Is this why Orbán did not go to Kiev with the Czech, Polish and Slovenian prime ministers?
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is not with his Czech, Polish and Slovenian counterparts in Kyiv for talks because Hungary is not supplying weapons to Ukraine, according to news site Origo.
The prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia are travelling to Kyiv by train, and they are the first foreign leaders, who visit the Ukrainian capital since Russia invaded its neighbour last month.
The Hungarian government will not allow Hungary to be dragged into the war, and it is working to restore peace, the website said, noting that Hungary made clear from the outset of the war that it would not send soldiers or weapons to Ukraine; neither would it allow the transit of weapons across its territory.
Origo noted that after the Russians bombed a site near the Polish border, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said that even mentioning the transit of weapons carried serious risks.
Orbán has also made clear that weapons transfers would severely harm Hungarians in Transcarpathia (Kárpátalja), in western Ukraine, origo.hu noted.
Origo also denigrated opposition figures for urging the transfer of weapons to Ukraine.
Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, told MTI that
“we solely represent Hungary’s interests and our objective cannot be anything else but to ensure that Hungary stays out of this war”.
He said the reason why the Hungarian prime minister was not travelling with his Czech, Polish and Slovenian counterparts to Kyiv was that “to ensure the peace and security of Hungary it is necessary that the country should not send troops or weapons to the war and neither should it allow the transit of weapons across its territory to Ukraine”.
“We will respect it if other countries decide differently, but we must bear Hungary’s security interests in mind”, Szijjártó said.
Read also10 contradictions in Orbán’s Putin policy – will he lose the elections because of them?
V4 countries stands for stopping the war in Ukraine, says FM Szijjártó in London
The Visegrad Group stands for peace and stopping the war in Ukraine as soon as possible to ensure security in central Europe, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in London on Tuesday.
Szijjártó spoke ahead of a summit between the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.
The region is bearing the brunt of the humanitarian burden of the war, he noted.
Poland, Slovakia and Hungary have already received “a great many” refugees, some of whom have travelled on to the Czech Republic, among other countries, he said.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic has yet to end, as “many countries are still battling that challenge and lack the requisite vaccines”, Szijjártó said. Hungary is donating another 100,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine to Thailand to help raise the vaccination rate. With that shipment, Hungary’s vaccine donations to Thailand will have reached 500,000, he said.
In total, Hungary has so far donated 4.2 million doses to 17 countries, he said.
“Raising the vaccination rate worldwide will curb the risk of new variants, so we can leave at least that challenge behind us. Security challenges are plenty without a health-care and economic crisis before us, too,” he said.
Read alsoUkrainian refugees on Hungarian hospitality
Hungary’s Chief of Staff: V4 cooperation reliable in long term
The Visegrád Group cooperation is reliable, non-partisan, and respects the interests of all member states, and has become an important factor in the European Union, the Hungarian prime minister’s chief of staff said on Friday in Budapest.
Gergely Gulyás told a press conference after a meeting of the EU affairs ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia that all V4 states were committed to the EU, and see no alternative to “institutional European cooperation”.
At the same time, Gulyás noted that cohesion, the reduction of development gaps between various EU member states, is enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty as a primary objective of the EU.
The goal of Friday’s meeting, Gulyás said, was to “coordinate and share best practices at a time of intense negotiations with the European Commission” on funding for the 2021-2027 financial cycle.
The Visegrád countries have mostly submitted their planned operative programmes, “and technological and professional talks are proceeding well with the EC”. “If politics doesn’t interfere, we hope to achieve a partnership agreement on the next financial cycle within one or two months,” he said, adding that this was important because most member states tended to pre-finance their projects.
Read also Will Hungary send soldiers to fight in Ukraine?
He said the conclusion of the partnership agreement was “not behind schedule”, noting that in the previous funding cycle, the signing of the pact had come a year and a half after the approval of the budget.
Concerning the EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund, Gulyás said the reason why member states had agreed to jointly take out a loan was because it was a “one-time solution” which the EU had said was necessary for the economic recovery.
Gulyás also said that there was a “serious distrust” of the EC on the parts of Hungary and Poland because the Commission had yet to approve their recovery plans “for political reasons”. He added, at the same time, that the agreement with the EC could be signed soon, and the projects were being pre-financed.
“If we have to wait for the Hungarian elections for this to happen then so be it,” he said.
Gulyás said the V4 were effective when it came to the drawdown of EU funds from the previous funding period. Hungary has drawn down 71.9 percent of the funds it is entitled to, he said, noting that it was the fifth most effective member state in this respect, “competing with Poland”.
He said V4 cooperation on cohesion policy had always been close, adding that this was “a big help in the talks with the EC”.
Read alsoSecretary: Hungary’s electoral system among most transparent
“We trust that it will remain that way in the future as well, and that the region will remain an engine of the EU’s economic growth and progress,” he said.
Daniela Grabmullerova, the Czech deputy minister for regional development, said V4 cooperation in “delicate issues concerning the European Union” was inspiring. The Czech Republic will draw on that experience during its upcoming EU presidency, when it aims to bolster the development of cohesion policy, she said.
Grabmullerova noted that cohesion funds amounted to 40 percent of the resources for community investments in the Czech Republic. The government hopes that the EU will approve its programme during the spring, she said.
Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Veronika Remisova called for the continuation of the cohesion policy, “an important pillar of the European Union”. Slovakia is preparing apace its operational programmes and the cooperation agreement with the EU, she said. Increasing the efficiency of the use of EU funds by curbing the red tape surrounding the resources is one of Slovakia’s priorities in the process, she said. Funds from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), set up to offset the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, will be used to bolster vulnerable sectors, especially SMEs, she said.
Polish regional development minister Grzegorz Puda praised Hungary for its “exemplary use of the cohesion funds which has yielded spectacular results in the past few years.” The cooperation of the Visegrád countries is very useful for all parties, he said.
Read alsoEU court ruling against PM Orbán’s “toxic populist brand”?
Euro or forint? Here is what Hungarians think
A majority of Hungarians do not think that Hungary is ready to introduce the common currency of the European Union. Meanwhile, more than 2/3rds of those asked believe that introducing the euro would be beneficial. Here are the findings of the latest relevant survey of the Republikon Institute.
Introducing the euro: Hungarians think it is realistic
According to index.hu, the Institute examined what citizens think about introducing the euro in EU states outside of the eurozone: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Sweden. Based on the institute’s findings, the majority of people do not think their countries are ready to introduce the euro. In Hungary, this rate is lower than in the other Visegrád Four countries not using the euro, like the Czech Republic and Poland.
In this respect, Hungarians and the citizens of
the analysed countries view their possibilities objectively.
In the 2020 convergence report of the European Central Bank, they say that Hungary does not meet the Maastricht criteria. The country’s 1.8 pc inflation rate and 60 pc budget deficit are very high.
Hungarians do not trust the forint?
The relative majority in Hungary and the V4 countries think they will be part of the eurozone in ten years. However, 25-33 pc of them believe that they will never use the EU’s common currency.
Interestingly, Hungarians think that the country will introduce the euro only later. However, their attitude is the second most positive towards the currency among the EU states not part of the eurozone.
An expected price increase is a common argument against introducing the euro. However, the Republikon Institute found that Hungarians are the least worried about a possible price increase. The majority of them think that using the euro would stabilise prices. The Institute wrote that the opinion might correlate with
Hungarians’ distrust in their national currency.
As we reported before, the forint became weaker and weaker against the euro in the last few months. That was beneficial for Hungarians working abroad but disadvantageous for everybody else. The opposition claims that the government intentionally weakens the national currency to help the export. The forint strengthened in the last few weeks, but the exchange rate is unstable.
Read alsoBudapest among the TOP 10 most expensive cities in Eastern Europe
Visegrad Group energy ministers discuss hydrogen in Budapest
Energy ministers of the Visegrad Group — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — discussed the planning and establishment of a European hydrogen ecosystem at a meeting in Budapest on Tuesday.
Government officials in charge of energy from Germany and Austria also attended the meeting virtually.
Innovation and Technology Minister László Palkovics said cooperation at the national and the European level is “very important” to advance investment projects in innovative areas and the development of new technologies. Establishing forums that promote cooperation with market players and address regulatory issues should be a focus of governments’ joint efforts, he added.
Palkovics noted that
all six of the countries represented at the meeting already have or are drafting their own hydrogen strategies.
Slovak Minister of Economy Richard Sulik said
his country will soon put hydrogen-powered buses into operation in a city with a population of 30,000.
Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Sikela pointed out geopolitical risks, noting that none of the V4 can be self-sufficient in hydrogen production. Subsidies policy and energy market regulation are key, he added.
Polish Minister of Climate and Environment Anna Moskwa also said geopolitical factors must be weighed.
After the meeting, the sides signed a joint declaration on strengthening energy transformation, energy security and the European electricity transmission system as well as the establishment of a connected European hydrogen ecosystem.
Read alsoMinister: Hungary’s gas supply from Russia is secure until 2036
Czech Republic sends new police unit to Hungary-Serbia border
The Czech Republic has sent another 40-member police unit to help patrol the Hungary-Serbia border as part of a border protection partnership among the Visegrad Group countries.
Jenő Szilassi-Horváth, deputy police chief of the Csongrád-Csanád County police force, said the Czech contingent provided substantial help to Hungary in its border protection efforts.
The previous contingent helped apprehend more than 6,000 illegal migrants over the course of their two-month service, he said.
The new contingent will be posted on the Hungary-Serbia border until March 24,
using their own equipment and vehicles, Szilassi-Horváth said.
Miroslav Toth, commander of the Czech unit, said
the contingent had brought 16 vehicles, night vision equipment and two dogs to help protect the Schengen border.
Read alsoHungary worries about the worsening security situation of Europe
How popular is Putin in Central and Eastern Europe?
Fully 43 percent of Hungarians asked in a Nézőpont survey expressed a positive view of Russian President Vladimir Putin, while 36 percent of respondents said they had a negative opinion.
The pro-government Nézőpont gauged Putin’s appreciation in 12 central European countries in November and December last year, and concluded from the results that the Russian president is a divisive politician.
According to the pollster,
Hungarians have a “pragmatic” view of the Russian president.
Putin is most popular with Serbs (77pc), while respondents in Poland (10pc) indicated the most negative views about him.
The poll found that Putin was also popular in Bulgaria (60pc), North Macedonia (55pc) and Montenegro (57pc).
The Russian president was less popular with Czechs (25pc), and Romanians (31pc).
Slovenia (34pc), Croatia (37pc) and Austria (21pc) were in the same “pragmatic” category as Hungary.
Orbán in Moscow:
V4: “It is crucial to create a European-level migration and refugee system”
The defence and law enforcement committees of the parliaments of the Visegrád Group have expressed support for an undivided NATO and European Union, Lajos Kósa, the head of the Hungarian committee, said after a meeting of his V4 counterparts in Debrecen, in eastern Hungary, on Friday.
The closed-door meeting, also attended by Slovenia, as an observer, focused on strategic and long-term cooperation issues as well as topical subjects such as the situation in Ukraine, Kósa told a press conference.
The participants issued a joint statement concerning the draft migration and refugee pact of the EU, as well as on defence cooperation between the Visegrád countries.
In their statements, the committee heads warned that a further increase in tension around Ukraine could trigger a wave of mass migration and create a situation similar to the Belarusian migration crisis and called for a complex approach.
It is crucial to create a European-level migration and refugee system that could “cope with the challenges, the migration pressure on the external borders of the EU, as well as with the hybrid attacks that use migration as a tool”, the statement said.
In their statement, the signatories also called on the EU to “avoid any measures triggering migration”. Participants in the meeting also expressed support for the Hungarian V4 presidency’s efforts to further cooperation “in a V4+” format in view of shared security threats and challenges, Kósa said.
Read also Next Hungarian president prepares for ideological cold war
Crazy price increase in Budapest real estate market – New results!
The price per square metre of newly-built apartments in Budapest has doubled over the last decade. Therefore, it is not surprising that since 2013 the second-highest growth of property prices have been registered in the Hungarian capital. The rise in the Budapest real estate market prices even precedes trends in Warsaw, Bratislava and Zagreb. We will now examine the extent of this increase and present you the most expensive districts in Budapest!
As we previously reported, property prices in Budapest has been skyrocketing in the last few years. This has been underpinned by a newly published survey of KPMG, according to which, Budapest has registered the second-highest price increase of newly built apartments since 2013. Based on the results, prices in the Hungarian capital have surpassed those in Warsaw, Bratislava and Zagreb, but are still far behind those in Vienna, Berlin and Prague. In terms of the intensity of increase, only the Czech capital has preceded Budapest.
Accordingly, in the period 2013-2021,
Budapest and Prague have seen the largest increase in house prices within the region, with prices per square metre doubling in both capitals.
Since 2019, the tendency of rising property prices has slightly stopped. This is partly due to the pandemic as well as the temporary reinstatement of VAT on new housing (from 5 to 27%). As the Hungarian news portal 24.hu reports, market participants should expect another rebound in 2021 as a whole, driven by the return of tax credits and the post-recession economic recovery. Nevertheless, the current average price per square metre of apartments in Budapest is still behind Vienna, Berlin and Prague. While this is a great benefit for homeowners, it can be a major difficulty for those looking for their first home.
Read also: Here is where you can buy cheap properties near Budapest
The newly published survey also examined how property prices had changed in relation to net income. Accordingly, it has been revealed that the situation of those who would like to purchase their first home is difficult as property prices are also increasing relative to net income. In other words,
housing has also become more expensive relative to salaries.
This ratio for Hungary is 1.7, which means numerically that while salaries have increased by 32% over the period, prices per square metre have risen by 124%. Accordingly, the gap between income and house prices has widened remarkably, and only Germany recorded a larger change over the last decade. Consequently, the Budapest real estate market certainly does not favour young people who want to start a family and purchase their first home.
Read also: Things to consider when buying real estate in Budapest
Nevertheless, the majority of Hungarians are less concerned than in many other countries. This can be accredited to the fact that 91.3% of the population in Hungary are homeowners which is an exceptionally high proportion in Europe.
As the Hungarian news portal Portfolio reports, the TOP 5 most expensive new apartments are located in Budapest’s 6th district at the Kodály Körönd. The luxury apartments of 220-260 m2 with balconies of 15-20 m2 are offered for EUR 2.1 – 2.5 million. The price per square metre is EUR 9,500. Similarly high prices can be observed in the Hárshegy34 residential complex in Budapest’s 2nd district. Here, a 250 m2 apartment is available for EUR 2.1 million. After the TOP 5, there is a gap in the price level. The next apartments on the list are offered for EUR 1.6 – 1.4 million, with prices per square metre in this range between EUR 7,600 – 10,600. These properties are mainly located in the 6th, 2nd, 13th and 9th districts of Budapest.
Turkey-Visegrad Group foreign ministers meeting held in Budapest
The European Union should transfer without delay all the support promised to Turkey for looking after migrants staying there because Ankara has a highlighted role in protecting the continent, the foreign ministry said citing Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó as saying on Tuesday.
Szijjártó told a joint press conference after a Turkey-Visegrad Group foreign ministers meeting that Europe was under unprecedented attack from three directions which is expected to strengthen in the future.
One of the reasons he cited was the situation in Afghanistan.
He said that following the failure of international intervention there, food supplies were in danger for some 23 million people in the country and the number of internal refugees had reached four million.
In order to present further migratory waves, the publication of statements and plans that encourage migration should be prevented and close partnership should be developed with countries on the route of migrants, he said. In terms of the latter effort, Turkey plays a key role in the protection of Europe, he added.
“The protection of Hungary’s southern borders starts in Turkey and with Turkey,” he said.
As a result, Szijjártó called on the EU to transfer the entire sum of 6 billion euros which had been promised to Ankara, especially considering that the Turkish government has already spent 40 billion dollars on looking after migrants staying in the country, the ministry said. Additionally, he said the community should support Turkey’s border protection efforts in order to prevent a further increase in migratory pressure.
Szijjártó said
the Hungarian government was strongly against the EU’s plan to sign the Post-Cotonou agreement with 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific States which he described as “the little brother of the UN Global Compact for Migration”.
Instead of finding ways for Africans to come to Europe, the EU should agree with Africa on how Africans can be convinced to stay at their place of birth, he said.
Mevlut Cavusoglu
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country was looking after the largest number of refugees in the world since 2014. As a result, he said settling the Afghan situation was especially important and added that the international community should gradually establish relations with the new Talib leaders.
Jan Lipavsky
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said the V4 group was an important format for cooperation and added that Ankara played a key role in the fight against illegal migration.
Zbigniew Rau
Polish counterpart Zbigniew Rau called for speeding up EU enlargement in the Western Balkans and praised opportunities for economic cooperation between the V4 and Turkey.
Ingrid Brockova
Slovak foreign affairs state secretary Ingrid Brockova said it must be prevented that Afghanistan should again become a starting pont of terror attacks and migratory waves. She said increasing pressure in the Western Balkans was cause for concern.
Read alsoHillary Clinton: Hungary is ruled by an autocratic, greedy, and corrupt leader
3 Hungarian universities among the 30 best in Europe and Central Asia
A total of 16 Hungarian universities managed to grab a place on Quacquarelli Symonds’s (QS) list of best universities for 2022.
According to Hellómagyar, the British Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) evaluates the performance of emerging universities in Europe and in Asia each year. The leading universities on the latest list are Russian, with Lomonosov Moscow State University taking the first place.
As the company wrote, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has grown to become the world’s most popular source of comparative data about university performance.
And while Poland and the Czech Republic are also quite high on the list, each having two universities in the top 10, Hungary has also achieved comparatively great results.
On the latest list, QS evaluated fifty more universities from Europe and Central Asia, having a total of 450 universities ranked on the 2022 list.
In total, 10 Hungarian universities managed to make it into the top 33%.
read also: Why do thousands of talented students leave the Hungarian education system?
According to the list, the best performing Hungarian university was Eötvös Loránd University, reaching overall 26th place from all nominees.
However, two more Hungarian universities got to be included in the top 30 contenders. Tied at 29th place are the University of Szeged and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
This means that 3 Hungarian universities are placed in the top 6.67% of all partaking universities of Europe and Central Asia, which is excellent performance.
read also: How do Hungarian universities, schools handle the pandemic?
To adequately gauge the performance of the best universities, QS used a series of criteria. The criteria are the following: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty-student ratio, faculty staff with PhD, citations per paper, papers per faculty, international research network, international faculty ratio, international students ratio, and, last but not least, the web impact of each university.
From these categories, Hungarian universities are especially good at international research networks, with the best 3 Hungarian universities each scoring over 90 points.
The other category they excel at is Web Impact with over 95 points each.
If you want to browse the complete list, you can find it HERE.
Read alsoStudent satisfaction in Hungary higher than EU average
Visegrad Group leaders held talks with Macron
The Visegrad Group (V4) leaders held “exhaustive talks” with French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after the summit in Budapest on Monday.
Orbán told a press conference he held jointly with his V4 counterparts and Macron that the French president had laid out plans and goals of France’s upcoming European Union presidency.
Apart from the “passionate” discussions on the issue and the rule of law and the “thorough and exhaustive” talks on migration, the five leaders also discussed the situation in the Western Balkans and the issue of energy — nuclear power, in particular — as well as the future of the EU’s emissions trading system, Orbán added.
The prime minister said it was a “rare opportunity” for the five of them to be able to “speak openly about such important issues”.
Orbán thanked Macron on behalf of the V4 for his openness and future-mindedness, and for having given the central European grouping the chance to think ahead about the most important goals of the French EU presidency.
In response to a question, the prime minister said he and Macron often had “sharp debates” which he said he enjoyed.
A debate is only bad if there is no “quality” to it, Orbán said, adding that in future, too, he looked forward to having “quality debates” with the French president.
Orbán said this meant that Hungary would always give the president of France the respect he deserved, partly because of who he is and partly because the French president “is highly valued in Hungary”. Orbán praised Charles de Gaulle as a “point of reference”, and he noted that Giscard d’Estaing had visited Hungary to campaign for Fidesz before it won the 1998 general election. He added that he had worked together with Jacques Chirac and noted that Nicolas Sarkozy’s ties to Hungary were well known.
This is why, he said, he showed Macron and France respect by not giving his opinion on French domestic politics.
Orbán said Hungary, along with its secret services, was governed by the rule of law. “When we started out in politics, this was not the case, since we come from the resistance to the communist regime,” the prime minister said. “We came into politics from the world of freedom fighters and street fighters.”
In response to another question, Orbán said Hungary’s economic performance and financial situation were assessed by the market. The euro zone, he said, was a “lukewarm and nice place” where the order of things was determined by the bloc’s Stability and Growth Pact. “But the market is cold and cruel,” he added. “That’s where we have to hold our own,” Orbán said, adding that the value and strength of the Hungarian economy was measured on the markets.
Hungary “is in good shape so far”, he said, adding, at the same time, that the government needed to keep an eye on the budget deficit.
As regards the government’s planned reacquisition of Liszt Ferenc International Airport, Orbán said it was not reasonable to close the deal before the 2022 election given the high rate of inflation and the volatility of the global financial markets.
“So we’ll wait for the elections and decide on this afterwards,” he said.
Orbán also said the EU’s payouts of the pandemic recovery monies Hungary was entitled to were delayed for “political reasons”. He said it was “completely unacceptable” on the part of the European Commission to expect Hungary to amend its law on family rights and education. “What does this have to do with restarting the European economy? What does this have to do with spending the funds sensibly?” he said.
“We’re the victims of political blackmail”,
Orbán said, adding that Hungary’s economy would survive without the funding for a long while yet, and all the relevant projects were under way thanks to state pre-financing.
He said neither the economy nor Hungarians had suffered as a result of “Brussels’ blackmail”.
The prime minister said Hungary had been alone in deciding to put up a physical barrier to protect the border and Europe as a whole, but had been on the receiving end of “the harshest attacks” from “Brussels and several European capitals” for its efforts.
The government, he said, had not taken offence or complained, knowing that it was protecting Europe as well as the country.
But now Hungary’s standpoint had changed, he said, adding that several countries would have to spend serious money to defend themselves and the Schengen border. “It’s high time the European Union showed some solidarity,” he said.
Orbán said
Hungary had supported other EU member states, but Brussels had not reciprocated.
He underlined Hungary’s demand that at least half of the costs of protecting Europe that Hungarian taxpayers borne should be picked up by the EU.
Read alsoMacron held talks with Orbán in Budapest
Emmanuel Macron to meet influential politicians in Hungary
The French president will meet a number of influential Hungarian politicians.
Emmanuel Macron will meet Budapest’s lord mayor, Gergely Karácsony, prime minister candidate Péter Márki-Zay, and Klára Dobrev, EP representative and member of the Democratic Coalition. Macron will also meet Anna Donáth, the president of Momentum. The French president will hold a discussion with Gergely Karácsony on Monday afternoon, writes hvg.hu.
The reason for Macron’s visit to Hungary is to attend the meeting of the V4 where he will meet Hungarian President János Áder and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
“The Visegrád Group (also known as the “Visegrád Four” or simply “V4”) reflects the efforts of the countries of the Central European region to work together in a number of fields of common interest within the all-European integration.
read also: ChrisDems express concern over opposition PM candidate and Tusk meeting
Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia have always been part of a single civilisation sharing cultural and intellectual values and common roots in diverse religious traditions, which they wish to preserve and further strengthen,” states the official website of the collaboration.
Read alsoHungarian FM: the key to the success of the Visegrád Group is ‘common sense’
They add that “the V4 was not created as an alternative to the all-European integration efforts, nor does it try to compete with the existing functional Central European structures” and that “the Group aims to encourage optimum cooperation with all countries, in particular its neighbours, its ultimate interest being democratic development in all parts of Europe”.
France is once again holding the rotating presidency of the EU for the thirteenth time since 1950. Their previous mandate was in 2008 under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy.
read also: Opposition PM candidate: Orbán organises migration, executes “Soros plan”
Paris is organising about 400 meetings in the future, and Macron has announced the future plans. These could be topics to discuss at the meeting with Hungarian politicians.
Macron said that the future plans for the EU are to maintain the sovereignty of the Member States, at the same time strengthening European sovereignty. The rules of the Schengen Area should be reformed in order to defend the borders and prevent the abuse of the right to asylum, writes portfolio.hu.
In order to achieve this, an option would be for European ministers to hold discussions with each other regularly and make arrangements. Help to defend the borders should be offered. In dealing with migrants, there is a need for better organisation and collaboration against human trafficking.
Read alsoTop court: Hungary has right to supplement incomplete EU laws
Hungarian FM: the key to the success of the Visegrád Group is ‘common sense’
A key of the success of the Visegrád Group (V4) countries has been that they have based their economic and security policies on “common sense”, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in a video message to a joint V4 parliamentary committee meeting on Friday.
The grouping comprising the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia is “the closest, most effective and most successful” alliance within the European Union today, the minister said.
In recent years the four countries have achieved results together that they could not have on their own, he added.
Szijjártó highlighted the V4’s thwarting of the introduction of mandatory migrant quotas as the group’s biggest achievement. If Brussels’s “crazy proposal” had not been rejected, there would be tens or hundreds of thousands of migrants on the territory of the V4 countries today, he said.
read also: FM Szijjártó: EU energy policy is overly politicised, even though statements will not heat homes
Szijjártó praised the V4 as an “extremely strong and competitive region”. This, he said, was demonstrated by the fact that if the grouping were a single state, it would be the third most populous EU country and the world’s 15th largest economy.
One of the main reasons for the region’s success is the use of “common sense” in economic and security policy, Szijjártó said. He praised the advantages of low tax rates when it comes to attracting international investment and job creation.
read also: V4, Morocco foreign ministers held talks in Budapest
Tax policy, he said, should remain a national competence, adding that the V4 must insist on that element of their sovereignty. Hungary will carry on with its tax cuts “even if some don’t like it”, he said.
Meanwhile, Szijjártó said the EU had also made several mistakes in the area of energy security. He said the details of the European Green Deal had not been fleshed out thoroughly enough and that the document was being used more as a “political communication tool”.
Szijjártó said the government considered environmental protection important, adding, at the same time, that it was crucial to “remain sensible” in this area as well. The minister said it had been a “big mistake” to turn Europeans against natural gas and nuclear energy.
read also: Minister: green future impossible without nuclear energy
More than 70 percent of Hungary’s electricity demand will be supplied by the country’s nuclear power plant in Paks by the end of the decade, he said, noting that Hungary had recently signed a new long-term gas purchase agreement with Russia’s Gazprom.
As regards migration, Szijjártó said EU member states should insist on their right to determine who can and cannot enter their territory.
Read alsoBelarusian dictator’s confidant travelled with a Hungarian visa
Hungarians among the world’s best Duolingo language learners!
Czechs and Hungarians are among the world’s hardest-working nations in terms of learning a new language. If we take the number of single lessons completed per learner, we can say that the Czechs rank first in the world, followed by the Japanese, Belarusians, Germans and Hungarians.
According to blog.duolingo.com, their 2021 Duolingo Language Report presents the latest language trends and learner behaviors based on data from over 500 million Duolingo learners around the globe. Duolingo is the world’s most downloaded education app,
offering over 100 courses teaching 40 languages—all for free.
As a result, their data offers unique insights into what languages learners worldwide want to study and how their interests change over time and geography. In 2020, the Duolingo Language Report noted record growth of new learners who started studying a language during the pandemic, whether to keep up with schoolwork or connect with people around the world. This year’s report investigates how those patterns have evolved in 2021.
Love for Asian languages continues to grow around the globe
In 2021, Asian languages—especially Japanese and Korean—attracted learners worldwide, building on the impressive growth observed in 2020.
- Japanese surpassed Italian globally to become the 5th most popular language to study, and it’s the fastest-growing language in the U.S. and U.K.
- Korean—holding strong at the 7th most popular language to study around the world—is the fastest-growing language in Brazil, France, Germany, India, and Mexico, and it ranks as the second-fastest growing language in Japan!
- Chinese, which was the 10th most popular language to study in 2020, has overtaken Russian and Portuguese for the 8th spot worldwide. It is also one of the top 5 fastest-growing languages in Mexico and Brazil.
World interest in under-studied languages increases—again!
English, Spanish, and French remain the most popular languages to study globally.
The languages occupying the #2 spot in each country are also becoming increasingly diverse: this year, old favorites like French, Spanish, and German are joined by two new additions to this list: Finnish and Guaraní. Finnish has become the second most popular language to study in Finland, and similarly Guaraní, an indigenous language from South America, is now the #2 language studied in Paraguay, where it is an official language.
Family and culture drive learners to study new languages
Family and culture have become important motivators for language study, and this is especially true for learners studying Asian languages. For example, over 18% of new learners studying Japanese are motivated by culture; in contrast, only 8% of English learners, 9% of Spanish learners, and 10% of French learners in 2021 chose
culture as their primary reason for language learning.
The importance of family and culture for U.S. language learners was echoed in a recent national consumer survey Duolingo conducted in collaboration with DKC Analytics. Across all respondents, including those not currently learning a language, 65% said learning about a new culture would be their top reason for studying a new language—and culture ranked ahead of all other potential motivators.
Of those respondents who had started learning a language during the pandemic,
70% say their learning is related to family heritage, ancestry, or culture.
In fact, 94% of learners whose family language is endangered, indigenous, or otherwise under-studied said they would be interested (or very interested!) in learning that language. Data from learners on Duolingo supports this finding: when learners have access to more diverse course offerings, including less-commonly studied languages that better represent their interests, families, and communities, people are excited to start studying a language.
Language learning highlights from around the world
There’s even more to uncover in our data about how interests in languages grow and change over time. Below are some other notable findings from around the world.
- Top 10 languages studied around the world (in order): English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese.
- In 2021, the hardest-working countries were (in order): Czechia, Japan, Belarus, Germany, and Hungary. These are the countries that complete the most lessons per learner. This year’s ranking marks gains for Czechia and Belarus, and slight drops for Germany (the former #1) and Hungary (formerly #3).
- Like the rest of the world, Brazil is excited to study Japanese and Korean: Japanese is the fastest-growing language in Brazil, and Korean is 4th—reversing the 2020 order, which had Korean ahead of Japanese. But the fastest-growing language in the country is Turkish, likely due to Brazilians’ interest in Turkish soap operas!
- The fight for Australia continues: French was the most popular language to study there in 2016, ahead of #2 Spanish, but Spanish pulled ahead to #1 in 2020. This year, French is back on top.
- South Africa, on the other hand, has seen its Spanish-learning population just overtake the number of French learners: while French was #1 in 2016 and 2020, Spanish is now the most popular language to learn. South African learners will be an especially interesting group to watch in the coming years, as Duolingo is launching new courses in 2022 to teach Zulu and Xhosa, two languages from South Africa. Will interest in Spanish and French decline when learners are able to study the languages of their country?
- Welsh continues to be one of the fastest-growing languages in the U.K., even six years after the course was introduced. In 2020, Welsh ranked #1 among fastest-growing languages, and it made a strong showing at #2 in 2021. This year, Welsh was beat out by Japanese for the top spot, and British learners’ growing interest in these languages demonstrates what we see around the world: people are studying more Asian languages and more languages with personal significance.
- In Japan, Korean has skyrocketed to become the second most popular language to study—and it wasn’t even in Japan’s top 5 last year!
- Learners throughout Africa are also studying a wider variety of languages. In 2020, English and French were the #1 languages to learn in Africa, but this year five languages reached #1 across the continent: English, French, Spanish, German, and Swahili!
Irish has retained its popularity in Ireland as the #1 language to study, and it has beat out Spanish for the second year in a row. - In 2020, Japanese and Korean were on the map as the most popular languages to study in some of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and their popularity has grown: there are now more Korean learners than English learners in Mongolia, and these languages occupy both of the top spots in Bhutan, Brunei, Malaysia, Myanmar, and the Philippines.
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Belarusian dictator’s confidant travelled with a Hungarian visa
Vladimir Bazanov, ally and confidant of Alexander Lukashenko, was travelling with a Hungarian visa. He received his visa from Hungary despite the fact that some countries banned him from entering.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jakub Kulhánek said that Bazanov should not have been in the country, because he is “is on the sanctions list of our allies”. Pavel Havlícek, an analyst at Association for International Affairs thinks that Hungary has been the biggest ally of China, Russia, and Belarus in the past decade.
Bazanov entered the Czech Republic, a country in the Schengen zone with a Hungarian visa. He was caught in the Czech Republic and expelled from the country. He managed to travel with his Hungarian visa which was valid for 3 months. – writes Szabad Európa.
Vladimir Bazanov has been the chairman of the Football Federation of Belarus since 2019. He is also known as an ally of Belarussian politician Alekszandr Alexander Lukashenko. Bazanov was banned to enter Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 2020. The reason behind this was Bazanov’s implication in cheating at the elections and playing a role in the suppression of people.
He arrived to the Czech Republic with his wife to accompany the female football team. The Czech football association said that they did not invite the couple, and the female team could not even play due to the coronavirus infections. The Bazanov couple allegedly did not have a valid permit to reside in the Czech Republic and they even violated the local epidemiological rules. The police took measures on 30 November and both Bazanov and his wife were immediately expelled from the country. They had to leave by 1 December. UEFA and the Football Federation of Belarus contacted the Czech football association to ask for help. According to this, Bazanov possibly visited the country as a sports leader, and not as someone related to politics. The circumstance of receiving the visa was controversial as well. Telex writes that
Bazanov’s Schengen visa was issued by the Hungarian authorities on 21 May on behalf of Switzerland. Some countries in the Schengen Convention are not sufficiently represented in other countries, therefore Member State can process visa applications on the respective country’s behalf. This is how Bazanov got his visa.
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183 companies on Planet 2021 expo in Budapest – PHOTOS
The world must take action “globally as well as locally”, President János Áder said at the Planet Budapest 2021 sustainability expo and world conference on the event’s second day on Tuesday. “Global action can be successful through the deeds of nation states,” he said in his address to the event.
The decades-long motto of “think globally, act locally” was no longer enough, Áder said. It should be changed to “act globally, act locally”, he added.
People from 120 countries are at the conference in Budapest over the next few days to discuss climate change, the impending water crisis, measures to protect biodiversity and build a circular economy. On the conference’s agenda are the threats as well as opportunities generated by climate change, the dichotomy of energy security and political stability, financing circular and green economies, water and food safety, rapid technical developments in transport as well as waste management, the president noted.
Áder highlighted Hungary as
one of ten European Union countries to have reduced carbon-dioxide emissions by over 30 percent since 1990.
Fully 70 percent of Hungary’s electricity is carbon-emissions free, while the country has doubled its woodlands in the past 100 years, he said. The world’s most developed countries (G20) “may have similar indicators”, he added.
The president warned that a single centimetre layer of fertile soil took one or two centuries to develop, while “in just a few years we make the soil infertile by using bad technologies and through greed”. Only 0.7 percent of the world’s non-frozen reservoirs contain clean freshwater, while “mankind is constantly polluting”.
The sustainability expo held simultaneously with
the conference offers products by 183 Hungarian, Polish, Czech, and Slovak companies in connection with sustainable food production, water management, energy supply, transport, urban development and waste management, Áder noted.
The products are aimed at reducing man’s carbon footprint and the energy consumption of buildings and transport emissions, saving arable land and improving the fertility of the soil and its water retention, as well as preventing food waste.
Concering Hungary’s contribution to common goals, Áder said the country will shut down its sole remaining coal-based power plant between 2025 and 2030, reducing Hungary’s carbon emissions by a further 10 percent. By 2050, the country will have increased its wooded areas from the current 22 percent to at least 27 percent, he said, adding that the capacity of solar plants will have doubled from the current 3,000MW by 2030, while
all municipal transport buses will be electric.
The government has also set the goal of not leaving any sewage untreated by 2030, he said.
The president also noted the recently opened Mura-Drava-Duna Biosphere Reserve of 1 million hectares, set up in cooperation with 5 neighbouring countries, as well as the introduction of sustainable development as a subject in Hungarian secondary schools.
Cooperation in the Visegrad Group is setting an example in sustainability that the European Union should follow, Polish President Andrzej Duda said at the Planet Budapest 2021 sustainability expo and world conference on Tuesday. Duda said cooperation in regional partnership enabled the participants to successfully cope with current challenges.
“Effective efforts for sustainable development made by the V4 countries also inspire others to improve quality of life in society,” he added. He said he was pleased to see that the V4 countries were on a common platform with ever greater frequency as regards the most important topics.
“Effective efforts for sustainable development made by the V4 countries also inspire others to improve quality of life in society,” he added. He said he was pleased to see that the V4 countries were on a common platform with ever greater frequency as regards the most important topics.
“As the Visegrád Group is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary,
there is clear evidence that the V4 is the fastest developing region in the EU, narrowing the gap economically as well as giving impetus to growth and helping European developments return to the right path,” he added.
Also, in a video message sent to the same event, Slovak counterpart Zuzana Caputova talked about the importance of global action. Caputova said the pandemic was also a reminder of how ecosystems were interlinked and “our actions can upset natural equilibria”. “We are only one month past the Glasgow climate summit and we must maintain pressure and make efforts to reduce our global climate footprint,” she said. “Sustainable development requires global action, which also applies to the largest emitters,” she added.
Caputova said the planet and democracy must be protected to ensure long-term sustainable development.
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Is the price of groceries really skyrocketing in Hungary?
Aldi and Lidl have very different prices abroad than in Hungary. But where is it more expensive to shop?
In Austria or the United Kingdom, there are products with a cheaper price than in Hungary. Despite this, however, the overall cost of shopping was higher abroad, writes G7. However, the situation is more complicated. Prices do not seem so budget-friendly after a short analysis of the situation. The portal made some calculations regarding prices in Hungary and abroad. The conclusion was quite interesting.
In Germany, out of 29 products, 7 were cheaper in Aldi and 12 in Lidl. In the United Kingdom, 14 products were cheaper out of 31. The most attractive prices were found in Germany. There, 17 products were cheaper out of 33. Only meat and milk were more expensive. Vegetarian products in Germany are cheaper than in Hungary.
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Despite this, Aldi in Germany is actually 32% more expensive than in Hungary, while Lidl is 35% more expensive. Based on the median pay, the numbers get a different meaning. Shopping in Germany takes 2.28% of people’s wages, while in Hungary, the number is 6.28%.
This means that it has no importance whether products are cheaper in Germany and the overall cost is still higher there. Looking at the median wage and shopping cost ratio, Hungarians leave more money at the stores. Portfolio also looked into how much people spend.
In the European Union, people spent over 1,000 billion euros on food and non-alcoholic beverages in 2020. This made up 7.5% of the European Union’s GDP.
The average spending on groceries in the EU is 14.8%. Romanian households spent 26.4% of their expenses on groceries. The number is 19.4% in Slovakia, 17.1% in the Czech Republic, and 18.7% in Hungary.
People may have the impression that in countries where the cost of living is higher, prices match this standard. However, some expensive countries actually spend less of their wages on groceries.
Belgians spend 14.4%, Norwegians 13.3%, Swedes 13.2%, the Dutch 12.9%, Danes 12.3%, Germans 12%, and Austrians 11.3% on buying food and non-alcoholic beverages.
