Hungarian Wizz Air pilot crashed in Sweden under suspicious circumstances
Gábor Korom was an experienced pilot of the Hungarian low-cost company, Wizz Air, but crashed into the cold sea near Sweden. The tragic accident happened more than half a year ago, but Swedish authorities have not yet concluded the relevant examinations. Mr Korom’s father believes his son died under suspicious circumstances.
According to Blikk, Mihály Korom, the father of the tragically died Wizz Air pilot, cannot process the fact that his son is no more. He thinks that his crash happened under suspicious circumstances. Gábor’s last words were ‘No Sir’, which meant he did not have devices to help him navigate in bad weather conditions. Minutes later, he and his co-pilot crashed into the water.
The Swedish authorities have not yet concluded the relevant examinations, but everybody suspects an engine failure caused the accident. The wreck is already out from the sea but remains in Sweden. Gábor Korom thinks the Swedish are too slow.
Based on eye witnesses, the plane crashed in total silence.
Gábor worked for Wizz Air in their Katowice and Temeswar bases. His friends would like to erect a memorial for him and his co-pilot near Budapest.
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- Wizz Air pilots died in a horrific crash, HERE is their last conversation
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Featured image: illustration
Hungarian President: Security key for Hungary
Security is crucial for Hungary and its people, President Katalin Novák said after talks with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on Wednesday.
Hungary’s NATO membership ensures security “both for the country and its region”, Novák told reporters. “Peace and stability are of paramount importance for Hungary,” she said.
Hungary contributes to NATO’s missions and will soon meet its commitment to raising its defence spending to two percent of GDP, Novák said. The presence of Hungarian troops in the Western Balkans contributes to peace and stability in the region, she added.
Meanwhile, Novák said Hungary supported Ukraine’s right to self-defence and would continue to provide humanitarian aid to that country. Hungary condemns Russia’s aggression against a sovereign Ukraine, she added. “The most important task is to find ways to peace,” she said, and called for a ceasefire and peace talks.
Novák also ruled out the possibility of any ties between Hungary and Russia “which could undermine [Hungary’s] ties with its allies and commitments within NATO as well as in the European Union“.
Concerning the Middle East, Novák said Hungary deeply sympathised with Israel and condemned the “brutal attack” it had suffered. The conflict, she said, focused international attention on the importance of stability in the region.
Answering a question about Sweden’s NATO accession, Novák said it would “contribute to reinforcing NATO and increasing common security”.
Novák noted the importance of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, saying it was “highly important to honour minority rights especially when a country has ambitions to join our alliances”.
Resolution of issues around the Hungarian community in Ukraine is “necessary for Hungary to maintain its supportive stance towards Ukraine’s fights”, she said.
The Hungarian government still does not support Sweden’s accession to NATO
Answering questions, Gulyas said Israel could fully count on the Hungarian state’s support in humanitarian support. He added that Hungary had often prevented the condemnation of Israel at international forums, at times as the only EU member state to veto foreign policy declarations.
Asked about the possible consequences of the conflict in the Middle East Gulyás said that some 2 million people lived in Gaza, half of whom might flee from the region.
In connection with the adoption in parliament earlier in the day of a declaration that condemns the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, Gulyás said it was “telling” about opposition Momentum that its lawmakers stayed away from the vote. Those lawmakers have failed to fulfil their duties, he added.
Responding to a question, Gulyás said attempts aimed at paralysing Hungary’s EU presidency in the second half of 2024 had “recently waned”. The EU will benefit a lot from Hungary’s presidency under the incumbent government, Gulyás said and cited the experience of the previous Hungarian presidency under the same government in the first half of 2011. He said that presidency was beyond doubt successful in so that several issues under debate had been closed.
A package of laws on the protection of Hungary’s sovereignty will be discussed by the board of ruling Fidesz on the week starting on November 5, said Gulyás .
In connection with the recent parliamentary election in Poland, Gulyás said the Hungarian government respected its outcome and congratulated in advance to the parties in the country’s next government.
Next month, the government will make a decision on extending the interest rate stop beyond December 31, Gulyás said. Asked about inflation and wage increases, Gulyás said that after a nine-month negative period a turnaround had taken place in September. He flagged “substantial wage increases in the first months of 2024”, adding that the government would also approve to raise the minimum wages if the organisations of employers reach a relevant agreement with the unions.
Asked about the option of reintroducing coronavirus pandemic related restrictions in response to an increase in cases, Gulyás said no heating restrictions were planned in public buildings in the winter season.
Relations with Russia
Asked about the reason of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s recent meeting with the Russian president, Gulyás said “Hungary has a clear position on the Russian-Ukrainian war which calls for a ceasefire and peace talks as soon as possible”. Hungary deems Russia’s war in Ukraine unacceptable and sharply condemns it, and sees the territorial integrity of countries of paramount importance, as enshrined in international law, he said. At the same time, Hungary’s energy supplies cannot be ensured without Russia, Gulyás said, noting that the incumbent government had done the most to diversify the country’s energy resources. “We have created energy links with six neighbouring countries, but 90 percent of our gas supply and more than two-thirds of our oil supply still depend on Russia.”
He said there was nothing extraordinary about Viktor Orbán’s meeting the Russian president, as the Austrian chancellor, among others, also met Putin. He said EU leaders and Putin were in regular contact since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Gas issues
Commenting on Bulgaria’s decision to significantly raise the transit fee on gas deliveries, Gulyás said the measure went against EU law and violated Hungary’s right to safe energy supplies. “We call on Bulgaria to withdraw the measure as soon as possible. We are looking to find legal solutions.”
Asked about gas prices in Hungary, Gulyás said they would not change until December 31, adding that the government would deal with the issue of reviewing them before that date.
NATO and Sweden
Regarding the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership, Gulyás said Sweden would need to give an answer to the following: “If we are wrong in saying that Sweden has levelled hurtful accusations at us for years, why did we have to listen to them? But if they think those accusations are true, why would they want to be then in a club with us?”
The situation around the issue has recently deteriorated, Gulyás said. “We want a good relationship with Sweden. If we can achieve that, there will be no obstacles to the accession.”
Regarding his talks with the Chinese head of state, Gulyás said they had concluded “countless” agreements with Chinese banks and companies. “China is of critical importance for Hungary and Europe. Hopefully, some European countries will come to the same realisation, and act upon it. Severing ties with China would be a serious blow to the European economy,” he said.
Budapest
Commenting on a HUF 50 billion loan taken out by the Budapest municipality, Gulyás said the move was “forced and mistaken”. Budapest’s tax revenues had grown substantially in the past years, he insisted. “The incumbent leadership started with a HUF 200 billion budget surplus and has managed to bankrupt the city by now. I hope they will continue to fulfil their obligations and [public transport company] BKV will continue to operate,” he said.
He slammed Mayor Gergely Karácsony’s decision to pay some 300 million forints in bonuses to the heads of municipality-owned companies as “a peculiar practice”.
Regarding the possibility of EU membership of Ukraine and Moldova, Gulyás said the EU had no such thing as “an observer status”, and those countries would have to fulfil “clear criteria” of integration. The accession of new states also requires a unanimous vote, and “Hungary is the guarantee that better-prepared states won’t be shunned while others are allowed in,” he said.
In response to question on Hungary’s stance on Romania’s Schengen integration after disagreements on events in a Hungarian military cemetery in Valea Uzului (Uzvölgye) in central Romania, Gulyás said the conflict did not show “neighbourly relations”. At the same time, it had to be taken into account that more than one million Hungarians were currently living outside the Schengen area in Romania, he added.
Regarding Ukraine, Gulyás reiterated the government’s stance that unless the country restored the rights of the Hungarians living there, “we won’t support its integration into any international community.”
On the deployment of Hungarian troops in Chad, Gulyás said Hungary had been called upon to participate in the mission. From spring 2024, a maximum of 200 Hungarian troops will be deployed to serve there, he said.
“We aim to contribute to curbing migration, support the fight against terrorism, and ensure the background for the support brought in by the Hungary Helps programme,” Gulyás said.
FM Szijjártó: Developments in Turkish parliament won’t affect Hungarian decision making
The Turkish president’s recent submission of a bill approving Sweden’s NATO membership bid to parliament does not change the state of Hungary’s ratification of the country’s accession, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in New York on Tuesday.
Arriving at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Szijjártó said he had spoken to his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, earlier in the day, who had told him that a bill approving Sweden’s NATO membership had been submitted to Turkiye’s parliament.
“This changes nothing on our side,” Szijjártó said, according to a ministry statement. “Hungary’s parliament is the parliament of a sovereign country, so it will make a sovereign decision on this issue.”
“And now that the matter has been submitted to parliament in Turkiye as well, the Turkish parliament is practically at the stage the Hungarian parliament has been at for months, since the Hungarian government has already submitted the draft resolution needed for the ratification to parliament,” he added.
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Erdogan submits Sweden’s bid for NATO membership: will Orbán follow?
Opposition Párbeszéd is calling for parliament to put the ratification of Sweden’s NATO accession on its agenda, the party’s group leader said on Tuesday.
Tímea Szabó told an online press conference that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had submitted a bill on Monday to ratify Sweden’s NATO accession. After this, Hungary is the only NATO member that has yet to ratify Sweden’s NATO accession, she added.
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Foreign minister shared when Hungary would allow Sweden to join the NATO
Sweden needs show respect in its bilateral ties with Hungary, and lawmakers of the Hungarian parliament will most certainly be ready to speed up the ratification of its NATO membership, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Montenegro’s Budva on Friday.
Addressing the To Be Secure (2BS) annual security policy conference, the foreign minister pointed out that the Hungarian government had submitted the ratification documents to parliament last year. “The decision is now in the hands of the national assembly,” Szijjártó said, according to a statement by the ministry.
He told the forum that Hungarian MPs had obtained their mandates “in a democratic race” in the general elections, many of whom represented the governing parties for the fourth, fifth, even for the sixth time. The people voted for them, and they have been working for decades to represent their interests, Szijjártó said.
“Despite of all this, they must be listening constantly to claims made from a distance of several hundred kilometres that they have won their mandates in a non-democratic, illegitimate, autocratic and dictatorial procedure,” he said. The foreign minister called it “unacceptable and offensive” that while Sweden kept urging the ratification of the country’s NATO membership, it constantly repeated that Hungary was not a democracy.
- Expert: Orbán-blocked Swedish NATO accession may result in harsh anti-Hungary US sanctions – Read more HERE
- Foreign Policy: despite his promise, PM Orbán will not allow Sweden to enter NATO
In connection with the war in Ukraine, Szijjártó reiterated the government’s position that Hungary was “in a special situation” because of the 155,000 ethnic Hungarians living in western Ukraine’s Transcarpathian region, many of whom fight and die in the front. “We Hungarians do not want that many more people, many more ethnic Hungarians should die,” he said.
In Ukraine, most EU and NATO countries thought “the time is not right for a military solution”, Szijjártó said. Hungary, meanwhile, is of the view that the circumstances for such a solution will become progessively worse as the war continues.
That preserving the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine is a goal “goes without saying”, Hungary’s government is merely calling for an end to the destruction, he said.
Hungary’s foreign minister regularly meets with his Russian counterpart
Szijjártó said that he had met his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, several times since the start of the war. Keeping channels of communication open is key to preserving a hope of peace, he said.
Regarding the EU integration of the Western Balkans, Szijjártó warned that even as certain member states keep voicing concerns about foreign powers seeking to establish their influence in the region, the accession process was not moving forward.
The EU could “easily solve that problem” by integrating the states in question into the bloc, he said. The “shocking” deadline in 2030, recently outlined by EU President Charles Michel, “may be too late”, he said. Responding a question on Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, Szijjártó said the people’s decision to vote him into office must be respected. Hungary has a vested interest in maintaining Bosnia and Herzegovina’s territorial integrity, and the best guarantee to that would be an EU membership, he added.
Expert: Orbán-blocked Swedish NATO accession may result in harsh anti-Hungary US sanctions
According to the senior analyst at K&H Bank, failing to vote in favour of Sweden’s accession to NATO could worsen the Hungarian economy. In addition, Tibor Navracsics, Minister for Regional Development, is in talks with the prime minister about an independent ministry for public administration and regional development.
Sweden’s NATO accession, American sanctions
As Index writes, the dispute between government leaders and the national bank (MNB) governor is not good for the forint exchange rate, according to a senior analyst at K&H Bank. In addition, there is also a risk that Hungary could block Sweden‘s accession to NATO. Dávid Németh said:
The other problem for the government is that we still have accounting disputes with the European Union, which does not help the forint’s image. If we look at Sweden’s NATO membership, that is also more of a political risk. Mainly because if Hungary’s image deteriorates because of that, the United States could impose some kind of sanctions on Hungary.
However, Viktor Orbán sees a chance that 2024 could be the year of the reconstruction of economic growth in Hungary.
Changes in the Hungarian government
444 wrote that Magyar Hang has learned from three sources close to the government that a cabinet reshuffle is expected. Tibor Navracsics, Minister for Regional Development, who is negotiating EU funds, may be given his own ministry. His ministry would be responsible for public administration, which would mean that several professional areas would be transferred to him.
The Prime Minister’s Office would then have a purely political role. At the Prime Minister’s Office, István György is State Secretary for Territorial Administration, Árpád Potápi for National Policy, Máriusz Révész for Active Hungary, and Miklós Soltész for Church and National Relations.
Telex reported that the new, autonomous ministry for public administration and regional development could be in place from the 1st of January. Navracsics also said that his responsibilities for EU funds are expected to remain unchanged. The minister was the EU commissioner during the previous EU term. In PM Orbán’s government formed in 2010, he was deputy prime minister and minister of justice. In addition, he was also responsible for public administration.
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BREAKING NEWS: Hungarian Karikó awarded Nobel Prize in medicine – UPDATE
Hungarian-born biochemist Katalin Karikó and American physician-scientist Drew Weissman have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Phisiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against Covid-19, the secretary of the Nobel Assembly announced in Stockholm on Monday.
The Nobel Prize carries a cash award of 11 million Swedish krona (EUR 952,000). The award ceremony is traditionally held on Dec. 10, the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel.
Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam, a member of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, said Kariko and Weissman’s work had been crucial in saving lives in the early stages of the pandemic.
“The impressive flexibility and speed with which mRNA vaccines can be developed pave the way for using the new platform also for vaccines against other infectious diseases,”
the Nobel Assembly said in its press release. “In the future, the technology may also be used to deliver therapeutic proteins and treat some cancer types.”
Speaking to journalists in Szeged, where she earned her doctorate in 1983, Kariko said what mattered most was to find joy in work. Karikó said her message to young students was that it was important for them to maintain their physical and mental health and to handle stress.
Karikó, a research professor at Szeged University (SZTE), said her advice to young people was to become better and better in their field through enjoyment in their work. She cited Hungarian-born scientist Hans Selye, one of the world’s most influential stress researchers, as saying that focus should be put on what can be changed.
Answering a question, Karikó recalled that her mother had listened to the Nobel Prize announcements each year, hoping that her daughter’s name would be read out, even though there were times when she was just “busy in the lab” without a job or a research group.
Karikó was born in Szolnok, in eastern Hungary, and graduated from the University of Szeged with a degree in biology. She obtained a PhD at the Szeged Biological Research Centre in 1983 before continuing her career as a biochemist in the United States.
She began working with Drew Weissman in 1998, and the two filed their patent for the use of nucleoside-modified mRNA in 2005.
From 2006 to 2013, Karikó was CEO of RNARx, a company she co-founded with Weissman.
In 2013, she went to work for BioNTech with her Japanese research partner Hiromi Muramatsu. She soon became the company’s vice president, going on to oversee the development of BioNTech and Pfizer’s mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine in 2020.
Karikó has received several Hungarian and international awards, including the Széchenyi Prize, the Ignaz Semmelweis Prize, the Reichstein Medal and the Grande Medaille of the French Academy of Sciences.
This year, she and Weissman were awarded the 2022 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.
Hungarians have won 13 Nobel Prizes since 1905. Hungarians have received Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Economics:
- Philipp E. A. von Lenard (1862-1947) 1905 Physics
- Robert Bárány (1876-1936) 1914 Medicine
- Richard A. Zsigmondy (1865-1929) 1925 Chemistry
- Albert von Szent-Györgyi (1893-1986) 1937 Medicine
- George de Hevesy (1885-1966) 1943 Chemistry
- Georg von Békésy (1899-1972) 1961 Medicine
- Eugene P. Wigner (1902-1995) 1963 Physics
- Dennis Gabor (1900-1979) 1971 Physics
- John C. Polanyi (1930-) 1986 Chemistry
- George A. Olah (1927-) 1994 Chemistry
- John C. Harsanyi (1920-2000) 1994 Economics
- Imre Kertész (1929-) 2002 Literature
- Avram Hershko (1937-) 2004 Chemistry
As we wrote in August, the Hungarian president Katalin Novák handed over the Saint Stephen Order of Hungary to biologist Katalin Karikó.
UPDATE
Hungarian president
President Katalin Novák congratulated Karikó in a post on Facebook. “Katalin Karikó is the first Hungarian woman to receive a Nobel Prize,” Novak noted. “Our nation is enriched by and proud of a Nobel Prize winner whose research may have saved millions of lives.”
Out of 227 recipients in medicine since the prize’s inception, Karikó is the 13th woman to win a Nobel Prize.
Government
János Csák, the culture and innovation minister, paid tribute to Karikó’s “perseverance, determination, tirelessness and professionalism”. He told MTI in Tokyo that Kariko always had “a defined goal, which she stuck to and pursued with conviction, even when difficulties arose and she found herself without funding.”
He said that even today, some countries hived off basic research from applied research, adding that the development of mRNA-based vaccines started as basic research but swiftly turned into applied research owing to the coronavirus epidemic.
When doing basic research, Csák said, it was necessary to think ahead to real human needs.
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) said in a statement that Kariko’s “pioneering work” opened a new era in the treatment and prevention of many diseases.
While carrying out research at the Biological Research Centre in Szeged in the 1980s, she soon became committed to studying messenger mRNA, which helps cells to make proteins from the information stored in DNA, the statement said.
“From the vast blueprint of our cells, it’s as if a page is copied and sent to the factory, the ribosome, to make what the blueprint describes,” it added.
She soon had a hunch this mechanism could be exploited to give instructions to each cell to make various useful molecules, using our own body as a “pharmaceutical factory”, the MTA said.
Wizz Air launches new service to Sweden
Hungarian-owned Wizz Air, Europe’s fastest growing and most sustainable airline, will transfer its Budapest flights from Stockholm-Skavsta Airport to Sweden’s busiest international airport, Stockholm-Arlanda Airport, near the city centre, from 31 October.
From the end of October this year, Wizz Air will operate 4 flights a week to Stockholm’s main airport, also known as the Venice of the North. The flights will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from Budapest. Tickets are available from HUF 7690 (EUR 19,67) on wizzair.com and via the airline’s mobile app.
Stockholm Arlanda Airport is just 30 minutes by public transport from central Stockholm, giving the passengers faster and cheaper access to the popular city centre. Sweden’s capital offers visitors a unique mix of modern and medieval architecture, as well as thousands of small and large islands, making it a great choice for nature lovers.
“We’re delighted to offer a new and more convenient travel option for those wishing to visit Stockholm. We are confident that our passengers will also welcome this positive change and we look forward to welcoming them on our flights to the new airport from 31 October,” said Zsuzsa Trubek, Communications Manager at Wizz Air.
Wizz Air will operate the 180-seat Airbus A320, the 230-seat A321, the 186-seat Airbus A320neo and the 239-seat Airbus A321neo.
Government: EU siding with human smugglers, no rush to ratify Sweden’s NATO bid
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Monday said it was “amazing” that “certain European politicians” were “still on the side of migrants, who frequently fire shots at Hungary’s southern border” and they were also “on the side of people smugglers”.
In response to the German foreign minister’s suggestion that asylum seekers arriving in the European Union should be distributed among the member states “in an orderly and fair way,” Szijjártó said: “Certain European politicians have been living in a state of delusion since 2015.”
In a Facebook post, the minister said the politicians in question persisted in arguing in favour of the acceptance and redistribution of migrants in the EU, “despite the extraordinary wave of migrants, parallel societies, no-go zones and aggressive pressure” of migrants at the border.
Migrants must be stopped at the border, not distributed, he said. “We should clear the air in Brussels and Berlin, and make clear that crossing the border illegally is a serious crime that should be punished accordingly,” Szijjártó said.
Read also:
- Journalist of government mouthpiece: Swedish are idiots
- Orbán cabinet fired way too many military officers: no one left to use high-tech weapons
Orbán: Hungary in no rush to ratify Sweden’s NATO bid
Hungary is in no rush to ratify Sweden’s NATO accession, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told opposition lawmakers on Monday. Sweden’s security is not under any threat, and there is no strategic element of Swedish-Hungarian relations that would be harmed if Hungary demands respect from Sweden before approving its bid, the prime minister said in response to opposition rebuttals to his speech opening parliament’s autumn session.
Referring to a video recently presented in Swedish schools on Hungarian democracy, Orbán said the government “doesn’t care what kind of films they make”, but did care about what Swedish school children were taught about Hungary “because that is a question of state politics”. Meanwhile, he said the outcome of the war in Ukraine was “not an a la carte menu”, calling the idea that Russia would reach Hungary’s border through military force “nonsense”. “There is no scenario that would lead to Hungary and Russia sharing a border again, because Hungary is a member of NATO,” he said.
Journalist of government mouthpiece: Swedish are idiots
András Bencsik, the editor-in-chief of the government mouthpiece Demokrata, called the Swedish idiots, adding that they should not be given a gun in their hands because no one knows how they would use it.
According to 444.hu, Bencsik said Sweden wanted to discredit Hungary and its citizens with a video spot bashing the operation of the Orbán government. The primary focus of the video is on the way democracy backslides in the country after Orbán’s 2/3rd victory back in 2010. The material is for educational purposes. It can be used in Swedish public schools, however, it is not obligatory.
Mr Bencsik suggested Sweden should be kicked out of the EU due to this malicious propaganda video that spreads blatant misinformation. As we reported HERE, the EU may have similar plans, but those concern Hungary.
Furthermore, Bencsik said Hungary should not allow Sweden to enter NATO because the country and its people are “malevolent, sick and idiot”. If Sweden can claim that Hungary has a dictatorship, Hungarians have all the rights to call the Swedish “brain-damaged idiots”.
Read also:
- Foreign Policy: despite his promise, PM Orbán will not allow Sweden to enter NATO – Read more HERE
- Speaker: Hungary should not vote for Sweden’s NATO accession
Fidesz parl group leader: “we are waiting for explanation on Swedish film about Hungary”
The ruling parties’ parliamentary groups have been unable to make a supportive decision on Sweden’s NATO accession as they are waiting for an explanation on the “defamatory” film made on Hungary by Sweden’s public television, Fidesz’s group leader said on Thursday.
Máté Kocsis told a press conference during a break at the two-day meeting of the parties’ parliamentary groups in Esztergom, northern Hungary, that the two parliamentary groups had watched the film, in which “shocking lies” are told. One of Hungary’s “best-known left-wing activists”, Márton Gulyás, also appears in it, but viewers are not informed that he is a political opponent of the current Hungarian governing parties, he added.
The ruling parties’ parliamentary groups are completely baffled, Kocsis added, as to “how the Swedes think that the Hungarian parliament and the two parliamentary groups will enthusiastically support Sweden’s NATO accession after such actions.” “We are waiting for an explanation from the Swedes in the matter”, he said.
Foreign Policy: despite his promise, PM Orbán will not allow Sweden to enter NATO – UPDATED
Orbán promised he would back Sweden’s plea two months ago, but it appears he changed his mind. In TV broadcasts, Hungary openly slams Sweden for an allegedly misleading educational video about the state of the Hungarian democracy. But in the background, there are other forces that might play a role, for instance, the tight Türkiye-Hungary cooperation. And Erdogan now wants more than ever to get his way.
The NATO enlargement with the two Baltic states, Sweden and Finland, has sparked heated political debates ever since it arose. The issue sheds light on the difficulties the alliance is struggling with. After the invasion of Ukraine, the two patriotically independent and well-armed nordic countries, Sweden and Finland, suddenly asked for acceptance to NATO. Finland’s bid was accepted by Hungary and Türkiye, but Sweden’s is still pending.
According to Foreign Policy, the cabinet uses the Swedish education material slamming the Orbán government for the weakening Hungarian democracy merely as an excuse. That is partly because the Swedish government or parliament does not influence what education support materials uploaded on UR, the educational sibling of the Swedish Public Radio, belonging to a state-run foundation. On the other hand, the foreign policy magazine highlighted Hungary’s democratic backsliding as a reality. It is also said to be the reason why Budapest has not received EU aid yet (although the government believes there is a Brussels conspiracy behind it).
Read also:
- Hungarians terrified due to seven UFOs spotted at night flying in formation – Read more HERE
- Slovakia may close the Hungarian–Slovakian border next Tuesday
NATO enlargement jeopardised
However, Foreign Policy acknowledged that it was not the best idea to slam Hungary’s democracy amid such a critical time. And that goes for the media, education and opposition alike. Moreover, that is also true of “Momika and Danish provocateur Rasmus Paludan” burning Qurans in Sweden, which angered Erdogan greatly.
Foreign Policy argues that in a time of Russian aggression, NATO fails to demonstrate strength and unity, which is bad news.
American F-16 deal is behind the delays?
Meanwhile, G7, a Hungarian economy news outlet, said the background game is about American fighter-bombers. The essence of their writing is that Türkiye will not vote for Sweden’s accession until they receive 40 F-16 American fighters. Biden promised them, but the Congress has not authorised it yet. Therefore, Erdogan is frustrated. As a consequence, Sweden feels they became hostage in the USA-Türkiye arms game. And Hungary is on Türkiye’s side.
G7 reminded that all NATO member states ratified Sweden’s NATO bid one year ago. We wrote earlier today that the Speaker of the Hungarian parliament – one of Orbán’s oldest political allies – believes Hungary should not accept Sweden’s NATO accession.
Menczer: ‘Press rumour’ govt linking NATO ratification to Swedish visit
A report that the Hungarian government expects the Swedish prime minister or foreign minister to visit Budapest in connection with the ratification of Sweden’s NATO accession “is a press rumour”, Tamas Menczer said in a statement on Monday. The state secretary for bilateral relations at the foreign ministry was responding to an article carried by news portal Szabad Európa.
Hungary hosting NATO innovation body meetings this week
Budapest is hosting the meetings of two NATO innovation bodies from 18 to 22 September as part of a NATO Innovation Week, the defence ministry said on Monday. Hungary, as a testament to its commitment to NATO, is a founding member of both the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) and the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), which have chosen Budapest as the location of their meetings, the ministry cited Imre Porkolab, ministerial commissioner for defence innovation, as saying.
Porkolab, who is also deputy chair of DIANA, said the defence ministry is organising the NATO Innovation Week “on the sidelines” of the DIANA and NIF meetings together with the Defence Innovation Research Institute (VIKI), with Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky as the event’s chief patron. NIF and DIANA are both aimed at adapting advanced technologies developed in the civilian sector by partnering with small and medium-sized businesses, the commissioner said. As part of the Innovation Week, Hungary will present its innovation ecosystem to the other member states, the ministry said.
Speaker: Hungary should not vote for Sweden’s NATO accession
Sweden is at the gates of the NATO accession but still waiting for the approval of the Hungarian and Turkish parliaments.
Experts say Orbán’s Hungary did not give the green light for Sweden to support his friend, Erdogan, Türkiye’s newly elected president. Now László Kövér, the Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament, said the Fidesz-KDNP majority should not vote for Sweden’s NATO accession. That is because an anti-Orbán government video about democracy concerns in Hungary is part of Swedish education (watch it HERE).
Furthermore, Kövér believes that the Swedish do not like their country: they hate it. Therefore, Hungary should not stay in one military alliance with them. In contrast, Kövér cleared that the backbone of the Hungarian Air Force is Swedish fighters, and the Swedish military helps maintain those aircraft, 444.hu wrote. Therefore, Sweden’s NATO membership would be advantageous for Hungary.
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Hungary will not ratify Sweden’s NATO accession?
Swedish schools are spreading “serious accusations and fake information” on Hungary, which “does not help” the Hungarian ratification process of Sweden’s NATO membership, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in a letter addressed to his Swedish counterpart, Tobias Billstrom, on Thursday. Gergely Gulyás, the prime minister’s chief of staff, said on Tuesday’s government info that Sweden did everything Hungary not to ratify their NATO accession plea.
Gulyás added that Hungary’s foreign ministry had to decide whether to summon the Swedish ambassador, Mandiner wrote.
Noting that Billstrom had initiated several meetings on the issue, Szijjártó said: “I took advantage of these occasions to explain to you the very negative reception of a [series] of biased, unfair and unjust accusations put forward by Swedish politicians. These accusations have challenged the democratic nature of our domestic political system and questioned the maturity of the Hungarian people to make decisions about the future of our own country.”
Hungarian lawmakers obtained their mandates in democratic elections, and often managed that feat multiple times. “If they hear your politicians to judge this as undemocratic or authoritarian, please do not be surprised if they consider this as an insult,” he said. “And now, dear minister, these Members of Parliament have read in the news that as part of your school curriculum … serious accusations and fake information are being spread to students in the schools of Sweden, suggesting that democracy has been on a backslide in Hungary in recent years.”
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“You urge our Parliamentarians to ratify your accession to NATO, while you continue to accuse them … [of] destructing democracy in Hungary, he said.” That contradiction “does not help” the process of ratification along, he said.
Surprising result: Hungary in top 10 in a health list
Hospital waiting times, healthcare fees and ambulance costs have recently become a sensitive issue worldwide. But some countries are working faster than others. Hungary is in a surprisingly good position on the list.
For example, Australia has the seventh worst waiting times for doctors and specialists, according to a survey by the US organisation NiceRx. Ireland has the fastest average ambulance response time in Europe, according to a Statista survey.
Because of the many different statistics and surveys, it can be difficult to know how the health system in each country compares with the others. So the health insurance experts at Compare the Market decided to dig a little deeper.
By analysing eight separate factors, including the number of hospital beds, doctors and nurses, and average waiting times for surgery, 34 countries were ranked according to where the waiting times are shortest (and longest). Europe performs very well, with 6 of the top 10 countries in the Old Continent.
Countries with the shortest waiting times for surgery:
1. Sweden
Sweden regularly ranks first for happiness, childcare and well-being, and is no exception when it comes to waiting times for surgery. Not only does the country have the highest number of doctors and nurses per 10,000 inhabitants, but the average waiting time for surgery is 50 days, the third lowest in the world behind Italy and Hungary (!).
Although not all countries record social media opinions on this, Sweden is the second most positive country, with 40 percent of the population having a good opinion of medical care.
2. Switzerland
Switzerland comes second, with the third highest number of nurses per 10,000 inhabitants, meaning that people already in hospital are more likely to receive more time and care than in other countries with fewer staff.
Not only that, but a survey of waiting times for tests found that the Swiss were the least happy, with just 34 percent saying they had been kept waiting. Moreover, the satisfaction of the population is the fourth highest when it comes to medical treatment, with a Numbeo score of 72.04.
3. Japan
With more hospital beds per 10,000 inhabitants than any other country in the world – 129.8 – Japan has the third fastest growing healthcare system. Japan offers universal healthcare, which is relatively cheap. It pays 30 percent of total medical bills and people are largely satisfied with it. The level of satisfaction with Japanese healthcare is the third highest according to Numbeo.
Hungary is 6th
Hungary is 6th on the overall list. Hungary also scores well in Average waiting time for surgical treatment and social media positive sentiment. But it is in the lead in the hospital beds per 10,000 category, scoring 4.06 overall.
Peru is at the other end of the list. There are not enough doctors, hospital beds and nurses. They are followed by Colombia, where the lack of nurses is also a problem. Third on the imaginary podium is Chile, where the highest proportion of people have negative opinions. Available data show a staggering 221.3 days waiting time for surgery.
Hungarian minister shared when the parliament can accept Türkiye’s NATO accession
Hungary’s parliament is slated to decide on ratifying Sweden’s accession to NATO this autumn, as the government submitted the relevant documents earlier this year, the foreign minister told Turkish channel TRT World on Monday.
Attempts to resolve disputes with Stockholm have failed so far, he said in the interview, adding that Hungary had become “a target and a victim of this political dispute”, and on the receiving end of interference in its domestic politics. As an ally of Türkiye, Hungary has regularly consulted on Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, he said. While Hungary “does not want to become the obstacle in the way of Swedish NATO membership”, it also considers Türkiye’s interests, because defence alliances must be based on trust, he said.
Regarding the war in Ukraine, Szijjártó said Hungary was in a “singular situation”: some 150,000 Hungarians live in Ukraine, many of whom had been drafted into the Ukrainian army and lost their lives, he said. Hungary urges an immediate ceasefire and peace talks, and refuses to allow weapons deliveries to Ukraine through its territory, he said. The sooner the war ends, the fewer Ukrainians and Ukrainian Hungarians will die, he said.
As a country which time and again had to fight for its freedom, Hungary respects Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty “unconditionally”, he said. It is also supporting some 1 million refugees who have arrived since the start of the war, he said. Some 1,300 kindergartens and schools have accepted Ukrainian children, and the government is providing health care while working to offer jobs too, he said. Accordingly, Hungary expects Ukraine to restore the rights of its Hungarian minority as they were in 2015 regarding the use of the mother tongue, culture and administration, he said.
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TurkStream helping Hungary
If Ukraine aspires to become a member of the EU, it must accept its values, he said. Szijjártó said it was regrettable that Russia had backed out of the grain export deal earlier this month, despite efforts by Türkiye and “personally President Erdogan” to keep the deal afloat. Hungary has always kept solidarity corridors open, contributing to Ukrainian grain being delivered to African and Middle Eastern countries, he said.
Some of the grain, however, “remained in Hungary” rather than being transported to the countries in need, he said, adding that a glut of cheap Ukrainian grain threatened to ruin Hungarian farmers and markets. The transit routes to other countries remain open during a ban on the trade of Ukrainian grain products in Hungary, he said. Regarding Hungary’s energy security, Szijjártó highlighted the importance of the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline project. Hungary has helped to build the TurkStream pipeline — alongside Russia, Türkiye, Bulgaria and Serbia — which is now capable of delivering 8.5 billion cubic meters of gas to Hungary, he said.
Hungary started diversifying its energy resources long before the war in Ukraine started, he said. Besides Russia, the most important players to provide Hungary’s energy mix will be Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Qatar, he said.
Under the latest agreement with Turkish gas company BOTAS, Hungary will receive nearly 300 million cubic meters of gas next year, he said. Since Qatar’s order book is full until 2026, negotiations between Hungary and Qatari companies have already started on the purchase of gas in 2027, he added. The delivery of Qatari and Azeri gas would require significant developments in regional infrastructure, but the EU is dragging its feet on providing funding, he said. Instead, regional states like Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Greece and Türkiye have started negotiations to enable large deliveries, he said.
Hungarian researcher of the Tibetan Book of the Dead mysteriously vanished, he is not the only one
Professor Dr Rudolf Zágony, a Hungarian researcher of the Tibetan Book of the Dead at the University of Pécs, vanished without a trace from the South Hungarian city. Apart from him, a foreign footballer with a luxury car also disappeared in Hungary.
According to Blikk, Mr Zágony (83) was having a stroll with his wife in Pécs yesterday morning. Suddenly, he turned off the street and vanished into thin air, leaving his spouse startled and distressed. The police have been on the search to find him, asking for the help of the residents of Pécs. The missing person is 165-170 cm high and has blue eyes, white hair and classic full beard. He wore khaki-coloured shorts, a blue-white striped short-sleeved shirt and blue-grey shoes paired white socks. Mr Zágony is a professor of Eastern cultures. If you have information about his whereabouts please call 06-80-555-111 (Telefontanú – phone witness or 112, the central emergency phone number). Here is a photo of him:
Swedish-Iraqi footballer disappeared in Budapest
Meanwhile, a foreign footballer also went poof into thin air. The 27-year-old Abdullah Hameed Talal has vanished with his posh Porsche in Budapest. Abdullah has double citizenship (Sweden, Iraq), and disappeared from his 13th district flat. He is approximately 171 cm high, mixed race with short black hair. If you have any information about his whereabouts, call the number mentioned above.
He signed his contract with HNK Gorica (Croatia) on 10 August and then headed to Budapest on 21 August but never arrived. The footballer drove a white Porsche Taycan with a Swedish plate number, Telex wrote. Here is a photo of him:
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