Slovenia

Over hundred million central Europeans against migrant quota – SURVEY

Of the 157 million voting-age adults living in 11 countries in central Europe, 106 million are against the European Union’s migrant quota, the Nézőpont Institute said on Friday.

The quota is rejected by 94 percent of Slovaks, 93 percent of Czechs, 89 percent of Bulgarians, 87 percent of Hungarians, 83 percent of Slovenians, 82 percent of Romanians, 74 percent of Poles, 71 percent of Croatians, 70 percent of Serbs, 50 percent of Germans and 46 percent of Austrians, Nézőpont said, based on telephone interviews made with a representative sample of 1,000 adults aged over 18 in each country between June 6 and July 6.

Nézőpont said “the European Court of Justice’s decision on Wednesday has once again lent the survey relevance”.

The European Court on Wedneday dismissed a case launched by Hungary and Slovakia challenging the legality of the EU’s migrant resettlement scheme.

As we wrote on Thursday, almost three quarters of Hungarians surveyed by the Századvég Foundation before Wednesday’s ECJ ruling want the government to pursue its fight against the European Union’s mandatory migrant resettlement scheme.

Photo: MTI/AP/Darko Bandic

Bled Strategic Forum – Deepening rift in Europe between pro-, anti-immigration parties, says Hungarian FM

A rift is deepening between those in Europe who support immigration and those who see it as a security risk, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told MTI after taking part in the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia.

The dispute is becoming more and more serious, he said, “further aggravating an exceptionally high-handed understanding of solidarity”.

Various European countries are choosing imperiously between elements of solidarity, the minister said, adding that this endangered Europe, since security and solidarity were being treated as separate from one another.

“Solidarity and security must be taken hand-in-hand; one cannot exist without the other,” Szijjártó said.

“The solidarity that undermines the security of the continent is not solidarity but something damaging for Europe,” he added.

According to Hungary’s position, security and border defence are key components of solidarity, ones that should in any case be taken into account, Szijjártó said.

In addition to protecting the Hungarian border and consequently that of western Europe, Hungary has also provided significant help to the countries of the western Balkans, enabling them to protect their own borders, he added.

This year, a total of 367 Hungarian police are in service in the western Balkans, including 226 in Macedonia, 105 in Serbia and 26 in Bulgaria, he said. Szijjártó assured his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Dimitrov of Hungary’s readiness to maintain its presence along the western Balkan borders next year.

Szijjártó held bilateral meetings with Montenegro’s Minister of European Affairs Aleksandar Andrija, Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec and Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar. All were in agreement that the integration of the western Balkans needs to be accelerated because it is a crucial security issue for the European Union as a whole, too.

As we wrote yesterday, people who do not equate border protection with solidarity do not understand Europe’s current situation, and solidarity that refuses to take into account border protection is not true solidarity”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared at a press conference.

Read more at:

Photo: MTI

Hungary agriculture minister praises intensifying ties with China

china hungary flag

The agriculture minister praised intensifying Hungarian-Chinese ties after meeting his Chinese counterpart at an agricultural and food fair in Gornja Radgona, in north-eastern Slovenia, on Saturday.

Sándor Fazekas held bilateral talks with Han Changfu on the sidelines of the AGRA international expo whose guest of honour is China this year.

Hungary strives to become a logistics hub for trade between the central European region and China and has implemented investment projects with the aim to achieve that goal, Fazekas told MTI.

He noted that Hungary’s agricultural exports to China had grown eightfold over the past six years to amount to 67 million euros a year.

From among the central and eastern European countries, Hungary has got licences for the exportation of the broadest range of product groups to China, the minister said.

China has become Hungary’s tenth biggest trading partner over the past few years, with Hungarian exports exceeding 500 billion forints (EUR 1.65bn).

Fazekas said developing e-commerce relations was in both countries’ interest.

Hungary helps Slovenian Hungarians with EUR 1.6 m

The Hungarian government will help 155 businesses owned by ethnic Hungarian families in Slovenia with a combined 500 million forints (EUR 1.6m) from this year’s national budget, under a programme aimed at promoting Hungarian communities in the Carpathian Basin. 

The contracts were signed by Levente Magyar, Hungary’s deputy foreign minister, and winning bidders in north-eastern Slovenia’s Dobrovnik (Dobronak) on Monday.

At the signing ceremony, Magyar said that the scheme was aimed at “reversing the decades-long assimilation of Slovenian Hungarians”.

The Hungarian government will set aside another 500 million forints for similar purposes in 2018.

As we wrote, Hungary’s government has so far placed about 9 billion forints (EUR 29.6m) in grants and credit with businesses in the framework of an economic development programme in Vojvodina (Vajdaság), Serbia‘s northernmost region with a large ethnic Hungarian population, the state secretary for economic diplomacy said in Subotica (Szabadka).

Square named after Ljubljana in Budapest

A square was named after the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, in south-western Budapest in a ceremony attended by city leaders and diplomats on Tuesday. 

Addressing the event in district 11, Budapest Mayor Istvan Tarlos highlighted the outstanding relations nurtured by the capital cities of the two countries. The naming of the square signals Budapest’s commitment towards building Hungarian-Slovenian relations, he said.

Square Ljubljana in Budapest
Ljubljana Square in Budapest, photo: MTI

Zoran Jankovic, the mayor of Ljubljana, hailed the two cities’ constantly developing cooperation.

Ksenija Skrilec, the outgoing Slovenian ambassador, said she had done her best to bring Hungarians and Slovenians closer to each other.

Photo: MTI

Passenger jet intercepted by Hungary Gripens

gripen-hungary

The Hungarian army’s Gripen fighter jets were scrambled on Tuesday to intercept a passenger jet which entered unannounced Slovenia‘s airspace patrolled by Hungary, the defence ministry said.

NATO’s Combined Air Operations Centre alerted the Gripen fighters as the Airbus 330 aircraft en route from Belgium to Uganda failed to establish contact with Slovenia’s civilian air traffic control after it entered the neighbouring country’s airspace, the ministry said in a statement.

The plane, however, maintained its flight path, it said.

The Gripens escorted the passenger jet to the border point where it established contact with Croatian civilian air traffic control, the ministry said.

Photo: honvedelem.hu

Salzburg Forum ministers discuss migration, security in Budapest

Daily News Hungary

Members of the ministerial conference of the Salzburg Forum held in Budapest on Tuesday discussed issues around migration, border control and security.

The Salzburg Forum partnership was launched on an Austrian initiative in 2000 and its members are Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Sándor Pintér, Hungary’s interior minister, told an international press conference that security had grown in the past two years but efforts must be made to maintain that level of security.

Participants agreed that protection of the external borders of the European Union should be strengthened, while data on migrants entering the bloc should be updated, monitored and shared among the forum’s partners without delay, Pintér said.

They agreed that the forum’s members would help each other if need be in border protection operations under the coordination of Frontex, the EU’s border protection agency. The participants also agreed to support dispatching Frontex units in Serbia and Macedonia, he said.

Pintér noted that the Austrian partner had put forward an action plan which members hope can be adopted under the forum’s upcoming Polish presidency.

Wilhelm Sandrisser of the Austrian interior ministry said they were proud of the forum’s achievements and expressed hope that their action plan would be implemented.

Jakub Skiba, the Polish interior ministry’s state secretary, said that although Poland is less exposed to illegal migration, the country is fully aware of the problems it has created. He said the forum’s members must prepare for a more intensive flow of migrants into Europe along the western-Balkan route.

Valentin Radev, Bulgaria’s interior minister, welcomed constructive talks during the conference. He said he expected the progress made at the conference to help Europe identify measures needed to eliminate illegal migration.

Damir Trut, a deputy minister of Croatia, said his country’s experience in providing for the safety of those visiting the country had been shared with the conference’s participants.

Jiri Novacek, deputy minister for domestic security of the Czech Republic, noted that the forum’s members had discussed EU asylum rules as well and agreed that the “automatic” redistribution of migrants was “an unnatural” method of managing the migration crisis.

Robert Marin, a state secretary of Romania, highlighted the fight against terrorism and data sharing among the forum’s members as the two most important topics discussed.

Andrej Spenga, a state secretary of Slovenia, emphasised the importance of regional cooperation.

Addressing a press conference with participants in the Friends of Salzburg Forum initiative, Pinter said those countries were indispensable in efforts aimed at stemming illegal migration. He added that countries of that group are considered as safe states according to the European Union’s criteria.

Oliver Spasovski, Macedonia’s interior minister, thanked the contribution of the Forum’s members to his country’s efforts in tackling the migration crisis. He urged cooperation and solidarity in global challenges posed by terrorism.

Miloslav Milickovic, Serbia’s state secretary, emphasised the Salzburg Forum’s key role in ensuring regional stability. There are more than 6,000 migrants currently staying in Serbia, he said, adding that his country was doing its utmost to provide them humane care in line with EU regulations and principles set by the Forum.

Dragan Mektic, Bosnia-Herzegovina’s domestic security minister, thanked the opportunity for his country to be a partner in cooperation with the Forum. Bosnia-Herzegovina strives to be included in the European security system, he said.

Footage of the Carpathian Mountains more beautiful than ever before – VIDEO

The Carpathian Mountains are one of Europe’s central mountain chains. Still, many people in Hungary does not know that the North Hungarian Mountains are also parts of the Carpathian Mountains.

24.hu concluded some interesting facts about the majestic heights:

  • It begins at the Devín Gate, it surrounds the Carpathian Basin and Transylvania, then it ends in southwest at the Kazan strait.
  • It is the second most extended mountain range in Europe after the Alps.
  • Its whole length is 1500 kilometres, its width is between 12 and 500 kilometres, and is spread for 190,000 square kilometres.
  • The Carpathian Mountains are covered with 10 million hectars of natural forest.
  • Most of Central Europe’s remaining primeval forests can be found there, its whole territory makes up a total of 300,000 hectars.
  • The Carpathian Mountains is a contiguous mountain chain, but it can be divided into multiple parts. There are three main regions: Western Carpathians (affecting the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia), Eastern Carpathians (southeastern Poland, eastern Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania), and Southern Carpathians (Romania, Serbia).
  • It exceeds the height of 2500 meters. Its highest peak is Gerlachovský štít with 2655 meters. In the Hungarian part of the mountains, the highest peak is Kékes with its 1014 meters.
  • There are no glaciers like or areas covered with snow.
  • It has almost 4000 different higher plant species.
  • The Carpathian Mountains has the richest fauna in Europe. It has the largest brown bear, wolf and lynx population in the continent. About half of Europe’s imperial eagle population lives in the Carpathian Mountains. Another rare species is the European bison, which is represented by approximately 400 specimen in the region.
  • The North Hungarian Mountains are also parts of the inner edge of the Carpathian Mountains.
  • Several great cities of the world can be found near the mountain range, like Vienna, Krakow or Bratislava.

Here you can see the gorgeous view of “Europe’s crown”:
https://cdn.airvuz.com/drone-video/bd4c28c7daaf7e596e47479d58b809f7/bd4c28c7daaf7e596e47479d58b809f7-720p.mp4?_=1

Ce: bm

A split up nation – Hungary was divided 97 years ago in Trianon

Hungary Trianon map

Something happened 97 years ago that had never happened in the history of the millennial Hungary. 2/3 of Hungary’s territory was taken away by the winner side with the aim of finally getting Hungary on its knees.

Hungary joined the war as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after the decision was made in Vienna that the empire would declare war against Serbia. The Hungarian leadership didn’t really have a word in the decision, but the country had to take part in war actions anyway. The military loss worth 660 thousand lives indicates that WWI cost Hungary dearly. But this wasn’t enough; the Entente powers, who decided to wipe off the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the map and replace it with a slightly maimed Austria and a completely split up Hungary. Yes, it is true: Austria lost way less of its territory than Hungary, in fact, the Austrians even got a part of Hungary (4,020 km2), which is truly inexplicable.

In point of fact, the winners took away 2/3 of Hungary’s territory at the Treaty of Trianon. Supposedly, the Entente powers wanted to ensure the right of autonomy for the nations living in the Carpathian Basin and this was why they cut up Hungary into small pieces. If this had been true, they wouldn’t have let millions of Hungarians end up outside the borders, who then became totally defenseless to the new states’ leaders heated with nationalism. The states that were formed didn’t seem to stand the test of time. States like Czechoslovakia and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes don’t exist anymore. Regarding the professed ethnic borders, Romania’s territorial growth is quite questionable because for one thing: the Romanians received a greater part (102 thousand km2) than the remaining territory of Hungary (93 thousand km2) and for another thing, millions of Hungarians ended up under foreign control. For instance, Szeklerland dwelled by solely Hungarians was annexed to Romania.

Photo: Wiki Commons

The people assassinated were plenty. An actual persecution happened in the Carpathian Basin, the number of Hungarians living in the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary drastically decreased as soon as the designated parts were taken away.

A good example of this is Košice which currently belongs to Slovakia. In 1910, 33,000 people out of the 44,000 population of the city were Hungarians, while one year after the treaty, only 17,000 people out of the 46,000 were Hungarians, meaning that 16,000 Hungarians vanished from Košice in a few years’ time. Based on a 2011 survey, the total population of the city is 240 thousand, out of which only 6 thousand people are Hungarians.

Another example that says a lot is the case of the capital of Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca, which used to be a Hungarian city for a thousand years, whereas nowadays meeting Hungarians in the city is a rare spectacle. Before WWI, 51,000 Hungarians lived in the city with a population of 62,000 people which was an 82% rate. After the Treaty of Trianon, only 49% of the 85,000 people were Hungarians, as the Romanian population quadrupled in ten years’ time, while a significant part of Hungarians fled to the motherland.

The ethnographic map of Hungary, 1927 – Photo: Wiki Commons By Kogutovicz Károly

There are several other examples similar to Košice and Cluj-Napoca, because the great powers advertising democracy and minority rights turned their back on the Carpathian Basin and let the history’s greatest action – full of aggression, persecution, massacre and population exchange – against Hungarians happen.

The statement saying that Hungarians should finally forget these monstrosities and move on might seem rightful in today’s world. But another rightful question could be that, if we commemorate the monstrosities of the nazi and communist dictatorships, why shouldn’t we commemorate Trianon and the forceful demographic transformation of the Carpathian Basin? Meanwhile, others wonder why the European Union turns its back on the striving of transborder Hungarian communities after the right of autonomy. Autonomic ambitions have been proven right in several parts of Europe, so there might be potential in these aspirations that could also be counter-agents against the vanishing of historical communities.

Featured image: Wiki Commons

Ce: bm

Orbán visits congress of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) in Maribor

Maribor (MTI) – The values of Europe are in the hearts of its people “rather than in Brussels”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Saturday, addressing a congress of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) in Maribor.

In his speech, Orbán said:

“European values are often talked about like they were kept in Brussels strongboxes with a select few keeping the keys … Many think that Europe is in Brussels, where instructions are given to member states.”

The prime minister said this kind of ideology had led to the financial crisis of 2008.

It also led to the “free movement of illegal migrants replacing the free movement of labour.”

Orbán argued, however, that central Europe, a diverse, Christian, and multiethnic region, acted as “the continent’s gateway and fortress.”

“We are proud to live here; we are proud of our nations, our historical achievements and the survival of difficult centuries,” he said.

“We want to remain Slovenes and Hungarians.”

Many think the solution to the continent’s aging population lies in an open immigration policy, Orbán said. “But we say that even if it is harder, we must mobilise our own inner reserves to survive as a nation, and we are convinced that it is possible.”

Slovenia’s opposition democrats, he said, are the ruling Fidesz party’s “twin” and “comrades” with shared Christian values.

“The history of a free and independent Slovenia could not be written without SDS, just like a free and independent Slovenia in the future could not be conceived without them.” He referred to SDS head Janez Jansa as a “strong, reliable and respectable leader”.

In his address to the congress, Jansa said Europe is “old and rich” and Slovenia is especially inflicted by problems of an ageing society. “Whereas the left wing advocates mass migration,” SDS promotes population growth and family support, he added.

PM Viktor Orbán and former Slovakian PM Mikulas Dzurinda, photo: MTI

Photo: MTI

Hungary’s foreign minister: Europe must seize One Belt, One Road opportunities

“The Chinese President’s One Belt, One Road strategy represents a major opportunity for Europe, which the continent must exploit”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told public media on Sunday at the One Belt, One Road international forum in Beijing.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is also attending the meeting, which began on Sunday morning local time with the participation of 28 heads of state and government.

In his statement, Mr. Szijjártó stressed:

“The One Belt, One Road strategy is creating the infrastructure for Eurasian cooperation”.

“In view of the fact that the competitiveness of the European Union is continuously decreasing, it needs strategies that enable the halting of this process and the regaining of competitiveness”, said the Minister, according to whom “the closest possible relations must be maintained with the world’s most rapidly developing region, the Asian and Southeast Asian region”.

“We must recognise that the situation is no longer that capital flows exclusively from West to East in search of cheap labour, because these days large Asian corporations have become extremely successful on the European market and are buying up increasing numbers of European enterprises”, he explained, highlighting the fact that “Europe and Hungary must exploit this process and attract as many Asian and Southeast Asian companies as possible that represent high added value and apply state-of-the-art technologies”.

“We must realise all of the transport, energy and infrastructure development projects that serve to improve the future economic strength of Hungary and the EU made possible by the One Belt, One Road program and the Eastern Opening strategy”, Mr. Szijjártó declared.

The Minister indicated three concrete goals with relation to the One Belt, One Road strategy: firstly, that as many highly developed Hungarian technologies should be applied in the huge development projects that are being realised in this part of Asia, primarily within the fields of water management, city management and IT. “In addition, the Government would like as many infrastructure development projects and Asia-Europe routes as possible to reach Europe via Hungary, which would also lead to an increase in export opportunities for Hungarian products to Asia. The third goal is for Hungary to be the destination for a significant proportion of the Chinese investments being made in Europe within the framework of the One Belt, One Road strategy, a goal which is being outstandingly served by the tax cuts introduced in recent years, the tax benefits for research & development and the Digital Hungary Programme, Mr. Szijjártó explained.

In Beijing, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade held talks with the Serbian Minister of Infrastructure, who informed him that negotiations on the Serbian-Chinese financial agreement concerning the Budapest-Belgrade railway line are also progressing well, meaning there is a realistic chance that Hungary and Serbia will be able to work on the construction project according to a roughly similar schedule.

Mr. Szijjártó also met with Slovenia’s Minister for Economy to discuss Hungary’s involvement in the development of the Port of Koper and its connecting railway line, which is the port of choice for Hungarian exporters.

Minister Jure Leben and Foreign minister Péter Szijjártó

While in the Chinese capital, the Hungarian Minister will also be meeting the directors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to discuss the involvement of Hungarian technologies in Asian infrastructure development projects, and with the directors of several Chinese companies, with whom he will be discussing “further Chinese investments made possible by the new and extremely favourable Hungarian tax environment”. In addition, he will also be holding talks with the Foreign Ministers of the Maldives and Pakistan, and with the Slovakian Minister of Economy.

The One Belt, One Road commercial infrastructure development strategy launched by China in 2013 is made up of two parts, the “Silk Road Economic Belt Programme” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road Programme”. The Initiative encompasses regions that include sixty percent of the world’s population and one third of global production. China has spent over 50 billion dollars on commercial development projects since 2013 in countries that have joined the Belt and Road Initiative.

The international forum in Beijing, which in addition to the host, President of China Xi Jinping, is also being attended by Russian and Turkish Presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde, is the most prestigious international event held since the initiative was launched in 2013.

Photo: Balázs Szecsődi/Prime Minister’s Press Office

Hungarian foreign minister discusses cooperation in Slovenia

Ljubljana, April 6 (MTI) – There are three joint projects under way between Hungary and Slovenia which serve Hungary’s interests and energy security to a significant degree, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said after talks with Karl Erjavec, his Slovenian counterpart, in Ljubljana on Thursday.

Projects to build a link between the gas networks and the power grids of the two countries are ongoing, Szijjártó told MTI by phone.

“This way we’ll be able to transmit 1.3 billion cubic metres of gas between Hungary and Slovenia within a few years,” Szijjártó said. As regards linking the two countries’ power grids, the minister noted the project has already been completed on Hungary’s side and is due to be completed in Slovenia by the end of 2018.

Further, there is a project to upgrade Koper harbour and a connecting railway line. He said Koper harbour was crucial for Hungary’s exporters, adding it was in the national interest to contribute financially to those projects. Hungary’s gains would be that its companies could establish a presence in the harbour, contribute to the upgrade of the railway line and Hungarian rail freight transport companies could be involved in the holding built around the project, Szijjártó said.

The two ministers also reached an agreement to open two new border crossing points between their countries. By late 2019, there will be a continuous motorway link between Budapest and Ljubljana, as by then the last Hungarian section of the motorway will be expanded to have two lanes in each direction, Szijjártó said.

He said Hungary and Slovenia were also political allies in terms of the most important issues affecting the region. The two countries share the same views on illegal migration and agree on the need to protect Europe’s external borders. Both countries also believe that the root causes of mass migration should be dealt with at their points of origin, Szijjarto said.

He said both Hungary and Slovenia support the enlargement of the European Union by integrating the western Balkan states, adding that both countries were interested in peace and stability in the region.

The minister also underlined the importance of bilateral cooperation within NATO. He said Hungary’s air force would continue to carry out patrol duties in Slovenian air space.

Hungary also wants to see closer cooperation between the Visegrad Four (V4) grouping and Slovenia, Szijjártó said. The minister noted that Budapest will host a meeting of the foreign ministers of the V4 countries, Austria and Slovenia in July.

He also said that Hungarian oil and gas company MOL’s strong presence on the Slovenian fuel retail market was a major economic success for Hungary. MOL is the third biggest player on the Slovenian fuel market, he said, adding that there are currently 45 MOL petrol stations in the country.

Photo: MTI

Hungarian economy minister discusses cooperation with Slovenian counterpart

Budapest (MTI) – Mihály Varga, Hungary’s economy minister, discussed cooperation in the areas of industrial policy, digitalisation and electro-mobility with his Slovenian counterpart on Monday.

Opportunities for cooperation include modernizing industry and the so-called fourth industrial revolution of digitalisation development, the ministry said in a statement. Varga and Zdravko Pocivalsek, Slovenian minister for economic development and technology, also agreed to prepare an electro-mobility cooperation agreement.

Hungary supports Slovenia in tightening cooperation with the Visegrad Group in economic affairs with special consideration given to boosting the region’s competitiveness, Varga said.

A highlighted topic of discussion was Budapest’s bid to host the 2024 Olympic Summer Games, which Slovenia supports, the statement said. A successful bid would not only offer an opportunity to Hungary but it would also benefit the whole of central Europe, Varga told his counterpart.

V4 to set up migrant crisis management centre

Warsaw (MTI) – The Visegrad Four grouping of Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia will set up a crisis management centre for handling migration, Hungary’s interior minister announced on Monday.

The centre will be headed by Poland, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the V4, Sándor Pintér told a press conference after a meeting of V4 interior ministers in Warsaw.

Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the centre will coordinate measures by V4 member states aimed at aiding refugees in crisis-hit regions. It will also serve as a platform for sharing national measures aimed at tackling the migrant crisis with the rest of the group and for coordinating funds to be spent on these measures.

The meeting was also attended by the interior ministers of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia.

Photo: MTI/AP/Czarek Sokolowski

MLSZ welcomes election of Aleksander Ceferin as UEFA President

 

Slovenian FA head Aleksander Ceferin has been confirmed as UEFA’s new president at the European football governing body’s Extraordinary congress in Athens, Greece, today. Ceferin triumphed by a margin of 42 votes to 13 over Netherlands FA president Michael van Praag.

At a meeting in Budapest in August, the ‘Visegrad Seven’, a smaller working group of FAs from seven countries including Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Hungary, concluded that Mr Ceferin would be a wholly appropriate choice as president and therefore pledged their support to the Slovenian sport administrator in advance of today’s election.

“Happily, Aleksander Ceferin, a wholly suitable leader who can open a new period in this organisation’s life, has moved to the front of UEFA”, said Hungarian FA President Sándor Csányi. “The Hungarian Federation’s expectation is that with his work he will create a maintainable balance and unity with the involvement of European football’s participants and bearing in mind the interests of the member countries. It is important that Hungary, before anything else and as a representative of the smaller countries, brings to the forefront the question of the cases of support of young talent and women’s football”.

UEFA’s new president followed Mr Csányi by saying: “I thank everyone who stood behind me and supported me. I’d especially like to thank my family’s and Slovenia’s support – I know that all of them are proud of me and I honestly trust that one day you will be too”. It should be emphasised that MLSZ held it as important that as well as his preparedness as a leader, the prospective president would be capable of leading the organisation for a sizeable length of time.

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Regarding the strategic tasks lying in front of European football’s governing body, MLSZ sees it as necessary that UEFA’s new president endeavours to preserve and nurture the sport’s professional standard and its societal and financial significance, to strengthen working relationships and the transparency of UEFA’s operations and to support the member associations with their work to an increased extent.

The aforementioned Budapest meeting of the Visegrad Seven saw the participants agree that in the interest of football’s global development it is necessary to strengthen the competitiveness and representation of interests of the small countries, particularly in the fields of women!s football, youth development and talent nurture. Along with this consensus they also wish to support the work of the new UEFA president as well.

Due to Michel Platini’s resignation from the post, Aleksander Ceferin’s first period of office will be shorter than a usual term, it running until March 2019.

Aleksander Ceferin was born in Ljubljana in 1967, becoming a qualified lawyer there before moving from his family business to become a sports lawyer. It was through futal that in 2005 he found an official connection with football and in 2011 he was elected President of the Slovenian Football Association, becoming a member of UEFA’s legal committee in the same year. He is fluent in English and Italian and is father to three children.

At today’s congress in Athens it was also decided that Evelina Christillin will be UEFA’s female member and represent the organisation on FIFA’s advisory body. The advisory body must be comprised of at least one female representative from each of the world’s six continental associations.

Photo: mlsz.hu

Western Balkans tensions serious risk to Hungary’s security, says Szijjárto

 

Bled, Slovenia (MTI) – The increasing tensions in the western Balkans region pose a serious risk to Hungary’s security, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Tuesday.

Looking at the ongoing border disputes, the rise of religious extremism and the rise of the threat of terrorism in the EU’s south-eastern neighbouring region, it is not at all impossible that Europe will see another migration wave over the autumn, Szijjártó said after taking part in the Strategic Forum in Bled.

“This is why the instability in the western Balkans poses a serious security risk for Hungary,” the minister said. If the region remains unstable, a large wave of migrants can easily storm through it and such a wave could reach Hungary’s southern border within a matter of hours, Szijjártó added.

Hungarian and Slovenian foreign ministers
Hungarian and Slovenian foreign ministers

This means Hungary could even see a repeat of last year’s migrant wave, which he said should definitely be avoided. But he stressed that Hungary cannot stop the migration wave alone and needs the help of the EU.

Hungary urges the EU to take two steps in the matter, Szijjártó said. The first of these is speeding up the EU integration of the western Balkan countries. The bloc must complete its accession talks with Serbia by 2020, he said, adding that Montenegro should also join the EU after its successful accession to NATO. The minister also urged the EU to begin accession talks with Macedonia as soon as possible. “If we fail to integrate the western Balkans into the EU, then the central European region will be completely defenceless from the south,” Szijjártó insisted.

The second step is that EU member states should support the western Balkan states so that they can sustain the flow of migrants on that route. He said Hungary will continue to aid these countries in their border protection efforts just as it had done in the past year.

Szijjártó noted that Hungary had so far sent over a hundred police officers on border protection missions to Macedonia, adding that Serbia has also reached out to Hungary for help in protecting its southern border. “And Hungary will help Serbia,” he said.

On the sidelines of the Strategic Forum Szijjártó held talks with his Latvian, Slovenian and Romanian counterparts on European security and energy policy.

Photo: MTI

Justice minister discusses migration with Slovenian counterpart

Lendava, Slovenia (MTI) – Hungary wants a constructive discussion on the long-term management of migration, Justice Minister László Trócsányi said after talks with his Slovenian counterpart Goran Klemencic on Friday.

Both Hungary and Slovenia must observe the Schengen rules in their management of the migrant crisis, Trócsányi said in Lendava (Lendva).

“We are looking for solutions [to the crisis], but in order to find them, we need time, trust and we need to know more about each other’s experiences,” he said.

Trócsányi insisted that Hungary’s referendum on the European Union’s migrant quota scheme would not be a vote on the country’s EU membership, but strictly about questions concerning migration.

He said talks with his Slovenian colleague were productive, adding that regional cooperation and good relations with neighbouring countries are very important for Hungary.

Regarding Hungary’s EU membership, Trócsányi said it was natural that there are at times disputes with the EU, noting the management of the migrant crisis as an example. In their talks, Trócsányi briefed Klemencic on Hungary’s lawsuit challenging the EU’s quota plan.

The talks also covered the question of national minorities. Trócsányi applauded Slovenia’s laws on minority rights and said Hungary is also doing everything it can to make ethnic Slovenians feel at home there.

Klemencic said that although Slovenia and Hungary do not see eye-to-eye on every political or legal issue, the two countries try to settle their disputes in a friendly manner. He said Slovenia is committed to protecting the rights of its ethnic Hungarians.

Hungary guest of honour at Slovenia farming fair

Budapest, August 4 (MTI) – Hungary will be the guest of honour at this year’s AGRA international agricultural and food fair in Gornja Radgona, in Slovenia, the organisers said on Thursday.

The 54th AGRA fair will be held between August 20 and 25.

Hungary is Slovenia’s 5th or 6th largest trading partner with bilateral trade totalling around 1.7 billion euros and continually growing, the economic and trade attache at the Slovenian embassy in Budapest said citing Slovenian figures. Farm and food products account for 700 million euros of two-way trade, Rok Tomsic said.

Farm ministry state secretary for the environment and agricultural development Zsolt V. Németh said that ties with Slovenia are of the utmost importance to Hungary. He cited agreements about cooperation in forestry and land regulations as examples.