-day Attosecond Science and Technology Conference will cover all aspects of attosecond science and technologies including sources, metrology and applications. ATTO 2019 will also feature presentations by 19 researchers with great impact made through their work on attosecond science.

On the conference’s closing day participants will visit the ELI-ALPS laser research centre inaugurated in Szeged in May, 2017.

The facility, part of the European Union’s Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) project, makes a wide range of ultrashort light sources accessible to the international scientific community. Its main areas of research and application include valence and core electron science, 4D imaging, relativistic interactions, and biological, medical and industrial applications.

 

Hungarian government committed to providing help where it is needed, says FM

Quadra programme

Hungary’s government is committed to its policy of providing help at the location where it is needed, the foreign minister told a conference on the European aid programme supporting Syria and Iraq in Budapest on Thursday.

ThePhoto: was launched in 2016 and supports refugees and the communities receiving them to improve adaptation skills, education and work opportunities.

The European Union faces historic challenges and the most serious of these concerns migration, Péter Szijjártó said.

“The first time Hungary came face to face with a large wave of illegal migrants was in 2015 and the security risks it brought to Europe have since become obvious,” he added. Migration waves pose risks not only to the target countries but also to the people who pay to human smugglers and become their victims, he said.

“Our migration policy is clear,” Szijjártó said. “But the only things most of the world knows about it are that we insist on our right to decide … whom we want to live together with, that we protect our borders, don’t allow in illegal migrants and that we insist on our national, religious, historical and cultural identity.”

Less is said about “the other part of our policy”, the minister said. Szijjártó underlined the government’s position that the root causes of migration should be eliminated and help should be provided to allow everyone to live in peace in their homeland or to return there as quickly as possible.

“What we believe is a basic human right is that everyone should be able to live in peace and safety in their homeland, and this is what should be guaranteed,” he said.

For many, it is not possible to live peacefully in their homeland, so international support for countries that give shelter must be increased substantially, he said. “Making the return home is far more feasible from neighbouring countries than from thousands of kilometres away.”

“Hungary doesn’t just talk about this but takes action too,” he said. “Despite being a small country, there are some small tasks that Hungary can gladly undertake.”

Szijjártó cited helping Christian communities facing difficulties as an example, adding that the government scheme dubbed Hungary Helps has so far provided 8 billion forints (EUR 24.8m) of aid to 35,000 people.

He said the government held the Ecumenical Charity in high esteem for the work carried out in Hungary and around the world, supporting people living under difficult circumstances.

The charity’s head, László Lehel, said

the aid programme had been executed in cooperation with Hungary, Germany, France and Spain.

Great advances have been made in the past three years, he added. Instead of focusing on rapid and immediate aid, the programme has sought ways to help people get jobs and create a secure livelihood, he said.

Gábor Zupkó, the head of the European Commission’s representation in Hungary, said that at times Hungarians had been forced to leave the country and seek refuge elsewhere for the sake of the safety of their families and their own safety.

Volker J. Oel, department head in charge of central and eastern Europe in the German economic cooperation and development ministry, said the current scheme was especially important because it focused on education, training, job creation and social cohesion.

R20 Austrian World Summit – President Áder: Hungary’s fight against climate change yields results

R20 Austrian World Summit - President Áder Hungary's fight against climate change yields results

Hungary has achieved significant results in the fight against climate change, President János Áder said in his address at the R20 Austrian World Summit international conference on climate change in Vienna on Tuesday.

Since 1990, Hungary has successfully raised its GDP by 50 percent while cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent, energy consumption by 15 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by 35 percent,

Hungarian President Áder said. The international Under 2 movement, comprising cities pledging to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by 2050 compared to 1990, also has 23 Hungarian cities among its members, he said.

“If we succeed in implementing the investments we planned to do until 2030, 90 percent of Hungarian electricity production will produce no carbon dioxide by that date,” he said.

According to current plans, Hungary’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will not exceed the amount that Hungarian forests can neutralise, Áder said.

Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian Chancellor Alexander van der Bellen and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg were among the speakers at the conference hosting 150 speakers from 30 countries.

Photo: MTI

Hungary to host World Science Forum in November, says Hungarian FM in NY

szijjártó new york rabbi

Hungary will host the World Science Forum in November, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó noted at an education conference in the United Nations headquarters in New York.

The Budapest forum will give scientists and politicians a chance to discuss the role of science and the economic, social and cultural aspects of new research, Szijjártó said on Tuesday local time.

In his address, Szijjártó said

the government’s aim was to ensure that education helps school-leavers to find jobs in a labour market which is being transformed by digital and technological developments.

Referring to German-style vocational training, he said dual education was of key importance, adding that the system whereby students get internships as part of their studies was already present in secondary education in Hungary, he said. People finishing secondary education are encouraged to move towards technical areas and information technology. Their number has doubled in the past few years, he added.

Szijjártó also addressed a panel discussion on handling social inequality and emphasised the importance of sharing burdens equally.

The government has introduced the principle that state benefits only apply to people who work, Szijjártó said. The tax and social systems have been amended accordingly, he said, adding that this had had a “whitening” effect on the economy and had led to almost full employment.

He said Hungary’s economic achievements had proven the naysayers wrong that fiscal discipline cannot run in parallel with vigorous growth, he said.

The government has also made it clear that instead of migration it wants to support families in order to address the challenges in Europe’s labour market, Szijjártó said. Instead of encouraging migration, those in need must be given help to remain in their homelands, he added.

The government has offered thousands of scholarships to students from developing countries and it supports persecuted Christian communities around the world, he noted.

At an accompanying event on creativity and target-oriented thinking, Szijjártó talked about the role of the car industry. He said the car industry accounted for 27 percent of Hungarian exports and 29 percent of industrial output.

Hungary is the 20th largest car industry exporter in the world, he added.

During his US visit, Szijjártó met Grand Rabbi Moshe Leib Rabinovich, current Munkacser Rebbe in New York, and held talks with representatives of local Hungarian churches.

Orbán cabinet believes it can reverse negative population trends

hungary child hungarian family

Hungary believes it can prosper on its own and can reverse the aging of its population, the state secretary in charge of youth and family affairs told a conference in Budapest on Monday.

Population aging is a growing problem and young people are not having enough children or cannot commit to having the number of children they would want, Katalin Novák told the conference entitled “Shift Towards a Family-friendly Europe”.

The government has been working to solve this problem since 2010 by supporting families and applying a family-friendly approach to all areas of governance, Novák said.

Today the government spends twice as much on family subsidies as in 2010, she said, adding that Hungary spends 4.8 percent of GDP on family support schemes, the highest proportion in Europe.

Kazimierz Kuberski, Poland‘s deputy minister for family affairs, told the conference that the Polish government also considered it a priority to improve its demographic situation. The most important element of this, he said, was aiding families.

The Polish government has also introduced a variety of measures aimed at encouraging couples to have children, Kuberski added.

Radka Maxova, a member of the Czech parliament’s upper house, citing recent surveys, said living standards were the biggest factor in couples’ decision to have children. She said Polish women today tended to delay the birth of their first child, which often means later on they do not have time to have any more. Maxova said the Czech government offered family subsidies for every social and age group.


MORE HUNGARIAN BABIES ARE BORN IN GERMANY THAN IN SOME OF HUNGARY’S COUNTIES

Budapest to host World Water Summit again

Budapest Danube water scenery

Budapest will again host the World Water Summit in October this year, organisers said on Monday.

The summit scheduled for October 15-17 will be the third one in Budapest, following similar events in 2013 and 2016.

Organised by Hungary’s government,

the summit will focus on the global water crisis and efforts to mitigate its effects.

The event is expected to bring together around 2,000 participants representing specialised international agencies and governments, as well as professionals in business, finance and science to look into the issue which “poses a challenge to social and economic development”.

The chief patron of the event will once again be President János Áder.

Read more news about WATER SUMMIT HERE.

Autonomy is good both for the majority and the minority, say experts from South Tyrol

The Magyar Szív – Magyar Szó (Hungarian Heart – Hungarian Word) Foundation organised a conference in Budapest during which experts from the autonomous Italian region, South Tyrol, shared their experiences about their autonomy not only from a German but also from an Italian viewpoint. Afterwards, Hungarian politicians talked about the struggle for autonomy of the Hungarian communities living abroad. Everybody agreed that instead of undermining, territorial autonomies actually strengthen the cohesion of each country; therefore, the struggle for autonomy should not be considered as a threat to national security.

Peace instead of fight creates stability and economic prosperity

South Tyrol, an autonomous province in Northern Italy, had a total population of 530,000 inhabitants in 2018, out of which 62.3 pc speaks German, 23.4 pc Italian and 4.1 pc Ladin, a Rhaeto-Romance language. The province is granted a considerable level of self-governance, meaning a broad range of exclusive legislative and executive powers and a fiscal regime that allows it to retain a large part of most levied taxes while remaining a net contributor to the national budget. As of 2016, South Tyrol is

the wealthiest province in Italy

and among the wealthiest in the European Union.

Dr Oskar Peterlini, a former senator from South Tyrol to the national assembly in Rome, said that in the ’20s, ’30s and even after WWII, the Italian government tried to assimilate the German-speaking majority of the region. However, Rome was not successful because locals did not want to leave their ancestors’ land and insisted on keeping their mother-tongue. After long decades of struggle, including even terrorist attacks, in 1971, South Tyrol’s statute of autonomy was finally accepted by the Italian parliament and government.

According to Mr Petterlini, since then, there has been peace in the region, and pro-independence political forces are weak, forming only a small minority in the local parliament.

If the EU existed, then South Tyrol would not have become autonomous

Dr Davide Zaffi, an Italian member of South Tyrol’s office for ethnic minorities, highlighted that, before the acceptance of the region’s statute of autonomy, many Italians were afraid of being oppressed by the German majority of the autonomous region. However, this did not happen, and

today, most of the locals are bilingual.

Each ethnic group could preserve its language, culture, and traditions. Furthermore, according to the two experts, regardless of ethnic background, it is good that Rome does not decide what the best for them in education, economic development or in helping local young people would be.

Dr Katalin Szili, Special Commissioner of the Prime Minister reviewing the autonomy aspirations of Hungarian communities beyond the borders, said that

the European Union is not a partner in helping

Europe’s different autochtonous ethnic minorities’ struggle for autonomy, even though there are more than 60 million such people. Instead, they deal with the rights of migrants a lot. According to her, globalists do not regard autonomy as an important problem since they believe that the United States of Europe will solve it.

Hungarian diplomacy has to explain what autonomy means

Péter Ungár from the Hungarian green party, LMP, said that autonomy means that an ethnic minority of a country being in the majority in a given region (for example, Hungarians living in Szeklerland, Romania) gets the right of self-governance. However, such rights remain intact in the case of the majority which becomes a minority in such a region (e.g., the Romanians living in Szerklerland).

Márton Gyöngyösi from conservative-patriotic Jobbik highlighted that

most people in Hungary or Romania do not know what autonomy means exactly

which gives ground to many misunderstandings. He added that it is the failure of Hungarian diplomacy that it could not explain what Hungarians living beyond the borders, for example in Szeklerland, want.

József Kulcsár-Terza, a Hungarian MP of Bucharest, Romania, said that it was time for a firmer representation of the Transylvanian Hungarian interest in the Romanian parliament. He submitted Szeklerland’s statute of autonomy (which is based on South Tyrol’s statute) four times to the parliament, and even though it was rejected, ethnic Romanian MPs started to talk about the issue.

Interestingly, even though Fidesz, the Christian Democrats, the Democratic Coalition, the Dialogue, and the Socialists were also invited to the conference, they did not send anybody to present their standpoint on autonomy.

Hungary signs agreement on hosting ITU Telecom World 2019

itu telecom 2018

State secretary Péter Sztáray and Houlin Zhao, the head of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), signed an agreement on Monday on hosting the ITU Telecom World conference.

The Hungarian government gladly agreed to host the conference, Sztáray said, adding that the number of participants — 5,000-6,000 business representatives from 130 countries — indicated the significance of the event.

The conference will be held at Budapest’s Hungexpo fair grounds from September 9 to 12,

together with an exhibition linked to the event, he said, adding that Hungarians would be able to visit the exhibition free of charge.

Budapest also hosted the 2015 world conference of ITU, of which Hungary is a founding member.

As we wrote in 2015, efficient telecommunications will increase “our opportunities, openness, freedom, and security”, President János Áder told a gala night of the World Telecom conference, which started in Budapest, more details HERE.

Cardinal Erdő presents IEC2020 programme in Rome

Cardinal Erdő

Budapest will host the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress (ICE2020) next year, with a week-long programme focussing on solidarity and friendship between nations, Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, said on Monday after presenting the programme in Vatican City.

The congress will not be a political event but it will certainly carry a social message, he told MTI.

The congress will open with a celebratory mass in Budapest‘s Puskás Ferenc Stadium on September 13, to be followed by a series of programmes on the Hungexpo fairgrounds until September 18, the cardinal said.

An exhibition will open in Budapest’s Műcsarnok art gallery to present the charitable activities of the church, he said.

The closing mass will be celebrated by a papal legate on Heroes’ Square on September 20, Erdő added.

“Pope Francis has also been invited to the congress and he has not refused the invitation,” he said.

Hungary to adopt euro in the coming decades, says central bank governor Matolcsy

Lámfalussy Lectures

Hungary will adopt the euro “in the coming decades” and needs to learn from the lessons of the past concerning the processes affecting the common currency, National Bank of Hungary (NBH) governor György Matolcsy said in a presentation delivered at the central bank’s annual Lámfalussy Lectures on Monday.

An entirely “mature euro” is necessary for the common currency to be able to withstand future crises, Matolcsy said, noting that when the euro was introduced, Europe was enjoying prosperous times and there was no thought of another economic crisis.

The NBH organises the Lámfalussy Lectures each year to honour Sándor Lámfalussy, the Hungarian-born “father” of the euro.

Yves Mersch awarded NBH Lámfalussy Prize

The National Bank of Hungary on Monday awarded Yves Mersch the member of the European Central Bank’s Executive Board with the Lámfalussy Prize.

Lámfalussy Lectures Yves Mersch
Photo: MTI

The Sándor Lámfalussy Prize recognises “outstanding financial and economic professionals who performed internationally acclaimed professional work, scientific publications or educational work that have a major long-term impact on the development of the Hungarian and international monetary policy, economics and the professional community”.

Yves Mersch served as the Governor of the Banque centrale du Luxembourg between 1998 and 2012 before joining the ECB executive board.

National Council for Sustainable Development marking its 10th anniversary

president áder

Economic growth and sustainability are not mutually exclusive, the president said on Friday, arguing that climate change could also be seen as an opportunity.

Addressing a festive session of the National Council for Sustainable Development (NFFT) marking its 10th anniversary, János Áder — in line with an international report on climate change — urged the creation of a new economic model which takes into consideration the economic, social and health benefits of natural capital, clean water and air and biodiversity. Further, this new model should take into account the negative consequences of the exhaustion of natural capital, he said.

If the world fails to act on the deterioration of biodiversity, it will render impossible the conditions for food production for the coming decades, Áder warned. He added that if the current level of air pollution continues, more and more people will die from respiratory diseases.

Hungarian president called for a “sustainable change” which, if implemented until 2030, would bring about more stable economic growth. The change has already started, he said, “but it is not nearly fast enough and time is running out”.

To promote sustainable economic growth, state subsidies for fossil fuels should be cut and greenhouse gas emissions reduced. As part of the development of smart cities, public transport should be boosted and a non-motoric transport network developed, he said. Furthermore, the sustainable use of land, including the protection of rainforests, the rehabilitation of overused soil and modern farming technology should be promoted, along with sustainable water management, he said.

There are several Hungarian inventions supporting sustainable economy, Áder said, citing as examples an animal feed that reduces methane formation in livestock and a sewage-water cleaning facility which was put into operation in the Netherlands recently.

This is where to go for Hungary’s most delicious pancakes – Photo Gallery

pancake, delicious, gastronomy, food

From approximately 100 contestants, Creppy Restaurant’s conception from Hungarian city Miskolc became one of the 20 most ambitious franchise companies in the world. As a Hungarian company, Creppy got the opportunity to represent the franchise and make Hungary more popular next year, at the competition of the International Franchise Association in Las Vegas.

According to uzletresz.hu, the Hungarian franchise got exemplary reviews from critics and is hugely popular in Miskolc. Réka Oszlánczi, the owner of Creppy Franchise, won a special prize in 2014 as the most influential young franchise owner and held several presentations all over the country. She also represented Hungary in the United States in 2016.

“Creppy’s concept is unique and offers a whole other side to the gastronomy. Our franchise represents a gastronomical experience that cannot be found in any other restaurant”- said Réka Oszlánczi.

The Creppy Restaurant was opened in 2006 in Avas, which is a part of Miskolc, and won several Hungarian and international awards. The restaurant’s unique pancakes and the way they are made and served is exceptional, and the restaurant offers an amazing experience and atmosphere.

The International Franchise Association organises its annual congress next year in Las Vegas, where young franchise owners can share their experiences.

This participation in the conference will not only be beneficial for Creppy but will also make the North-Hungarian region more significant and popular.

NextGen franchise’s purpose with this movement is to provide a significant improvement and popularity for the 20 most ambitious franchise companies every year.

The Hungarian delegation also got the opportunity to meet different kinds of investors as well as the management of the biggest franchise companies, like McDonald’s, Subway and KFC.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/palacsintahaz

Hungarian participation at the International Energyweek Conference

Morocco, conference, energyweek

On the 14th and 15th of November, the Moroccan city Marrakech organised the International Energyweek Conference where the representatives of the Hungarian Trade & Cultural Center (HTTC) also were present. The conference dealt with the problems related to the lack of energy sources and the question of renewable energy in Africa, and the shortage of natural gas all over the world.

According to htcc.org.hu, the conference aimed to strengthen the international cooperation between several African countries by the sharing of experiences. The current situation is terrifying on the continent. In the near future, the whole African continent will have to make a living while only having an energy source enough for a country like Germany. This means that 1 billion people would use energy enough for 80 million people.

The continent deals with a horrible paradox: the export of oil and gas and the import of fuel. The Sahara Desert would be enough to provide energy for the whole world, but the necessary investors and the system to produce fuel are missing.

Since 2017, a significant change can be felt, because Morocco became a member of the African Union again, and the member of the Economic Community of the West African States. Morocco also signed a contract with Nigeria to build the Trans African gas main in the Sahara Desert. Also, the energy network has been boosted in Africa, and out of 15, 12 countries are connected by the 330 kW energy network, but the necessary power and Morocco are still missing.

After discussing the importance of using renewable energy, storing was also a matter of discussion at the conference. Portugal would build an underwater cable system and several wind power stations. The Trans-African gas main would connect 11 African countries’ energy network together and, by 2021, Spain would be connected to the new Moroccan network.

Besides HTTC, no other Hungarian company took part in the conference. The company took the advantage of this serious matter; they will provide the necessary help to improve Africa in the future and even organise special programmes in Morocco to ensure their availability.

HTCC organised its annual Africa Expo in February, which was a huge success as well.

Morocco, conference, energy
Photo: www.htcc.org.hu

Featured image: www.facebook.com/Energy-Week-Morocco

Hungarian Permanent Conference held in Budapest

orbán máért

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke about central Europe gaining strength as compared to the German-French axis in Europe, at a meeting of the Hungarian Permanent Conference (MÁÉRT) held behind closed doors in Budapest on Friday.

On a recording posted onto the government’s website, Orbán said the volume and value of German-French trade make up merely half of the one between the Visegrad Group and Germany which he called “an unprecedented development”.

The prime minister said he had predicted earlier that central Europe, including the Carpathian Basin, would become the engine of Europe’s economic growth in the years to come.

Orbán said the accession of Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia to the European Union would be a major step towards enhancing central Europe’s importance in geopolitical terms.

“The reunification of the Balkans is a shared interest of the EU, central Europe and Hungary,” he said.

Addressing relations with Croatia, Orbán said that the Hungarian government had always considered the dispute concerning national oil and gas company Mol an inter-company affair rather than an inter-governmental issue.

“I have tried to explain to them that lifting the Mol dispute to inter-governmental level would justify more forceful action by the Hungarian state which would do major damage to bilateral relations,” he said.

Legal conflicts between companies need to be judged by international courts and the Hungarian state will accept all their decisions in order to settle the conflict, he said.

The prime minister said he would pay an official visit to Croatia in early December.

Orbán expressed hope that large cross-border projects can be implemented in Croatia’s Slavonia region and southern Baranya in Hungary.

Commenting on Slovenia, Orbán said that Marjan Sarec, the new prime minister, was performing without fault in all international forums but promoted a different line in migration than Hungary, supporting the UN migration package.

Orbán added, however, that Hungary’s plan to participate in the development of the Koper port and the extension of the rail link there would not be realised. As a consequence,

the Hungarian government has started talks on access to a port and investment opportunities with Trieste instead of Koper, he added.

Commenting on western Europe, Orbán said that “west of Vienna the situation is hopeless in terms of demographics” because multiculturalism has triggered nearly irreversible social trends in large cities. It will be “spectacular” to witness how the structure and order of political representation will change there, he added.

Assessing economic development programmes funded by Hungary abroad, Orbán said it makes no sense supporting businesses which are then exposed to reprisals by the state that exercises supreme power. Hungary therefore asks the ethnic Hungarian parties to secure through negotiations the majority nation’s consent to such programmes, he said.

This is what happened in Romania where Hungary is now able to implement economic development programmes with the agreement of the majority nation, he said.

Orbán said the MEPs of the Romanian house speaker’s party, even if they belong to the Liberal group, had voted against the Sargentini report that condemned Hungary in the European Parliament. As a consequence, the European lawmakers of Hungary’s governing parties unanimously supported Romania in a vote on an EP resolution that attacked that country earlier this week.

Regarding Slovakia, Orbán said the Hungarian-Slovak Most-Hid party posed a problem of structural nature, raising the question whether mixed inter-ethnic parties or ethnic-based parties are more useful in the region. Orbán warned it would be “fatally dangerous” to change over to mixed inter-ethnic based representation which he called “a trap to be avoided”.

Orbán described Serbian-Hungarian relations as “unprecedented”, adding that the past few years had seen efforts to raise them to strategic level. He appreciated the Hungarian and Serbian presidents’ efforts to pave the way for historic reconciliation.

Hungary would be happy if Serbia’s legal regulations were generally followed in the Carpathian Basin as a whole, he said, adding that cultural autonomy has been practically achieved.

Commenting on Ukraine, Orbán said

Hungary “is not getting on” with the leaders of that country. “We come to an agreement on Monday and next day they say that no agreement has been reached,” he said, accusing the Ukrainian leaders of failing to take the negotiations seriously.

Their latest proposals, he said, made things even worse, and the open deployment of the secret services against ethnic Hungarians and suspected dual citizens went beyond what is tolerable in the Carpathian Basin.

Hungary can do only one thing, making it clear that the only road for Ukraine to NATO and the EU leads through Hungary and Budapest, Orbán said.

Hungary to be among top 5 EU countries by 2030, says Orbán

Hungarian Diaspora Council in Budapest

Hungary should be among the five best and most competitive countries of the European Union by 2030, a country in which “it is best to live and work”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told a plenary session of the Hungarian Diaspora Council in Budapest on Thursday.

In the shorter term, Orbán said, the “the culture of patriotism should be promoted and the culture of self-hatred suppressed”. He said that by 2022, the country’s competitiveness should be “tangibly improved”, new “demographic incentives” should be launched and an independent Hungarian army developed. In terms of the military, Hungary “lags behind” other countries in the region, he said, insisting that “a country cannot be strong without an army capable of protecting it”.

By 2030, the country should also reverse negative demographic tendencies and diversify its energy supplies,

the prime minister said. He insisted that Hungary should gradually remove its unilateral dependence on Russian energy. Hungary needs to build its internal capabilities and diversify access to foreign energy sources, Orbán said. From that aspect, the upgrade of the Paks nuclear plant is key for Hungary’s sovereignty, he added.

Concerning Hungary’s bilateral ties, Orbán said that the country had developed “relations based on trust” with Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Serbia in recent years. He insisted that it was “obvious that cooperation is always more profitable than animosity”, adding that the government’s goal was to further develop that cooperation.

On the subject of Ukraine, however, Orbán said it was a country “without a creditable timeline for accession to either NATO or the EU”. He added that he saw no chance of an agreement between his government and Ukraine’s incumbent leadership. Noting Ukraine’s upcoming presidential election, he said that “it will become clear whether the current anti-Hungarian tendency continues or the new presidential administration decides to cooperate with Hungary.” Hungary’s government, he said, is in contact with all potential winners and talks are under way to ensure that “a situtation which is bad both for Hungary and Ukraine ends and Ukraine returns to the path of friendship and a strategic alliance with Hungary.”

“This is the only path for Ukraine to join NATO and the EU,” he added.

“We have rights and opportunities. We expect Ukraine … not to persecute those Hungarians that are citizens of Ukraine,” Orbán said.

“Ukraine should make use of the opportunity provided by Hungary to contribute to the development of Transcarpathia (Kárpátalja) and areas beyond as well as Ukraine’s stabilisation and development.”

Meanwhile, the prime minister said he expected that Europe’s institutions after next year’s European Parliamentary elections would be “more strongly associated with the continent’s traditional values and roots”. After the elections in May, Europe’s politics are likely to become “more nationalist, right-wing, and more Christian,” Orbán said. He said that hopefully the European Commission, “which now considers itself a political player, will resume its role as guardian of the [EU] basic treaty”.

Regarding Hungary-US ties, Orbán said the US administration “does not consider its role is to decide what’s in the Hungarian constitution”.

“Not only are military and economic ties in order but political relations are too,” he said.

Concerning Turkey, Egypt, and Israel, Orbán said that stability in those countries was in Hungary’s key interest in light of illegal migration. Should those countries become unstable, migration pressure on Europe could grow “exponentially”, he said.

Regarding Asia, Orbán said his government’s efforts to develop relations with China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia were motivated “purely by business, without any political preconditions”.

Hungarian foreign minister calls for European cooperation on energy security

Hungary serbia foreign miniter

Europe’s central, eastern and southern regions must boost their cooperation in order to carry out projects that serve to improve the region’s energy security, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said at a Eurasian energy security forum in Belgrade on Friday.

Szijjártó named the security of energy supply as one of the biggest global challenges today, noting that it has always been a key issue in central Europe.

The minister said there were four principles Europe needed to respect concerning energy security. These, he said, included taking into consideration the interests of central and eastern European countries when deciding on energy investment projects, the elimination of double standards, letting countries decide on their own energy mix and Eurasian cooperation.

He also urged the diversification of the region’s energy supply.

As regards the use of double standards, Szijjártó argued that western European countries are rarely criticised for the measures they take to ensure their energy security, while central and eastern European countries often receive criticism. It should be made clear, he said, that

the CEE countries have the right to be treated equally to western European countries.

Szijjártó said that throughout history, central Europe had always lost out in conflicts between the east and the west. “It’s not too much to say that we don’t want to be losers anymore,” the minister said. He added that Hungary was not looking to take the side of either Russia or the United States when deciding on energy-related matters, but was looking out for the interests of Hungarians. “What’s of importance is there should be a balance between east and west,” Szijjártó said, adding that this required mutual respect.

He said there was a possibility that new energy sources would soon be discovered. He noted that the region will have an additional energy source once gas extraction gets under way in the Black Sea gas field.

Szijjártó also noted that Russian energy giant Gazprom is building two lines for the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, one of which will serve the Turkish market, with the other expected to supply gas to the Balkans and central Europe.

The minister said the Turkish Stream project was regularly the target of criticism, which he attributed to “double standards and hypocrisy”. Szijjártó noted that the largest energy project, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, was being built in western Europe. This pipeline, he noted, would transport gas from Russia to western Europe.

“We have to demand that such a development should also be made possible in central Europe,” Szijjártó said, adding that this would be the Turkish Stream pipeline.

He said the two projects were similar in the sense that they would both serve the flow of Russian gas, both involve Gazprom and they would both involve new supply routes.

The minister said:

“If the European Commission doesn’t object to the western European pipeline, then why does it object to the one planned by the smaller central European countries?”

On the topic of nuclear energy, Szijjártó noted that nuclear has been in use in Hungary since the 1980s. Around 40 percent of Hungary’s electricity is generated from nuclear energy, and the plan is to increase this share in the long run, he added.