Serbia

Is the image of Hungary in surrounding countries improving? – survey

Hungary-flag-Hungarian-capital-Budapest-castle

The image of Hungary in surrounding countries is improving, according to a survey by the Central European Nézőpont Institute.

Nézőpont said in its report released on Tuesday that the “wounds” of the Trianon arrangements that deprived Hungary of two-thirds of its territory one hundred years ago were healing slowly thanks to cooperation and mutual respect in central Europe, and Hungary’s image in the Carpathian Basin had improved in the past year.

Slovakians have the most positive view of Hungary (78 percent), followed by Croatians (68 percent) and Serbians (60 percent).

More than half of respondents in neighboring countries, with the exception of Romania (47 percent), had positive views of Hungary.

In Croatia, favourable opinions increased by 12 percentage points in a year while in Slovakia they were up 11 percentage points. In Austria there was a 10 percentage-point rise. Only in Romania and Serbia was there a decline.

Hungarians also have more positive views of neighbouring countries, with 82 percent of Hungarian respondents expressing a good opinion of Austria, up 9 percentage points compared with 2019, while 74 percent felt positive about Croatia. Positive sentiment in relation to Slovenia and Slovakia was 64 percent and 62 percent, respectively.

Less than half of respondents were upbeat about Serbia (40 percent) and Romania (36 percent).

Data presented at the panel discussion was evaluated by CEPER analysts Gergely Illés and Géza Tokár, experts on Romania and Slovakia, respectively, while the meeting was moderated by Mihály Rosonczy-Kovács.

Regarding the background of the constantly improving trend in Slovakia, Géza Tokár said that

previously conflict-generating issues, such as the Malina Hedvig case, had been removed from the agenda and replaced by those in which the official positions of the two countries were closer aligned, and that these were also shared by the majority of the public.

Examples include managing the issue of asylum seekers or representing Christian-conservative values in the discourse on the future of Europe. Tokár emphasized that the Slovak society in general is even more conservative than the Hungarian, and the positive opinion about Hungary is also a reflection of the fact that Hungary strongly represents conservative values at the international level as well.

In addition, Slovakia unlike Romania, is committed to Central European cooperation. Géza Tokár said that Slovak diplomacy is characterized by a high degree of pragmatism.

“If there is a Slovak foreign policy doctrine, it is to try to work with everyone in the light of the possibilities.” The V4 currently has no alternative, its economic benefits are known to the entire Slovak political elite, so Slovakia is expected to remain a secure partner in regional cooperation.

In connection with the events in Romania in the recent period, Gergely Illyés emphasized that

President Klaus Iohannis had been condemned by leading Romanian and Western, mainly German-speaking circles, which otherwise supported him, for his anti-Hungarian statements.

The Romanian President’s actions were primarily driven by domestic politics, the analyst added. Regarding the opportunities for co-operation in Central Europe, Illyés explained that the basic principle of Romanian diplomacy was to consider the United States as their main ally, followed by the large EU member states, primarily Germany. They are trying to strengthen Romanian-Polish bilateral relations in the region, thus trying to move Poland away from the V4 and reduce Hungary’s influence in the region. According to Illyés, any initiatives in Romania that would call for the strengthening of the Central European region do not currently receive media coverage. The view often expressed by Iohannis, which considers regional cooperation to be unnecessary and remains committed to the federal European Union, can be considered as the generally accepted position of the Romanian political and diplomatic elite. According to Illyés, the spread of pro-Central European views would require a radical, systemic change, for which there is very little chance in the short term.

It’s official: The novel coronavirus epidemic is subsiding in Hungary!

Grand-Boulevard-Hungary-Budapest

The novel coronavirus epidemic is subsiding in Hungary, Chief Medical Officer Cecília Müller said on Monday. Fully 430 patients are undergoing treatment in hospitals, she said.

Müller said that

out of 3,756 registered patients, three have been infants.

Among 1-14 year-olds, Hungary has registered 47 cases, and among 15-19 year-olds there have been 30.

Among adults, 267 cases occurred among 20-29 year-olds and 318 among 30-39 year-olds, she said. Among 40-49 year-olds, the number of registered cases was 529 and among 50-59 year-olds, 587. The last active age group, 60-64 year-olds, had 264 registered infections, while there was 946 among 65-79 year-olds, she said. Fully 765 patients above the age of 80 have been registered, she said.

Of the patients treated with coronavirus, 228 of those above 80 have died out of a total of 491, Müller said.

The number of fatalities was 24 in the 60-64 age group, 19 between patients aged 50-59, eight among those aged 40-49 and three among those in their thirties, she said. Fully 209 64-79 year-olds have died. There have been 5 deaths and 38 registered cases per 100,000.

On the subject on restoring outpatient services in Hungarian health care, Müller said there was no set deadline for a full reopening.

Services with screenings of great significance from a public health point of view are being gradually resumed, she said.

Speaking at the same press conference, operative board spokesman Róbert Kiss said 691 home quarantines were ordered by the authorities on Sunday, with 11,810 currently in effect. Police have taken action in 392 cases of violatins of epidemic-related regulations, 106 of them for spreading fake news, he said.

Kiss also noted that

  • Hungary and Serbia now allow the two countries’ citizens to cross the common border without having to undergo mandatory home quarantine.

According to the new regulations in force starting on Monday morning, travellers who detect the symptoms of Covid-19 within 14 days of entering the country are ordered to self-quarantine and notify the authorities, he said.

100th anniversary of the Trianon Treaty: Csongrád County to be renamed

csongrád-csanád county hungary

Southern Hungary’s Csongrád County will be renamed Csongrád-Csanád County from June 4, a government commissioner said on Monday.

The name change symbolises the desire to reunite Hungary and the territories it lost in the WWI Trianon peace treaty, Tünde Juhász said in Szeged, in southern Hungary, noting that

the change takes effect on the centenary of the treaty’s signing.

Parliament approved the name change proposed by then-government office chief János Lázár unanimously in 2017, Juhász noted.

Historian Péter Miklós said the county known as Csongrád today had been created by uniting Csongrád, Csanád and Torontál countries.

Noting that the names Csongrád and Csanád go as far back as the birth of the state of Hungary, he said it was fitting to officially restore the Csanád name.

As we wrote a few day ago, the Chamber of Deputies, which is the lower house of the Romanian parliament, accepted on May 13 a bill that made June 4, the anniversary of the Peace Treaty of Trianon, a national holiday in Romania, read more HERE.

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Read alsoTrianon: It was realistic 100 years ago that Hungary disappears from the maps

Coronavirus in Hungary: 737 using home quarantine monitoring app

budapest-Erzsébet-Square-coronavirus

At present, 737 people are using the smartphone app developed to monitor home quarantine cases, a spokesman of the operative board coordinating Hungary’s response to the novel coronavirus epidemic said on Tuesday.

Altogether 10,394 people are officially in home quarantine, Róbert Kiss told an online press conference.

As regards travelling to neighbouring countries, Kiss noted that as of today,

Croatia no longer restricts entry of European Union citizens to those who own property or a boat in the country. People who have booked accommodation or want to go to attend a family event or receive medical treatment are now also permitted to enter the country, he said.

At the Austrian border, the crossing at Zsira will be open to passenger traffic between 5am and 9pm from Wednesday, Kiss said.

The waiting time for inbound cargo traffic is 3 hours at Röszke and 2 hours at Tompa at the Serbian border, he said.

Answering a question, he said that Romanian citizens returning from western Europe can still use the corridor opened at the early stage of the epidemic.

Chief epidemiologist: Number of cases falling, but caution still needed

Although the number of coronavirus infections in Hungary is steadily falling, precautions are still needed as Covid-19 patients can still be found in various parts of the country, the country’s chief epidemiologist said on Tuesday.

The protection of the most vulnerable groups must be maintained, János Szlávik of the Budapest South Pest Hospital told public broadcaster Kossuth Radio, noting the importance of physical distancing, face masks and disinfectants.

Meanwhile, he said

a wide variety of drugs were in use to help treat Covid-19 patients in Hungary, including drugs to treat malaria, HIV-AIDS and influenza, as well as new pills imported from the United States and Japan.

Plasma therapy is also effective, he said.

Read more here on coronavirus in Hungary.

Secret for 10 years: Parliament passes law on Budapest-Belgrade railway line upgrade

parliament-Hungary-fidesz-orbán

Parliament on Tuesday passed a law codifying a commitment to the upgrade of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line.

The assembly also backed an agreement between the Hungarian and Chinese governments on implementing and financing the project.

The law was approved with 133 votes in favour, 58 against and 3 abstentions.

China is financing 85 percent and Hungary 15 percent of the upgrade, worth a little more than 2 billion US dollars.

The railway line will become part of a corridor for bringing Chinese goods to Europe.

Work has already started on upgrading the Serbian section of the line which is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

The full project is scheduled to be finished by 2025.

At the parliamentary debate, State Secretary Tamás Schanda said the investment would halve the currently eight-hour travel time between Budapest and Belgrade.

The new tracks will allow a top speed of 200 km/h, and put Hungary in a position to become part of the fastest route for goods delivered from China to Europe via Piraeus in Greece, he said.

The laws, including one to keep details of construction of Budapest-Belgrade highway, which is Hungary’s biggest rail infrastructure project to date, secret for 10 years.

CJEU: Placing asylum seekers in Hungary transit zone constitutes ‘detention’

border Hungary

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on Thursday ruled that keeping asylum seekers in the transit zone on the Hungarian-Serbian border constitutes “detention”.

“The placing of asylum seekers or third-country nationals who are the subject of a return decision in the Röszke transit zone at the Serbian Hungarian border must be classified as ‘detention’,” the CJEU said.

The court acknowledged that under EU directives, member states may detain applicants for international protection, but said “that detention may not under any circumstances exceed four weeks from the date on which the application was lodged”.

The ruling was issued in the case involving two Afghan and two Iranian nationals, who had been assigned the Röszke transit zone as temporary accommodation in 2018 and 2019 and had been staying there since.

Hungarian authorities had previously rejected the complainants’ asylum requests, saying they had entered the country from Serbia, a safe transit country. After Serbia refused to readmit them into its territory, the Hungarian authorities expelled the asylum seekers back to their homelands. Until then, the Röszke transit zone was assigned as temporary accommodation. The asylum seekers then brought a lawsuit to the Szeged court of labour and administration, saying their housing there constituted unlawful detention and asking for their asylum requests to be re-examined.

The CJEU ruling said, “the conditions prevailing in the Röszke transit zone amount to a deprivation of liberty, inter alia because the persons concerned cannot lawfully leave that zone of their own free will in any direction whatsoever.”

The transit zone is only open towards Serbia, and the complainants would violate Serbian law by exiting that way, it said.

The CJEU said in its ruling that EU directives on asylum “preclude an applicant for international protection or a third-country national who is the subject of a return decision from being detained without the prior adoption of a reasoned decision ordering that detention and without the need for and proportionality of such a measure having been examined”.

Credit contract on Budapest-Belgrade railway upgrade signed

railway train

The credit contract signed between China and Hungary for upgrading the Budapest-Belgrade railway line is advantageous and secure for Hungary, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said on Friday.

The signing of the document makes it possible for the development project to be started and for Hungary to become a logistic hub for the region, he said.

Under the agreement signed with China’s Exim Bank, Hungary will finance 85 percent of the investment costs from credit and the remaining 15 percent from its own funds, Varga said. The loan has a fixed interest rate and the agreement allows for prepayment, he added.

Accordingly, the Hungarian government will initiate early repayment if justified by market conditions.

Varga noted that the agreement for the upgrade was signed in spring 2019 with the Hungarian-Chinese contractor consortium. Work has already started on the Serbian section, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. The full project is scheduled to be completed by 2025, the minister said.

China has said it will finance 85 percent of the cost of upgrading the line which will become part of a corridor for the delivery of Chinese goods to Europe from the Port of Piraeus in Greece.

CJEU advocate general: Hungary ‘unlawfully detaining’ asylum seekers in transit zone – UPDATE

immigration-Horgos-Balázs Béli

An advocate general of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) said on Thursday that accommodating asylum seekers in the transit zone on the Hungarian-Serbian border near the town of Röszke was equivalent to unlawful detention.

Priit Pikamae issued an opinion regarding complaints raised by two Afghan and two Iranian nationals, who had been assigned the Röszke transit zone as temporary accommodation in 2018 and 2019 and had been staying there since.

Hungarian authorities had previously rejected the complainants’ asylum requests, saying they had entered the country from Serbia, a safe transit country.

After Serbia refused to readmit them into its territory, the Hungarian authorities expelled the asylum seekers back to their homelands. Until then, the Röszke transit zone was assigned as temporary accommodation. The asylum seekers then brought a lawsuit to the Szeged court of labour and administration, saying their housing there constituted unlawful detention and asking for their asylum requests to be re-examined.

Reviewing the case ahead of the CJEU, Pikamae said in an opinion that

asylum seekers placed in the transit zone, “are physically cut off from the outside world and forced to live in a situation of isolation”.

They are deprived of their freedom of movement, he said. Meanwhile, “departure from the transit zone would, for asylum seekers, entail renunciation of the possibility of obtaining the international protection sought,” Pikamae said.

The opinion noted that the CJEU is “empowered to interpret the provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union independently” ensuring a higher level of protection to asylum seekers than that enshrined in the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), the basis of previous rulings in cases concerning the Röszke transit zone.

The advocate general’s opinion is not binding.

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Read alsoThe wave of illegal migration is a very serious health risk, says Orbán cabinet

Commenting on the opinion, Justice Minister Judit Varga said Hungarian regulations were in line with EU and international law.

Varga said

Hungary did not keep migrants accommodated in the transit zone in “detention” as they were free to leave towards Serbia at any time.

Pikamae’s standpoint is “diametrically opposed” to the 2019 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, in the case Ilias and Ahmed vs Hungary, which said the transit zone was not equivalent to detention, Varga said.

The Advocate General’s opinion is not binding on the European court, the minister noted.

She said the government would continue to protect the borders of Hungary and Europe, and strive to prevent international migrant corridors from forming.

Hungary-Serbia re-open 3 border crossings for commuters – UPDATE

Three crossing points have re-opened for commuters at the Hungarian-Serbian border, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on his Facebook page on Thursday.

Hungarian and Serbian nationals who work or have land to farm on the other side of the border can cross at Röszke, Tompa and Hercegszántó as of 6am on Thursday, he said.

Serbia introduced strict restrictions in response to the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic banning passenger traffic at its borders, Szijjarto said.

The ban has seriously affected many residents and local businesses in the border region, he said.

Szijjártó said he had discussed the issue with Serbia‘s Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic and European Integration Minister Jadranka Joksimovic and agreed with them on re-opening the three border crossings for commuters.

As we wrote yesterday, Ukrainian, Romanian and Serbian guest workers heading for Western Europe are only being allowed to enter the territory of Hungary during a fixed period of four hours, read more HERE.

Read alsoHungary-Serbia re-open 3 border crossings for commuters – UPDATE

The minister told a press conference in Horgos, on the Serbian side of the border, later in the day that the policy will apply to Hungarian and Serbian nationals living within a 50km distance of the border.

Meanwhile, he said Hungary’s OTP Bank and oil and gas company MOL would both play key roles in reopening the Serbian and Hungarian economies.

In addition, the government will carry on with its economic development scheme in Serbia’s northern Vojvodina region which has so far generated 86 billion forints’ (EUR 240.9m) worth of investments, Szijjártó said.

The two countries will continue with the upgrades of the Budapest-Belgrade and the Szeged-Subotica-Baja railway lines, he said. Construction of the gas corridor that will transport gas to Hungary from Turkey via Bulgaria and Serbia is also ongoing, he said, adding that the Hungarian section of the pipeline is set to be completed by October 2021.

Hungary’s Eximbank has opened a 120 million euro credit line to help boost cooperation among Hungarian and Serbian businesses, Szijjártó said.

“It is the difficult situations that demonstrate how intertwined our fates are,” he said, arguing that Hungary and Serbia had a mutual interest in having “strong and healthy” neighbours. “So, the quicker the Serbian economy rebounds, the more that will benefit the Hungarian economy, as Serbia is our most important trading partner in the Western Balkans region.”

In response to a question, Szijjarto said the Röszke border crossing was open to Serbian transit travellers bound for western Europe for work purposes between 2pm and 6pm every day.

Asked about the situation of ethnic Hungarian secondary school students from Vojvodina who are scheduled to take their school-leaving exams, Szijjártó said they would be given the opportunity to take their exams in Hungary.

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic told the same press conference that bilateral relations were “exemplary”.

Meanwhile, Szijjártó proposed that Hungary and Serbia should open more border crossings to commuters.

Coronavirus in Hungary – New rules for entry of guest workers heading for Western Europe

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Ukrainian, Romanian and Serbian guest workers heading for Western Europe are only being allowed to enter the territory of Hungary during a fixed period of four hours.

Further conditions are that they do not display symptoms of coronavirus infection, verify that they meet the Schengen entry requirements, and have proof that their entry into the country of destination is guaranteed, a staff member of the duty centre of the Operational Group responsible for the containment of the coronavirus epidemic said at an online press conference held on Tuesday.

Róbert Kiss said

guest workers have four hours to enter the country at Röszke, Nagylak and Záhony.

Upon entry, yellow warning stickers are displayed on their vehicles in which they are only allowed to travel on the designated transit routes.

A fixed time slot has also been determined for the exit of guest workers.

Guest workers entering the territory of Hungary are given written information about the fixed time slots, but their attention is also drawn to the new regulations verbally. The new border traffic control system serves to ensure that guest workers heading for Western Europe should leave the country within the shortest possible time, he added.

As we wrote yesterday, Austria and Hungary would open a new border crossing, details here.

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Read alsoCoronavirus in Hungary – New rules for entry of guest workers heading for Western Europe

Coronavirus – Hungarian government accepts donation, also pledges further help to CEE countries

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Hungary will continue to help other central and eastern European countries in their efforts to contain the novel coronavirus epidemic which is in line with the EU’s relevant policy, the foreign minister said on Wednesday, after a video conference with EU development ministers.

The video conference was initiated by Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs and security policy commissioner, to discuss the distribution of 15.5 billion euro assistance the EU has set aside as a bloc to help troubled countries in the western Balkans, in Africa and Asia, Péter Szijjártó told a press conference on Facebook.

The EU commissioner has asked every member state to provide help to troubled countries outside the bloc, Szijjártó said.

Hungary has so far provided 600,000 face masks and 30,000 protective suits to neighbouring Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, as well as to North Macedonia and the Bosnian Serb Republic, he said.

Concerning supplies, Szijjártó noted that

Hungary had so far received from China consignments of 36 million masks and a machine line for the production of an additional 2.8 million masks per month. This is what Hungary can provide for the countries in need, he said.

Szijjártó added that additional consignments of 5 million face masks, protective suits and 140 ventilators are expected to arrive in Hungary from China during the day.

The minister said that Hungary had helped some 130 citizens of other EU and non-EU countries return home.

The foreign minister, however, expressed concern over “certain European commissioners’ efforts to make things worse for Hungary by spreading lies and fake news about the country”.

The commissioners in question should rather help the member states in need, Szijjártó said.

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Read alsoCoronavirus in Hungary – 31 million masks, 133,000 tests received from China

What will happen to the long-awaited Budapest-Belgrade Chinese rail project?

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Hungary wants to classify all data included in contracts for the $2.1 billion, taxpayer-funded Budapest-Belgrade rail project for ten years, according to draft legislation, to ensure a loan deal is signed “as soon as possible”, reports The New York Times.

The bill, dated March 31 and submitted by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén to parliament, argues that its aim is to help secure a loan from the Chinese Export-Import Bank to finance the project. The bill declares the project to have an “overriding public interest” and exempts it from several rules that regulate construction. Some 85% of the financing is going to come from China as a loan while 15% is provided by Hungary. Hungary has already applied for the Chinese loan.

The 150-km (93-mile) Hungarian stretch of the railway will be built by CRE Consortium, which includes holding company Opus Global, controlled by Lorinc Meszaros, an associate of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The other half of the winning consortium is owned by China Tiejiuju Engineering & Construction Kft. and China Railway Electrification Engineering Group Kft., representing the Chinese state railways company.

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Read alsoHungary, China to speed up loan talks for Budapest-Belgrade rail line upgrade

The project has suffered significant delays. China, Serbia, and Hungary signed a memorandum of understanding on the 370-km (230-mile) rail route in December 2014 in Belgrade, and the project was expected to be finished by 2017. Construction in Serbia started in late 2017 after Serbia borrowed $297.6 million from China’s Exim Bank.

The project, part of Beijing’s One Belt, One Road initiative intended to open new foreign trade links for Chinese firms, has been stalled for years. A key piece of data in the loan agreement is what interest rate Hungary will pay. Observers suggest that negotiations about the loan have been dragged out because of disagreements on the exact terms.

“This bill is essential to ensure that the loan agreement is signed as soon as possible,” the government argues in the legislation.

According to a statement by Opus in 2019, the holding company could earn revenues worth about 295 billion forints ($1 billion) from the project over the planned five-year construction period.

Read alsoHungary’s foreign minister holds talks on Budapest-Belgrade rail line upgrade

Number of COVID-19 patients in Serbia exceeds 1,000

Daily News Hungary

Serbia reported 160 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, with five more deaths, the government stated in a press release.

According to the data of the Institute for Public Health in Belgrade, the disease was so far confirmed among 1,060 out of 4,371 tested patients.

The death toll is now 28, while among those who died is the State Secretary in the Ministry of Environmental Protection Branislav Blazic at the age of 63.

“So far, 21 men and seven women have died from the disease, with a total morbidity of 2.64 percent to date,” government released.

Currently 648 people are hospitalized in Serbia, with 72 using respiratory ventilators.
Serbia confirmed the first COVID-19 case on March 6, while a state of emergency was declared on March 15,.

The government adopted strict measures, limiting mobility of people with curfews, shutting down border crossings and public transport, closing schools and banning people older than 65 to leave their houses.

Since the beginning of the outbreak in Serbia, China has donated tons of medical supplies and sent a medical expert team to help.

Read latest news on CORONAVIRUS

EC awards Szentendre European Heritage Label

Szentendre main square

The Hungarian town of Szentendre is one of the ten recipients of the European Commission’s European Heritage Label, a distinction granted to sites with a significance in the history, culture and development of Europe, this year, under the commission’s decision announced on Tuesday.

Mariya Gabriel, the EC Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said in a statement:

“I warmly congratulate the ten new sites we have awarded with the European Heritage Label today. They all provide great opportunities for European citizens to connect with their cultural heritage and strengthen their sense of belonging to the European Union.”

Noting the town’s origins in the Roman times, the EC said about Szentendre that its character “has been shaped by the influence of the cross-border political and cultural connections”.

Cultural heritage has played a major role in Szentendre’s development and enabled it to serve as a bridge between various cultural regions of the west and east, between the Balkans and the Carpathian Basin, and between Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, the EC said.

“Szentendre is characterised by the spirit of multi-ethnic and religious tolerance, urban resilience and creativity since the end of the 17th century, deriving from its cross-border location,” it said.

“The connections along the Danube river and the prolific cohabitation of its Hungarian and Serbian population and other cultures resulted in a place of peaceful coexistence, integration and productive exchange, shaping a unique architectural design,” the EC said.

Other sites awarded in Hungary earlier include the Pan-European Picnic Memorial Park, the Liszt Music Academy and the Dohany Street Synagogue.

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Read alsoThe Hungarian city of arts – Szentendre

Hungary welcomes start of Albania, North Macedonia EU accession talks

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Hungary welcomes the start of Albania and North Macedonia’s accession talks to the European Union, and is proud to have had an active role in this achievement, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Tuesday.

Briefing the press after an EU’s General Affairs Council (GAC) video conference, Szijjártó welcomed the member states’ agreement on starting the talks, calling it a “huge success for Hungary”.

Hungary has supported the EU’s enlargement for several years, and provided “real, concrete” help to Western Balkan states in the accession process, Szijjártó said.

He also noted that the EU’s commissioner responsible for enlargement, Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi, had proposed a new enlargement method to expedite the process.

The GAC has now expressed political support for that method, Szijjártó said.

Hungary has long seen Albania and North Macedonia as ready to start the accession process, he said.

The EU has a vested interest in the two country’s joining at a time when the bloc “badly needs a success story”, he said, referring to Brexit, migration pressure on the southern borders and the coronavirus epidemic.

The EU’s economic and security interests also warrant an enlargement on the Western Balkans, Szijjártó said.

Accession talks with Serbia and Montenegro should not be stalled either, Szijjártó warned.

Asked about the new coronavirus epidemic, Szijjártó said the situation poses a “significant economic challenge to the world and Hungary”. The Hungarian government has taken steps to take advantage of the EU’s laxer regulations for supporting investment projects and companies to save the jobs created over the past years, he said.

The most flexible and fastest reacting governments will enjoy a great competitive advantage after the epidemic, he said.

Coronavirus – Hungary has the highest mortality rate in the region

coronavirus-Hungary

The first fatal incidents of the coronavirus reached Hungary as well. Day by day, the number of people with the infection increases, and unfortunately, some of them do not survive the disease. 

444.hu reported that on Sunday (March 22), two Hungarian citizens died of the virus, both women 65 and 75 years old. In Poland, a 37-year-old woman and 43-year-old man passed away, and the Czech Republic also had its first loss where a 95-year-old man died. In Romania, three patients died while in Serbia and Slovenia two. 

In Austria, sixteen people lost their lives in one day. 

According to official data on the weekend, Hungary has the least infected patients (187) after Ukraine, while all the nearby European countries have more. In Austria 3,564, in the Czech Republic, 1,120 and Poland 631 patients have the coronavirus. It is hard to estimate the exact number because besides the officially registered patients; there are many more people who do not show symptoms but might have the virus in their systems. 

The number of completed tests also influence the movement of the statistics in each country. The low rate of Hungarian data is the result of the lack of tests done in hospitals. So far, 5,515 tests were completed.

In other countries this number is different. Austria examined approximately 21,000 people with the coronavirus test while in the Czech Republic almost 16,000. Surprisingly, in these two countries, the number of infections are above 1,000. If more tests were done in Hungary, our number would be the same, as some estimate.

Nevertheless, the number of people who died in the coronavirus in Hungary is the third-highest number in the region. In Austria sixteen, the Czech Republic seven and Hungary eight.

The only nearby country, where no fatal incidents happened in Slovakia. The mortality rate was also the highest in Hungary: 4.58% (167 infected patients/7 deaths). With the latest numbers, the rate is almost same: 4.8% (187 infected/9 deaths)

Featured image: MTI

Coronavirus – Orbán pledge Hungarian-Serbian cooperation in epidemic response

hungary serbia cooperation

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Sunday pledged constant contact and cooperation in the two countries’ response to the new coronavirus epidemic, the prime minister’s press chief said.

At a meeting in Budapest, Vucic and Orbán discussed the situation at the Serbian-Hungarian border. They also pledged mutual solidarity and a mutual flow of information during the epidemic, Bertalan Havasi said.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali also attended the meeting.

After talks with Mali, Szijjártó said in a video posted on Facebook that Serbia and Hungary are strongly inter-dependent, especially in “such a challenging situation”.

Ensuring a continuous flow of goods across the Hungarian-Serbian border is an “important duty”, Szijjártó said, to provide supplies to Hungarians and Serbians alike.

The volume of trade between the two countries reached 2.5 billion euros last year, Szijjártó noted.

Measures to “restart” the economy will also be coordinated, Szijjártó said.

BREAKING! First coronavirus death reported in Hungary

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A Hungarian patient, a 75-year-old man taken to the South Pest Central Hospital with coronavirus infection symptoms and pneumonia, has died, the government’s information centre said on Sunday.

The number of confirmed cases in Hungary grew to 32 on Sunday, the koronavirus.gov.hu website said.

The authorities have started investigating whom the new patients may have been in contact with, the website said.

Of the 32 people diagnosed with Covid-19 in Hungary so far, nine are Iranian, 22 Hungarian and one is British.

One patient has fully recovered, the website said.

The number of people in quarantine is currently 79 while the health authority has done tests on 1,236 samples, it said.

Tibor Lakatos, the head of the emergency centre set up by the operative board coordinating the epidemic response, told a press conference later on Sunday that a mobile container hospital will be built in Kiskunhalas, southern Hungary, to offset possible capacity shortages.

Lakatos also noted that disregarding regulations on home quarantine is a misdemeanor. He was commenting in connection with a man who was instructed to self-quarantine but was found in public on Sunday.

The police have taken the necessary action, he added.

Speaking at the same press conference, State Secretary Zoltán Kovács expressed his and the Hungarian government’s condolences over the first coronavirus-related death. The government is providing all resources for the response to the epidemic, and all equipment necessary is available, the state secretary for international communication and relations said.

He called on the public to cooperate with the operative board’s guidelines and show “responsibility and resolve” in containing the virus.

Kovács also noted the need to show extreme care when keeping in contact with the elderly.

Regarding another topic, Hungary will keep its borders closed to Serbian nationals coming from Italy and seeking to return home, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a video message posted on Facebook in Belgrade on Sunday.

Orbán travelled to the Serbian capital to hold talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

He said they discussed protective measures implemented against the coronavirus epidemic.

Orbán said that as regards the common theme of the Serbian-Hungarian border they agreed that cargo transport could continue under security measures.

“Hungary however is not in a position to allow entry of those coming from Italy, including Serbian citizens who want to go back to Serbia,” Orbán said.

He said he asked the Serbian president for understanding that “Hungary’s border in the direction of Italy remains closed”.