At a sitting of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg yesterday, Dr. Péter Mihalovics, ministerial commissioner at the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice, gave an address on the responsibility of governments and education, public education and alternative education systems in dealing with problems and challenges affecting young people.
According to the latest statistics of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), tourist traffic at accommodation establishments continued to increase in February 2013: the number of guests and tourism nights both signal higher demand in the sector. In the second month of the year 426 thousand guests were registered at accommodation establishments who spent altogether 988 thousand tourism nights in Hungary. These figures constitute an increase of 9.5 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively, compared to the corresponding period of last year.
"The Office of the Prime Minister is preparing a list of items in Hungarian museums that are inarguably not the property of the state so that they may be returned to their rightful owners", announced János Lázár on Tuesday in Keszthely, where he presented 86 works of art that had until now been stored in museums to the heirs of the Sigray family.
On Wednesday, the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted to put the proposal on launching a monitoring procedure against Hungary on the agenda of the next session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The committee members supported the motion in a vote of 21 to 20. The circumstances of the Committee's decision raise serious procedural and substantial concerns.
On 23 April 2013, the European Energy Exchange (EEX) held its first auction of the last marketable Hungarian EUA emission units listed in the second trading period of the emission trading system of the European Union.
Lecture by Zsolt Németh,
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary
at the event “US-Hungary Military Cooperation”, Hungarian Institute for International Affairs,
Budapest, April 22, 2013.
Developing a labour-based economy will be key to boosting living standards in the country, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Wednesday.
Hungary wants to step up energy cooperation with Moldova, State Secretary Péter Szijjártó said on Wednesday. At a press conference after a meeting of the Hungary-Moldova joint economic committee, he stated that Moldovan electricity projects and linking Moldova’s network to European Union countries are areas Hungarian electricity provider MVM is interested in.
This year’s first Salzburg Forum was organized by Poland in Warsaw on 23-24 April. At the ministerial conference, Hungary was represented by Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér.
The NATO-Russian Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Brussels on April 23 took place in a very good mood, which is a sign that the relations between the North Atlantic Alliance and Moscow are improving –Hungarian Foreign Minister János Martonyi said.
Hungarian-Chinese links have moved beyond protocol and involve close friendly relations in economic and cultural cooperation, Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics stated on Wednesday.
The development of Special Forces capability is a priority in the strategic plan of the Ministry of Defence for the period until 2022, Minister of Defence Csaba Hende told Maj.-Gen. Michael Repass, Commander of United States Special Operations Command Europe in Budapest.
Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog testified in front of the Nyíregyháza Court with relation ot the case of the Miklós Sója Kindergarten and Elementary School, run by the Greek Catholic Church. The Chance for Children Foundation (CFCF) has sued both the local government and the church, demanding closure of the institution that, according to CFCF, segregates Roma children.
The Budapest Water Summit will be held between October 8 and 11, and will be the most significant diplomatic event of the second half of the year in Hungary, the Foreign Ministry's Deputy State Secretary for European Union Sectoral Policy Gábor Baranyai told Hungarian news agency MTI on Tuesday.
The Hungarian general government deficit figure of 1.9% reported by Eurostat is even more favourable than the formerly announced 2.1%.
State Secretary Péter Szijjártó, who also serves as Government Commissioner in charge of Hungarian-Russian bilateral relations, on Monday opened the Hungarian Trading House in Moscow, established in cooperation with the Questor Group.
The issue of the a new and more effective mechanism to safeguard fundamental values in Member States proposed by the foreign ministers of Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Finland remains on the EU agenda, and the majority of Member States have expressed their support for the initiative – stated Foreign Minister János Martonyi following the meeting of the General Affairs Council on Monday.
The national TeSzedd! ("You Pick It!") litter collection drive will he held on September 14 this year, instead of in Spring as usual, announced the Minister of State for Environmental Affairs at the Ministry of Rural Development's Earth Day event held in Budapest's City Park.
The 11th March of the Living, commemorating the victims of Holocaust, took place along the Danube in Budapest on the 21st of April. The aim of the event was also to support the reinforcement of a Hungary that is free of racism and extremism. Around 20,000-25,000 people took part in the peaceful remembrance march. Among the participants were Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog, Fidesz parliamentary faction leader Antal Rogán, and several foreign diplomats and state officials.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared before young economists in Sarlóspuszta at an economic conference of the Developing Enterprises Association that in the economic crisis and structural transformation, the opportunities available to Hungary should be considered.