INTERVIEW

MTVA’s chief stresses serving the whole of society – Interview

Budapest, January 10 (MTI) – Much has changed in Hungarian public service media over the recent past, Miklos Vaszily, director-general of public-service media provider MTVA, said in an interview to MTI.

Vaszily, a former head of news portals Index and Origo who has headed MTVA since last August after a stint as deputy managing-director in charge of operations, said he came to public service media with the task of streamlining the organisation and making efficiency gains, and there is a still a way to go in this direction.

He noted that MTVA operates two new television stations, the M1 rolling news channel and sport on M4. Broadening the palette must be done within the existing budget framework, he said. Part of the efficiency drive involves renegotiating contracts with content suppliers, he added.

“We’re far from the point at which we can say that the transformation is complete, but we are making progress in creating a modern organisation from the market’s viewpoint,” Vaszily said.

MTVA’s annual budget totals 80 billion forints (EUR 254m), of which the state contributes just under 70 billion. At the same time, 37 billion forints must be paid back to the state budget and state sector in various forms, he noted. The budget is average in international comparison, though significantly lower than public media budgets in other countries of the region, he said.

“The media world has changed, and public service must adapt. But at the same time there are various services we provide which no one else undertakes,” he said, citing programmes for minorities and people with disabilities, as well as maintaining the Radio Children’s Choir and Symphony Orchestra. Further costs include managing various archives and technical developments such as HD. It would be misleading to compare MTVA’s budget with those of commercial broadcasters, he added.

“We’re not competing with commercial channels,” Vaszily insisted, adding that viewers and listeners expect different kinds of programmes when they tune into, say, Kossuth Radio, the main talk-based broadcaster. And people get this content, including news supplied by news agency MTI, free of charge. “We serve the whole of the media market.”

The director-general noted that the four public media companies MTV, Duna TV, MTI and Magyar Radio, were folded into a single company, Duna Zrt., last June, making it cheaper to run. Duna prepares public-media strategy and orders and receives content, while MTVA produces this content. Previously, there had been tensions between the various companies but now public service is running on a single track, Vaszily said.

He said the introduction of the rolling news channel had not gone without hitches, but since the autumn audience data has been excellent for this type of programming and both domestic and international events are covered “in sufficient detail and with thoroughness”.

Concerning viewing figures, he said that the portfolio as a whole, namely 6 television channels, must be taken into consideration, and in this respect public service now has the best viewing figures in the past ten years. Public radio captures 30-35 percent of the country’s listenership and the flagship Kossuth channel has between 1.5 million and 2 million listeners each day, while popular music channel Petofi has 800,000-900,000. The aim is to boost the latter to above one million, he said.

It is also important to rethink public media’s approach to online. In the recent past, developments have lagged behind in this area, he said.

Vaszily said that he keeps in mind the importance of the services of the MTI news agency, and that he is satisfied with its work on a professional level. “The news agency’s work is a very sensitive area. The world of politics, as a user, practises control on a daily basis, so we cannot afford any unprofessionalism; not even if we are attacked by, for example, the Democratic Coalition party, as we are now experiencing,” he said, referring to a lawsuit launched by the left-party, which complains that MTI does not always cover the statements that it sends to the agency.

As regards flagship content, Vaszily referred to the hugely popular A Dal song contest and Virtuosos, a showcase for Hungarian young talent, the latter of which is launching its second season after a successful first run. Virtuoso is important programming because these types of show best convey what public service in the media really means in terms of value.

Photo: MTI

Orban: Europe needs frontier along Greece’s northern border

Budapest, January 8 (MTI) – Europe should build a line of protection along the northern border or Greece, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in an interview to public radio on Friday.

The prime minister told Kossuth Radio a decisive issue in 2016 would be whether Europeans realise that it is not enough simply to slow down the wave of migration but to stop it altogether.

Orban also said that Bulgaria should be part of the Schengen zone, and Macedonia should strengthened so as to guarantee a line of defence on the northern Greek border. He added that he did not trust the agreement with Turkey about migration would be sufficient in itself to tackle the issue.

Orban also said the EU’s basic treaty should be amended. He said “Brusselism” was a concealed method for drawing away power from the member states. Whenever a problem arises in the EU the initial reflex is that “a European solution is needed, so let’s draw away power” from member states. The risks of “Brusselism” are clear now to everyone in connection with migration and it cannot be corrected without amending the basic treaty, he added.

In response to a question about reports on sexual harassment against women in Germany on New Year’s Eve, he said “those who want to lecture us on the freedom of speech” and those who say the arrival of migrants is a good thing try to suppress, in the name of liberalism, all negative news about migrants. Recent events in Germany have revealed that press freedom in central Europe is greater and more diverse than in many western European states, he insisted.

Commenting on his private visit to Poland, where he met the head of the Polish ruling Law and Justice party Jaroslaw Kaczynski, he said the EU should not even think about imposing sanctions of any kind against Poland. This would require full consensus and Hungary will never support such a move, he added.

“The Poles deserve greater respect,” he said. Hungary has already gone through the same pains as and “we also demanded respect for Hungarians”. He said he agreed with Poles who say that nobody should speak to them in the way that Brussels is increasingly doing.

Orban added that Poland’s new Prime Minister Beata Szydlo will soon visit Hungary.

Commenting on the visit by British Prime Minister David Cameron to Budapest on Thursday, Orban said Hungary shares Britain’s view that the EU should be reformed.

Britain’s idea that the EU should be composed of strong nations accords with the view the Visegrad Group, he said, adding that “there is a natural alliance” in this respect.

He said he reassured David Cameron of Hungary’s full agreement with the British proposal on the need to strengthen the national parliaments of member states and reject the application of double standards.

The prime minister said they were in agreement that abuses of the benefits system must be eliminated in all EU member states, stressing however that discrimination on the matter was unacceptable.

Hungarians in the UK are “working honestly” and contribute a larger share to Britain’s economy than what they receive in the form of benefits, Orban said.

Assessing the situation in Hungary, Orban said that based on the past five years it was clear that the country is progressing in a way that everyone can feel that “steps are being taken in a forward direction from year to year”. This year will follow suit, he said, citing government measures such as a tax cut, a hike in the minimum wage and the home-building scheme for awarding subsidies to families. Concerning the latter, he said further steps need to be taken, including measures to expand public employment schemes, and these measures are currently being prepared. Orban said it is not possible to create a home-building programme that extends the same possibilities to everyone at the same time since not all families are in the same situation. He added that an incremental approach would ensure that eventually everyone has the chance to make advances.

The exclusion of the state from a capital raise in FHB Bank was an “unfriendly, even hostile step, a mistake the bank must correct”, the prime minister said. The state’s stake in FHB Bank “must not be reduced”, Orban added.

FHB’s board raised capital in the bank at the end of December, acting on a mandate from shareholders delivered days earlier. However, existing shareholders had no pre-emption rights for the newly issued shares under a resolution approved more than a year and a half before. The state held 7.32 percent of FHB’s shares before the capital raise.

Late on Thursday, FHB Bank said its board decided to offer newly issued shares to the National Asset Management Company (MNV) in a separate private placement.

Photo: MTI

Interview – Hungary’s justice minister: Europe divided on migration while Hungary stands firm

Budapest, December 29 (MTI) – Europe is divided and unsure about migration while Hungary has firm positions on the key issues, Justice Minister Laszlo Trocsanyi told MTI in an interview on Tuesday.

Hungary has attacked the EU’s mandatory migrant quota plans at the European Court in Luxembourg, parallel with Slovakia, he said. Prior to bringing the suit Trocsanyi said he had sought the opinions of member states and it seemed that some countries were firmly opposed to the quota system, to the extent that “they wouldn’t hear our legal arguments”. Others were informally supportive, but wished to stay neutral, and still others went further, to say that the mandatory quota system had already failed, Trocsanyi said.

Seen from central Europe, the immigration policies of the West are “far from being a success story” and integration has raised problems over the past decades, especially if there was a religious obstacle, Trocsanyi said, adding that he himself had experienced this while being ambassador in Paris and Brussels.

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Europe is undecided, signalled by its many contradicting responses on this issue, he said. Some European leaders want to look firm and resort to blackmail or threats, but this is not likely to succeed. Hungary has formulated firm positions based on its national traditions, “constitutional identity” and value choices, which are backed by legal arguments.

“We are in a dispute, but this is okay, it can help to reach a solution,” he said.

Hungary is not alone, it is backed by countries of the Visegrad grouping of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia (V4). This alliance should be expanded, especially regionally, Trocsanyi said. The many different interests and voices in the European Union offer numerous opportunities to connect, and legal reasoning is important in order to represent Hungary’s viewpoint, he added. When there is no room for a compromise, the right to veto must be exercised.

“Constitutional historical traditions, Christian roots, family and marriage have different meanings in our region than in western Europe,” the minister said. The policy for Hungarian communities abroad is also on this list, he added. The right to use the mother tongue should be given more attention and legal protection at European forums, he said.

Photo: MTI

Hungarian Ambassador in Baku: Hungary has technology that could be useful for Azerbaijan

azerbaijan baku flag

The Report.az presents an interview with Ambassador of Hungary to Azerbaijan, Imre Laslotski.

– What goals do you set as an ambassador of Hungary to our country?
– First of all, Hungary and Azerbaijan have close political ties. Our leaders have reliable friendship. We both have strong leaders. Our Prime Minister has become more popular in the world, and your president is known worldwide. Good political relations, of course, are also reflected in other areas of bilateral cooperation.
Coming to trade and economic relations, the Azerbaijani side, and we believe that this area has great potential. We have great opportunities, and hence, my goal as ambassador is to strengthen our trade and economic ties. Now we only need to work to ensure that our enterprises and companies find some contact points, which would be beneficial for our peoples.
The last year, the level of turnover amounted to 79 million USD, this year it will be a bit higher, but my goal is to make it reach at least 100 million USD.

– In what areas do you think it is possible to deepen relations?
– There are several areas. First of all, I would say the information and communication field. In this area, Hungary, despite its small size, can offer something worthwhile. Working in this field, Hungarian companies are very innovative, creative, and keep up with the US, Russia, India, etc. Hungarian people are also very talented. We have 12 Nobel Prize winners, which is a great indicator for Hungary…

The rest of the interview can be read HERE.

Interview – Orban: EU in need of success

Budapest (MTI) – If the European Union has more accomplishments than disagreements within the bloc then it has a future, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in an interview to the Thursday edition of daily Magyar Idok.

If, however, the community is unable to move past its disputes, the EU will require a rethink, the prime minister said.

The core of the EU is the Eurozone and this is the area that needs to achieve more success, Orban said. He said the Eurozone countries had for years been moving towards deeper integration, but this process has now come to a halt. “Europe is searching for its place in a changing world,” he said.

Orban said the Eurozone’s economic prospects are currently unclear. “The rational thing to do right now is to root for the Eurozone, but we need to wait and see where these countries are headed and where they will end up.”

The prime minister said Europe “has deluded itself into thinking that the time of strong leaders with strong characters, the time of Kohls, Aznars and Sarkozys, is up”. He said the belief within Europe is that when it comes to strong politicians, “the risks outweigh the benefits because being a leader in the EU does not mean leading a community but rather an institutional system . that will somehow govern the bloc.”

In a time of crisis, the only types of leaders who can help are the bold and confident ones who are able to give clear solutions to problems and are able to carry out these solutions, he said.

Orban said Europe has been drifting from crisis to crisis since 2008 and has yet to come to the realisation that “the routine running of its institutions” is no longer enough to solve problems because “our environment” has changed completely.

“We have been overrun by the financial crisis, the recession, the massive migration wave, the threat of terrorism, and in every one of these cases Europe took a reactive approach. Not only was it unable to fend off any of these challenges, it couldn’t even predict them.”

The prime minister said that if most of Hungary’s EU partners had agreed with the Hungarian government’s view on the migration crisis from the start then “today there would be a few tens of thousands of refugees in Europe as opposed to a million migrants.”

Orban said the decision to admit migrants into the EU was a mistake “that can hardly be corrected now”. As regards the rejection of the EU’s migrant quota scheme he said it is a matter of principle whether or not Hungarians could be told by an external party that they “must live with people whom they do not want to live with”.

He said Hungary’s challenging of the scheme is meant to defend national sovereignty. If Hungary’s parliament decides to take in refugees then they will be accepted, but otherwise “there is no way we will allow a quota system to be forced onto us from Brussels,” Orban added.

As regards German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Orban said she is a “strong leader” with a strong character and “as anyone, we Hungarians have good reason to respect and trust her.” Orban said what the chancellor lacks is “room for manoeuvre” as she is forced to govern in a coalition.

“The way I see it is that the German and European left are forcing the migration policy onto the German chancellor which she now has to represent,” Orban said, noting that although the German and Hungarian governments “strongly disagree” on the migrant issue, they are able to uphold their alliance because politicians on both sides are keen on maintaining good relations.

Orban said early surveys indicate that most of Europe’s migrants will become left-wing voters. “They will identify with the left because then they will not have to deal with any Christian roots. Once they [the migrants] have the necessary amount of people, they will form their own political representation, which, for the same reason, will cooperate with the left.”

The prime minister said the political participation of migrants would eventually upset Europe’s “traditional political balance” of left-right politics. The key question is how European politicians, and particularly the politicians of the European People’s Party will respond to this upset, Orban said.

He said tying the question of migration together with the question of EU funds would be a matter of “revenge, blackmail, which no one has the right to do” as the EU’s budget had been agreed upon earlier.

He said when central European countries opened up their markets after forty years of communist rule, western European businesses had “huge advantages” right from the start. They secured positions in central European economies to generate profits in amounts that central European countries would never have been able to obtain in western Europe.

Despite the fact that competition is guaranteed by law, the differences in the amount of capital in western and eastern Europe render true competition an illusion, the prime minister said. “This is why we receive the amount of funding from the EU that we do.”

On the subject of Hungary’s opposition parties, Orban said that when the left was in power, it demonstrated “what a government that is corrupt to the core is like,” adding that any accusations of corruption coming from the left “by default lack credibility and are ridiculous”. Regarding the government’s “opposition on the right”, Orban said the government’s duty is to reveal the “criminal background that has always characterised” radicals in Hungarian politics.

The prime minister said everyone in Hungary who is willing to work is now better off than they were in 2010.

Photo: MTI

She is the hottest body-builder of Hungary – Photos

According to szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu, not only the country, but half the world adores the body of Virag Kiss, the smiling blond girl. However, her career as a European and World Champion body builder is quite different from the career of a model: although she makes her living with her figure, there is a huge work in doing so. In addition, Virag performs not only above the average, when she is onstage: after studying political sciences she now studies law, which means that soon we can call her Dr. Virag Kiss.

Related article:
HUNGARIAN WOMEN ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL

In people’s mind there is probably something about posing and tanning cream, but they hardly know what your daily routine looks like. Let’s put together what your sport is actually about!

I really look like a skinny girl in everyday life, so someone even asked me whether I was doing sports at all. The answer is yes, I do body-building. My category is “bikini model”, but I don’t like this phrase, since it doesn’t really reflect on what I’m actually doing. People often have misconceptions about the word “model”, so the word “bikini fitness” that used abroad is actually much better. I work a lot for my figure, and my muscles. I have to train hard for months only for those couple of seconds I spend on the stage before the jury. And yet that is only one part of the success.

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What does the jury score in this sport?

The girls have to have firm and shapely muscles. They cannot be too stringy: the muscles cannot be clearly outlined, veined. They need to have an aesthetic and feminine body, and the judges increasingly account with the feminine flair, grace and stage movement. The difference between us and the body fitness category one level above us is that they have to have a greater muscle mass and more fat-free, stringier appearance. Most photographs in the newspapers and on the Internet are about the model girls, because they are pretty, muscular, yet still remain within the ladylike limits, even according to an average person.

How do you set up your calendar? I suppose there is competition period.

It works like this: we look at the 2016 competition schedule and determine the contests I would like to participate in. Like in boxing, there are several associations; I’m the member of IFBB. After we selected the competitions, Timi, my personal trainer, sets up a figure timing. For example, if the first contest comes in March, then we designate a 12-week-preparation in reverse. In addition to the barbell and cardio exercises, a rather important things is to plan my meals as well.

Only meat and salad?

I get up at 6 am, I prepare everything I will eat that day and put into a little box. In this case, there are no additional meals, no frauds, since it ruins everything I was working for.

But really, I measure the turkey meat and the vegetables on the kitchen scale, and I know their carbohydrate and protein content exactly in grams. So I go with boxes – mostly filled with turkey and salad – to the training space. I am usually in the gym at 8 am and participate in an approx. 3-hour-long exercise. Therefrom one hour always is barbell exercise, and after that cardio and posing, where the schedule depends on my actual shape. We have to practice posing, too, even though it seems we just stand there and smile. It has very strict rules.

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And do you rest after the workout all day?

Of course… Except that university courses are coming, writing a thesis or sponsorship requests where I have to stand my ground, making exercise videos etc. So I’m busy every day.

How did all this start in your life?

I did ballet in the Bekescsaba theater when I still went to kindergarten, later I danced hip hop, but I was put to the back because they did not appreciate my dance skills. All my life I wanted to compete, and I always have been.

People criticized me frequently at all the different stations of my career.

It was the same with fitness, which I fought a lot for. When I moved to Budapest because of the university, I looked for the best trainer I could find and trained a whole year for the Hungarian championship. My commitment was so strong, that, for example, I also went to the gymnasts of Ferencvaros club for additional acrobatic training.

Then my ankle ligament was torn at the stage rehearsal before my first competition.

This happened in 2011. Life proved me that others may be right and fitness does not fit me. Based on our idea with my coach, I started fitness modeling. I promised myself to accept this challenge in the spring of 2012, in addition to the two universities, but only proceed with it if I get a good ranking in my first contest. I became world champion that year.

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Which result are you the most proud of?

This year, I participated in many international competitions in different countries in approx. every two weeks, but I am most proud of my 2013 Arnold Classic victory.

Previously, I contested in another alliance, but IFBB is the peak of peaks in bodybuilding. The greatest stars compete here, and only here can you stand on the stage of Arnold or Mr. Olympia. Anyway, the latter is a big dream of mine.

So is this a system where you collect points at different stations and these become aggregated at the end of the year?

Yes. None of the stations are mandatory, you can collect points by various weighting, and these are aggregated at the end of the year.

Which place will you be in 2015?

I don’t know yet. It is not so easy to calculate because of the many competitors and tournaments going on. But I ran in a lot of contests and I was among the best 4-6 in each of them, so I’m full with hopes. I will certainly hit the top 20. The list will be published at the end of the year.

What do you think about how you got this far? How big is the part that can be attributed to the talent and how big is the part that can be attributed to work or the resigns?

I never was a natural talent in sports. This is an aesthetic sport, so it matters what kind of beauty, radiance, stage presence someone has, but I think these are a very small percentage. The biggest stars have serious sporting history behind them and this can not be a coincidence.

The body, the time invested, the energy and self-discipline is, what matter the most here.

You also have to know that nobody uses illicit drugs and muscle enhancers. There is a screening of doping, doping tests before competitions which prove that the participants reached their stage form on their own.

How do you rest and have fun?

When there is a competition season going on, I move between the home-university-gym trio, and I have neither time nor energy to have fun. I cannot live a social life at this stage of the year, but that is not because I’m not normal. Even my friends understood: going to cinema is not a way of relaxation for me then. Everyone is chewing popcorn and nachos while I slowly die, because I love eating anyway. But I have to eat turkey and salad for months… in this period, a little wellness, bathing can be relaxing for me.

But off-season is heaven itself! I’m gastro maniac; it means there is a list of places in my phone I could not visit while there was a competition season. Then I can check it and try each of them. I love eating, and since I’m from Bekescsaba, Budapest is still an undiscovered paradise for me which I adore. The summer is about the festivals, because I love them, too.

How can someone get to such a tournament?

At first, it goes with a lot of sacrifices and renunciations and therefore it is difficult to start. In order to travel to such an event, you have to pay it for yourself. I am very grateful to my parents who made it possible for me to start at that time.

Today, there is a sponsor, BioTech USA behind me, which is very rare in Hungary. I am very grateful to them as well.

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As I know, you are now one their main ad faces, right?

Yes. They took me to the first expo in 2013, where it turned out we can work together very well. But since I did not have IFBB result, we could not cooperate so tightly. Then I went to the Arnold in autumn and I won. Since then, I make training videos, manage an expert responds-blog and go to expos with them.

I have never thought before, that, when I stand among 56 girls on the stage of Arnold in Madrid, I will see the BioTech team cheering for me. Then I looked to the right, and the first stand next to the stage was ours… exactly where I saw myself smiling back in giga size. It was a great feeling, incredibly uplifting!

Do you appear in the social media because of them?

No. I started that by myself and I was very proud when I reached 800 likes with my page. Today, I have 38 thousand Facebook likes and 25 thousand Instagram followers. Of course, BioTech brought the big impetus. I remember when they shared my first photo, and I called my mom that more than 100 people liked my photo. Now it has reached the point that I opened a package of thanks from Australia sent by a girl whom we helped preparing for a home tournament online.

Many people write to me thankful messages, thanking for the motivation and telling how they regard me as a role model.

I would think that two negative commenters still should be on your page: the envious girl and the one who does not see the whole picture and thinks you’re just posing and getting paid for it.

There are none of them, thank goodness. I don’t delete them because there is nothing to delete. At times, it is unbelievable for me as well, how I am surrounded by nice, and grateful people. Boys, girls, teens and mothers follow my work and it is a big honor that many regard me as a role model.

Which university do you attend?

When I moved to Budapest, I started studying political science in English. It happened because I spent a year as an exchange student in the USA and I planned to go back there at some point. That changed when I fell in love with Pest and realized that my parents and all my friends are here. I always loved history, so I decided in the high school that I will study law. So I enrolled at Pazmany University. I did the two at the same time, now I am a graduate in law. I like to study, but it is difficult to reconcile with the competitions.

And what will you be?

Dr. Virag Kiss, defense attorney.

The one who is posing on the stage at weekends?

Fortunately, in this sport age doesn’t matter, so I want to do it for quite a while. In the spring, however, I have to decide whether I continue competing or build my lawyer carrier. After all, just imagine a lawyer who poses in bikini on the weekend… It could be embarrassing. Not to mention that both require a full person.

based on the article of szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu
translated by BA

Copy editor: bm

The truck driver, who tried to run over migrants, spoke

According to the Hungarian truck driver, the video is tricky: he did not drive towards the refugees, but only carried out an “evasion maneuver”, hvg.hu wrote.

The Hungarian truck driver, who tried to run over the refugees at Calais on the video uploaded to YouTube, gave a phone interview to TV2’s morning show. He said he made the video for his friends, but afterwards he realized it was not so funny at all.

According to the truck driver, the video is tricky, since he did not drive towards the people, but only carried out an “evasion maneuver”.

The truck driver answered: he did not do anything he would regret.

Hvg.hu approached the driver’s employer, but the owner of the Slovakian company only briefly responded. They ordered him not to publish private opinions, political views on YouTube or anywhere else while working, especially not when he uses the company’s trucks.

based on the article of hvg.hu
translated by BA

Photo: Calais Emigrant vs. Drivers & EUROPA YouTube video
Copy editor: bm

Security policy expert Nogradi: European anti-terror measures are ridiculous and disastrous

According to karpatinfo.net, before the Friday meeting of the EU justice and interior ministers, it has been revealed what we said for years is not true. On paper, the cooperation of the European secret services and polices are perfect, but they are not in the reality – security policy expert Gyorgy Nogradi says.

It is surprising that the authorities did not know about Abdelhamid Abaaoud that he was in Europe and France, while everyone proclaims that European secret services, polices exchange any information for many years – security policy expert Gyorgy Nogradi said in the radio program called 180 perc.

According to the university professor, the French had no idea that the most wanted terrorist has not been in Syria for years. Anyways, Abdelhamid Abbaoud previously talked about that he could freely walk around between Europe and the Middle East.

“So the situation is disastrous”, it has been revealed before the Friday meeting of the EU justice and interior ministers that what we said for years is not true. On paper, the cooperation of the European secret services and polices are perfect, but they are not in the reality, and several European leaders raised the issue of the responsibility of the polices and intelligence services – the expert outlined. Gyorgy Nogradi added, as a result, the Germans announced they would establish a special police intelligence unit to 2016 which would be able to do all kinds of tasks, karpatinfo.net wrote.

According to Gyorgy Nogradi, the proposals lying on the table of the Union interior and justice ministers do not provide a solution. It has been coming for years, months that an anti-terror strategy has to be elaborated, the financing of the terrorist groups has to be examined and a stricter passport control is needed, but what is happening is minimal.

The professor also said he thinks the majority of Europe’s current political leaders are unsuitable for the task they were invited to. They are unable to act in difficult situation. Not even they are not on the top of things, but they cannot even lead Europe which will be suffered by the continent in the coming weeks, months and years. For example, he mentioned the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker who said the accept of migrants has not to be changed. According to Gyorgy Nogradi, it is a historic mistake. The expert also criticized Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, who asked the question: why Germany, the most democratic and most liberal country of the continent since Europe exists, does not send more forces to protect the external borders. Gyorgy Nogradi pointed out there is a contradiction in one single sentence of Gyorgy Nogradi.

based on the article of karpatinfo.net
translated by BA

Photo: Nogradi Gyorgy Facebook Fan page

„I think the earth is a great gift” – interview with Stephan Horch, a rubbish-collecting-kayaking-photographer

Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? We met Stephan Horch while hitchhiking throught Germany. Turned out, he was a photographer and a kayaker – plus a very concious environmental activist. Activist in terms of bringing together raising the awareness of waterpollution with the art of photography. At the time we met him, he was about to go on a huge kayak-tour to collect rubbish from the rivers and make photos of them. After the tour we asked him about how he came to the idea of this project, how it went and what the results were.

DailyNewsHungary: How did the idea of this project come to your mind? Did you get angry about the pollution of the Earth in general, or was there a more personal story?
Stephan: I started kayaking three and a half years ago. Gaining my first experience in the water I saw an old football swimming along the Rhine. I piked it up and we played with it after our tour. The football was already pretty damaged so I had to throw it away afterwards. On the next training it was a plastic bottle that I found and that we played with, and then a plastic bag. That was when I started collecting the rubbish from the river.
After I bought myself a kayak, I paddled a few times a week on the Mosel (a big river next to my front door). I realized that there is quite a lot of waste in the river and that the pollution varies from day to day, also some parts are more polluted than others. As a photographer you start thinking about using your skills to make the people aware of the problem. So I started taking pictures of the rubbish in the nature, like a documentary. But it didn’t reach the aim – getting the peoples’ attention for the problem. But as I’m a photographer and installation artist I had more in mind – art. It quickly became clear that if I want to arouse the interest of people, I had to bring it into another context. So I made art out of it to illuminate the subject in another light, and it worked!

DailyNewsHungary: What were the next steps after you decided to do this project?
Stephan: Normally I paddle two times a week and every time I collect half a bag of rubbish – or even more. There are also some hotspots I’m going to sometimes in purpose to clean them completely. Most of the time I end up with 2-3 bags of waste. It’s unbelievable when you see the amount of the rubbish. Once I started to arrange it and took a picture.

DailyNewsHungary: What did the people you talked about this to tell you – did they support you? Was there anyone, who tried to convience you not to make the CleanWaterProject?
Stephan: At the beginning only my friends were interested, but all of a sudden it changed: more and more people started to be interested in my plan, and I had a lot of conversations about the problem. Turns out, the biggest problem is that we still don’t pay enough attention for the pollution of the waters.

DailyNewsHungary: Can you give me please a brief description about how your idea came true?
Stephan: Do you mean my kayak tour in Rhine and Mosel from Winningen to the North Sea?
If so, the idea was born quickly. I wanted to show people that the rubbish floats from my front door into the sea and make them aware of this problem.
I paddled the whole way to make it more transparent and tangible for them. The pictures are on tour now. We were able to manage the project through a crowdfunding platform and now you can see the photos in a touring exhibition along the route up to the Netherlands and the sea. Neuwied – Köln – Duisburg – Ouddorp and back to Koblenz.

DailyNewsHungary: What were the experiences you had and didn’t expect, during the trip?
Stephan: I wasn’t able to collect all the rubbish, otherwise I would still be paddling for two years… But no matter were I stopped, what I found was waste, waste and even more waste, everywhere. It’s a shame that the mankind treats nature so badly. I think the earth is a great gift and most of us still don’t understand that it is our duty to protect it. The whole tour was planned to be finished in 14 days. But in the second week the weather conditions changed and got extreme. The wind was really strong, blowing from the front and from the side, with a speed of 70 km/h. That was very intense, because I could just paddle 10 to 15 km per 5 hours, which is nothing. If the weather had not changed after two days (first it was supposed to become worse) I would not have reached my destination, the North Sea. At that time I was very frustrated and whacked. But my fans supported me via mails, text messages and social media. And so I managed not to give up and fight for clean rivers and oceans.

DailyNewsHungary: What do you think the impact/result is?
Stephan: Oh, well, that’s a good question. Right now the exhibition touches the people and them act on the problem. They realize the mass of waste surrounding them, they start talking about it with other people and some even start collecting waste on their own.
I receive mails and pictures from all over Germany, where people started to collect rubbish because of the Projectcleanriverproject.de. That motivates me a lot and we already planned more campaigns for the next year. The exhibition is supposed to travel further to reach even more people and inform them about the whole issue.

DailyNewsHungary: Are you planning on coming to Hungary, too?
Stephan: Yes. I would love to paddle through Hungary, collect some waste, make art out of it and present it in an exhibition. I’ve been in Hungary when I was a child and I have a really nice remembrance of this country.

by Noemi Gangel

A Hungarian concertgoer who survived the Paris massacre

According to cbsnews.com, Zsuzsa Kover and her boyfriend attended the Paris concert of the American band called the Eagles of Death Metal on Friday. Fortunately, they managed to escape the tragedy that killed more than 120 people in the French capital.

The Hungarian woman told cbnsews.com that she and her boyfriend were in the balcony of the Bataclan, the concert venue, when she started hearing gunshots. First, they did not know what is going on, and then they saw everyone were “laying on the floor downstairs”, she said.

His boyfriend could see one of the attackers armed with a machine gun. She said it took them about 10 minutes to get out of the building, cbsnews.com wrote.

According to Kover, his boyfriend worked at Bataclan before, so he knew which way to go and which exit they should take.

After they got out, Zsuzsa Kover posted a photo to Instagram to let her friends know she is alive. You can watch the short interview with her here.

based on the article of cbsnews.com
edited by BA

Photo: jxandreani / flickr.com

Education key in preventing assimilation of Hungarian diaspora, says Kover

Budapest (MTI) – One of the key factors in halting the assimilation of Hungarian communities around the world and helping them to retain their identity is an education system which fosters ties with their motherland, Parliamentary Speaker Laszlo Kover said.

Speaking to public media in the run-up to Hungarian Diaspora Day, which is marked on November 15, Kover said Hungary’s neighbouring countries with a significant number of ethnic Hungarians are making conscious efforts to assimilate local Hungarians, primarily by “crippling the school system”.

Kover said Hungary should not count on the Romanian government to help members of the local diaspora retain their Hungarian identity.

The speaker said that just as education could be used to speed up assimilation, it can also be used to halt it or reverse it. He noted Slovenia’s minority protection laws that allow local Italian and Hungarian communities to represent themselves in parliament, adding, however, that there were so few Hungarians left in Slovenia that it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the quality of their education. “It is not enough to teach children Hungarian. They need to be given an education that is competitive in that country,” he said.

Kover said Hungary’s population has seen a significant decline over the past twenty years, but this would have been even greater had it not been for ethnic Hungarians returning here from other areas of the Carpathian Basin.

Kover noted that data indicate that the rate of decline in the Hungarian population is highest in the diaspora communities, adding that if this decline cannot be stopped in time, “these communities may eventually disappear”. He said the best way to help these communities is “to form personal relationships there and keep in touch with them”.

“What is good for Hungary is good for Hungarian communities abroad and vice versa,” Kover said, adding, however, that this does not mean that the government should use the same methods for helping ethnic Hungarians in every country.

The full interview is scheduled to air on Duna Television on Sunday.

Photo: MTI

Merkel could stop flow of migrants, Orban tells Swiss weekly

Vienna (MTI) – Germany play a key role in the migrant crisis because if German Chancellor Angela Merkel were to say that the country is full, the flow of migrants would drop, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in an interview published by Swiss conservative weekly Die Weltwoche on Thursday.

The migrant crisis is having a destabilising effect in the European Union not only because of the high number of migrants arriving but also because of the wavering of trust in democracy, Orban said.

The European elite is talking superficially about issues of secondary importance when such basic topics as freedom, Christianity, the nation and pride are neglected, Orban said.

“Even though Merkel is the most important right-wing politician, she has formed a coalition with the Social Democrats, and she would not have a majority without them,” he said. “If we want to understand what the chancellor does, we have to look at the grand coalition as a whole.”

Photo: MTI

Authorities deal with 17.000 missing children case every year

The number of missing children increases year by year: in 2014 almost 17.000 cases were registered. Most of the children are soon found, but one hundred children disappear every year for good, writes hvg.hu.

More and more children go missing every year: the number of registered cases was 11.000 in 2010, and it rose to almost 17.000 in 2014; however, it does not mean that 17.000 children are physically missing and are wandering around in the country. Borbála Csekeő, director of the Kék Vonal Child Crisis Foundation (Kék Vonal Gyermekkrízis Alapítvány), said that this number does not refer to individuals, as a great number of children run away multiple times a year, especially from children’s homes. The police confirmed Csekeő’s statement and added that the number of registered cases is high because of those who leave their home without permit, or do not return by the appointed time.

Most of the missing children are registered in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Hajdú-Bihar, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, and Pest counties, and their number is especially high in Budapest. One of the most important risk factors is the children’s social-economic background (the family’s financial situation, and the family members’ level of education), and to what extend they can be influenced. In most cases the escape is just a symptom, and cannot be evaluated on its own, Szilvia Gyurkó, children’s rights expert told HVG.

Children usually run away to show that they are in an uncomfortable situation. Their escape is a sign that something is wrong within the family or in the closer environment, and it should be changed, said Csekeő. Most children do not disappear after one argument, but their decision is the outcome of a series of undesirable events. They decide to run away when they feel unwanted or neglected, and do not get the desired attention, but it’s very rare that a child disappears after just one argument.

According to the police every third missing child is recovered one day after they are reported missing, 30% is found within one week, and 35% is found within one month. Authorities say that they know the whereabouts of the remaining children as well, but tracing them is difficult because they are abroad, they are in hiding, or they are staying in Hungary under a refugee status. Ninety per cent of the children who run away from their families (and not from children’s homes) are found 1-2 days after their case is reported, which is a relatively good rate, but there are more than 100 cases every year when the children cannot be found.

According to Csekeő, most of the children who run away do not want to disappear for good, and they often go to places where they will be looked for; they only want to show their guardians that something is not right. The Ministry of Human Capacities (EMMI) reported that 48% of the children who ran away from a children’s home returned to their parents, many of them went to friends or lovers, or just wandered around. Twenty-six per cent of them joined people they did not know.

Children’s homes are not very positive places, and integration is hard – this is the most common opinion among experts about these institutions. By the time a child is placed into care they have gone through a lot; they were either verbally or physically abused, and were extremely neglected, and placing them in a home makes things worse.

Miklós Radoszáv, child protection expert, said that not all children demand their parents’ attention and many people surprise when a “good” kid goes missing. The expert also confirmed that the number of missing children is not rising, but some of them run away multiple times. Radoszáv says that parents and guardians should be alerted if the child has new habits, their school performance declines, or their behaviour changes: these are all signs that the family’s priority should be re-evaluated, and they should spend quality time with the children.

based on an article of hvg.hu
translated by Adrienn Sain

Exclusive interview with Dr. Zsigmond Nagy, international director of the Hungarian Olympic Committee

Most of us have heard about Hungary’s bid for the Summer Olympic Games in 2024, but what is it that could make us successful? How would Budapest look like? Can we exceed London’s success in Rio? How is the preparation for Rio going? These are some of the questions we discussed with Dr. Zsigmond Nagy, the international director of the Hungarian Olympic Committee.

DailyNewsHungary: How did your life lead you to becoming the international director of the Hungarian Olympic Committee?

ZN: This was a long way. I was asked to be part of the organizing committee of the European Athletics Championships held in Budapest in 1998 by Ágoston Schulek, President of the Hungarian Athletic Association. Shortly after, I was offered an excellent opportunity by Pal Schmitt, former President of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, to join the National Olympic Committee of Hungary. That is when my journey started. First I worked as the international secretary and then became the international and judicial director.

DailyNewsHungary: Most of us probably have an idea of what is the role of the president and the general secretary. What is your role?

ZN: The Hungarian Olympic Committee is the only statutory public body in sports according to the Hungarian law. We attend to the tasks taken over from the state.  Our number-one task is direction and leadership. This is a dual status which means that by the international claim, we represent Hungary as the National Olympic Committee. In this sense our task is to prepare and enter the Hungarian Olympic Teams for the Olympic Games.

DailyNewsHungary: In the last couple of months one of the main focuses of the news was Hungary’s bid for the Summer Olympics in 2024. Budapest has bid for the Olympics five times before. What is it that could make us successful this time?

ZN: We have a lot to offer to the Olympic family and the members of the International Olympic Committee. We rightfully think that Budapest is a fantastic city. Tourism data justifies this. The other thing is that Hungarian sport has a strong tradition which predestines us to finally host the Olympics. Hungary is the only one of the 10 most successful medal-winning countries at the Summer Olympics (more exactly the 8th most successful country) never to have hosted the event. Just look at the other candidates: this would be the 3rd Olympics for Los Angeles, Rome and Paris; and Germany has also hosted several Summer and Winter Olympics. Also, we offer national Olympic Games oppositely to the other’s one city-conception. We would have events in different cities. This is especially exciting because we have the support of a whole nation.

DailyNewsHungary: Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee emphasized that the main aspect of the decision will be which country wants the Olympics the most. How will they estimate this?

ZN: The candidature process has changed. It previously had two stages but now contains three. What had been a rival candidature process is now a consultation one. The IOC gives all the proficiency that the candidates need. This is in process now; we have to hand in our first file, in which we frame our vision, until the 7th of February, 2016. A good bid is one that serves the local, national interests. The IOC can help us professionally but we have to make our own decisions.

DailyNewsHungary: Let it be whatever sport event, Hungary has always organised them at a high level. Can this be our biggest advantage?

ZN: Of course. This is not only an advantage but is actually an expectation to 1) host international competitions and 2) at a high level. This is how we can prove that we really are good hosts and have the proficiency and establishments needed. You have to imagine the Olympic Games as 28 World Championships in one place at the same time. So it is our own interest to prove that we are capable of this.

DailyNewsHungary: You were the member of the Organising Committee of the London Olympics. How helpful can your experiences be?

ZN: Participation is completely different from organization. It requires a different method of preparation. It was an exceptional experience for me and I learned a lot. I was able to see the other side of the shield. The classical example for this is when you go to the theatre and enjoy a play. You know that this is the result of many people’s hard work in the background. This is what organising the Olympics is like. Thousands of people work backstage so that the audience may enjoy a well put-together show. This is a different world. I hope to utilise my experiences.

DailyNewsHungary: Many articles write about the expenses of the Olympics in Rio and how they kept growing. Can we talk about payback apropos of Olympic Games? If yes, how long does it take?

ZN: When talking about an investment, its payback – the extent and time – is what’s important. Economic measurements have been made concerning the Olympics in Budapest. The numbers are quite different from previous Olympics. I think that if we look at this exclusively from an economic angle and whether or not it would be profitable then we are probably on the wrong path. I admit that the economic intent is important but this needs to be under the final goal which is hosting a memorable Olympic Games that serves the interests of the nation and takes Hungary’s good reputation all around the world. If this was profitable I think it would be beyond all of our dreams. We need to look at this investment in a way that the infrastructure and establishments stay here. The knowledge stays here and this unique experience would define generations for a long time. A good example of this is Moscow. People who experienced the Olympic Games in 1980 think of it with tears in their eyes up to this day. This is also the case with the people of Sydney. To sum up, this is our plan; enrichment in the long run.

DailyNewsHungary: Rio is approaching. How many quotas do we already have and how many would be a realistic expectation all in all?

ZN: We can talk about two areas. One is, for instance, athletics and swimming in which quotas are achieved by athletes based on their objective results. The other category is the different as the athletes compete for the quotes based on their nationality. This is still in process. At the moment we have 58 quota places. Out of this, around 48-50 is realistic because for instance we have swimmers with more than one quotas but they won’t compete in all of the styles possible. It would be a great result if we could reach the number of London, which were 158 athletes. This mostly depends on the team sports. We can enter 13 players in water polo and 14 in handball. If both women and men qualify, we will reach this desired number. I truly hope that this will be the case!

DailyNewsHungary: How different is the preparation for a transatlantic Olympic Games?

ZN: The challenge is much bigger. The conditions are easier at an Olympics hosted in your continent. It’s hard to transport everything from sports equipment to medical apparel. It’s much more complicated and expensive this is why we started the preparation early on. We now have concrete plans.

DailyNewsHungary: Some medal estimations have already been published. Can we start guessing in this phase? If yes, what can be a realistic expectation?

ZN: I can only say that our performance in London was exceptional. They still ask about the secret of the ‘Hungarian magic’ up to this day. The Hungarian athletes didn’t only perform exceptionally but achieved amazing results in a wide variety of sports. If we came near to this, it would be just great. If we look back, we didn’t achieve as much in numbers when competing on another continent. Jet lag and the tropical environment can be difficulties which everyone will have to face. Still, I hope for good results!

DailyNewsHungary: You had the chance to experience more than one Olympic Games. Which was your most special Olympic experience?

ZN: Sydney was beautiful. The Olympic Games were fantastic in an uplifted frame of mind. Australian hospitality is world-famous, everyone was helpful. As President Samaranch rightfully said at the closing ceremony: ‘The best games ever!’ Out of the Winter Olympics, I think that Vancouver was a very similar experience. The venue, the organisation, the feeling, everything was superb. When talking about the performance, London is the winner. Listening to the Hungarian national anthem in a row is beyond expression.

DailyNewsHungary: How is the Hungarian Olympic Committee preparing to celebrate the 120th anniversary of its formation?

ZN: This is a very special event for us. Especially because the Olympic family has now 206 member nations and HOC is the 6th oldest out of them. We are only one and a half years younger than the IOC itself. Hungary had Ferenc Mező as a representative to establish the IOC. We are really proud to have been formed one and a half years later. We will celebrate this on the 14th and 15th of December but I don’t want to give away too much because we have many surprises planned. We want to celebrate the Hungarian Olympic family and its achievements with full devotion.

DailyNewsHungary: Finally, we’d like to invite you to a little time traveling game. Close your eyes and imagine that you wake up in Budapest, 2024. We are in the world of your wishes. What do you see?

ZN: I see a beautiful Olympic Village at the Csepel Island with a fantastic Olympic Park that fascinates the people of both Budapest and Hungary. We are surrounded by training fields, race-tracks and are getting ready for the 33rd Summer Olympic Games in August.

DailyNewsHungary: Let it be just like Dr. Zsigmond Nagy wishes!

Written by Alexandra Béni

Morocco could be a break-out for Hungarian firms – Interview with Dr. József Steier

Morocco is one of the steadiest and fastest developing countries of the Northern African region. It is frequently referred to as the gate of Africa from where a significant part of the continent can be covered. But what kind of opportunities does Morocco have to offer to Hungarian firms and investors? Globoport.hu asked Dr. József Steier, the commissioned director of the Hungarian Trade and Cultural Centre (HTCC).

Globoport: What were your aims before travelling and accepting to direct HTCC’s Moroccan centre?

Dr. József Steier: I was asked by Sándor Balogh, the director of the African-Hungarian Union (AHU) to make a plan about how we could improve Moroccan-Hungarian relations. Africa has been close to my heart since my childhood and I’ve known Morocco for a long time so I didn’t hesitate to accept the request. The HTCC Centre is in Marrakesh, one of the most bustling cities of Morocco. It offers the most perspectives after Casablanca. The aim of my delegacy is to start a kind of constructive work which’s roots have been settled by AHU 4-5 years ago. Also, I want to get in touch with as many Moroccan and Hungarian firms as possible to explore business opportunities and achieve them successfully.

Globoport: Morocco is an unknown area for many people. What is there to be known about it? What kind of opportunities can this exotic country offer?

Dr. József Steier: We have to know that Morocco is the gate of Africa. A Southern opening would be difficult without involving Morocco. It is a very open country with huge, unexploited economic and business opportunities. The population of the country is 35 million but only utilizes a small part of its lands. This is a great possibility to carry our projects together. The agricultural production of the country is also significant but we only capitalise this partially. Concerning fruits, they have pomegranates which mostly go to France and Spain. They also have argan oil which is basically gold in a liquid form. It could be used in many ways, for instance to make cosmetic, hygienic or culinary products. Additionally, Morocco is special because you can go on summer or winter vacations at the same time. While we are swimming in the sea in Agadir, we can go skiing in the Atlas Mountains. And there is Marrakesh, the cultural and touristic centre of the country, fancied by celebrities as well. Morocco is visited by 12 million tourists a year, out of which 8-9 million go to Marrakesh. So it is not a surprise that hotels, restaurants and clubs are always full.

Globoport: Morocco is in the region which was swept by the Arab Spring a few years ago. How did it manage to stay steady, avoid a wave of demonstrations and stay on the path of development? What kind of role did the king play in this?

Dr. József Steier: The nation loves and respects King Mohammed VI who is a very liberal ruler. When he took the throne is 1999 after the death of his father, Hassan II, one of his first thoughts was to collect jurists who can help in the modification and correction of the constitution. He listens to his dependents and what is rare in Africa and Muslim countries is that he ensured basic rights for women. The government has a female minister and many mayors of different cities are female. It was pleasant to see that the president of the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises is a woman since it is a very responsible position. I think this shows that emancipation is in process. Naturally, the king stays on the ground of reality and this is why he was able to avoid what the neighbouring countries weren’t able to. I see an organised state which functions well and this is very important for HTCC. Morocco’s economy is developing and is quite strong. Morocco has good quality highways so different cities can be reached easily. I drove 1000 kilometres without any problems not long ago, when the Salon du Cheval horse-show was held.

Globoport: In which area do you see the biggest opportunities? Where could Hungarian firms and investors predominate?

Dr. József Steier: There are incredible opportunities in the agricultural and industrial relations. Morocco is a remarkable car manufacturer while Hungary’s car component manufacture is great and these two should be connected. We shouldn’t forget that Morocco has one of the greatest phosphate productions in the world and phosphate is an important component of fertilisers. This can be good for us because the Hungarian agriculture plays an important role in the national economy and its average production could be higher by importing the key component of fertilisers from Morocco. Another thing is the improvement of touristic relations. Morocco has seducing sights and its touristic sector is quite significant. We should make Morocco an objective for Hungarians and vice versa. This is why one of my main goals is to negotiate with Royal Air Maroc, Wizzair and Ryanair about direct and cheap flights. Currently there are no direct flights but we have a great chance with Royal Air Maroc because they already have flights crossing Hungary and it is a reliable airline. Energetics also offers great opportunities with Morocco’s unconventional and renewable energy sources. The world’s most modern solar power plant heated by oil is currently under construction. It will be able to produce electricity six hours after sunset. I think that Hungarian IT technologies could play a role in this. If we look at Morocco and the Atlas Mountains through Google Earth, we see many hydroelectric power plants in the valleys. The problem is that they are not building more of these but damming instead, and then a large body of water is let into the sea. If we don’t do anything else just create a hydraulic system connected with solar and wind power and a fish-breeding system, then such a chain would be created that could supply Africa or half of the world. Physical and organisational opportunities are given for this. In the human sphere there are many Moroccan young adults fit for work who speak four languages. This is such an advantage in world economy that Morocco rightly asks to hold the 22nd Climate Change Conference. I truly hope that Marrakesh will be the host of this illustrious event.

Globoport: What is there to be known about the Hungarian Trade and Cultural Centre? How does it work and how could it help its Hungarian partners in the Moroccan market?

Dr. Jószef Steier: The way HTCC works in Morocco is defined in Hungary. HTCC has a director responsible for business development who is Szabolcs Kutasi in the case of Morocco. He is the one who gets in touch with Hungarian firms who want to sell their products in the Moroccan market. Then, the HTCC puts together their needs and gets in touch with me or my colleagues and we research all possibilities to help them. We look around the market, observe the situation and look for beneficial opportunities. Many people make the mistake of trying to establish business relations alone, unsuccessfully. HTCC can help in effectiveness because we first ask economic chambers, industrialists and the confederation of entrepreneurs and agricultural producers. They have thousands of members and we can mediate business opportunities through them. Of course, we also select and only choose ideas with real potential. We have already started this work and have ten areas as starting points. I will try to establish as many relations as possible during my stay.

Globoport: If I’m right, there is a Hungarian Business House operating in Rabat with the support of the state. How much does it interfere with your work? Can you work together?

Dr. József Steier: We find cooperation and helping the other important for the sake of efficiency. It is not a surprise that the state and private sphere is up against each other. But this isn’t really a competition because both organisations represent Hungarian interests. We have our own programme and I don’t think that it will interfere with another one. It is just like ships crashing into each other on the big seas; it is rare. And as I have mentioned, the Moroccan market is very big with plenty of opportunities. I think it is good that there are two trade organisations but we need much more to be everywhere. I have to say that out of the 300 trade relations we have today, none were established by these two organisations. So we both have goals to live up to!

Globoport: What kind of positions do we have in Morocco currently?

Dr. József Steier: Hungarian foreign trade flourished in the 1980s and we had great positions in Morocco. These constantly decreased in the 90s, and then came a break when Hungarian diplomacy left Africa. The space we left was filled in by the French, Spanish, Italian and Americans. Lately, the Germans started spreading in Morocco dynamically. Compared to them, we are in a disadvantage and we cannot lean onto a successful past. So we are now looking for new areas, which is hard, but it is in process.

Globoport: HTCC is also active culturally. What kind of events are you planning in the future?

Dr. József Steier: According to our plans, there would be two cultural events annually in Hungary and Morocco. Moroccan HTCC has completed this goal not long ago when we greeted a group of painters and graphic artists and they had the chance to create beautiful works of art in our workshop. We want to continue this in 2016 accompanied by an exhibition of the masterpieces. The other event we contributed to was the Salon du Cheval horse-show where the Hungarians amazed the audience. We want to make sure that Hungary will participate at this event every year. It would be a huge acknowledgement if Hungary was invited to next year’s show as the guest of honour. This would be a special status, meaning even more opportunities in the future.

Translated by Alexandra Béni

„Vampire couples fight just like normal people” – interview with David Rühm

Director of Vampire on the couch David Rühm has been the guest of this year’s Szemrevaló film festival. After having watched the movie, we were very curious, how vampires, relationship issues and Freud can be put together into a movie – so that it will be, as an addition, extremely hilarious. So we interviewed him – see the result below!

DailyNewsHungary: How do you like it here in Hungary?

David Rühm: It is not my first time actually, but tomorrow I will already be leaving. Today is the screening of my movie, that’s why I’m here. After the screening I will also meet the audience.

DailyNewsHungary: I really liked your movie. It’s a very complicated movie – there are two pairs, one of them are vampires, the other ones „normal people”, plus Freud „personally”, and all these caracters have different motivations, there are a lot of conflicts of their interests. So there is this vampire-thing, the Freud-thing, the things couples usually have… How did all these come together to be a movie?

David Rühm: It started very simply. I had a simple thought in the nineties, that it must be terrible for the vampires not being able to see themselves in the mirror, and I’ve even seen a movie about it. So it made me thinking: vampires live for hundreds of years, so if you never see yourself in hundreds of years, what happenes to you personality? From this idea I came to the mirror-theory of Jacques Lacan. He was a psychologist in the 1930’s. According to his theory, when a child recognizes him- or herself in the mirror, that is when he or she becomes a person – when they realize it is them and their reflections. From this theory I got to Freud, which I thought was funny, I mean, the psychoanalysis of a vampire… Plus, vampires have a lot of freudian things: they can fly, which Freud thought was an erotic thing – when a human dreams about flying – and a lot of other things. For example, the must of counting objects: the vampires have this tick to count objects. I was wondering why nobody ever made a movie about that, because I found it so obvious. So the whole concept started with these thoughts, but the main theme of the story is projections. The vampire woman cannot see herself in the mirror so she depends on her husband, he has to describe how she looks. What happenes: when he describes her the way he wants her to look, she becomes a person he wants her to be. That’s why there is the other couple, the painter who paints her girlfriend the way he wants her to look. So I was playing with these projections – in relationships and in situations when you change because of someone else. In the beginning of the movie, Lucy, the painter’s girlfriend is the only normal person who likes herself. And in the end she also have a tick with her haircut…

DailyNewsHungary: In these relationships of the two couples, the issues are still very everyday issues.

David Rühm: Yes, the vampires fight just like any other couple, only they have superpowers which they can use against each other – althought they are also thrownig glasses against each other… And I also like comedies from the 30’s – a lot of them are about couples fighting. And of course there are a lot of personal experienc. People want to change each other.

DailyNewsHungary: So how long did it take for you to develop this script?

David Rühm: It took very long, seven years, but I was not writing every day. When I started up with it, it was very difficult to raise money for a vampire-movie. It is now already over again, there have been too many vampire-movies and it killed the genre. And I know it was going to be an expensive movie concerning austrian budget, so we cooperated with Switzerland. So it also took time to get the money that was needed.

DailyNewsHungary: Well, it can be seen that there is some VFX, but other than that, I wouldn’t think it was an extremely expensive movie…

David Rühm: But there are hidden things as well. First I wanted to shoot the whole movie in studios, the same exact way the movies in the 1930’s were shot. But it would have been too expensive, therefore, we couldn’t do it, only partially. The scenes we shot on the streets of Vienna, I tried to make them look like as if they were shot in the studio: a few passangers walking by, and so on, a little artificial. So I can say, almost every shot have special effects on them. Sometimes you don’t even see it, sometimes something has just been taken away, so you don’t miss it, because you don’t know something more was there.

DailyNewsHungary: Still, the visual athmosphere of the movie is very homogenic.

David Rühm: It was important for me to be so. We storyboarded every single shot to avoid running out of time.

DailyNewsHungary: Did you write the script alone or were there some braingstormings with anyone else?

David Rühm: I wrote the first draft completely by myself and the main elements were in it. But then of course I discussed it with my dramaturg, for example, who told me if something didn’t work.

DailyNewsHungary: The dialogues?

David Rühm: Not really, rather the construction of the story, because the story, as you said, is very complicated. And it was important for me to tell it in a simple way. So I didn’t want to make a movie that can be understood and enjoyed by only those knowing everything about Freud, for instance.

DailyNewsHungary: Still, I cannot even imagine how someone can figure out such a story…

David Rühm: Me neither! – he laughs. – But you come from one thing to another, and it starts happening.

DailyNewsHungary: Now there is another aspect of your work that made me wonder: you started your carreer as a photographer, is that right?

David Rühm: No, not really, I started making my first movie when I was 10-11 years old. I always wanted to make movies, I was fascinated by movies all my life. I was too young for a film school when I was 15, but I was old enough for a photography course. So that was my only opportunity at that time, but I thought it was going to be good, because I can learn the technique, the lights, lenses, and so on. After having finished, I threw away all my pictures I made there and wanted to go to a film school but they didn’t take me. So I started working on movies, I really did almost every job you can have, except… no, not exception, I even did acting – he laughs – , so I learnt a lot. When the digital cameras became more and more known, I was amazed by their simplicity so I started making pictures again. So this is my so called side project now, but my love is still the cinema. I have exhibitions, but the series of photos I have, are also very cinematic… There are night scenes, I do it with actors, and it’s like something just happened before the shot. Fortunately by now I can have my photos exhibited in very good galeries.

DailyNewsHungary: But when it comes to a movie, you are rather directing than photographing.

David Rühm: Yes, but I work very closely with the director of photography, which is a good thing for them, too: there is somebody, who understands what they are doing.

DailyNewsHungary: So you don’t want them to make something impossible. They must be very thankful! You can hear a lot of stories about the opposite situation. I saw on IMDb that your movie has been screened at several festivals and premiered in Germaly already…

David Rühm: Well, you can never completely rely on IMDb. There are some movies that I never shot! – he laughs. – Or I wrote the screenplays but the movie has never been shot. But yes, I went to a lot of festivals with this movie. For example, to South Korea. I was very curious how the audience there will react, but it was perfect! There was a huge audience: 3000 people, and they laughed, so it was a great experience. I went to Edinburgh, Brussels, a lot of places and it worked everywhere. I will go to Transylvania in two weeks – that will be fun – , and to Mexico in the end of october.

DailyNewsHungary: Are you working on the next script yet?

David Rühm: Yes, it will be a gengster movie this time!

DailyNewsHungary: No humour, just tough guys?

David Rühm: Of course there will be humour! Somebody always says something stupid and it comes into the story. So it comes in automatically, I can’t help it!

by Noemi Gangel

Exclusive interview with Jocelyn & Paul Gracza – Missionaries serving in Hungary

Do you know exactly what a missionary is? And what they do? Meet Jocelyn and Paul Gracza who came to Hungary from the USA 25 years ago. They have served in various capacities over the years and have devoted their lives to helping others. They were enchanted by our country, nation, culture and feel very much at home here.

Have a cup of tea or coffee, sit back and let us introduce to a lovely couple – get to know their stories, life and goals.

DailyNewsHungary: When and how did you come here? What were our goals? Why Hungary?

Paul: We arrived on the 6th of December, 1990. We came to work with the Pentecostal Churches here in Hungary. When I was 19 years old, I felt very strongly in my heart that the Lord was leading me to be a minister, but also to be a missionary to Hungary. My background is Hungarian; my grandfather grew up in Nagybörzsöny, my grandmother in the Szeged area.

Jocelyn: When we arrived on the 6th of December, we didn’t know that it was ‘Mikulás nap’ and our supervisor took us out to the Citadel. It was right at dusk, the lights of the city were just turning on, there was light snow and we had our daughter with us who was 10 months old. He looked at the city and said “Paul and Jocelyn, this is your new city.” It was a very special moment for us; it became our home that moment. The roots of our heart and soul went into the ground of Hungary and they’ve never been pulled out.

DailyNewsHungary: Who is a missionary? What do you do exactly?

Paul: We are supported from churches and people in America. So our financial funding comes from churches mostly. They also pray for us. As missionaries we’re sent out from churches there to help the church here in Hungary just to continue to develop with the programmes and the churches that they have already and help them to grow more. We work in partnership with the Hungarian Pentecostal Church (Magyar Pünkösdi Egyház). We try to help facilitate and work alongside the goals they have as a church.

Jocelyn: When we came, they had a very strong need to start their own college. They didn’t have pastors trained to take the pulpit in some of the churches and there were retiring pastors who didn’t have a follow-up pastor to take their spot. They asked us to help start a college so that they would have a seminary where they could train people to work within their churches. The other thing we helped with was church building, creating their own spaces where they could meet. We would have teams come from the States to help them physically in building their churches.

DailyNewsHungary: Paul, you are the director of the Pentecostal Theological Church. How does that fill up your life?

Paul: We helped a lot starting it, developing the curriculum, helping with teachers; and we had a Hungarian director for the first 5-6 years. Then, he became ill and the Pentecostal Movement in Hungary asked me to step in to be the director. It started out as a temporary thought but I’ve been working with them for 17 years now. It’s been a great joy to see the college develop. In the beginning they had 15 students, now we have 175 students so it’s still a small college in terms of the Hungarian higher educational system. I’m there most of the days doing administrative work and I also teach classes. We have a great team, I’m the only non-Hungarian, which has been an interesting aspect to the job but we work together very well as a team.

Jocelyn: So in the beginning, we didn’t have a curriculum and teachers. We would have two-week block sessions where we would teach two classes at a time for two weeks. One teacher would be a Hungarian and we would have the other come from the States who would pay for the translation of his course. We were able to translate textbooks just by having teachers come from the States and be guest teachers. Then, as Paul said, we were able to transfer into a completely Hungarian based college. This transition was a real success for us.

DailyNewsHungary: Jocelyn, how could you help as a mother and wife?

Jocelyn: We made the specific decision to have our children invest in the Hungarian life. We chose to live as Hungarian as we could. We didn’t want to live an expat life; we wanted our children to live Hungarian. I went to education consultants to find the best way to help them. They said that in order for them to have an educational level of the language, they needed to start nursery school at 3. So although it was hard, we did that. Also, in the first 7 years I was the editor of Lydia magazine (still exists today and is doing wonderful), which is the first ecumenical Christian women’s magazine. I was working a lot and the children were with the babysitter, they spoke Hungarian the same level they spoke English. Then came primary school and we wanted all three children to go to Hungarian schools which we knew would be hard. So Paul asked me if I would give 10 years to being an at-home mom to help partner with our children through school. I stepped out of the magazine and went to being a full-time mom.

DailyNewsHungary: What did you know about Hungary before coming here?

Paul: Well, since my grandparents grew up in Hungary and continued the traditions in the USA, we knew some of the foods, the culture, saw some pictures and I remember a few words from my childhood like ‘nagymama’, ‘nagypapa’, ‘bejgli’, ‘köszönöm’.

DailyNewsHungary: How did your opinion of the country and nation change throughout the time?

Jocelyn: When we first came, we went to language school for about 7 months, Paul continued for longer. He is much better at grammar but I think I have a wider vocabulary. I knew German so I tried using it but our language teacher told me that ‘You live in Hungary so quit speaking German and start learning Hungarian!’ She loved her culture and thaught us to love it as well. She took us to special places because she believed that we have to experience the culture, the people and architecture etc. When I would go to the market everything was new to me and people were kind to me. I would point at things and they would help me. They were also honest with me, when I would put my hands out with my money, they would fish through it to find the right amount. I was very impressed with the hard-working and kindness. We went through everything with the Hungarians. When we came here, it was the first year after the change of regime. Since then, we went through all the changes with them. I think it is very much a part of what we are that we have grown with the people.

Paul: We made a conscious decision to try to make friends with as much Hungarians as we could and that helped us with the language and getting an understanding of the people. That made our transition much easier.

DailyNewsHugary: How did you manage to integrate? Do you have some of your helpers still with you in your life?

Paul: Yes, we do. The Pentecostal Church already had an apartment set aside for us so we got to know the daughter of the owner and her boyfriend. Then there was another individual who helped us with getting some appliances. We still know them, they are from the church and we have been friends for 26 years now. Luckily, we had many people who helped us with integration. Our friendships are such that if we don’t understand something we can ask for clarification easily. We feel very much at home here but we don’t always understand a 100% of what’s going on.

DailyNewsHungary: It seems like the language was the biggest difficulty for you. Do you have some funny stories that you would like to share with us?

Jocelyn: One day I went to the market and I didn’t know that I had to bring my own bag. I wanted to by these big cellophanes, but I didn’t have a bag so I asked the cashier if I could have one. She said no. Then I said ‘Oh, you’re right, I’ll pay for it’ but she very rudely told her colleague that I just want it for souvenir. I told her ‘No’ but she angrily tucked my cellophanes into a paper bag. I got very frustrated and marched home to Mari, who was our first babysitter. She could see that I was very angry and asked what was wrong and I told her ‘Meleg vagyok.’ instead of ‘Elegem van.’ (She basically said ‘I’m gay’ instead of ‘I’m pissed off’) She knew my husband so was pretty sure that wasn’t accurate. I was glad I told this to her not somebody else. ☺

Paul: I remember early on when we were just learning the language; we were in Nagykőrös and had a programme at the cultural centre. I was just going to greet everyone and I wanted to say a few words in Hungarian about myself. I wanted to say how nice it is to have a wife and how much I love my wife. But instead of saying ‘Feleségem van’ I said ‘Felesegem van’. (This meant ‘I have a half-bottom’ instead of ‘I have a wife’) There was a lot of laughing and I didn’t understand why. Then someone told me the reason and I really understood how big of a difference accentuated letters make. So yes, we had many funny stories. ☺

DailyNewsHungary: Can you tell us about the Pentecostal Community and what place it has among the other churches?

Paul: The Hungarian Pentecostal Church has been here probably since 1928. It started out as a small movement than they started to plant churches. Today we have around a total of 125 churches and maybe 20000 people who are part of the church throughout the country. There are a lot of ministries and activities that the church has. We have a retirement home in an area called Kadarkút. We have a women’s rehabilitation home in Dunaharaszti. We have the college. We have a very effective ministry to the gypsies and many people who work with that. We have elementary schools, a few nursing schools, a music school that opened recently. So we are a recognised church organisation in Hungary and we are part of the Ministers Alliance and the Ecumenical Alliance of Churches.

DailyNewsHungary: You just got back from your one-year ‘tour’ in the States. What was the aim of it?

Paul: Our work here in Hungary is kind of a five-year cycle. We spend four years here and then return to the States for one year to give an accounting of our work. This helps us to meet again with the churches that support us. So it is a year of travelling and work. This time we drove over 62 000 kilometres and flew a little bit more. We had 105 church services, 125 meetings with different pastors and people. So the main focus is to re-establish relationship with the churches that help us and support us to be able to stay here.

Jocelyn: We visited 31 states in the last year. We didn’t go back for this accounting year for the last twenty years because our children were nationally educated.  During that time we only went back in the summer for a few months. But we had to commit and do it now.

DailyNewsHungary: Only the two of you came back. How different is your life now that all of your children have grown up and are living their own lives?

Paul: I think it has been easier for me than Jocelyn. I’m very happy for many reasons but mostly because they’re all in a good place. Our three children are either working or studying or doing what they had wanted to do. For a parent this is very satisfying and a good feeling to know that they are doing things that they enjoy. The house is quieter; the tempo of our life has slowed just a little bit.

Jocelyn: I’m working on being happy. ☺ During the day it is good because I’m busy, but after supper it’s hard to get used to how quiet it is and that I don’t have pick anyone up. I have this constant feeling that I’ve forgotten to do something. I have a very independent husband who serves himself and now I don’t have anybody to do something for. So I try to serve him but he looks at me wonderingly. Also when you’re a full-time mom, it is hard going back to not being a mom actively and figuring out a new note to your life. Our children are very faithful in communicating with me so that makes it much easier. And our grandchild is adorable!

DailyNewsHungary: Do you feel like you need to take up a new role?

Jocelyn: I’ve been asked to teach English in the grammar school that our children went to. I see that as an ability to invest in teenagers. I have a lot of classes, I’m teaching 12 hours a week. Hungary has given our children an education and taken care of them. I feel really honour-bound to give back. What I’m doing there is volunteering. I’m also teaching in the Forrásház Gondozási Központ once a week. So I feel very much invested in the people. I’m trying to find ways to be invested in the life around me when it is not raising my children. This is a new area for me.

DailyNewsHungary: You came here with many plans. Do you think that you have succeeded with your goals?

Paul: I think we did. Our goal has always been to help as much as we can and encourage as much as we can. We have been helpful in starting new areas of church ministry. When I was younger I had a vision that I wanted to travel a lot and go to many different churches to preach and to talk about the bible. But as the director of the college I found that the investment we had made in the lives of many students, because it’s really WE, we’re there together; those investments lead to them doing something deeper, much more lasting than I could do by travelling around and visiting. So we tried to invest our lives into people in a way that it would multiple their effectiveness in their activities.

Jocelyn: That investment when you see the lives lived out in front of you…; it really matters to have that connection with people. The teenagers I’m working with now, I worked with their parents who were teenagers when we came here. It’s really been very special to be able to see the generations being changed.

DailyNewsHungary: Does this last forever? What does the future hold in store for you?

Paul: I think that we will stay as long as we’re able to continue to help. I mentioned that the Pentecostal Church has a retirement home…I always kid with that because the director there is one of our graduates and I tell him that I’ll bring a can of paint and paint our room for when we retire. ☺ But seriously, I don’t know if we’re actually going to retire here. Realistically we have about another 15-20 years of ministering and living here in Hungary. I’m 55, she is much younger than I am – ‘I’m a child’ jokes Jocelyn – I hope to stay until we’re 68-70 years of age and be able to keep helping and do our things.

Jocelyn: I am hoping that some of our children will find their way back home to Hungary after they finish their education. Their roots are here, but I also understand if there futures are elsewhere. Thankfully the world is a smaller than in past times and we can catch a flight and be together.

We wish the best for the Gracza family!

Written by Alexandra Béni

Exclusive interview with Hungary’s Face Team

What do you get when you mix basketball, handball, korfball, acrobatics and ball juggling? The answer might seem complicated, but it’s actually easy: Face Team, Hungary’s first & only Acrobatic Sports Theatre. They perform extraordinary shows all around the world and they hold the audience spellbound. They are currently on tour in France but were kind enough to answer some questions.

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DailyNewsHungary: When and how was Face Team created? Where did the idea come from for creating such an innovative formation? And where did the name come from?
Face Team: In 2003, Áron Takács won the “Nike-It’s Right” freestyle competition. Not long after this, he was asked to perform his freestyle basketball show at the Eötvös József Grammar School in Tata. He called up some of his friends to create a show together. This is how Face Team was formed is 2004. The name represents the many faces and characters of our ‘little company’.

DailyNewsHungary: Can we say that the real fame came with Britain’s Got Talent? What was it like to take part in a talent show like that?
Face Team: It feels nostalgic to think back; it is a very good memory since we were highly acknowledged. We amazed people like Simon Cowell and Alesha Dixon. The judges really liked us and our performances so we got quite far in the competition which was a big achievement in a field so strong and diverse. The show was watched by so many that it broke a record. So, yes, many people found out about us and what we do by watching the show.

DailyNewsHungary: How was your video with Devin Graham (devinsupertramp at Youtube, he produces adventure and extreme sport videos) made? How was it like working with him?
Face Team: Our management called him up to make a video together. This was way before he became famous and reached the top of his career. It was really easy and fun working with him at different locations in Budapest. He is a professional. The video “Slam Dunk Supertramp Style – Face Team basketball” is the 5th most watched video on his channel. We are not shy to say that this video is one that contributed to his success and vice versa.

DailyNewsHungary: In this video you also show the spectacles of Budapest. Do you find it important to advertise the country?
Face Team: We’ve always found it important to represent our country abroad. We bring our team’s and Hungary’s fame all around the world.

DailyNewsHungary: The dunk named Áron Gannicus, which was shared by Whistle Sports, has been viewed over 12 million times and the photo depicting the dunk has won an award. Was that the debut of the dunk?
Face Team: Yes. The photo and the video were taken at the Basketball World Championships in 2014, in Spain. It was the first time that Áron performed the dunk named Gannicus in front of an audience. Watch the dunk HERE!

DailyNewsHungary: How long does it take to practice a new dunk or movement? Do you have a choreographer in the team?
Face Team: It depends on the difficulty of the trick. It can take hours or weeks. We always try to widen our repertoire with new tricks or a whole new show and to make our performances interesting and spectacular. We don’t have a choreographer in the team; we create the new moves together, although we ask for the help of professional dancers and choreographers from time to time.

DailyNewsHungary: Is this more of a hobby or a profession to you?
Face Team: On one hand, it is definitely a hobby because we do something which we enjoy. On the other hand, it is like a job because this is how the N° 1 team makes a living. Besides this, some of the team members help in the training of the new generation.

Adam BackflipDailyNewsHungary: Can we imagine you as the ‘Indispensables’? I mean, does everyone have their own role in the team?
Face Team: Yes, we can say that we are like them in the meaning that there are many different characters in the team but all together we make a superb whole. All of the tasks are distributed between us. Some help in training, some help in organization or marketing.

DailyNewsHungary: You have travelled the world and you get more and more requests to perform. Which was your most memorable performance if you can highlight one?
Face Team: Well, this is different for every one of us. Some would say Japan, some would say Indonesia. One of the most memorable trips was to Spain where we got the chance to entertain the lovers of basketball during the Basketball World Championships. We visited six cities: Granada, Sevilla, Gran Canaria, Bilbao, Barcelona and Madrid. We performed in the fan zones and in the arena of Madrid in the quarter finals. One night, when we had some free time we went to a club with one of our Spanish friends. We accidentally met with Klay Thompson and Kenneth Faried there, who are famous players of the Team USA, and we got to know them better. It was an amazing experience.

DailyNewsHungary: Currently, you’re on tour in France. Tell us about it!
Face Team: We perform in the 3rd most famous revue circus of the world. We are here for ten months and we prepared a completely new show, in which eight performers (six acrobats, one ball juggler and one break dancer) try to amaze the audience from day to day.

DailyNewsHungary: What decides which requests you choose to accept?
Face Team: We try to accept all of them as much as our energy and time allows and if the circumstances are adequate for a show like ours. With the N° 1 team we mostly perform abroad at different events, theatres, business events; whereas the new generation team performs in most of the Hungarian events.

Face Team - Lisbon

DailyNewsHungary: What you guys do is very dangerous. Has anything more serious happened before? How much does an injury affect a performance?
Face Team: Unfortunately injuries happen in our genre but we try to prevent them and get ready for situations like this. It has happened a few times before that someone needed to be replaced during a show. In that case the show cannot stop, the others have to improvise. During longer performance series we prepare understudies just in case something like this happens.

DailyNewsHungary: Big fame comes with many fans. Have you ever got an extreme request from a fan?
Face Team: Generally they ask for autographs and photos but it has happened before that they asked for a shirt, trouser or ball that we used in our performance. May the other request stay our secret! 😉

DailyNewsHungary: Let’s play a little game with thoughts. If you had the chance, where would you rather perform: at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Rio or in the finals of the NBA?
Face Team: We have had the chance to work with NBA more than one time, at the NBA Europe Live Tour and NBA Global Games. But the Olympic Games is something very divine that it would be a great honor to show what we do.

Face Team

DailyNewsHungary: You put big emphasis on the education of the new generation. Are there many talents in who you see the stars of the future?
Face Team: We meet many talented youngsters every day. Our goal is to create a community where girls and boys, younger or older get on well and help each other to improve. We want them to come to the training happily and to think of this team as a big family. They all have the chance to travel the world like we do if they are persistent enough.

DailyNewsHungary: Where can we find you? When is your next performance in Hungary?
Face Team: You can find us at the Nagy Sportágválasztó this weekend, where everyone can try what we do. Other than that, you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube so that you can stay updated.

Check out the boys’ amazing show!

Written by Alexandra Béni