Bence Rétvári, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs at the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice, has told the television news station Hír Televízió that pension supplements will be revoked for more than one hundred former ‘III / III’ agents (who worked in the ‘internal enemy division’ of the communist-era secret services), and their heirs.
Provided the European Union's decision on the EDP against Hungary is in line with its standard procedure, Hungary must be allowed to stand up from the dunce’s seat where it had been placed by former governments, Minister for National economy Mihály Varga said in an interview for political daily Magyar Hírlap.
The Government has submitted an amendment to the 2013 Budget Act to Parliament which contains certain measures to ensure that Hungary exits the Excessive Deficit Procedure.
The Polish Presidency of the Visegrad Group organised its third meeting of agriculture ministers in Krakow on May 16-17, which in addition to the Visegrad Four – the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia – was also attended by Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia (V4+3). The Ministry of Rural Development was represented by Minister of State for Agricultural Economy György Czerván.
The draft of the Ministry of Rural Development's Ecological Farming Action Plan has been completed and social debate on the draft is expected to begin in early June, the Ministry's Deputy State Secretary to Parliamentary, Social and International Relations told Hungarian news agency MTI.
Deputy State Secretary Gergely Prőhle declared that Spiegel Online interpreted Viktor Orbán’s comment incorrectly when it claimed that the Hungarian Prime Minister accused Chancellor Angela Merkel of using Nazi methods.
Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics and the German Chancellery chief reviewed the two countries' respective domestic political situations on Friday.
It is with utter shock and bewilderment that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary was informed about a statement published in the daily paper Metro in Brussels on 16 May by Mr. Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament, stating that Hungary wants “to count Jews”.
School police officers will be on duty in schools that are especially endangered by criminal elements – said Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér at a press conference in Budapest after the first meeting of the National Committee for Crime Prevention. Minister Pintér said that police officers would also participate in schoolwork as members of the teaching faculty.
At a Europe forum in Berlin organised by public-service broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Angela Merkel said she fully agreed with the European Commission that Hungary must change legislation which runs counter to EU treaties.
President of the Republic János Áder presented the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary (civilian division) to Alice Esterházy, daughter of the ethnic Hungarian politician János Esterházy, who was a prominent public figure in Czechoslovakia in the 1930’s and 40’s.
The report on Hungary that the Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe (CoE) has recently adopted is biased and politically motivated, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Foreign Ministry Zsolt Németh declared yesterday on the sidelines of a CoE session. The procedure involves risks for the CoE, because it may force the organisation into ideological battles, he said.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán mentioned pay rises for general practitioners and teachers, and the launching of a population programme as important tasks for the upcoming period, on Kossuth Radio's 180 minutes.
German enterprises have so far invested some EUR 21bn in Hungary, and that places Germany at the very top among foreign investors in Hungary, Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga said an event held to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the German-Hungarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Budapest. He added that Hungarian exports to Germany had also passed the EUR 20bn mark for the first time.
At the parliamentary evening of the German Federal Association for Bioenergy (Bundesverband BioEnergie – BBE) held on 15 May 2013 in Berlin, discussions were held on the importance of bioenergy and opportunities for the sector.
On Thursday Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics opened the Warsaw International Book Fair. Hungarian writers are attending the Fair, among them György Spiró, Ottó Tolna, Gábor Zsille and Márton Falusi.
Ferenc Kumin, Deputy State Secretary for International Communications, in response to the Human Rights Watch statement today upon publishing its report, said that it lacked the objectivity that is generally expected from such documents.
The draft report prepared for the European Parliament by MEP Rui Tavares should stick to the facts with regard to the state of fundamental rights in Hungary, Minister of State for EU affairs at the Foreign Ministry Enikő Győri stated on Thursday.
On Monday, the founding session of the Hungarian-South African Economic Joint Committee was held in Pretoria, South Africa. The Hungarian Co-Chairman of the Committee is Secretary of State Kristóf Szatmáry, while his South African counterpart is Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Elizabeth Thabethe.
In accordance with the central bank’s inflation target, Hungary aims to achieve a consumer price index level of 3 percent. After declining moderately over the past couple of years, the pace of inflation decrease accelerated sharply as of the beginning of 2013. The annual inflation rate – for the very first time since the inflation target system was established – declined to below 3 percent in February, 2.2 percent in March and 1.7 percent in April. Looking back at a period covering several decades it can be concluded that the annual inflation index reached a historic low in April 2013.