Citizens of neighbouring countries generally had a positive opinion of Hungary, according to a survey by the Nézőpont Institute published on Wednesday.
Nézőpont’s survey conducted for Charta XXI Movement, a central European NGO, also showed that Hungarian respondents had a similarly positive opinion of other counties in central Europe.
The most positive views were from Bulgaria (85 percent) while Romania had the least (57 percent). In Romania, the highest number of poor views of Hungary were recorded (39 percent).
Hungarians had positive a view of Austria (73 percent), Croatia (68 percent), Slovakia (58 percent) and Slovenia (57 percent). Fully 35 percent of Hungarian respondents saw Romania in a positive light and 37 percent were negative. In the case of Ukraine, that ratio was 23 percent and 43 percent, respectively.
Hungarian respondents saw bilateral ties with neighbouring countries in a positive light, with the exception of Ukraine, the poll said.
They were especially satisfied with ties with Croatia (68 percent) and Austria (67 percent), while 38 percent of respondents were negative about ties with Ukraine. Nézőpont added that positive views of Ukraine have dropped by 8 percentage points over the past year, noting Ukraine’s education law and attacks against Ukraine Hungarians.
Nézőpont conducted the phone poll of 1,000 people in Hungary between Jan. 8 and 11. It surveyed 1,000 people in each of every other country between Jan. 18 and Feb. 13.
Relations among Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin have been better and more successful over the past four years than at any other point in the last century, Parliamentary Speaker László Kövér said opening the plenary session of the Hungarian Parliamentary Assembly of the Carpathian Basin (KMKF) in Budapest on Friday.
Even the opposition parties that have “psychologically and politically moved on from the era of post-communism” view Hungarian communities beyond the border and now see them as assets, just as Hungary’s ruling parties do, Kövér said.
The speaker said that over the past four years, ethnic Hungarian political groups have developed new forms of cooperation with each other. During this period, central and eastern European countries also gradually formed a new kind of cooperation, Kövér said.
“The novelty of this new relationship is rooted in the psychological and political recognition that we, the peoples of this region will not be anyone’s servants — of either our western or eastern friends,” he added.
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told the meeting that the core principle of the government’s policy for Hungarian communities beyond the border was that it was not the government’s job to say what is good for them but it was for the communities to tell the government what is in their interests.
The minister said that when deciding on and developing its related strategy, the government has four principles in mind.
Hungarian communities beyond the borders should have good relations between their birthplace and the motherland, and the Hungarian government, parliament and politicians should help to strengthen Hungarian communities beyond the borders where they live. They should be seen as a resource, he said, adding that if they need protection, the government should resort to mobilising international pressure.
Assessing ties with neighboring countries, Szijjártó said Hungarian-Slovak relations had never been as good or balanced as they are today.
In Serbia, however, with a few exceptions, the rights of the Hungarian community are far from being upheld, he said.
With regard to Romania, Szijjártó welcomed the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic high school in Targu Mures (Marosvásárhely) and the fact that it had been possible to resolve “a previously irreversible national minority issue”. He congratulated the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) for its efforts.
Ties with Slovenia and Croatia are balanced, even if there are several economic disputes with Croatia, he said.
Szijjártó also referred to the Ukrainian education law, noting that Hungary had firmly supported Ukraine’s aspirations for Euro-Atlantic integration. But given that the law harms the rights of national minorities in violation of Ukraine’s bilateral and international obligations, Hungary will continue to thwart the country’s international aspirations unless an agreement with Transcarpathian Hungarians is reached and they are satisfied, the minister said.
Szijjártó also noted cross-border economic development schemes under way that have attracted almost 25,600 applications, and small and medium-sized businesses have received support of 28,8 billion forints (EUR 93m).
The Croatian minority in Hungary consists of at least seven (some claim even twelve) different subgroups that speak different languages and arrived at different times. The Croatian language has three main dialects (“sto”, “kaj” and “ca”) and several minor ones. They are one of the most diverse and varied minorities living in Hungary.
According to Magyarhorvatok.hu, multiple groups are living in Hungary. Croatians residing around Mohács are the Šokci, while those living alongside the Drava are mostly from Herzegovina. The Croatians living near Baja are primarily Bunjevci. In the area of Budapest and Szentendre, most of the Croatians came from Dalmatia. The Croatians residing in Western Hungary are mostly called Grádistye Croatians.
The different minor groups are still all connected by the fact that they are mostly Roman Catholics, which differentiates them from other Balkan Slavic people.
Croatian people came to Hungary in multiple waves during more than a thousand years, first of them being the settlers on the banks of Drava in the Árpád era. According to Sulinet.hu’s respective page, the largest masses of Croatians moved in before and during the Ottoman occupation of the country, and as the result of the migration processes after the liberation of Hungary from the Ottoman rule.
The golden age of the Croatians of Hungary is usually thought to be the era from the 18th century until the early 19th century.
Both their numbers and their status in the Hungarian society were at its peak at that time. A lot of settlements existed where Croatians made up the majority of the population. Most of them, unfortunately, have a much smaller Slavic presence today. There were Croatian villages in the northern areas of Somogy County in the 18th century. Búzsák, for example, is famous for its embroidery, which has Croatian origins. In the late 1700s, settlements with Croatian majority slowly became more mixed ethnically, and the Hungarian nation began to assimilate the Croatian groups.
A traditional Croatian country house in Kásád, Hungary. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The Treaty of Trianon meant a national catastrophe for the Croatians living in Hungary, too. First, their connection to their motherland ceased to exist due to diplomatic and sociographic reasons. Secondly, many Croatian groups were divided by the new borders, just as the Šokci and Bunyevci in Bácska and Baranya or the Grádistye in Western Hungary. The Grádistye were separated into three countries: Hungary, Austria and Czechoslovakia.
Croatians showed their loyalty to Hungary in both World Wars, fighting in large numbers in the armies of the Monarchy and the Kingdom of Hungary, respectively.
The years after the end of World War II and the short attempt for democracy changed the situation of the Croatian minority. Many Croatian schools were established in the settlements with high numbers of Croatians. Even a Croatian grammar school was built in 1946 and an instructor training college department in Pécs in 1949.
The end of communism brought more changes for the Croatians. According to Hrvatiizvan.hr, the Association of the Croatian Nationality in Hungary was founded in 1990, followed by the separation of Croatian institutions, schools and mediums from the common Balkan groups. Several independent Croatian institutions were founded, like the Croatian Theater in Pécs, the Scientific Institute of Croatians in Hungary or the Croatian literary journal titled Rijec. Croatians also have their own national municipal in Hungary since 1995. The relationship between the minorities in Hungary and their motherland (as well as the relationship between the two countries, even nowadays) became more intense with Croatia’s separation from Yugoslavia.
In 2010, 11,534 Hungarian citizens applied for being registered as Croatians in the national records of minorities.
The census of 2011 revealed that 8,900 Croatians live in Southern Transdanubia. Unfortunately, the population faces critical ageing. 9 percent of the Transdanubian Croatians are children, and only 28 percent are young adults. The most significant density is in Baranya County where 27 percent of the Croatians in Hungary live.
A Croatian folklore dance gathering in Pécs, Hungary. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Their cultural life is quite rich: it has been a custom since 1993 that every year, a Grádistye settlement hosts a youth camp (“Omladanski Tabor”), where young people can learn about the Croatian culture and traditions, as well as the customs and attractions of the host settlement.
A talent show called “Glas Gradisca” has also been organised in Horvátzsidány since 2005 for the Croatian singers, musicians and other performers from Burgenland. They even welcomed contenders from Slovakia and Austria in 2012. For Croatians preferring a more elegant type of entertainment, the Croatian ball is hosted each in Szombathely since 1977, which is organised by different Croatian towns in Vas County.
Agriculture ministers of the four Visegrád countries and Croatia adopted a joint statement concerning the European Union’s common agricultural policy (CAP) at a meeting in Budapest on Thursday.
The meeting was also attended by the ministers of Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovenia, as well as EU Commissioner for agriculture and rural development Phil Hogan.
Sándor Fazekas, the Hungarian farm minister, said after the meeting that participants called for a strong common agricultural policy and supported the maintenance of a two-pillar structure. Participants also agreed that the common policy should be simple and effective in helping farmers access EU funds, ensuring their competitiveness in a global context, Fazekas said.
He added it was important for Hungary that funds earmarked for rural development should not be used to cover “expenses related to migration”.
Fazekas called the meeting “an important step” in creating a European agricultural policy “benefitting all EU citizens”. He voiced hope that further countries would sign the joint statement in future. Romania, he added, had declined to sign the statement because of its upcoming EU Council presidency, while Bulgaria had done the same because it now holds the rotating presidency.
Hogan said the European Commission sought to simplify CAP so that it ensures greater flexibility and subsidiarity to member states while reducing burdens on farmers. The policy should take into consideration international agreements signed in 2015 at the United Nations’ conference on climate change, he added. He agreed with participants that the common policy should support a decent living for farmers and ensure job protection. He said that the commission would come up with a draft law on CAP in June.
Forty nine percent of people in central Europe are dissatisfied with European Union leaders whereas a majority, 73 percent, want their country to remain member of the community, a representative survey released by the Nézőpont research institute on Saturday shows.
The institute asked 1,000 voting age adults in each of 11 countries in the region, including Hungary, between September 26 and October 27.
The survey shows that most dissatisfied with Brussels are the Slovaks (71 percent), the Czechs (69 percent) and the Germans (58 percent), followed by the Hungarians (57 percent).
Most satisfied are the Romanians (58 percent), the Slovenians and the Poles (49 percent both).
A vast majority of the Austrians (86 percent) and the Poles (84 percent) are in favour of EU membership, with the respective rate being 71 percent among Hungarians.
Merely 14 percent of Hungarians believe that their country should quit the alliance.
In comparison, 31 percent of the Czechs, 25 percent of the Croatians and 23 percent of the Germans and Austrians, respectively, think the same.
Fully 53 percent of all respondents are pessimistic about the overall direction of developments in the bloc, and merely 40 percent are satisfied with it, the survey shows.
Most pessimistic in this regard are the Slovaks (69 percent) and the Hungarians (68 percent), followed by the Czechs (64 percent).
As we wrote few days ago, the GKI Economy Research Inc. recently published an analysis about the purchasing power – an essential segment of quality of life – of Hungarian settlements between 2009 and 2016, and it turned out that the advantage of more abundant regions is continuously growing, while the poor still lag behind. Read more HERE.
Also we wrote before, judging by common talk or comments, it may seem that Hungary is the country of everyday slaps. The phenomenon can be measured in numbers, and UNICEF’s newest results depict a somewhat exasperating picture: many people are not fully aware of that children cannot be slapped or spanked, even if the situation seems to justify it. Read more HERE.
Ministers from the Visegrad Group plus Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria agreed at a meeting in Budapest on Monday on the need to enlarge the European Union to embrace countries of the Western Balkans as well to expand the Schengen area and establish energy security.
Péter Szijjártó met ministers representing the other three countries of the Visegrad Group (Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia) plus Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Serbia, Slovenia and Romania.
“We have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to making the EU stronger,” Szijjártó told a joint press conference.
“Here in central Europe we have proved that illegal migration can be stopped,” he said.
Szijjártó added that by producing economic growth above the EU average, the region had greatly contributed to Europe’s rebound. So the region has justifiable grounds for expectations when it comes to the EU, he said, adding that these included maintaining the Schengen zone and speeding up further EU integration as well as helping to guarantee central Europe’s energy security.
The foreign minister said it is important that the Schengen zone “function normally again”, but for this to happen, the external borders needed protection and rules within the zone rules must be respected. This is essential in terms of competitiveness, he said, adding that “hobbling the Schengen system would mean sacrificing the European economy; so its survival is in everyone’s interest.”
On the topic of energy security, Szijjártó said they rejected “double standards” and expected the EU to help in diversification, because new energy transport routes were needed to move forward on energy security.
On the subject of the Western Balkans, he said enlargement of the EU should be speeded up as the best way to overcome tensions in the region.
“Hungary sees political, economic and security risks should the EU fail to speed up enlargement, and Hungary will do its utmost to accelerate Serbia’s accession process,” the minister said.
Photo: MTI
Bulgarian deputy Prime Minister Valeri Simeonov said after the meeting that gas supplies to central and eastern Europe and to south-eastern Europe were important, and the influence of the Russian company Gazprom should be reduced. He called for the rapid development of interconnectors, adding that cooperation with Greece and Romania was progressing well, so Hungary could also join these developments.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias expressed support for EU expansion in the Balkans, and Slovenian counterpart Karl Erjavec called for a strong Europe that offered even stronger social security and solidarity to its citizens. Erjavec said Slovenia supported Schengen expansion and EU enlargement in the Western Balkans.
Jadranka Joksimovic, Serbia’s minister of European integration, expressed hope that the EU expansion process was not slowing down. She said Serbia wanted to contribute to shaping the future of Europe and hoped to get a transparent and predictable accession timetable from the EU.
In response to a question about migration, Simeonov called for conflicts to be resolved at the point of their development, and added that every country must protect its own borders. He noted that Bulgaria received no EU support for the fence it had built on the border with Turkey.
Kotzias highlighted the importance of treating migrants humanely but added that migrants must also respect the law. European policies should focus on stopping the waves of migration, he added,
Erjavec said several million people were waiting to come to Europe. Organised crime is in the background of migration and little has been done so far to stop it, he added. Without a common European solution, individual countries should introduce measures in order to protect their citizens, he said.
Joksimovic said more than one million people had passed through Serbia, and it was necessary to find a comprehensive solution to the migration situation. Serbia is ready to contribute to this, she added.
The Catholic bishops’ conferences of Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia signed an agreement with the head of Caritas Lebanon on Monday to grant 450,000 euros aid to refugees in Lebanon.
The document was signed at the headquarters of the Hungarian Bishops’ Conference in Budapest.
Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, said the refugees in Lebanon were living amid extremely difficult circumstances but they hoped to return home.
“We would like to confirm their hopes and ease their everyday problems” with the aid, he added.
Caritas Lebanon leader Paul Karam expressed thanks and said the money would be used mostly for health services, as well as for accommodation and food for refugees and local residents who face increasingly difficult conditions because of the refugee crisis. They also plan to organise evening schools for children in the refugee camps, he added.
As we wrote on November, Hungary is paying several million euros in support to Lebanon, which has been heavily struck by the migration crisis, and offers all political support to enable Syrian refugees in Lebanon to return home, Justice Minister László Trócsányi said on Friday after a two-day visit in Lebanon.
Jobbik has submitted a motion to the Hungarian Parliament to initiate the establishment of a joint permanent parliamentary assembly of Visegrad Group (V4) countries, Jobbik’s president Gábor Vona announced in his Wednesday press conference marking the next pledge of the so-called Vona18 series.
Expressing his opinion on why the people of the region do not identify more with the V4 concept, Mr Vona said they didn’t feel it was their own since what the communication they typically got from the meetings of Visegrad leaders was that “they drink toasts in expensive hotels” but there was no “real dynamics” in terms of the cooperation. Jobbik wants to bring this cooperation closer to the people by setting up a permanent joint parliamentary assembly of Visegrad Group countries.
Mr Vona emphasized that regional cooperation had always been an integral part of Jobbik’s foreign policy concept.
Admitting that the V4 alliance was currently unstable despite its significance in the Eastern Central European region, he said it should be made more unified, stronger and stable.
“This region needs a flagship,” Jobbik’s president and PM candidate asserted. He added that the V4 alliance was as important for regional cooperation as it was for promoting the interests of its member states within the EU. He stressed the significance of making a joint effort to achieve joint solutions for common problems.
As an example, he mentioned the EU’s east-west wage gap, an issue that had just been raised by Jobbik through the citizens’ initiative for a wage union. Talking about promoting regional interests, he discussed another matter so important for the EU’s future: whether we were going to live in a one-speed or a two-speed Europe. Jobbik stands for the one-speed EU concept. As Mr Vona put it, a multi-speed Europe would betray both the spirit of the founding fathers and the promises made to Eastern Central European member states.
Referring to external attacks launched at V4, he mentioned that French President Emmanuel Macron had taken a three-day tour of Eastern Central Europe (avoiding Hungary) to meet the leaders of the so-called Slavkov Trilateral – Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia in Salzburg.
Jobbik’s president and PM candidate emphasized that alliances like the V4 Group did establish such permanent joint parliamentary assemblies before.
He also admitted that Poland had already suggested a similar move for the V4 Group and it had not been rejected by PM Orbán or Speaker of the House László Kövér. In response to a question from the media, he said that the permanent V4 assembly would be set up by the national parliaments and Jobbik would involve the partner countries in making decisions on the particulars. As Mr Vona put it, the V4 Group had not been able to show real power so far but the joint parliamentary assembly “could add gravity to the alliance”.
Talking about the three most important problem areas of the V4 countries, he identified the wage issue, the competitiveness of regional enterprises and migration.
Jobbik’s proposal also suggests an investigation whether the V4 Group could be enlarged. In the press conference, Mr Vona stated that the enlargement question had been raised several times in recent years.
Romania, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria had been mentioned as potential new members of the alliance.
Jobbik’s motion specifically mentions Croatia in this regard. “The positive example of Polish, Czech, Slovakian and Hungarian relations demonstrated by the functioning of the Visegrad Group (V4) urges us to promote the idea of investigating how we could involve the other Eastern Central European states into the cooperation, perhaps through the enlargement of the Visegrad Group (V4), says Jobbik’s proposal submitted by MPs Gábor Vona, Márton Gyöngyösi and István Szávay.
In Jobbik’s view, it is particularly worth conducting a thorough investigation of accession options in terms of Croatia, as
the Croatian side has expressed on numerous occasions that it is interested in a closer cooperation with the V4 group.
“A potential enlargement may be justified by such factors as our common statehood of 800 years, Croatia’s greatly similar historical heritage to those of the V4 countries as well as the significant overlap between Zagreb’s and our current socio-economic problems. This is how the region’s states could work together on closing their historical past burdened by foreign invasions, dictatorships and war as well as on triggering a process of socio-economic development and prosperity,” says the draft resolution submitted by Jobbik.
Environment ministers of the Visegrad group and delegations from Slovenia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Croatia met for a three-day conference in Miskolc, in northern Hungary, on Wednesday.
The plenary session focused on the European Commission‘s proposal for circular economy policy, aimed at boosting efficiency in raw material use and recycling to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Hungarian Farm Minister Sándor Fazekas told the press.
The result of the EC proposal will be a package of legislation “which takes fully into account the member states’ economic and social situations and their capacities in waste management”, he said.
The minister called for reasonably determined objectives and sufficient funding and time frames for the programme to be successful.
Waste management has undergone considerable development in Hungary in recent years, Fazekas noted. The selective waste management and recycling system can now be extended to include selective treatment of biological waste, he added.
The participants also discussed regional cooperation in fighting back invasive alien species, Fazekas said. Invasive plant and animal species occupy territories from local species and may pose serious threats to public health and economy, Fazekas said. The process can only be halted by cross-border cooperation, he added.
The Visegrad Group (V4) strongly advocates the further enlargement of the European Union to include the countries of the western Balkans, the V4’s top diplomats said on Wednesday.
At a news conference following a meeting of V4 top diplomats, together with their counterparts from the western Balkans, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia and Romania, Poland’s head of diplomacy Witold Waszczykowski said the V4 backed all EU integration endeavours and an open-door policy.
Ivan Korcok, Slovakia’s foreign ministry state secretary, said the V4 was leading the issue of enlargement, and the issue should not fall to the periphery of European Union interest.
V4 member states will guarantee that the countries of the western Balkan remain a part of Europe, he added.
Czech deputy foreign minister Jakub Durr said the V4 was clearly open to the issue of EU enlargement. Without the western Balkans, neither the EU nor NATO would be complete, he added.
Serbian foreign minister Ivica Dacic stressed that the western Balkan states are determined to become EU members, despite the “integration fatigue discernible in the bloc”. The long waiting time has kindled doubt in Serbs too, Dacic said.
Montenegrin foreign minister Srdjan Darmanovic said that the V4 group “has always been an example of successful cooperation”, and thanked the group for its support for the country’s NATO membership.
Albanian foreign minister Ditmir Bushati said that
integration can only be efficient if it is “unequivocal, logical and free of emotions”.
Romanian foreign minister Teodor Melescanu said that the whole of the “western Balkan elite” should be committed to reforms which should be accelerated to create strong institutions which would ultimately lead to European integration.
Macedonian foreign minister Nikola Dimitrov also welcomed the V4 group’s commitment to the cause of the western Balkans. Europe would be a safer place with an integrated western Balkan, he said.
Ekaterina Zaharieva, the Bulgarian foreign minister, said her country would give priority to the security and integration of the west Balkan region during her EU presidency in the first half of 2018. The European project will not be complete until these countries have become members, she added.
Kosovan foreign minister Behgjet Pacolli said his country was committed to European integration and grateful for the V4 support for its cause.
Josip Brkic, deputy foreign minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that
“if the EU were unwilling to speed up the accession process, that would bring serious problems on both sides”.
Bosnia and Herzegovina hopes to obtain the status of candidate member during the Bulgarian EU presidency, he said.
Hungary will not shy away from using the toughest diplomatic means to defend its interests, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in a Wednesday interview to Transylvanian newspaper Krónika.
He noted that Hungary does not support Croatia’s bid to join the OECD as long as Croatia introduces measures that harm the economic interests of Hungary and violate international rules. Further, Hungary will block Ukraine’s endeavours in all international forums in protest against its education law which discriminates against ethnic minorities, he said. In addition, Hungary had been prepared to block Romania’s membership of the OECD, too, before it promised to resolve the outstanding issue of the Hungarian school in Targu Mures/Marosvásárhely).
“The current patriotic foreign policy will go to the extremes in order to strengthen the country and the Hungarian communities beyond the borders,” he said.
Referring to joint economic ties and joint interests in international forums, Szijjarto said recent events demonstrated that Hungary and Romania are interdependent. He cited joint action against the Ukrainian education law as an example.
He said the Romanian authorities had demonstrated openness and good will concerning the government’s Transylvanian Economic Development Programme after Hungary made it clear that the country wants to achieve exactly the same aims as Germany does with Saxons in Transylvania/Erdély.
The minister said he hoped that the accreditation Hungarian diplomats serving at the consulates of Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda and Cluj-Napoca/Kolozsvár would take place as soon as possible, and the new consul-general in Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda would be similarly accredited. Only one or two bureaucratic hurdles are left before the Hungarian cultural institute in Cluj/Kolozsvár can open, he added.
“Not wishing to go too far, I have the feeling that, after a long time,
Romania is now showing the greatest openness to forming our relations with intelligence and on a European level,” he said.
Croatia started collecting the statements of support for reducing the wage gap within the EU. The campaign launch was announced by Frano Čirko, the Croatian member of the committee for the European Citizens’ Initiative in his Zagreb press conference. The meeting was also addressed by Jobbik MP Márton Gyöngyösi, the representative of the Citizens’ Committee for a Wage Union.
Organized by GO! – the Generation of Renewal, Jobbik’s Croatian partner, the press conference triggered an unexpectedly intensive interest from the Croatian media. Talking to the journalists of leading Croatian papers, Frano Čirko, the leader of the party formed last February by young intellectuals said that even though the rights of immigrants and other groups preferred by certain liberal politicians were very much part of the EU’s political discourse,
the improvement of the living conditions for Central European people were hardly mentioned at all.
Recalling EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger’s words that EU funds allocated to Central Europe eventually enrich the western big business companies, Mr Čirko suggested that the current cohesion policy could not be maintained and that the region’s countries must join their forces to fight for the living standards their citizens deserved.
As the representative of the Citizens’ Committee for the wage union, Jobbik MP Márton Gyöngyösi attended the event as well. Informing the Croatian media about the recent breakthrough in Poland, where Tesco workers and several trade unions signed for the wage union project, Mr Gyöngyösi emphasized how important trade unions and NGOs were in helping the initiative to succeed. The MP stated that fair wages were guaranteed by major international treaties, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. He added that
the issue of living standards must not be the battleground for ideological conflicts so the representatives of the project expected all citizens to support the idea.
Croatia is gravely affected by the emigration driven by the low wages, too.
The country’s less developed Eastern regions become emptier day by day; the populations of certain cities have nearly been halved since Croatia’s EU accession. The situation is especially grim in such areas as Southern Baranja and Eastern Slavonia, both of which have Hungarian communities, too. To help Croatian citizens get more information on the Wage Union initiative, GO! will conduct a road trip involving major Croatian cities.
In response to our question on his party’s future and opportunities, Mr Čirko said his organization laid great emphasis on patriotic and conservative values but they wanted to reach out to all citizens who wish to deal with real problems affecting the nation, instead of focusing on the injuries suffered in the 20th century. In Mr Čirko’s view, such real problems include the brain drain and the existing wage inequalities as well as the challenges posed by the digital era, all of which Croatia must meet adequately. It is the interest of all Croatian people, he concluded.
[button link=”https://www.wageunion.eu/” type=”big” color=”purple” newwindow=”yes”] To sign the initiative, click here![/button]
Anyone who endangers Hungarian interests will find themselves up against the Hungarian state, government office chief János Lázár said at his weekly press briefing on Thursday, in connection with the new Ukrainian education law and Romanian policy affecting a school for ethnic Hungarians in Targu Mures (Marosvásárhely).
Lázár said the “coarse violation of Hungarian minority rights” was “unacceptable and shameful”. He called on the Ukrainian president not to sign the law, adding that the law was “a stab in the back”.
Hungary has also expressed its objection to Croatia’s OECD membership,
saying that the country has “harmed Hungarian economic interests”, citing the dispute between the two countries over Croatian oil and gas company INA and Hungarian peer MOL.
Meanwhile, on the subject of pensions paid to high-ranking dignitaries of the Communist regime, Lázár said the government was ready to examine the issue and conduct an investigation omitted in 1990.
Asked about remarks critical of the government by former ombudsman László Majtényi, who heads a prominent NGO, Lázár said NGOs are free to express their opinions, and he added that public life in Hungary was blooming without any hindrance.
Majtényi has accused the government and ruling parties of conducting a smear campaign against NGOs with the intention of intimidating them.
It is easy to blame the opposition parties’ failures on the government in election season, Lázár said. “But the opposition looks in the mirror, sees something appalling and smashes the mirror instead of taking a shave”, he said.
Challenged that opposition referendum bids “seem to go awry all the time”, Lázár said that the opposite was true.
Of opposition initiatives, many reached their goals, he said. Budapest is not hosting the Olympics, the shops are open on Sundays, and parliament has just raised the statute of limitations on corruption charges, just as the opposition proposed, he said. “They should be glad to be able to assert themselves, even in opposition,” he said.
Lázár dismissed a report about plans that the government would take over southern Hungarian city Pécs’s debts in exchange for ownership of the airport Pécs-Pogány,
which then would let to Russian energy giant Rosatom. No property swaps were discussed at the meeting, he said.
In connection with his personal plans, Lázár said that if it depended on him alone then he would work in his constituency between 2018 and 2022 and that he achieve more there than in government. He said, however, he was not without long-term ambitions. “Where there’s a job to do there are ambitions, but it is hard to sit on two horses at once.”
Speaking of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s itinerary in the near future, Lázár said Orbán is travelling to Poland on Friday and then to Vietnam and Singapore. Lázár said there will be no government meeting next week.
In meetings with his Romanian and Croatian counterparts on the sidelines of the 72nd UN General Assembly in New York, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that Hungary will “always stand up for the interests of Hungary and ethnic Hungarians”.
Meeting with Romanian FM
Speaking on the phone on Wednesday, Szijjártó noted that
Over a hundred Hungarian children were forced to start the school year at a different school, he said.
The Hungarian state is blocking Romania’s membership bid in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) until the problem is solved, he said. The situation is “disappointing”, Szijjártó said, because Romanian-Hungarian relations have lately shown promising developments.
The solution depends exclusively on political will on Romania’s side, Szijjártó said.
Hungary expects the Romanian government to undertake the steps necessary to reopen the school and to “rein in any nationalistic outbursts”, he said.
Hungary takes its lead from the local community and Catholic church in the issue, Szijjártó said. When the Hungarian community and the church in Tirgu Mures regard the situation as solved, Hungary will act accordingly, he said.
Croatian FM talks with Szijjártó
Commenting on the meeting with Croatian foreign minister Marija Pejcinovic Buric, Szijjártó noted that an international arbitration court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Croatian government Hungarian against oil and gas company MOL.
The Croatian government has been trying to buy back MOL’s shares in Croatian peer INA.
Croatia chose to ignore the court ruling, Szijjártó said. The OECD is based on honouring such decisions, and
Hungarian Defence Minister István Simicskó observed operations held as part of a regional border protection military exercise near Allentsteig, in northern Austria, on Friday.
The week-long COOPSEC17 exercise organised under the Central European Defence Cooperation programme involved 2,360 troops from Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Slovakia, Croatia and Slovenia attended the event as observers.
Speaking to MTI by phone, Simicskó said the exercise was an excellent opportunity for Hungarian troops to share their experience gained in border protection midst the migrant crisis over the past two years.
Photo: MTI
He said that as the current president of the Visegrad Four grouping, Hungary aims to organise several similar exercises.
“It is important to show to the EU, Brussels and western Europe how effective our cooperation can be,” he said.
The Budapest Corvinus University awarded Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic an honorary doctorate at a ceremony on Tuesday.
Croatian president receives Budapest Corvinus University’s honorary doctorate
Accepting the award, Grabar-Kitarovic said it mandated her to further pursue her scientific as well her political work at the same time.
She said that a safer future had to be ensured for the younger generations, emphasising the importance of sustainable development and conflict resolution.
Presenting the award,
the rector of the university pointed out that Grabar-Kitarovic was the first woman to be elected president in Croatia since the country’s first multi-party elections in 1990.
András Lánczi said that Grabar-Kitarovic had worked hard to ensure that Croatia and Hungary maintained and strengthened their bilateral relations.
The president has greatly contributed to strengthening bilateral ties by focusing on what binds the two countries together and the central European values they represent, the rector added.
Orbán meets Croatian president
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic highlighted regional cooperation at a meeting in Budapest.
Photo: Balázs Szecsődi
The two leaders agreed that the central and eastern European countries have to cooperate in debates on the future of Europe.
Both leaders reiterated their views concerning the disputes between Croatia and Hungary.
The meeting was also attended by Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister.
Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic and Hungarian president János Áder, photo: MTI
Hungary will not support Croatia and Romania’s bids to join the OECD, the foreign ministry said on Friday.
In a statement, the ministry cited the closure of a Catholic secondary school mostly attended by Hungarian children in Targu Mures (Marosvásárhely) as its reason for suspending its support for Romania’s accession to the organisation.
In the case of Croatia, the ministry cited the situation surrounding Hungarian oil and gas company MOL’s investment in that country and Croatia’s treatment of MOL’s chairman-CEO as its reasons for blocking its bid.
The ministry said Hungary declared its intention not to support either country’s bid to join the organisation at a meeting of the OECD Council in Paris on Friday.
The number of Hungary’s border crossings with a motorway link may double by the year 2022, national daily Magyar Hírlap said on Saturday.
Over the past 20 years six such facilities have been built, to be followed by another six over the next five years, the national development ministry told the paper.
The government decided to build 900 kilometres of motorways and dual carriageways, and earmark a total 2,500 billion forints (EUR 8.2bn) for road construction until 2022, it said.
The M4 motorway to connect Budapest with Oradea (Nagyvárad) in western Romania will be completed with the inauguration of the last 30 km section on the Hungarian side of the border by early 2020.
The construction of dual carriageway M30 between Miskolc and Kosice (Kassa) in eastern Slovakia is scheduled to start next year but its Tornyosnémeti border crossing will be inaugurated before this year goes out.
As far as links to Austria are concerned, the border sections of M8 at Rábafüzes (in the direction of Graz) and M85 at Sopron (in the direction of Vienna) will be completed in the coming five years.
The last section of motorway M6 between Bóly and the Croatian border will probably be opened in late 2020 pending environmental permits.
The construction of the last section of motorway M3 between Vásárosnamény and the Ukrainian border is scheduled to start in early 2021.
