The 31st Sofia International Book Fair has opened, with Hungary as the guest of honour. Tibor Navracsics, Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Administration and Justice, opened Bulgaria’s most prestigious review of the publishing and bookselling industry.
Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics has said that Hungary has a historic duty to support Croatia, as for eight hundred years the two nations have been through good times and bad times together.
At a public forum on Friday in the Hungarian town of Szolnok, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Public Administration and Justice Tibor Navracsics said that the Government hopes that by the beginning of 2014 the country will be stronger, cleaner and tidier. In this way it will be better able to withstand the ‘global storms’ and address challenges more competitively when economic growth resumes in Europe.
After more than thirty years and more than one hundred amendments, a new Criminal Code will come into force in Hungary in July 2013. Parliament adopted the Code last July and this week Parliament begins debate on related transitional provisions and further necessary amendments. In addition to a number of technical amendments, the proposal contains elements taken from international practice – for example those related to crimes against children and the more effective prevention of terrorist acts.
On Monday the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice (KIM) and the local council of Budapest’s District XI signed a cooperation agreement, according to which several hundred of the local council’s employees will receive training related to open-source software.
Speaking at an international conference in Budapest on the subject of soft power, Zoltán Kovács, State Secretary for Public Diplomacy at the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice, said that the changes made over the past two years since the current government came to office have contributed towards strengthening civil society, and have enabled the emergence of conditions which make the use of soft power possible.
This year, in the spirit of the Year of Child-friendly Justice, a number of legislative changes concerning judicial procedures have been enacted to protect children. As a result of amendments to the Criminal Code children will receive greater protection, with the new Code containing heavy penalties for offences against children.
Yesterday the Hungarian-Slovakian Intergovernmental Joint Committee for Cross-Border Cooperation met in Visegrád to discuss questions related to cross-border infrastructure and public transport.
Co-Chairmen of the 16th session of the Hungarian-Slovakian Intergovernmental Joint Committee in Visegrád, Slovakian State Secretary at the Ministry of Interior Jozef Buzek, Hungarian Minister of State at the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice Erika Szabó and Hungarian Minister of State for National Development János Fónagy.
A new public administration development project is being launched within the New Széchenyi Plan. In the coming months, the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice is carrying out a review of the legislative environment necessary for the widest possible implementation of public e-services. Thus public administration is being brought in line with ever more customer-friendly approaches, not only in terms of the government windows which are opening across the country, but also in the area of public e-services.