The Hungarian Ecumenical Charity has inaugurated a school and a well in western Ethiopia’s impoverished, draught-hit Gambella region where it has also implemented agricultural development and community building programmes, the charity said on Friday.
The charity has built a primary school in Tierkodi and installed a well providing drinking water to 4,000 people in Itang, it said in a statement.
In the region, where 90 percent of locals live off agriculture,
the charity has also built a mechanical mill, distributed seed corn, goats, lambs and fishing gear and organised trainings on their sustainable use.
The programme has been implemented with a 125 million forint (EUR 329,000) support from the Hungarian government’s Hungary Helps humanitarian aid scheme in partnership with the Ethiopian Evangelical Church (EECMY-DASSC).
A decision by Romania’s supreme court which paves the way for the closure of the Ferenc Rákóczi II Catholic Secondary School in Targu Mures (Marosvásárhely) is appalling, the foreign ministry state secretary for communications said on Wednesday.
Tamás Menczer said on Facebook that “in the 21st century, schools should be opened instead of closed”.
He said
Hungary expected the Romanian authorities to make urgent arrangements that ensure the future operation of the school.
In order to facilitate a solution, the foreign ministry maintains continuous contact with the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania which is a member of the ruling coalition, he added.
He expressed hope that
the issue will be soon settled and will not burden in the long term Hungary-Romania relations.
The Romanian supreme court passed a ruling on Tuesday in a lawsuit initiated by Romanian nationalist organisations.
As we wrote before, Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, in a message marking Hungary’s March 15 national holiday, said his government respected the identity and values of ethnic Hungarians in his country. Details HERE.
Connecting Hungarian students all around the world
The Hungarian Youth Association is a student-led initiative with the goal of providing a platform for young people to share experiences and connect with peers of similar backgrounds. Their vision is to create a community where talented young Hungarians can feel at home while away from home. Achieving this involves organising gatherings and offering information and assistance to students at all stages of their educational and professional journeys. We spoke with HYA’s founders, Soma Benedek Pirityi and Bálint Karagich, who provided insight into the valuable work they do for Hungarian students who dare to dream big.
The two founders of HYA: Soma Benedek Pirityi and Bálint Karagich
Both of you have attended some of the most prestigious UK universities, including the University of Cambridge and King’s College London. Could you briefly describe your study abroad experiences?
One noticeable difference between UK and Hungarian student life is that while in Hungary, 80% of your time is spent on exam revision, in the UK, studying takes up around 60% of one’s life. In the meantime, the educational system allows you to explore your true interests and the professional path you wish to pursue. At first, it was challenging to manage all that time on our hands productively, but it gave us a good opportunity to conceive the idea of HYA. In addition, Hungarian universities strictly adhere to the curriculum, whereas in the UK, emphasis is placed on strategic thinking and acquiring specific skills. We believe these skills can contribute significantly to the domestic market and
Hungarian students can benefit local businesses by bringing a valuable, fresh perspective to the table when they return home after their studies.
What inspired the creation of HYA?
It goes without saying that studying abroad isn’t always smooth sailing. Initially, it can be an intimidating and isolating experience for freshman students suddenly finding themselves in a foreign environment, without the support of their friends and family. Accommodation, course choices and financial matters can be challenging. Our firsthand experience led to the creation of HYA, aiming to ease the burden on students planning or undergoing this exciting chapter of their lives. While HYA started in the UK, it has expanded to 11 countries, including the Netherlands, Germany, and France.
HYA believes that the knowledge Hungarian students gain abroad should benefit the Hungarian economy. However, many students choose to stay abroad after graduating. What could be the solution to this phenomenon?
Looking at statistics, 60% of Hungarian students actually intend to return home after their studies, however, various factors hinder them. Lack of familiarity with job opportunities and application processes in the domestic market often plays a role. HYA’s goal is to bridge this information gap, providing graduates with insights into the Hungarian job market. With our help, fresh graduates will get a better understanding of which sectors they should target or which companies hire individuals with their qualifications.
Looking at statistics, 60% of Hungarian students actually intend to return home after their studies, however, various factors hinder them. Lack of familiarity with job opportunities and application processes in the domestic market often plays a role. HYA’s goal is to bridge this information gap, providing graduates with insights into the Hungarian job market. By helping them understand which sectors to target and which companies hire individuals with their qualifications,
We aim to demonstrate that there is indeed a high demand for professionals who earned their degrees abroad in the Hungarian job market.
HYA operates with a multi-level structure addressing students’ needs at various stages of their educational and professional journeys. We set up a mentor programme that aims to educate high school students about study abroad and scholarship opportunities and help them navigate through the application processes. We want to break down this widespread misconception that only a fortunate few can study abroad. We also support those who are already pursuing their studies abroad by bringing the Hungarian communities together, providing information and advice on various issues and subjects related to the study abroad experience as well as organising interactive educational and recreational programmes for students. Additionally, as we have mentioned earlier, we help graduates connect with hiring businesses, facilitating job or internship searches. We collaborate with a network of Hungary-based enterprises that are eager to hire Hungarian professionals with international know-how.
Tell us about some of the ambitious goals you set for the future. What are you the most excited about this year?
Preparations are already underway for our upcoming Outland Festival which will take place between 28-31 July, inCser-tó Alsópetény
This unique event will feature a job fair, networking activities, concerts and presentations, while students who are interested in studying abroad can attend mentor and workshop programmes to learn about educational opportunities as well as tips and tricks to make living abroad easier. Visitors will have the chance to listen to the stories of fellow students or professionals who pursued their studies abroad. Whereas, one of our major long-term projects includes the setup of an application that would provide a platform for job seekers and Hungarian hiring companies to connect. It would benefit both parties since it would give a push to fresh graduates to take the leap of relocating home, while it would provide businesses with a valuable database of skilled professionals.
One of the most prestigious higher education institutions in Hungary, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), is in the global spotlight once again, and for good reason. Based on the latest CWUR statistics, ELTE climbed over seventy positions on the list of the best higher education institutions around the world.
Index reported that Eötvös Loránd University has greatly improved its ranking, rising seventy-four positions higher, landing in 517th position. The statistics were gathered by CWUR (Central for World University Rankings), based on their 2022-2023 evaluation. In the top three positions are Harvard, the University of Massachusetts, and Stanford respectively.
This means that the prestigious Hungarian university is in the upper 2.7 percentage of higher education institutions worldwide.
This is nothing to scoff at, seeing that ELTE is in the same category as the University of Verona, the University of Zagreb, Saint Petersburg State University, École normale supérieure de Lyon, Jiangsu University of China, and even Boston College in the US, says Eduline.
On the European Rankings, ELTE ranked 213th.
Notably, however, many other esteemed universities are on the CWUR leaderboards: the Central European University ranked 1,745th, the University of Pécs, the University of Debrecen, and the University of Szeged ranked 1,135th, 717th, and 679th respectively. Semmelweis University came close to ELTE, managing to take the 673rd position.
Teachers’ trade union PDSZ has sent an open letter to Hungary’s next prime minister demanding the government set up an independent education ministry and increase wages “significantly” while reducing various work-related burdens.
The letter refers to remarks by Fidesz-Christian Democrat officials made just before the ruling parties’ landslide election win that “improved conditions for teachers should not be delayed”.
The union contends that education policy had been left adrift in recent years, with “no competent manager” to promote the “crucial sector”. Spreading education policy over various ministries “has not worked”, PDSZ said, adding that education from kindergarten to university should be coordinated by an independent ministry.
“an ageing and shrinking staff” and “tensions between the expectations of society and of the age and the performance of schools”,
arguing that neither problem could be addressed without awarding staff a big wage hike and reducing the working hours of teachers.
Meanwhile, the Trade Union of Teachers (PSZ) expressed support for the idea of an independent ministry, and added greater independence for schools and a “predictable future” to teachers’ demands. “It has been clear that the human resources ministry, overseeing many areas, cannot cope with its tasks, and
education calls for a separate portfolio with an able minister,”
PSZ told MTI.
PSZ demands that teachers’ salaries should be index linked to the minimum wage and the same should apply to all school staff. The union has urged that the burden on teachers, including red tape, should be reduced and that the benefits of teachers working in difficult conditions in poor, rural areas should be doubled.
According to PSZ, Hungary’s education spending should be increased to 6 percent of GDP and schools should be financed regardless of the sector they are associated with. The union has also called for a review of the “failed career models” and a new national curriculum with a reduced number of classes.
Skilled labour has a future in Hungary, and “those with knowledge, skills and the courage to use them will have nothing to fear in harder times,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in his opening address at the 15th festival for vocational schools in Budapest on Monday.
At the opening of the Szakma Sztár festival at Budapest’s Hungexpo fairgrounds, Orbán said “the national forces garnered unprecedented support” at the April 3 election. “Voters also said yes” to the government’s achievements in vocational training in the past 12 years, he said.
In cooperation with the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MKIK), the government has expanded dual trainings involving apprenticeships at large market players, upgraded vocational training, established training centres and a grant system for vocational students, the prime minister said. The government has also taken steps to boost digitalisation, and has made acquiring the first two vocations free of charge, he added.
Thanks to those efforts,
Hungary currently has 250,000 students in vocational training, demand for skilled work is growing, and entrepreneurship is becoming more lucrative and popular, he said.
Orbán said quality work guaranteed making a living in Hungary, and would become even more secure in the future.
“If we do our jobs well, Hungary can emerge strengthened” from the fallout of the war in Ukraine, which followed on the heels of the coronavirus pandemic, Orbán said.
New factories and production centres have sprung up in the country which welcome skilled workers, he said. The government has introduced tax benefits to young people entering the labour market and to companies employing them, he said. Raising a family and purchasing and building a home are also subsidised, he said.
Orbán also praised teachers, saying that
the international and domestic achievements of Hungarian skilled workers was proof of the excellence of their teachers in the field.
The festival, organised by the MKIK and the National Chamber of Agriculture (NAK), is held between April 25 and 27.
Hungarian-language education is key to the future of the nation, the state secretary in charge of policies for Hungarian communities abroad said in Martovce (Martos), in southern Slovakia, on Friday.
“Our mother tongue is the source of all of our values and strength,” Árpád János Potápi said at the inauguration of new accommodations at the Esterházy Academy built with support from the Hungarian government. “We trust that the newly-inaugurated buildings will strengthen the appeal of the intellectual hub being created in Martovce.”
Potápi said the Esterházy Academy was part of an institutional system that had been built over the last 12 years, noting that it
offered Hungarian-language education from the pre-school to the university level.
“With the academy, we have opened a gateway to public life for future generations,” Potápi said, adding that a strong presence in public life and a commitment to national values guaranteed that ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia could remain in their homeland.
The operator of the Esterházy Academy, the Marthos Civic Association, received a total of 25 million forints (EUR 67,400) in support from the Hungarian government during the two years of 2020 and 2021, Potápi said.
A Ukrainian-Hungarian bilingual school will open in Hungary with grades between 1 and 11. Furthermore, parents will not have to pay for the education there. Hungary is currently in need of Ukrainian schools since refugees continue to arrive as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues.
According to KárpátHír, the good news was shared by a Ukrainian Greco-Catholic priest serving in Budapest, Damjan Hraborij. He said that the new school’s founder would be the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Fund in Hungary. They will cooperate with the House of Ukrainian Traditions.
“Hungary is one of those countries that not only understood the importance of opening Ukrainian schools but takes steps to do so” – he said. Mr Hraborij added there is tremendous work ahead of them, but they signed the cooperation agreement. “We go forward with God!“
Fully 5,133 people crossed into Hungary directly from Ukraine on Wednesday, while another 5,322 from Ukraine crossed from Romania, the national police headquarters said.
Police issued temporary residence permits valid for thirty days to 475 people,
the police website said on Wednesday. Holders of such permits must contact a local immigration office near their place of residence within thirty days to apply for permanent documents, it said.
Budapest police received 333 refugees, 147 children among them, by train, according to the municipal police website. Refugees arriving on special train services at Kőbánya felső railway station, in eastern Budapest, were taken by bus to the BOK sports and events centre serving as a humanitarian transit point.
The government is ploughing 200 billion forints (EUR 539.0m) into the development of infrastructure and science parks at twenty universities which are either run by the state or by government-backed foundations, the innovation and technology minister said on Wednesday.
The funding is the first phase of a 2,700 billion forint development scheme, László Palkovics said. Projects are being funded at the Budapest University of Technology, Andrássy University, the University of Veterinary Science, four medical universities, the Óbuda University, the Miskolc University and the Hungarian Dance University, among others, he said.
the strike committees of teacher trade unions PSZ and PDSZ have called on the government, in an open letter, to meet their wage demands before Sunday’s general election.
The unions noted that the salaries of MPs had increased to three times the national average on March 1.
In the letter seen by MTI on Wednesday, the unions said their demands were “far from being on such a scale” but people employed in public education should earn “just enough to pay rent and make ends meet”. Further, teachers should not be “exposed to an unbearable workload, and they should be paid for overtime,” it said, adding that
an automatic wage-ike mechanism such as that afforded to MPs should be introduced in education as well.
The unions said that whereas the government had referred to economic difficulties arising from the war in Ukraine, and asked teachers to drop their strike, those difficulties “did not prevent the government from raising the wages of MPs”. The government, it added, should pass decisions concerning public education staff before the end of the week.
Even in Romania, teachers earn more than in Hungary. Thus, many of them who live close to the border go to the neighbouring country to work there.
Strike
Teachers continue to strike across the country, although negotiations on their demands will not start until after the elections. Teachers want a one-off, 45% increase in basic wages, so they consider the 30% increase, which was previously introduced by Gergely Gulyás, the Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, to be insufficient. What is more, the increase would be gradual, and only start next year, according to Portfolio.hu.
Shockingly, today, even in Romania, people are earning €150 more net in this field, with less work.
“Romanian teachers’ salaries are around €150 net more per month, while the number of teaching hours per week is 18, compared to 25.5 in Hungary,”
Tamás Totyik, the Vice-President of the Teachers’ Union (Pedagógusok Szakszervezete), told Telex.hu. He added that the actual number of teaching hours is even higher (27 hours), so the hourly wage of a Romanian teacher is higher than that of a Hungarian teacher, even in nominal terms.
Strikes stopped during COVID-19, frozen salaries
Totyik also told Portfolio.hu that teachers had already formed a strike organisation in February 2020 because there were already big problems with wages and labour. However, for two years, during the COVID-19 pandemic, they did not start a strike. Now, they have reached the point where they could not wait any longer because there was such serious wage tension in schools.
“If the government had stuck to the reform process launched in 2013 and not frozen the projection base used to calculate teachers’ salaries at HUF 101 500 (EUR 270), teachers’ salaries would be 100% higher in this country,”
the Vice-President said. He continued by saying:
“But the government froze salaries in 2014, and since then, the only thing that has risen is the allowances, while the workload is increasing.”
A starting teacher’s gross salary is HUF 260,000 (EUR 693) with a 20% bonus. This means a net income of HUF 207,000 (EUR 553), which is drastically lower than the average net salary of almost HUF 300,000 (EUR 800) in the national economy, according to Portfolio.hu.
Budapest’s Andrássy German Language University will “play an important role in research and innovation in future”, Innovation and Technology Minister László Palkovics told a celebration marking the 20th anniversary of the university on Tuesday.
Palkovics noted that Hungary was the only country apart from German-speaking states to offer a “full cycle of education in German” from kindergarten to university.
Andrássy University focused on education in its first twenty years, while “research, innovation, and development will be in its focus in the next twenty,” the minister said.
Palkovics noted that in 2021 some 30,000 Hungarians were employed in R and D, twice as many as earlier, adding that 1.6 percent of Hungary’s GDP was spent on the sector, twice as much as in 2016. He also pointed to the crucial position of German firms in the Hungarian economy, which in turn could increase the university’s role in vocational training.
Zoltan Pallinger, the rector of the university, said that Andrássy was a European pilot project, “an international university in Budapest with a strong European focus”. He said t
he university was committed to its purpose of “serving as a bridge between old and new European Union states, between theory and practice, between university and labour market, a bridge within the scientific community and between citizens”.
Speakers at a teachers’ “checkered shirt” demonstration in front of the parliament building on Saturday stressed that the right to strike is a fundamental right.
The demonstration was held as part of a teachers’ strike that started on March 16.
Erzsébet Nagy of teachers’ union PDSZ said that the “miserable” salary situation cannot be remedied with “allowances scattered like crumbs”, adding that “superfluous administration” makes teachers’ work more difficult and the accreditation system is “completely unnecessary and useless”. She also pointed out that teachers are leaving the profession “en masse”.
Photo: MTI/Bruzák Noémi
Nagy said the public education system “fell apart long ago” but is being “held together by the professionalism of teachers”.
She added that if the government had invested as much energy in negotiations as in working to prevent the strike, “the promised land would already be here”.
Photo: MTI/Bruzák Noémi
Nagy said teachers are prepared to turn to the European Court of Human Rights.
She also said that the number of teachers who joined the strike was 20,000 higher than the figure mentioned by Gergely Gulyas, the prime minister’s chief of staff.
Leaders of public sector workers union MKKSZ, the Hungarian Unions Association and other organisations spoke at the demonstration, as well as teachers, students and parents.
Teachers in Hungary receive one of the lowest salaries in the European Union. Therefore, fewer people choose this profession. Thus, schools struggle with significant labour shortages everywhere in the country and raise the work burden of their employees. The result is a vicious circle the teachers would like to break. Opposition backs their strike, while the government says they went on strike for political reasons.
Net wage for teachers ridiculous
In the past 12 years, the government has “humiliated teachers and pushed them to the brink of a subsistence crisis,” opposition politicians said on Wednesday. Gergely Arató, deputy parliamentary leader of the Democratic Coalition, told an online press conference that teachers had been stripped of wage increases, security of livelehood and autonomy. Referring to recently amended legislation on the basic services provided during strikes, Arató said their right to strike was also at risk.
Should the opposition come to power, they will raise wages by 50 percent in the sector, he said.
Teachers will be free to choose the text books they want to use, and the opposition will “restore education institutions to local communities rather than maintaining useless centralisation and bureaucracy.”
LMP co-leader Máté Kanász-Nagy said Romanian teachers earned over 50,000 forints (EUR 134) more than Hungarian counterparts, as the Hungarian government had not raised the basic wage of teachers since 2014.
A young teacher’s net wage is around the minimum wage for skilled workers, 173,000 forints,
The government says the teachers’ strike is politically motivated
Hungary’s government agrees with the demands of teachers, but 87 percent of teachers agree that now is not the time for them to go on strike, the prime minister’s chief of staff has said. Speaking to public media about an indefinite strike launched by teachers on Wednesday, Gergely Gulyás thanked teachers for the fact that
less than 15,000 of those working in public schools had participated in the work stoppage.
Gulyás said this number was significantly less than the number of teachers who had taken part in a strike in January which was later declared unlawful. Counting kindergarten and vocational school teachers, it can be said that overall less than 10 percent of teachers took part in the strike, Gulyás said. He said teachers had legitimate demands, adding that meeting them would be among the most important tasks of the next government term.
Brussels is currently discussing the next seven-year budget, Gulyás said, adding that the promised 30 percent wage increase was likely to be implemented. Hungary has asked Brussels for hundreds of billions of forints to help fund the pay hikes, he said.
Gulyás said
he hoped an agreement on the funding would soon be reached so that teachers could see their wages rise over the next government term.
He thanked teachers for conceding that a strike was not the most suitable form of protest when there is a war going on in Hungary’s neighbouring country and schools also have to take care of refugee children. He noted that schools had already endured a difficult last two years because of the pandemic.
The current Hungarian government wanted to maintain a good relationship with the East both politically and economically. Hence, they conducted negotiations on mutual projects and one of the possibilities of working together was implementing the Fudan University’s new campus project.
Back in the summer of 2021, the prospect of building a new Budapest campus for the renowned Fudan University stirred up a lot of emotions. On one hand, it seemed like a great opportunity for both Hungarian and Chinese students and educators, but on the other, there were quite a few things the political opposition of the current government criticised.
Among these, the main reason was that the Fudan campus was set to be built at a location that was originally reserved for a so-called “student town”, an area planned for dormitories that would have housed hundreds of college students studying at Budapest universities.
To express their opinion about the matter, the Mayor of Budapest and others organised a demonstration in the capital. In addition, the mayor decided to rename the streets in the area where the Chinese university campus was planned to be built.
The Budapest mayor claimed in his Facebook post that these street plaques bear the names of individuals and ethnic groups that were persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party, thus jabbing at the government’s affiliation with the East.
Since then, the Hungarian Chinese community has sent a letter to the mayor of the district in which they asked her to change the names in order to maintain a good relationship between Hungary and China.
They explained that the community finds it hard to meet the expectations of host Hungary and motherland China. They were also afraid that economic relations between Hungary and China would develop in the wrong direction due to the consequences of the project, 24.hu wrote earlier this month.
Telexreported one of the latest developments regarding the case. According to the news outlet, the district mayor, Krisztina Baranyi has asked the Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt, best known for his work the Pillar of Shame, to exhibit the iconic sculpture in Budapest where the Fudan University is planned to be built.
The Pillar of Shame is eight metres tall depicting twisted human bodies and was first erected in Hong Kong in 1997 protesting China’s crackdown on the Tianmen Square protests of 1989.
According to the information of the news site, the sculpture can be seen from 2nd March for two weeks at Szabad Hongkong út (Free Hong Kong Road). It is said that the artist Jens Galschiøt himself would also visit Budapest.
Pillar of Shame Sculpture Source: Wikimedia Commons / Minghong
Ymlp writes that Jens Galschiøt, has issued the following statement in connection with the exhibition of his work in Ferencváros:
“I hope that this artistic manifestation will show China that the Hungarian people will not tolerate an education policy that is under the influence of one of the largest totalitarian countries in the world. A country that in no way shares the values of Europe and Hungary.
A country that has both killed their student movement in 1989 and a country that has just crushed the Hong Kong student movement and put thousands of students in jail for defending their right to democracy and freedom of speech.
One would think that precisely Hungary with their historical references, where after 2 World Wars and being a subject to totalitarian Soviet supremacy had had enough of dictators.
It seems almost absurd that the government is now voluntarily giving a new totalitarian regime influence in the country. Instead of this, Hungarian students at the Hungarian universities should learn about democracy and debate how the world is developing.
Hungary should know better – There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.”
Bükk National Park is located in the Bükk Mountains in Northern Hungary near Miskolc. It was the third national park established in the country and it has a total of over 431 km2 area dotted with forests and mountaintops.
It is one of the best locations to build an observatory available to the public and tourists, and starting from early March this year, it will finally be realised after the inauguration of the Bükki Csillagda.
The Bükki Csillagda will be one of the newest tourist attractions of the Bükk National Park and it will be the most modern and most anticipated educational centres of natural sciences in Hungary, Funzine reports.
The Bükki Csillagda observatory and planetarium were planned after the nomination of the Bükk National Park to the list of International Dark Parks by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) in 2017.
Photo: Facebook.com/bukkicsillagda
Photo: Facebook.com/bukkicsillagda
Photo: Facebook.com/bukkicsillagda
Photo: Facebook.com/bukkicsillagda
IDA is a US-based non-profit organisation that wants to “preserve and protect the night-time environment and our heritage of dark skies through quality outdoor lighting”.
The Bükk National Park is the third Hungarian park to ever receive this title followed by Hortobágy National Park, the first national park of Hungary, and the Zselic National Landscape Protection Area.
In 2018, the first designs for the observatory were drawn and the Hungarian government had supported the idea with nearly 1 billion forints (€ 2.7 million).
The construction started in 2020 and at the end of last year, the dome of the visitor centre was placed on the building.
The Bükki Csillagda observatory, educational centre and planetarium opening on 8th March, on the day of international women’s day, offers a plethora of exciting programmes for visitors:
Learn about the secrets of the night sky
Get a glimpse of the world of meteorites and light phenomena
Attend a virtual space travel
5D depiction of the universe
Admiring the night sky with the observatory
Photo: Facebook.com/bukkicsillagda
One of the main attractions of the exhibition within the centre is a 32-kilogram iron meteorite.
It is the most modern exhibition of its kind and in addition to the observatory, visitors can wander around the local forest and attend a 4 kilometres long educational pathway including the model of our solar system, says the location’s Facebook page.
Regarding Hungarian-Bahraini cooperation, Péter Szijjártó praised the stabilising influence of the Kingdom of Bahrain in the Gulf area. Security in the Middle East, especially in the Gulf, is tightly connected to European security, he said. “We also appreciate that Bahrain has started to mend its relations with Israel by signing the Abraham Accords,” he said.
Trade volume between the two countries grew by 40 percent to 20 million dollars last year, Szijjártó noted. Hungary’s Eximbank has opened a 56 million dollar credit line for joint ventures to facilitate Hungarian investments in Bahrain.
Hungary also supports a free trade agreement between the Gulf countries and the EU, and is hoping to conclude a Hungarian-Bahraini agreement on investment protection by March, he said. Talks are under way on
cooperation in cyber security and information technology, and the largest Hungarian company, oil and gas company MOL, is conducting talks on making Bahraini oil production more efficient,
he said. Hungary will also offer 10 grants for Bahraini students wishing to study here, he said.
strengthen cooperation in renewable energy, improving water quality and in health care.
He and Szijjártó discussed opportunities for cooperation in education, culture and sports, he said. They also drafted a working plan for further steps such as preparing investment support and an agreement against double taxation, he said. “Bahrain welcomes Hungarian investors,” he said.
Al Zayani and Szijjártó also signed an agreement on joint diplomatic training, he said. Szijjártó led a delegation of 48 Hungarian companies to Bahrain. The Hungarian-Bahraini economic committee held its first meeting on Thursday.
Teacher unions PSZ and PDSZ have turned to the Constitutional Court over restrictions on strikes.
In their appeal, the unions request that the court declare unconstitutional and annul a recently issued government decree defining mandatory public school services, they said in a joint statement.
The petitioners argue that the decree violates the principle of necessity and proportionality, as well as teachers’ right to strike, and that the government had overstepped its special powers by issuing the decree.
They said the requirement in Hungary’s strike law on providing minimum services was already a restriction on the right to strike guaranteed by the constitution.
Having a decree define those minimum services before any talks take place “further restricts the right to strike”, the statement added.
If there is no difference between the minimum services provided during a strike and the services provided in an uninterrupted schedule, strikes are rendered meaningless, they argued.
PSZ and PDSZ said they were hopeful that the Constitutional Court would quickly annul the “unconstitutional” decree in question, enabling teachers to stage an effective work stoppage for higher wages and reduced burdens.
Concerning EU funding, the prime minister said Hungary’s balance of profits was negative and 77 percent of this was offset by EU money, so it was right to “speak with sufficient self-awareness” while being upfront with foreign investors and European bureaucrats “rather than speaking softly, because they owe us and we don’t owe them.”
Regarding the EU recovery fund, Orbán insisted child protection law was the reason why Hungary’s EU money had been withheld, adding that the EU’s position was “groundless morally and legally”, though Hungary, he added, was “winning rather than losing the battle”.
You can read more about Viktor Orbán’s speech in Part 1 and Part 2.
Although the recent European court ruling “stipulates that community funds can be tied to political considerations”, the ruling’s justification also suggests that “there must be no connection in general between the rule of law and funding,” Orbán said. “We can only speak of actual cases; they can’t say ‘Hungary has no press freedom so we’re not giving them any money’.”
“We may be right but we have no money,” he said, noting however that the government was pre-financing projects until “the funds arrive before the end of the year, either partially or in full”.
Concerning tax cuts, Orbán said Hungary had the 13th most competitive tax system globally, with the corporate tax the sixth lowest in the world and personal income tax the 9th lowest. “This is what the Hungarian economy hinges on,” he said. Every effort must be made to “protect that tax system, because if it is taken apart, the competitiveness of the Hungarian economy will plummet.”
Orbán said that historically tax centralisation, at 35 percent of GDP, had never been so low, and the tax wedge had fallen from 53.1 percent to 41.2 percent in recent years.
On the subject of wages, the prime minister said: “They may be raised as high as employers and employees agree without increasing unemployment”, and he pledged the government’s continued assistance in this area.
Orbán said education and businesses should be more closely aligned, and it was not good if theory and practice inhabited separate orbits. The overhaul of the university model is costing the central budget 2,700 billion forints, but the funds, he said, “will go towards economic development too”.
“Hungarian universities should match western Europe’s competitive universities,” he said.
Meanwhile, Orbán said the government had “fulfilled every point” of an earlier agreement with the chamber, contributing to the high employment rate. The government will similarly honour another agreement, helping the country keep its GDP growth 2-3 percent above the EU average, he said.
“If in the next ten years we can implement this agreement, by 2030 we could become as developed as the EU average.
We will have defence capabilities, good universities, and a technological advantage compared with others in the region — all combined with good political leadership — so that the country will have a higher overall level of competitiveness within the region and beyond,” the prime minister said.
