Slovenia

Ethnic leaders voice support for Hungarian government’s nation policy

Leaders of Hungarian parties in neighbouring countries have voiced support for the Hungarian government’s policies aimed at helping ethnic kin retain their national identity and prosper in their homelands.

Speaking at a roundtable at the Bálványos Summer University in Romania’s Baile Tusnad (Tusnádfürdő) on Friday, László Brenzovics, head of Ukraine’s ethnic Hungarian KMKSZ party, said that

Hungary’s solidarity was instrumental in the survival of his community “amid the Ukrainian state’s anti-Hungarian attacks, efforts to curb education rights and incite hatred against the Hungarian minority”.

István Pásztor, head of Serbia‘s VMSZ party, highlighted the Hungarian government’s economic programme aimed at supporting ethnic Hungarian businesses in Vojvodina province, and said that some 11,000 entrepreneurs had benefitted from the scheme in the past two and a half years.

Ferenc Horváth, the head of Slovenia’s Hungarian community, referred to the same economic programme as well as a Hungarian kindergarten scheme, and said that

Hungarians in Slovenia have “for the first time in 100 years seen that being Hungarian is not a disadvantage but a good thing”.

Slovakia’s MKP party was represented by chairman József Menyhárt, who highlighted the Hungarian government’s scheme designed to save small Hungarian schools from closure. He also announced that his party would field a candidate for Slovakia’s presidential election in the autumn.

Róbert Jankovics, head of Croatia‘s HMDK party, said that funds from Hungary had been instrumental in improving his community’s cultural institutions. He added that Hungarian farmers in Croatia had benefitted from a total one billion forints in grants from the Hungarian economic programme.

Romanian senator Barna Tánczos, who represented the RMDSZ party, said that

Hungary’s diplomatic assistance was very important at a time of recent Romanian court rulings “stigmatising the whole community as terrorists”.

Photo: MTI

Majority in CEE countries against migration – survey

Spain migration

The majority of people in the central, eastern and southern European countries are against migration and think preserving Christian culture important, a new survey Nézőpont Institute released on Thursday shows.

The survey was conducted by phone, between May 11 and June 11,

on representative samples of 1,000 people in 11 countries including Hungary, Austria, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria.

Fully 74 percent of respondents thought that immigration from outside the continent was “not good” for Europe. The ratio was lowest in Germany and Austria, where 53 and 56 percent were against migration, respectively. Those saying that migration was good for the EU came to 5 percent in Hungary, 8 percent in Bulgaria, 11 percent in Slovakia and 13 percent in the Czech Republic, Nézőpont said.

Of all respondents in the survey countries, only 30 percent agreed with the EU’s resettlement quota scheme while 63 percent rejected it. Those in favour of the scheme were in majority only in Austria (64 percent), while 76 percent of the Visegrad Group countries’ were against.

A majority in most countries said they were dissatisfied with EU leaders.

Respondents in Romania were dissatisfied the least (33 percent), while 54 percent of Hungarians and 67 percent of Czechs rejected the Brussels “elite”.

Two-thirds of all respondents said that Europe’s Christian culture should be preserved, and 30 percent said that new religions and cultures should be accepted.

Giving preference to Christianity was supported by most respondents in Bulgaria (79 percent), followed by Slovakia (74 percent) and the Czech Republic (71 percent). Multiculturalism was accepted most among Croatians (37 percent), Germans (36 percent) and Austrians (34 percent), according to the survey.

As we wrote on Saturday, Italy is right to block “Soros vessels” from docking in its ports, Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party said, read more HERE.

We also wrote yesterday, Hungary refuses to accept a compromise when it comes to mandatory migrant quotas, the state secretary for European Union affairs said late on Tuesday after attending a meeting of EU ministers focusing on migration and the next EU budget in Luxembourg, read more HERE.

Photo: MTI/EPA/Felix Weiss

Hungarian government wants to spend EUR 12.5bn bn on road, rail developments by 2022

birdge komárom

The government will spend 4,000 billion forints (EUR 12.5bn) on developing public roads and railways by 2022 in order to strengthen Hungary’s position in logistics, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Friday.

Some 900 kilometres of high-speed roads will be built from 2,500 billion forints,

55 percent of which will be paid from the central budget and 45 percent from European Union funds, he told an event organised by the Hungarian Export-Import Bank and the Hungarian Export Credit Insurance Company (Exim).

A total of 1,500 billion forints will be spent on rail developments which will involve modernising 900 kms of tracks, he added.

The developments will extend the length of Hungary’s electrified rail network to 3,300 kms, the minister said.

Szijjártó noted ongoing and completed developments, including the electrification of a railway link between Budapest and Slovenia’s Koper. A new bridge on the River Danube at Komárom is already under construction and it will be suitable for freight transport from the first quarter of 2022, he said. Five new border crossings will be built in cooperation with the Slovak government and the EU funding won for this development will also enable building two bridges on the River Ipoly.

Preparations have been made at Rajka to expand a road linking Budapest and Bratislava (Pozsony) to two lanes each way, Szijjártó said.

He said that during talks in Beijing last week, an agreement was signed about the final timetable for the modernisation of the Budapest-Belgrade railway link. As we wrote, the Budapest-Belgrade high-speed railway line must be completed by the end of 2023 at the latest”, Szijjártó, who was on a three-day official visit to China, said. Read more HERE.

He also said that the prime ministers of the Visegrad Four Group have agreed to prepare the development of a high-speed rail link between Budapest, Bratislava, Brno and Warsaw. The Hungarian government has approved 1.5 billion forints for the feasibility study of this project, he added.

An agreement has been signed with the Romanian government about a high-speed rail link between Budapest and Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár).

The Hungarian government has approved 1 billion forints for the feasibility study, he said.

Hungary ready to assist border protection along new migrant route, says official

Bosnia migration

Hungary is ready to help protect the borders of countries along the new migration route by sending police units if necessary, the prime minister’s chief security advisor said on Thursday.

The new migrant route starts out from Albania and goes through Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia to Austria and Italy,

György Bakondi told public broadcaster M1.

At a meeting on Wednesday focusing on the protection of the borders of countries along the new route, the police chiefs of the Western Balkan countries agreed that the borders should be protected by the military, he said.

The interior ministers of the Western Balkan countries are scheduled to meet soon to decide on how to support the border protection efforts, Bakondi said.

He said

a growing number of illegal migrants were entering Europe via the Turkish-Greek border, with the Mediterranean passage having become less active.

The nationality composition of migrants arriving in Europe has also changed with more and more Iranian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Afghan citizens attempting to reach the continent, Bakondi added.

Photo: MTI/AP/Amel Emric

Survey: Central and Eastern European citizens favour strong regional cooperation

Two-thirds of citizens in central and eastern Europe want to see regional cooperation further strengthened, the head of the Nézőpont Institute said at a conference on the subject in Budapest on Wednesday.

At the conference on central European cooperation, Csaba Fodor said that of the 1,000 respondents each surveyed in 9 countries, 80 percent had heard of the Visegrád Group, and 65 percent saw the forum as important. Only 20 percent had heard of the Three Seas Initiative — a forum of CEE countries belonging to the EU around the Baltics, Adriatic and Black Sea — but 64 percent viewed that as important, too, he said.

The countries involved in the survey were Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria.

Fully 75 percent of respondents said they supported their countries’ EU membership, with the Polish and Romanian support the highest (84 percent). Czech and Slovak citizens were the most critical, where 24 and 28 percent, respectively, wanted a divorce from the bloc. In Hungary, 68 percent said they backed the country’s EU membership.

Asked about the EU leadership, 53 percent said they were dissatisfied with it.

Fully 74 percent of respondents rejected migration from outside the continent, and 65 percent were in favour of preserving Europe’s Christian culture, Fodor cited the survey as saying.

Speaking at the conference, Speaker of Parliament László Kövér (ruling Fidesz) said that political elites in western and central and eastern Europe had given different answers to the challenges of preserving a secure democracy on the continent. They agree that the rule of law and the welfare state are assets, Kover said. But on the need to preserve the “steadiest cornerstones of our identity”, such as sexual, family, religious and national identity, they cannot see eye to eye, he said. This is the biggest rift within the EU, he said. In the coming years, citizens of western European countries will have to stand ready to reject a policy devoid of the concept of identity within the framework of democracy, he said.

Cooperation of central and eastern European countries can strengthen all partners, thereby strengthening the “democratic order” of the region, he said.

Defining common goals can also save these countries from becoming pawns in other countries’ power games, Kövér said.

Featured image: Wiki Commons By Scooter20

Orbán assures Slovenia of Hungary’s support

Orbán Slovenia Celje SDS

Hungary will continue to build an “open and honest cooperation based on mutual benefits” with Slovenia in the next four years, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Slovenia’s Lendava (Lendva) on Friday.

Orbán held talks with former Slovenian prime minister Janez Jansa and Janez Magyar, a candidate of Jansa’s Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) in that country’s early elections set for June 3.

Orbán referred to close ties between the peoples of Hungary and Slovenia,

and said that his government was ready to promote the economy of Slovenia‘s northeastern region, home to an ethnic Hungarian community.

Orbán said the goal of his visit was to speak for Jansa, a “committed and courageous” politician, who could ensure that Slovenia is led by a “strong, stable, determined and brave government”, which the country needs.

The Hungarian prime minister thanked Slovenia Hungarians for their support to his Fidesz party’s recent election win, helping the country to a “civic, national, and Christian” government.

Orbán Slovenia Celje SDS
Photo: MTI

Jansa thanked the Hungarian government for its support to Slovenia’s Hungarian community

and praised Hungary for “setting an example” in protecting the European Union’s external borders.

Later in the day, Orbán attended an SDS campaign rally in Celje, also attended by Manfred Weber, group leader of the European People’s Party.

In his address, Orbán said that Slovenia’s prosperity was in Hungary’s interest.

Concerning migration, Orbán said that the 2015 crisis was but a “prelude to what is still to come”. Tens of millions will leave Africa for Europe, and “will keep coming as long as they receive invitations, as long as they see a small chance of getting to Europe”, Orbán insisted and added that “unless we watch carefully we may lose our countries”.

Referring to Slovenia’s future, Orbán said that

the country’s crucial decisions “must not be entrusted to small parties coming from nowhere” or politicians “jumping out of the cloaks of Marx or Lenin”.

He added that it was “shameful” that “some European leaders now pay tribute to Marx”.

Photo: MTI

Consulate general opens in Lendava, Slovenia

lendva lendava slovenia consulate hungarian

Hungary has reopened its consulate general in Lendava (Lendva), Slovenia, where there is a sizable Hungarian community.

“After many years, Hungarian diplomacy has returned to Lendava, the capital of Slovenia’s Hungarian community,” foreign ministry state secretary Levente Magyar said at the consulate general’s inauguration on Thursday.

He said Lendava had always been of special interest to the Hungarian government as a symbol of its good relations with Slovenia.

Hungary has provided 1.2 billion forints (EUR 3.8m) in funding for Slovenian Hungarian farmers and entrepreneurs in the past half year alone, he said, noting the helpful attitude of the Slovenian government.

Magyar promised the Hungarian community continued support should the Fidesz government win the April 8 general election.

The Lendava consulate is the 23rd to have been opened in the past four years, he noted.

featured image: MTI

Successful bilateral talks in Kuwait regarding education, economy, medicine and security

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó held bilateral talks with counterparts from Iraq, Turkey, Malaysia, Slovenia, Saudi Arabia and Australia during a visit to Kuwait on Tuesday.

Szijjártó is attending a foreign ministerial meeting of the global coalition set up to defeat the Islamic State terrorist organisation.

He told MTI over the phone that he had agreed with his Iraqi counterpart on Baghdad granting visas to all members of a Hungarian contingent to arrive in Iraq to replace the current contingent.

Hungary has increased the number of soldiers stationed in Iraq from 150 to 200 and the new soldiers are scheduled to arrive there in late February, he added.

The two ministers also agreed that Hungary will offer medical treatment to twenty Iraqi soldiers wounded in the fights against the IS. Similarly to last year, Hungary will again offer a training course on bomb disposal to members of the Iraqi army this year.

Szijjártó confirmed for his Turkish counterpart that Hungary, as a dedicated supporter of the global war against terrorism, will always bear solidarity with Turkey in its counter-terrorism efforts. Economic cooperation between Hungary and Turkey has been expanding and total trade exceeded 3 billion dollars by the end of last year, he added.

Szijjártó and his Malaysian counterpart finalised a document on economic cooperation.

They also agreed about educational exchange and to grant 40 Malaysian students Hungarian scholarships.

A document on agricultural cooperation has also been finalised, he said.

Malaysia is one of Hungary’s key trade partners in the region, with bilateral trade up by 31 percent last year.

Szijjártó and his Slovenian counterpart discussed the issue of cross-border infrastructure. They agreed that a new road will be opened between Lendvadedes and Dolga Vas (Hosszúfalu) this year. They held talks on linking the two countries’ gas networks. The Slovenian side promised to finish the works required for a connection between the two countries’ electricity grids by 2019. The Hungarian facilities required for the link are already in place.

Szijjártó and his Saudi Arabian counterpart discussed the Middle East peace process and conflicts in the Arab Gulf.

The Hungarian minister said that the region’s stability is also in Hungary’s interest because “no matter what happens in this region, it will have an almost immediate effect on Europe’s security.”

Szijjártó said he also met his Australian counterpart who is scheduled to pay an official visit in Hungary on February 22 where he will also meet other Visegrad Group foreign ministers.

featured image: MTI

EIF launches a EUR 80 million Central Europe Fund of Funds to support SMEs and small mid-caps

Daily News Hungary

The European Investment Fund (EIF), together with the Development Bank of Austria (OeEB, administering investment for the Austrian Ministry of Finance), the Czech-Moravian Guarantee and Development Bank (ČMZRB), the SZRB Asset Management (SZRB AM, asset management subsidiary of the Slovak Guarantee and Development Bank), the Slovene Enterprise Fund (SEF) and the International Investment Bank (IIB), launched a regional fund-of-funds initiative focused on boosting equity investments in Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia. The fund of funds is expected to mobilize at least around EUR 160 million in equity investments into SMEs and small mid-caps in the five countries, as well as additional investments in the wider region.

The CEFoF, managed by EIF, will invest in approximately eight venture capital and private equity funds based or active in Central Europe and focused on later stage and growth investments, as well as potentially co-invest in opportunities in the region. It is strongly complementary to the early stage equity initiatives set up by the countries, both independently as well as through mandates managed by EIF, and is a result of careful market assessment combined with long consultations with the countries’ authorities.

Commenting on the new initiative, EIF’s Chief Executive, Pier Luigi Gilibert, said:

“We are proud that, with support from our partners, we have been able to bring the Central Europe Fund of Funds to fruition, which will foster the further development of the equity financing ecosystem in Central Europe. CEFoF will contribute to the defragmentation of the region’s equity markets by supporting regional fund managers, mobilizing private capital from other investors and attracting new investors to Central Europe. The initiative also reflects our efforts to work more closely with national promotional institutions, many of which participate in our NPI Equity Platform.”

Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of ČMZRB, Jiří Jirásek, said: “Support of innovations we consider as a crucial element helping Czech companies to survive in today´s highly competitive environment. Participation of ČMZRB through the investment in the CEFoF we consider as a great opportunity to enlarge the scale of our activities, so far focused on providing preferential loans and guarantees for SMEs. We believe this support of risk capital investments will help increase the performance of innovative companies not only in the Czech Republic, but due to positive synergy effects also in the Central European region as a whole.”

Chairman of the Board of SZRB AM, Ivan Lesay, said: “We are very excited about the CEFoF initiative. The equity market in this region, including in Slovakia, has been historically underdeveloped. A new regional equity fund under the management of the EIF presents an excellent opportunity to address this market gap. We consider this initiative to be highly complementary to the other SZRB AM activities in the area of equity, guarantee and loan investments for SMEs. We also very much appreciate that CEFoF is an example of a cross-border cooperation in which contributions from several countries and two international financial institutions came together to create investment synergies in the SMEs market.”

Director of the Slovene Enterprise Fund, Maja Tomanič Vidovič, M.Sc., said: “We welcome this long-term partnership between EIF and Central European countries. CEFoF is a good example of cooperation among countries, since it allows smaller capital markets, like the one in Slovenia, together to be more attractive to investors, and at the same time it creates new, additional financing opportunities for enterprises. In this way, Slovenian SMEs will be able to obtain alternative sources of financing. We also think that this initiative will have a positive impact not only for further development of the Slovene venture capital and private equity ecosystem, but certainly will stimulate the growth of employment and economic competitiveness.”

Deputy Chairman of the IIB Board, Jozef Kollár, said: “Our participation in the CEFoF’s creation and its launch is the first practical result of the interaction between the IIB and the EIB Group. I am convinced that our cooperation will provide an additional impetus to IIB’s support for SMEs in the member states in the CEE region, which is an area of strategic focus for us. CEFoF is an example of feasible synergy of different local contributors with IFIs. I think this is a real example of fulfilment of our mission – to support connectivity between our member states.”

The CEFoF has a four-year investment period until the end of 2021. As its commitment to any fund is capped at 50% of the fund’s size, each fund manager selected by EIF will be expected to attract additional private financing equal at least to the size of the commitment received from the programme. Similarly, selected funds shall invest at least twice as much as the amount contributed by the CEFoF into companies in the five Central European countries.

EIF has contributed 40% of the EUR 80.3 million size of the CEFoF, which includes commitments of EUR 12 million by OeEB, EUR 8.2 million by ČMZRB, EUR 10 million by SZRB AM and EUR 8 million by SEF, topped-up by EUR 10 million from the IIB, another international financial institution. The CEFoF’s size may later increase, particularly if a new investor from the target region joins.

The initiative builds on EIF’s proven fund-of-funds experience and previous regional projects such as the Baltic Innovation Fund (BIF). It is open to both established and emerging fund managers, including first time teams.

V4-plus ministerial meeting focuses on EU expansion, energy security in Budapest

Ministers from the Visegrad Group plus Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria agreed at a meeting in Budapest on Monday on the need to enlarge the European Union to embrace countries of the Western Balkans as well to expand the Schengen area and establish energy security. 

Péter Szijjártó met ministers representing the other three countries of the Visegrad Group (Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia) plus Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Serbia, Slovenia and Romania.

“We have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to making the EU stronger,” Szijjártó told a joint press conference.

“Here in central Europe we have proved that illegal migration can be stopped,” he said.

Szijjártó added that by producing economic growth above the EU average, the region had greatly contributed to Europe’s rebound. So the region has justifiable grounds for expectations when it comes to the EU, he said, adding that these included maintaining the Schengen zone and speeding up further EU integration as well as helping to guarantee central Europe’s energy security.

The foreign minister said it is important that the Schengen zone “function normally again”, but for this to happen, the external borders needed protection and rules within the zone rules must be respected. This is essential in terms of competitiveness, he said, adding that “hobbling the Schengen system would mean sacrificing the European economy; so its survival is in everyone’s interest.”

On the topic of energy security, Szijjártó said they rejected “double standards” and expected the EU to help in diversification, because new energy transport routes were needed to move forward on energy security.

On the subject of the Western Balkans, he said enlargement of the EU should be speeded up as the best way to overcome tensions in the region.

“Hungary sees political, economic and security risks should the EU fail to speed up enlargement, and Hungary will do its utmost to accelerate Serbia’s accession process,” the minister said.

Photo: MTI

Bulgarian deputy Prime Minister Valeri Simeonov said after the meeting that gas supplies to central and eastern Europe and to south-eastern Europe were important, and the influence of the Russian company Gazprom should be reduced. He called for the rapid development of interconnectors, adding that cooperation with Greece and Romania was progressing well, so Hungary could also join these developments.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias expressed support for EU expansion in the Balkans, and Slovenian counterpart Karl Erjavec called for a strong Europe that offered even stronger social security and solidarity to its citizens. Erjavec said Slovenia supported Schengen expansion and EU enlargement in the Western Balkans.

Jadranka Joksimovic, Serbia’s minister of European integration, expressed hope that the EU expansion process was not slowing down. She said Serbia wanted to contribute to shaping the future of Europe and hoped to get a transparent and predictable accession timetable from the EU.

In response to a question about migration, Simeonov called for conflicts to be resolved at the point of their development, and added that every country must protect its own borders. He noted that Bulgaria received no EU support for the fence it had built on the border with Turkey.

Kotzias highlighted the importance of treating migrants humanely but added that migrants must also respect the law. European policies should focus on stopping the waves of migration, he added,

Erjavec said several million people were waiting to come to Europe. Organised crime is in the background of migration and little has been done so far to stop it, he added. Without a common European solution, individual countries should introduce measures in order to protect their citizens, he said.

Joksimovic said more than one million people had passed through Serbia, and it was necessary to find a comprehensive solution to the migration situation. Serbia is ready to contribute to this, she added.

Hungarian – Slovenian political ties praised

Speaker of Parliament László Kövér praised Hungarian-Slovenian political ties after meeting his counterpart, Milan Brglez, in Parliament on Thursday.

Among neighbouring countries, Hungary ties with Slovenia are among its best, Kövér told reporters after the meeting.

Although ideological differences exist between the coalitions governing Hungary and Slovenia, and views concerning “concrete issues” such as European Union’s future diverge, other areas offer ground for agreement, Kövér said. Differences can be overcome by approaching such issues dispassionately while respecting one another’s views and seeking understanding, he added.

Kövér noted that as part of their joint programme, on Friday he and Brglez will open a conference marking the 25th anniversary of the Hungarian-Slovenian bilateral framework agreement on minorities. Treatment of one another’s minorities serves as an example to other European countries, he added.

They also touched upon the upcoming general elections in both countries next year and expressed confidence that relations would continue to be excellent irrespective of the ballots’ outcome.

Brglez praised ties and cooperation between the two countries and their parliaments. He said that their national minorities were “a living bond” between the two countries.

Featured image: MTI

Visegrad group environment ministers discuss regional cooperation in Miskolc

Daily News Hungary

Environment ministers of the Visegrad group and delegations from Slovenia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Croatia met for a three-day conference in Miskolc, in northern Hungary, on Wednesday. 

The plenary session focused on the European Commission‘s proposal for circular economy policy, aimed at boosting efficiency in raw material use and recycling to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Hungarian Farm Minister Sándor Fazekas told the press.

The result of the EC proposal will be a package of legislation “which takes fully into account the member states’ economic and social situations and their capacities in waste management”, he said.

The minister called for reasonably determined objectives and sufficient funding and time frames for the programme to be successful. 

Waste management has undergone considerable development in Hungary in recent years, Fazekas noted. The selective waste management and recycling system can now be extended to include selective treatment of biological waste, he added.

The participants also discussed regional cooperation in fighting back invasive alien species, Fazekas said. Invasive plant and animal species occupy territories from local species and may pose serious threats to public health and economy, Fazekas said. The process can only be halted by cross-border cooperation, he added.

Visegrad Four backs EU enlargement, say top diplomats in Budapest

visegrad four balkans

The Visegrad Group (V4) strongly advocates the further enlargement of the European Union to include the countries of the western Balkans, the V4’s top diplomats said on Wednesday. 

At a news conference following a meeting of V4 top diplomats, together with their counterparts from the western Balkans, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia and Romania, Poland’s head of diplomacy Witold Waszczykowski said the V4 backed all EU integration endeavours and an open-door policy.

Ivan Korcok, Slovakia’s foreign ministry state secretary, said the V4 was leading the issue of enlargement, and the issue should not fall to the periphery of European Union interest.

V4 member states will guarantee that the countries of the western Balkan remain a part of Europe, he added.

Czech deputy foreign minister Jakub Durr said the V4 was clearly open to the issue of EU enlargement. Without the western Balkans, neither the EU nor NATO would be complete, he added.

Serbian foreign minister Ivica Dacic stressed that the western Balkan states are determined to become EU members, despite the “integration fatigue discernible in the bloc”. The long waiting time has kindled doubt in Serbs too, Dacic said.

Montenegrin foreign minister Srdjan Darmanovic said that the V4 group “has always been an example of successful cooperation”, and thanked the group for its support for the country’s NATO membership.

Albanian foreign minister Ditmir Bushati said that

integration can only be efficient if it is “unequivocal, logical and free of emotions”.

Romanian foreign minister Teodor Melescanu said that the whole of the “western Balkan elite” should be committed to reforms which should be accelerated to create strong institutions which would ultimately lead to European integration.

Macedonian foreign minister Nikola Dimitrov also welcomed the V4 group’s commitment to the cause of the western Balkans. Europe would be a safer place with an integrated western Balkan, he said.

Ekaterina Zaharieva, the Bulgarian foreign minister, said her country would give priority to the security and integration of the west Balkan region during her EU presidency in the first half of 2018. The European project will not be complete until these countries have become members, she added.

Kosovan foreign minister Behgjet Pacolli said his country was committed to European integration and grateful for the V4 support for its cause.

Josip Brkic, deputy foreign minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that

“if the EU were unwilling to speed up the accession process, that would bring serious problems on both sides”.

Bosnia and Herzegovina hopes to obtain the status of candidate member during the Bulgarian EU presidency, he said.

Photo: MTI

Here is why we need the Wage Union – Analyzing by economist Péter Róna

Hungarian economist Péter Róna writes about the importance of the Wage Union in daily Magyar Nemzet: Orthodox economists and Hungary’s government with its apparently unorthodox economic policy seem to have found each other in terms of rejecting the wage union idea. They unanimously claim that the concept is infeasible and even harmful, too. Some say that a European wage union would render wages into Brussels’ decision-making competency, undermining the imperative of national sovereignty. Others worry that the project would increase wages more than productivity, which would then cause a serious imbalance, especially a rampant inflation. The third group bases Hungary’s competitiveness on low wages in the first place, and they don’t see how this could be changed. The fourth one believes the concept is contrary to the interests of economically advanced EU member states and, consequently, infeasible.

Róna’s opinion in daily Magyar Nemzet

The problem the wage union concept is intended to remedy is much larger than any supposed intrigue by George Soros or the threat posed by refugees/immigrants.

It is nothing less than to fulfill the EU’s most fundamental promise, i.e., to create a community of destiny from Europe’s nations.

If wage inequalities remain and stabilize at their current level, the European Union will simply lose its purpose. The true test of such purpose does not lie in GDP growth but in real wages. The peace of nations and social groups may turn into confrontation and, eventually, open conflict, and the signs of this process are already visible. So, contrary to the opinion held by many others, I believe the key problem is not poor GDP growth but the distribution of the income generated by it. The anomaly is manifested in an ever increasing gap between the poor and the rich, while the unfavourable development of real wages contribute to this poor GDP growth.

Let us take a look at the numbers. Apart from Slovenia, no post-Communist country has reached even half of the EU’s average wage level, and Slovenia’s 60% can hardly be called a success, either. The poorest of all, Bulgaria produces 18 per cent of the EU average and Estonia, the runner-up achiever after Slovenia, shows 48 per cent.

The EU’s richest region, Westminster of the UK enjoys 600 times (yes, six hundred times) higher per capita income than the two poorest (one is in Romania, the other is in Bulgaria).

Such gaps cannot simply be put down to the undoubtedly different levels of productivity. In the V4 countries for example, 100 EUR of payroll expenditure generates 212 EUR of income, contrary to Germany’s 132 EUR. The low efficiency of underskilled labour means a weak bargaining position in dealing with capital holders. No wonder that the interest-enforcing capacities of trade unions are more or less in line with the development level of the particular national economy, and the more advanced the national economy, the higher share labour gets from the national income.

In addition to productivity levels, the explanation of the lagging wages also lies in the shift of how the national income is shared between capital and labour. OECD member states have seen an 18 per cent productivity growth since 1999 while real wages have merely increased by 8 per cent. The difference went into fattening up capital incomes. In each peripheral country, the capital’s share of the GDP growth has increased while that of labour dropped constantly.

In our region, Hungary has shown the poorest performance.

The share of Hungarian real wages from the national income has sunken by 5.6 per cent since 2007, the Czech Republic has seen a decrease of 2.6 per cent, Poland’s figure has remained unchanged while Slovakia’s improved by 3.3 per cent. (These numbers indicate the Hungarian government’s outstandingly pro-capital attitude and refute the credibility of its economic policy aiming to promote the prestige of labour.) This shift undermines labourers’ sense of fairness and has an explicitly negative effect on economic growth as the lagging real wages entail that solvent demand fails to increase or even drops, thus curbing the chances for economic growth. If there’s no solvent demand, production cannot grow, either.

What the wage union aims for is stopping and then reversing these processes. What steps could help accomplishing this goal?

Almost in inverse proportionality with the dropping share of real wages, the income of the international financial sector and the “offshoring” of this income has been on the rise. The financial sector has forced the productive sector to pay an increasing share of its profit to the capital in the form of dividends, interests, royalties and other remunerations, and/or accumulate it in offshore companies. The triple victim of this process is the society: a smaller amount of the generated profit is available for wages; the state’s tax base is reduced; and there are more resources to promote consumption-driven indebtedness.

The wage union’s first step could be to impose higher taxes on financial transactions (especially transactions involving offshore companies) and the tax income so collected could be the basis for reducing the tax on wages.

The second step may be to review the state’s subvention of capital. The national governments’ subsidization of capital should be subjected to a uniform EU regulation. Subventions should be determined based on labour training and re-training needs. The third step is to adopt a uniform labour code to stipulate the rights and responsibilities of workers. The fourth and most complex task is to provide the conditions necessary for increasing productivity.

Undoubtedly, this task is not easy but the way to improve this situation is quite obvious, too. The greatest obstacle is the current pro-capital economic policy, which is conducted in the name of a supposed national interest and national sovereignty but is, in fact, a burden on labour.

As outlined above, the course of the wage union will, by its nature, mean an increased integration within the European Union.

In this regard, those who choose to put their trust in national sovereignty, also stand for a world of lagging wages.

Over 80 Hungarian memorials abroad to be revamped for WW1 centenary

 More than eighty Hungarian memorials beyond the borders are planned to be revamped by March next year to mark the centenary of World War 1, the state secretary for Hungarian communities abroad said on Monday.

A total of 100 million forints (EUR 320,000) will be made available for applicants in the first phase of the revamp scheme,

Árpád János Potápi said.

In the second phase, an additional 100 million forints will be offered in the form of non-refundable support. The deadline for carrying out the revamp projects in the second phase will be the end of August next year.

In the first phase, some 24 projects will be supported in Romania’s Transylvanian/Erdély region, 51 in Slovakia, five in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia/Kárpátalja region, two in Serbia’s Vojvodina/Vajdaság and one in Slovenia, Potápi said.

Bence Rétvári, human resources ministry state secretary and a member of the WW1 memorial committee, said that the greatest losers of WW1 were ethnic Hungarians beyond the borders “who lost not only their fathers and brothers but also their homeland”.

As we wrote yesterday, a monument was unveiled in central Warsaw to commemorate the Hungarian soldiers who helped Polish resistance fighters during the city’s 1944 anti-Nazi uprising.

Photo: fortepan.hu

Hungary’s defence minister observes military exercise in Austria

Hungarian Defence Minister István Simicskó observed operations held as part of a regional border protection military exercise near Allentsteig, in northern Austria, on Friday. 

The week-long COOPSEC17 exercise organised under the Central European Defence Cooperation programme involved 2,360 troops from Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Slovakia, Croatia and Slovenia attended the event as observers.

Speaking to MTI by phone, Simicskó said the exercise was an excellent opportunity for Hungarian troops to share their experience gained in border protection midst the migrant crisis over the past two years.

Photo: MTI

He said that as the current president of the Visegrad Four grouping, Hungary aims to organise several similar exercises.

“It is important to show to the EU, Brussels and western Europe how effective our cooperation can be,” he said.

Photo: MTI

Six Hungarians and a Slovenian successfully evacuated from Saint Martin

Six Hungarian citizens and a Slovenian national were successfully evacuated from the hurricane-torn island of Saint Martin on Tuesday, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on Wednesday.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told reporters that six Hungarians, a family of five and a woman, and a Slovenian citizen were all successfully evacuated form the island at 9 p.m. Hungarian time using an aeroplane chartered by the Hungarian Government.

The plane successfully landed in Curaçao at 11:45, and all of the airlifted Hungarians are safe and sound at the Hungarian consulate there, he added.

The Minister said the honorary consulate in Curaçao is also helping the stranded Hungarians to return home. According to one scenario, they will be able to fly home to Hungary aboard a NATO aircraft taking off from the air base in Pápa, and which is also transporting Dutch evacuees and aid, with regard to which Hungary is in negotiation with NATO and Holland. If this plan is unsuccessful, the alternative is that the Hungarians will receive consular financial aid, which will enable them to fly home using a commercial airline, Mr. Szijjártó explained.

The Minister told reporters that although the fact that one of the children of the Hungarian family had no passport had caused difficulties, the Ministry had succeeded in coming to an agreement with the Dutch authorities, who then allowed the family to leave the country.

If the Hungarians travel home on the NATO aircraft, no further administration will be required, and if they come home using a commercial airplane, then the Consulate will issue them with the required documentation, he added.

Mr. Szijjártó also pointed out that every Hungarian citizen who indicated a wish to leave the island had been successfully evacuated.

Photo: MTI

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