The National Competitiveness Council has backed a compromise regarding vehicle emissions and battery life known as EURO7, the economic development ministry said on Monday.
Seven EU member states — Czechia, Slovakia, France, Italy, Romania, Poland and Bulgaria — proposed a compromise on a European Council plan to tighten EURO6 rules which would have hamstrung the car industry, the ministry said in a statement, noting that Hungary’s government opposed a large part of the planned changes looming over tens of thousands of Hungarian jobs.
The proposal for a compromise solution was aimed at preserving the competitiveness of the vehicle industry, and several regulations will remain unchanged, while a grace period for the application of new rules has been agreed on until 2026 at the earliest, it added.
“Hungary supports climate policy aims but all this must be achieved in a way that the measures underpinning them are effective and proportionate,” Gergely Fábian, the state secretary for industrial policy and technology, said in the statement.
Fábian said the government had protected the interests of Germany’s car industry in Hungary, unlike the German government which had maintained a different stance in the debate.
The compromise proposal would advance reaching emission targets and reducing emissions without jeopardising industrial and economic output, the statement said, adding that overly strict rules would also have hindered the green transition.
The French and German governments have presented a joint agenda for EU reform. This includes the exclusion of Member States that do not respect the rule of law and the introduction of a semi-membership.
The EU is facing a transformation
The European Union has an important problem. It wants to expand, but it cannot do so in its current structure. Enlargement is important because the Balkan countries and former Soviet republics prefer Russian or Chinese patronage.
The EU’s outward-looking external borders would help the continent’s security and reduce the possibility of proximity wars. If there is peace in Ukraine, Hungary’s neighbour will also become an EU member. By 2022, it was clear for EU leaders that Ukrainians have redeemed membership with their blood.
If Ukraine is granted membership, it will be hard to say no to the other candidates waiting in the Balkans. Besides the moral imperatives, there would also be financial and security benefits from enlargement. However, EU decision-making is still cumbersome, especially compared to other major powers in the world. If there were 35-40 member states instead of the current 27 with which the EU is currently negotiating, the situation would be unmanageable, writes valaszonline.hu.
What about Hungary and the veto
A 60-page discussion paper on a possible solution was presented to the General Affairs Council by representatives of the German and French governments. The two most powerful governments in the EU did not formally adopt the positions themselves, but 12 independent experts wrote them.
“After a certain level and time of violations, a country cannot remain a member of the EU,” the text says. They say that a member state must stop dismantling the rule of law. In such cases, there is currently almost nothing the EU can do, and this is one of the most important things to be done before enlargement.
They would also take money from countries like Hungary under an even stricter and more pseudo-system. Poland and Hungary have been in proceedings for six and five years respectively, which could end in the loss of voting rights. However, this is unrealistic at the moment, because it would require the full agreement of the Member States, while the two countries have promised to protect each other.
The proposal now on the table is that a four-fifths majority of member states could be sufficient to block the vote. In fact, if for five years the Council is unable to decide whether or not to exonerate a Member State of the charges it made at the start of the procedure, they would automatically be penalised.
Multi-level membership
It is known that not everyone wants an integrated EU. It is suggested that the issue would be resolved at several levels, if their will goes through. First of all, there would be an Inner Circle. It would include countries that are in the Schengen area and the euro area, so Slovakia would be in the Schengen area while Hungary would be excluded.
The second level would concern the EU members. These member countries can vote, but they are exempted from some new rules. But only those who respect the rule of law would be allowed to stay.
The Associate Members comprise the economically connected countries, while the European Political Community members offer a foreign policy-military alliance to countries around the EU but far from membership.
German-Hungarian cooperation “which existed in good times and also bad times over history” is greatly needed also in the 21st century, and it should be further strengthened, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said on Thursday.
Gergely Gulyás told an event organised by the Nézőpont Institute and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) announcing the results of a poll dubbed Hungary-Germany 2023 barometer that there had been times in the past when Hungary-Germany relations were better. At the same time, the current results should be appreciated in the light of “how many people work for how long and how strong” on trying to deteriorate the two countries’ ties, he said.
Gulyás said the disputes resulting from different political views must not be allowed to expand to the economy.
“We do not belong to the European Union member states that want to live from the Germans’ money but Hungary offers a good investment opportunity for Germans to make money and profits, while the know-how, added value and technology also benefit the Hungarian economy,” he said.
He said the greatest danger was if “cooperation gets lost in an area where the two countries basically think along the same lines”. Germany and Hungary both have an interest in a strong European Union and reject the new EU common debt, Gulyás said, adding that both countries considered competitiveness important.
Citing a survey by the German chamber of commerce in Hungary, Gulyás noted that bilateral trade accounted for more than 25 percent of Hungary’s foreign trade, adding that 80 percent of German investors were considering further investments in Hungary.
He however expressed concern over the low proportion of reports, only 23 percent, that show Hungary in a positive light in the German media.
The government’s policy of opening to the East has turned Hungary into China’s primary investment destination in central Europe, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said at the inauguration of a plant of Pex Automotive Systems in Szigetszentmiklós, near Budapest, on Monday. Meanwhile, Germany’s Bosch Energy and Body Systems is investing 18 billion forints (EUR 46.7m) in expanding its plant in Miskolc, in north-eastern Hungary, creating 170 new jobs, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Monday.
Pex Automotive, a branch of Chinesecar industry supplier Baolong, ploughed some 5.1 billion forints (EUR 13.2m) into the greenfield investment, Szijjártósaid. The government supported the development with a 1.5 billion forint grant, he said. The investmentbrings the European headquarters of its electromobility strategy to Hungary, he said. The plant will also turn out products for the electric and intelligent vehicle industry, he said. Half of the plant’s electricity needs will be covered by solar panels, he said.
Hungary is Baolong’s third site outside China after the US and Germany, “so international competition for it was harsh,” he said. The production of Hungary’s automotive industry jumped by 31 percent last year, to over 10,000 billion forints, he said. In addition, the sector grew by an annual 24 percent in the first six months of 2023, compared with a record performance in 2022, he said. “We Hungarians stand by East-West cooperation. We are dismayed to see that voices calling for the artificial decoupling of the Chinese and European economies have gained strength lately,” he said. As bilateral between the EU and China comes to 875 billion euros a year, this could cause “damage the scope of which is impossible to foresee,” he said.
Read also:
Companies in Hungary hunt for Philippines and Indonesians: they neither drink nor flee to the West – Read more HERE
Bosch to invest HUF 18 bn in NE Hungary plant expansion
Germany’s BoschEnergy and Body Systems is investing 18 billion forints (EUR 46.7m) in expanding its plant in Miskolc, in north-eastern Hungary, creating 170 new jobs, Peter Szijjarto, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Monday. The government is supporting the investment with a 3 billion forint grant, a ministry statement cited Szijjarto as saying. Some 4.5 billion forints will go towards the development and testing of electric drive units, and 13.5 billion will be ploughed into capacity expansion, he said.
Szijjarto said innovative technologies were key to the success of national economies. Hungary spent a record 920 billion forints on research and development last year, he added. The number of employees working in R+D is around 95,000, expected to reach 100,000 soon, he said. Bosch, which employs nearly 20,000 people in Hungary, is a good example of how Hungary continues to draw investments in R+D as well as production, he said.
Meanwhile, “Bosch is buying products and services from hundreds of SMEs in Miskolc, so the capacity expansion is good news for Hungarian SMEs, too,” he said. Road traffic generates 14 percent of emissions globally, he said. “The question isn’t whether European car manufacturing is going to transition to electric vehicles; the question is which countries will win and which will lose out on that transition,” he said. “Not only has Hungary kept pace in the global competition, it has emerged at the global vanguard of electromobility,” he said.
Economic Development Minister Márton Nagy on Wednesday met the executives of Chinese battery maker CATL to discuss the state of the global battery industry, Hungary’s position on the global market and the company’s planned plant in Debrecen, in eastern Hungary, the ministry said.
The meeting in Budapest was attended by CATL VP Chen Junwei, CATL strategic planning head Lorand Diossi and Wang Yanyun, the general manager of China Construction Bank Hungary.
CATL is the world’s largest EV battery maker with a 37 percent global market share, the ministry said in a statement. The construction of its plant in Debrecen, the country’s biggest greenfield investment, is ongoing, with test production set to start in early 2025, it added.
At the talks, Nagy emphasised that car and battery production were clearly the driving force of the Hungarian economy. Electric vehicles are the future of the auto industry, he said, arguing that there was not sustainable car production without battery production.
CATL’s investment will therefore contribute both to boosting high value-added economic output and job protection, the ministry said.
Battery production is an integral part of the Hungarian economy, with the sector set to see more than HUF 6,300 billion (EUR 16.3 billion) worth of developments in the coming years, creating 20,000 jobs, Nagy said. Hungary is set to become the fourth-biggest battery maker in the world, after China, the US and Germany, with a capacity of 250 GWh, enough to meet 35 percent of demand in Europe, he said.
Hungary greatly benefits from the strong cooperation between Chinese and German carmakers, “which guarantees economic growth despite all uncertainties and crises,” Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Munich on Tuesday.
In his address at international mobility exhibition IAA (Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung), Szijjártó said “if there is one country in the world whose economy is determined by car making, that is clearly Hungary,” according to a statment from the foreign ministry.
Car manufacturing accounts for one third of Hungary’s industrial output, worth EUR 30 billion last year and with exports totalling EUR 20 billion, the minister said. He added that the sector employed 170,000 people in Hungary.
Meanwhile, though western European carmakers developed the best electric cars, the necessary batteries were produced by eastern companies, he said. “This is the first time that western European companies of a leading sector have become totally dependent on eastern suppliers,” he said, and adding: “Hungary has become an important meeting point for eastern and western investors”.
“For us a civilised cooperation between East and West is always better; we have usually been on the losing side without such cooperation,” he said.
Szijjártó said an approach to separate the European and Chinese economies “to remove risk” was regrettable. “Trying to remove risk is the actual risk for us here in Europe,” he insisted.
Szijjártó noted that five out of the ten largest battery makers had “made a commitment” to Hungary, adding that the country was currently the fourth largest battery maker in the world, and “soon it will be the second”.
According to Szijjártó, Chinese producers prefer Hungary because of the presence of German makers, as demonstrated by the development projects of CATL and Eve Energy. “Close cooperation is needed between Chinese and German firms … and we Hungarians profit from it a lot,” he said.
The German economy is facing more and more problems. In the long term, Hungary could be one of the winners. If the German economy can’t handle the challenge of cutting off from Russian gas, the challenge of going green could cause problems.
Germany in trouble
Analysts say Europe is lagging behind in the electric car revolution. The German economy has been struggling for months, with dismal figures since the end of last year. Inflation has fallen and the long-term outlook is also worrying.
Germany is suffering from a cut-off from cheap Russian energy. Europe’s largest economy risks losing the international market advantage it has built up over the past decades. A sign of this is that German business leaders are criticising official economic policy and outsourcing production. At the end of August, 52% of German businesses said that the switch to clean energy would have a negative impact on their competitiveness.
“We used to say that if something was high-tech, it must have come from Germany, but this is no longer true,” said Péter Virovácz, senior analyst at ING Bank. In the past, the strength of the German economy was exports, but that is no longer true. Covid, the energy crisis and inflation have caused problems here too. Chinese buyers are also buying their own products rather than German ones. In addition, the analyst says, there is a lack of domestic demand stimulation.
Hungary could be a winner
The problems of the German economy also affect Hungary: in 2022, a quarter of all Hungarian exports went to Germany. German companies are investing in America and Central and Eastern Europe, which could be beneficial for Hungary.
“The Hungarian economy could also be a winner of this weakness, if we look at the car industry alone, the production volume of German car manufacturers in Hungary is increasing,” Zoltán Török, senior analyst at Raiffeisen Bank, told vg.hu. BMW will start production in Hungary from 2025, which could reinforce this.
From 1 October to 17 December, the Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air will operate flights from Budapest to Cologne-Bonn Airport instead of Dortmund.
From 1 October to 17 December, Wizz Air’s booking system will include a flight between Budapest and Cologne-Bonn (CGN), which will operate four times a week, AIRportal.hu reports.
Until the winter timetable changes at the end of October, flights between the Hungarian and the former West German capital will be available on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, and thereafter on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
The route number (W6 2291/2) is the same as the Dortmund route, which will be suspended from the beginning of October.
Four weekly flights between Budapest and Dortmund will return from 19 December, operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
It appears that German pensioners are pretty fond of Hungary, since large flocks of them make the decision to relocate and spend their years in retirement in our country. That is hardly surprising: Hungary provides safety, security and political stability. Besides, its private medical and social care institutions offer high-quality service. And the biggest incentive: Hungary is fantastically cheap for an average German pensioner, especially nowadays with the forint hitting historic lows.
According to index.hu, in the last four years, the number of German citizens living in Hungary has increased by 35%. The majority are pensioners who decide to spend their years of retirement in Hungary. Bence Bauer, the director of the Hungarian-German Department of the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), told InfoRádió that currently 22 thousand German citizens habitually reside in Hungary.
The researcher on the Hungarian-German relationship said many reasons are behind the inflow of German nationals. One of the most important is money. They can buy properties in Hungary for a much lower price than in Germany. The other crucial factor is public safety.
Read also:
Why are thousands of German pensioners moving to Hungary? – Read more HERE
Hungary more popular than the Spanish Riviera among German pensioners
Bauer added that the number of crimes committed per 100,000 people is 1/4th of the German crime figures. Moreover, Hungary’s weather is better than Germany’s, and the culinary, tourist and cultural services are also exceptional. Many German pensioners said they find today’s Hungary like a mirror image of their childhood Germany.
Bauer said the influx will not cease in the future. There are tens of thousands of appeals on the desk of the German pension authority that request the monthly pension to be transferred to a foreign account.
The German pensioners tend to buy property in Transdanubia (Somogy, Veszprém, Győr-Moson-Sopron, and Zala counties). Interestingly, more and more German pensioners choose Lake Balaton for their summer holiday instead of the Spanish Riviera, ABC, a Spanish portal wrote in August.
Around fifty students from the Central European region and the host countries competed in the IT competition in Magdeburg, Germany, and two of the four-member Hungarian delegation came home with silver medals. In a few days’ time, the Hungarian secondary school students competing at the CEOI will also be taking part in the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), a world competition held in Szeged this year.
This year, Germany hosted the Central European Olympiad in Informatics (CEOI), which has been held every year since 1994, from 13 to 19 August in Magdeburg, a town between Berlin and Hannover, Germany.
The students competing at CEOI test their skills in solving problems using advanced algorithmic thinking over two days of competition. In 2023, students from Hungary, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and three guest countries, Israel, Switzerland and Ukraine participated the Student Olympiad, and the host country also entered the competition with a second team from Saxony-Anhalt.
The silver medal in CEOI 2023 was awarded to István Ádám Molnár from Földes Ferenc High School in Miskolc and Bernát Tarján from Veres Péter High School in Békásmegyeri. Pál Czanik, from the Fazekas Mihály Elementary School and Gymnasium in Budapest and Máté Fülöp, from the Péter Veres Gimnázium in Békásmegyeri, finished in the midfield of the international competition.
The team leader of the Hungarian delegation was Dr. Ágnes Erdősné Németh, Vice President of the Neumann Society for Talent Management, and her deputy was Imre Bende, lecturer at ELTE IK. The students prepared for the competition in the Neumann Society’s Talent Management Programme, in close cooperation with the ELTE Faculty of Informatics, with the support of the National Talent Programme.
“The CEOI is usually a preparatory competition for the International Olympiad in Informatics, traditionally for young people who will still be competing next year. The results are encouraging for the IOI, which starts on the 28th, where the same students will participate as members of the Hungarian eight-person student delegation,” commented Dr. Ágnes Erdősné Németh, Vice President for Talent Management of the Neumann Society.
They proved their worth last year and will compete again this year
The names of all four student Olympians may be familiar from previous IT talent competitions: István Ádám Molnár, who reached the highest score at this year’s CEOI from the Hungarian team, won a silver medal at the International Olympiad in Indonesia last year, while Pál Czanik won bronze.
The crowning event of the student Olympiad season will be the IOI again this year, from 28 August to 4 September – in Szeged, Hungary. All four of the student Olympians who have already proven themselves at the CEOI will be taking part in the world competition, as well as Lőrinc Máté, Tamás Márton Németh, Marcell Németh and Bendegúz Vámosi.
2023 will also be the #neumann120 commemorative year, for which the Neumann Society has launched a dedicated website at n120.njszt.hu. This site provides all the relevant information on the events of the 2023 commemorative year, and under the Kaleidoscope menu you can browse through the visual memories of the life of János Neumann.
German businesses know very well how important Hungarian factories, skilled workers and engineers are to the global success of German brands from vehicle production to the defence industry, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at the inauguration of Rheinmetall Hungary’s plant in Zalaegerszeg on Friday.
Hungary, central Europe and Germany, Orbán said, were “inextricably linked”. “We are and will continue to be the most natural allies in maintaining competitiveness,” he added.
Besides the manufacture of fighting vehicles, the facility also has a test track and R and D centre so that production and R and D can be done in one place, Orbán noted.
“Made in Hungary in every sense of the word,” he declared, adding that “made in Hungary would not be what it is without German technology.”
Orbán said some people may think that the development of the Hungarian defence industry was scrambling in response to the war, but in fact the first relevant decisions were made in 2017. The Zalaegerszeg factory was, he added, the outcome of joint German-Hungarian “wisdom and foresight” based on an assessment of the European and world political situation.
He thanked Rheinmetall’s chairman and chief executive, Armin Papperger, for contributing towards the government’s decision-making.
Source: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Benko Vivien Cher
The German Lynx fighting vehicle “manufactured on Hungarian soil” is operated by Hungarian workers and Hungarian engineers, Orbán said, adding that those involved in operating this cutting-edge technology had acquired their education in Hungarian schools, and this fact served as a ripost to those who slammed the country’s public education system.
Meanwhile, the prime minister said that strength was needed to ensure peace, and the government was pursuing its plan to create an independent defence industry.
Strength for peace means mental, economic and military resilience, with mental strength needed for Hungary to “resist the pressure the backers of war who want to force the country into war,” he said. “For Hungary, peace is the sole moral and political position to be undertaken,” he added.
Economic strength, Orbán said, was needed for Hungary to overcome problems caused by the Russia–Ukraine war and the related sanctions. And military strength is needed to demonstrate that Hungary’s security would be protected in times of war, too, he added.
The prime minister said the government had been “in crisis mode” for almost four years, but was pursuing “big plans” nonetheless. “We haven’t abandoned creating an independent Hungarian defence industry,” he said, adding that the government was intent on ensuring that Hungarian innovation and technology would be world-class.
Source: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Benko Vivien Cher
Hungary’s defence spending will hit two percent of GDP, and it was hopeful that this level would be maintained next year as well, Orbán said, noting that the country is obliged to maintain this level of spending as a member of NATO.
Orbán highlighted big investments made in the region, adding that Zalaegerszeg had become a vantage point to the future in terms of the vehicle industry, defence technology and electronics.
He also noted a deal involving Israeli company UVision to set up a JV plant in Hungary to manufacture combat drones.
In addition, Europe’s most advanced ammunition factories will start operating in Varpalota next year, also operated jointly with Rheinmetall, he noted. Further, the Airbus factory in Gyula manufacturing parts for combat helicopters started operating a year ago, he added.
The prime minister mentioned that Czech company Aero Vodochody, which manufactures combat and training aircraft, “has been taken over by Hungarians, so there is already a Hungarian-owned aircraft factory”.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony, Papperger said “Europe’s most modern and finest tank factory” provided Hungary with “outstanding defence capabilities” and had been built at record speed.
Hungary, part of the European air defence initiative, had the capability and capacity to produce air defence weapons and ammunition, he said. “We can see that Hungary is poised to become an important player in Europe’s defence industry,” he added.
More and more foreigners are buying property around Lake Balaton.
Foreigners are invading Lake Balaton
More and more German pensioners are settling in Hungary’s most famous holiday destination, Lake Balaton. Mayors say the reason is low prices, and public safety and Hungarian hospitality that attract foreigners. Many foreigners even start learning Hungarian.
Infostart.hu reports that the number of German pensioners moving to Hungary has increased by 25 percent. Thus, for Germans, Lake Balaton and its surroundings have now become the new paradise.
There are 600 properties in Szőlősgyörök, more than 10 percent of which are already owned by foreigners. Péter Klotz, the mayor of the village, says that in his experience, German pensioners who used to holiday in the area are settling there. “In recent years, a total of five German couples have moved to our area, with the most recent addition this year being a new family,” said Klotz. He added that the Germans are well integrated into the community and actively participate in the life of the settlement.
Gábor Lombár, mayor of Balatonfenyves, says 300 of the local 5,300 properties are foreigner-owned. A German-language residents’ forum is held there every year. “Of course, we are happy that foreigners are coming here, but my personal fear is that with such property prices, young Hungarians will not be able to stay here and will have to make a living elsewhere,” said Lombár.
Another hotel to be built at Lake Balaton
Napi.hu reports that a 50-room hotel is being built next to the Balatonfüred Congress Centre. The 4-star superior hotel with a wide range of services will be opened soon.
The congress centre in Balatonfüred will host concerts, lectures and conferences. It will be inaugurated in September and will be of economic and tourist importance. The investment will be financed from three sources: the European Union, the city council and other national grants will cover the costs.
The hotel itself will have rooms of 20-23 square metres. The new hotel will offer a 100-serving kitchen, restaurant and bar, as well as a spa-fitness service.
G7, a Hungarian economy news website, said the Hungarian government found its autumn enemy in the business world. From September, the Orbán administration will take further steps against foreign building material manufacturing companies. The aim is to force them to leave Hungary.
According to G7, that is why the Orbán administration introduced two years ago the so-called mining royalty and extended it this year. In May, they gave the state pre-emption rights for several building materials. Finally, in July, they fined several foreign players in the sector with a carbon-dioxide quota tax.
Hvg.hu wrote that a new bill is in the pipeline, which would give pre-emption rights to the state for not only some building materials but also the companies producing them. Based on the legislation plan of the construction and transport ministry, they will start negotiations about the draft in October. However, the parliament will probably not accept the bill this year.
The draft does not contain it but the government expressed multiple times that they aim to make dominant German and Austrian companies in the construction material production sector leave Hungary. The long-term goal is to carry out construction projects with Hungarian building materials, with the contribution of Hungarian companies. Thus, the profit would be generated for Hungarians. But even János Lázár, the minister responsible for the area, did not mention the Hungarian workforce.
We wrote HEREabout the government’s ambitious plans to ease employing hundreds of thousands of guest workers because too many Hungarians work in Austria, Germany, or the United Kingdom and with such low salaries, there is no chance to convince them to come home. Probably that is why Wizz Air is expanding Eastwards and launchesregular flight to e.g. Central Asian metropolises.
Foreign companies are already making losses
Mr Lázár said they would like to help Hungarian companies gain market advantage and buy up their foreign competitors. German press also wrote about the Hungarian government’s intentions. In April, Der Spiegel wrote the era of cooperation between the Orbán government and the German companies was over (you can read about it HERE). They quoted a Christian democratic politician, Günther Krichbaum, as saying that the Orbán government tries to reach its goals using mafia methods. First, the administration introduces rules making losses for foreign companies. Then government-close oligarchs appear and make an offer you cannot resist.
The paper mentioned two examples. One is the Duna-Dráva Cement Ltd (owners: Heidelberg Materials and Schwenk Zement), and the other is the E.ON. The owners of the former said they were ready for the fight in a hostile environment. However, the Hungarian government has strong cards in the game, and they utilised some already:
From July 2021, companies purchasing for higher prices than the government determined must pay a so-called extra mining royalty taking away 90 percent of their “extra” profit.
In February, they extended that scheme to brick, ceramics and tile manufacturers.
In May, the Orbán cabinet introduced pre-emption rights for the state concerning 15 products. Thus, foreign companies cannot export them and can get the price difference in court.
In July, the government introduced a retroactive CO2 quota tax most foreign companies must pay.
As a result, the profit of the foreign companies began to fall quickly, most companies made even losses. G7 even shared a telling chart about that process. For example, Zalakerámia (in Austrian ownership) already talks about sending away some of its employees.
Interestingly, one of the results is that production has been falling since January. But the government is committed to winning the so-called “cement war”, and expects fierce attacks from Austria and Germany.
Fans of German football could be forgiven for fearing another Groundhog Day moment during the 2023/24 season. Bayern Munich have now won the Bundesliga title for an unprecedented 12 consecutive years, maintaining their dominance of the beautiful game in Germany.
However, the 2022/23 campaign was the first in some time that Bayern really started to show some vulnerabilities, and with RB Leipzig – led by Hungarian defender Willi Orbán – finishing either second or third in five of the last seven seasons, they and Borussia Dortmund appear to be closing in.
Could Orbán be hoisting the Bundesliga trophy skyward come next May?
Pretenders to the Throne
According to the outright sports betting odds for the Bundesliga, it will be business as usual with Bayern the -333 favorite ahead of Dortmund (+500) and Leipzig (+700).
However, that does little to reflect the trials and tribulations that Bayern faced in 2022/23, with the sacking of Julian Nagelsmann and the nerve-shredding action of the final day of the campaign.
The title was, in theory, in Dortmund’s hands – they needed to defeat Mainz to end Bayern’s domination of the trophy. But the Yellow and Blacks went two goals down inside the opening half hour, and while they pulled it back to 2-2, there was nothing they could do to prevent the Munich outfit’s 2-1 victory against Koln.
As for Orbán’s Leipzig, they were well in the hunt too before three defeats in four games in March and April ultimately ended their hopes of a maiden Bundesliga crown. However, seven wins in their final eight games was a reminder of how close Marco Rose’s team is to finally getting their hands on the trophy.
In Transition
The elephant in the room for RB Leipzig is that they are considered a ‘selling club’ – that is, they identify some of Europe’s top talents at a young age, develop them into fine players and then sell them for a tidy profit.
That’s a business model that keeps accountants happy but it doesn’t always lend itself to sustained success on the pitch, with Leipzig expected to lose three of their best young players in the summer transfer window – Christopher Nkunku, who delivered 20 goal involvements in 2022/23, is just one of the key assets to depart.
In time-honored fashion, Leipzig has gone out and sorted even younger, unheralded replacements – including a couple off their conveyor belt of talent at feeder club Red Bull Salzburg.
Unfortunately, it probably means that Leipzig heads into the new campaign weaker than they did the last, which is perhaps in contrast to their main rivals – Bayern has snapped up powerful defender Min-Jae Kim, Raphael Guerreiro, and Konrad Laimer (from RB, no less), while Dortmund has bolstered their ranks with Marcel Sabitzer.
Perhaps Orbán’s best hope of silverware in this coming campaign is the German Cup, which he was won twice already as a Leipzig player – handing the Hungarian his finest moments in the beautiful game.
One thing, for sure, is that the 30-year-old captain will continue to give his all for his team’s cause.
The Hungarian-owned MET Group has acquired a 100 percent stake in a project launched by Emeren Germany. The solar power project has a peak capacity of 11.5 megawatts, generating 13 gigawatt-hours of energy per year.
Hungarian company buys German project
The Kentzlin photovoltaic solar power plant project developed by Emeren Germany has been acquired by the Hungarian-owned MET Group. This special solar power plant will have an installed capacity of 11.5 megawatt peak (MWp) and an annual energy production of 13 gigawatt hours (GWh), which corresponds to the average annual consumption of 3,600 households in Germany.
The project, located in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, reached construction completion in mid-July. Commercial production is scheduled to start in the second half of 2024.
According to the announcement, the entry into the renewables market has further expanded the scope of the energy company’s activities in Germany. MET Group was already an active player in the German gas and electricity markets. In recent years, it has acquired 3.4 terawatt hours (TWh) of natural gas storage, concluded LNG regasification capacity, established a local subsidiary and is increasingly supplying energy to municipal utilities, industrial and commercial customers and now also to residential customers.
Christian Hürlimann, MET Group CEO for Renewable Energies, said the Kentzlin project fits well into MET’s strategic plans.
MET Group
The Swiss-based MET Group is a European integrated energy company active in the natural gas and electricity markets, as well as in the development and operation of energy assets. Through its subsidiaries, it is present in 14 countries, active in the gas markets of 30 countries and 22 international trading points, including Hungary.
MET Hungary Lys started operations in 2007. It initially focused on the wholesale and retail natural gas sector. In 2013, the group also entered the energy and oil segments, for example, a year later it acquired Dunamenti Power Plant in Hungary, telex.hu reports.
State support for high revenues
MET has made a fortune on natural gas in Hungary since 2011. The Hungarian government and the state-owned MVM have provided ample amount of help.
The Switzerland-based MET Holding, which is partly owned by the state of Singapore, is a Hungarian company. The chairman of the board until last December was Csaba Lantos, who has since become Hungary’s energy minister.
Hungarian-born biochemist Katalin Karikó has received the Theodor Boveri Prize, the highest award in life sciences at Julius-Maximilians-University in Würzburg, Germany, in recognition of her research, the University of Szeged, Karikó’s alma mater, said on Monday.
This is the first time that the Societas Physico-Medica, the Würzburg Physical-Medical Society, has awarded the prize to a woman, the statement said. Karikó, who used to be vice president of BioNTech, which has led research on mRNA-based medicine since the 1990s, has played a major role in developing new vaccination strategies which have been used in the fight against Covid-19.
Traffic on Hungary’s motorways was particularly robust during the weekend, and the situation will be even more challenging since a large influx of guest workers are planning to leave for Western Europe for holidays as school terms are ending. Serbians, Bulgarians, Greeks, and Albanians drive home via Hungary, causing e.g. three-hour-long waiting time at several border crossings.
According to 24.hu, traffic is regularly jammed on Hungary’s motorways and guest workers going home for holiday worsens the situation. The most crowded motorways are the M1-M0-M5-M43. M1 connects Budapest with Vienna. M0 is the ring road around the Hungarian capital. M5 leads to Szeged and the main Southern border crossing to Serbia, Röszke. Meanwhile, M43 is an offset of M5 leading to Romania and the Southern Transylvanian motorway through the Csanádpalóta-Nagylak border crossing.
The majority of the cars transiting through Hungary come from Germany. Since the school holiday started even in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, more people are heading home to spend some days or weeks with their families. Utinform.hu, Hungary’s road traffic website is not available in English, but you can check out the actual waiting time at the border crossings at THISwebsite. For example, now, the waiting time at the Csanádpalota border crossing is 1 hour, just like at Röszke-Horgos.
You can select the border crossing by choosing the border segment (határszakasz in Hungarian) and hitting the ‘Mehet’ button.
Bad news came today for the drivers. Fuel prices will continue to soar and it appears they will remain high for long. Read our article HERE. And HEREis a shocking video about two pedestrians playing Russian roulette with their lives in Hungary.
Ukrainian armoured vehicles and tanks can only function and carry out attacks against the Russian invaders because they receive sufficient Hungarian and Turkish fuel. Interestingly, the raw material for the product comes from Russia and fuel is produced in Hungarian and Turkish refineries. Without that help, Ukraine’s army would not be able to move, a German analysis has stated recently.
According to index.hu, Ukraine’s military potential depends greatly on Hungarian fuel import. Based on an analysis of the German Handelsblatt, Ukraine only has one operating refinery in Kremencuk. However, that can only make 30 percent of the country’s fuel consumption. There are five more refineries in Ukraine, but none of them were operational even before the start of the Russian invasion. Furthermore, the Russian military hit the Kremencuk facility last April, so it often malfunctions.
Therefore, Ukrainians are in a challenging situation since they need import to move their tanks and armoured vehicles. Handelsblatt used the data of the Ukrainian customs agency. They said that Hungarian and Turkish diesel export guarantees the Ukrainian army’s undisturbed operation.
Meanwhile, both countries receive the raw material from Russia, so Ukrainians operate their army with Russian oil. One of the biggest helpers is Hungary’s MOL, which doubled its export to Ukraine in the last six months.
The German newspaper added that this is only possible because of MOL’s competitive advantage in Europe since they can acquire Russian crude oil despite the EU sanctions. The exemption was the success of the Hungarian government, and it will last at least until 2024. Meanwhile, countries not relied on Russian oil can provide less and less fuel products for Kyiv.
Handelsblatt highlighted that Hungary’s global position is crucial concerning fuel and crude oil. MOL can process Russian crude oil coming via pipelines, so their fuel is cheaper. The Russian Urals type is cheaper than the Western Brent type crude.
Michal Paszkowski, an analyst of the Polish Institute of Central Europe, told the German newspaper that the fuel arriving in Ukraine goes via Poland by railway. Furthermore, Hungary and Slovakia transmit it via pipelines and Romania by sea and railway. Index asked MOL how much fuel they export to Ukraine but has received no answer.
Keen to learn more about the war and Hungary? HEREis an article about the Hungarians fighters in the Ukrainian army. Meanwhile, in THISarticle, you can read about a Hungarian teenager who was forcibly recruited as a soldier in Ukraine.
