On Friday afternoon, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Slovenian counterpart Alenka Bratusek inaugurated a road linking Kétvölgy and Felsőszölnök in Vas County, close to the Slovene border, of which Prime Minister Orbán said: the construction of this road represents a victory over our weaknesses.
Minister of State János Fónagy represented the Hungarian Government at the funeral of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The Hungarian Government will keep an equal focus on both the smallest villages and largest cities, while in public education it will ensure that even the most underprivileged children are given the same opportunities as their peers born into better circumstances, State Minister for Public Education Rózsa Hoffmann said at a press conference in the northwest Hungarian village of Veszprémvarsány on Friday.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán signed a declaration of intent with his Slovenian counterpart Alenka Bratusek on developing road infrastructure and creating six new border crossing points between the two countries.
With implementing the administrative simplification process Hungary succeeded in reducing administrative burdens with 25 percent. The promise originally meant to lower entrepreneurial administrative necessities, but the government was able to realize this reduction on the whole population. Unnecessary bureaucratic burdens were eliminated in 228 processes, so less paperwork, forms and standing-in-lines will burden the citizens. With the simplification of directives and shortening of administration periods, enterprises got rid of useless obligations in 96 processes. Also, formal simplification has been carried out on the legislation process, with which more than 3400 unneeded parliamentary resolutions and other decisions were repelled.
Foreign Minister János Martonyi declared that the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) was cooperating with the National Roma Self-Government (NRS), with social inclusion was becoming a part of foreign policy.
After the consolidation of over one billion forints implemented last year, the Government is to settle the remaining debts of Oroszlány, amounting to ca. 900 million forints, Minister of National Development Zsuzsa Németh announced in Oroszlány on 9 January, 2014.
Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics claimed that "as a tourist region, Lake Balaton is viable only with Bakony and the Balaton Uplands, which together is capable to offer a wide variety of programmes throughout the whole year" at the two-day European Destination Marketing Conference this Thursday, organized in Balatonfüred.
The Government of Hungary signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the local unit of Austrian construction materials manufacturer Leier, based in Győr (northwest Hungary) on Thursday.
On the basis of the latest data, the seasonally adjusted economic sentiment index of GKI-Erste improved further in December 2013. According to the GKI survey, the economic sentiment index increased to -2.9 points in December, and it is the best reading in more than 10 years: the indicator exceeded this level only in October 2002.
The Ministry of National Development (MND) and the Hungarian National Asset Management Ltd. (HNAM) have set up a new data base to help companies employing differently abled persons and customers of socially responsible public procurement tenders. Market access and establishing contact to customers are facilitated by a free, user friendly web surface accessible on the website of HNAM, Deputy State Secretary for Public Procurement Andrea Jánosi announced in Budapest on 9 January, 2014.
In the opinion of the Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga, an expansionary period is taking shape within the Hungarian economy and during this time the Government counts on enterprises which are capable of underpinning growth.
Every person in Hungary as well as in the whole world should be aware of the crimes that were committed by communism, said Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics in the monthly journal of public service (called 'Közszolgálat') released this Thursday; regarding the goals of Commission on National Remembrance, the body which explores former mechanisms of power during communist dictatorship.
During the last three years more than 100,000 Hungarian women have opted for early retirement after 40 years of work regardless of their age, Minister of State for Social and Family Affairs Miklós Soltész said at a press conference on Thursday.
The Hungarian Rowing Association (MESZ) will receive state subsidies of 9.6 billion forints (EUR 32 million) for the 2014-2020 period, Minister of State for Sport István Simicskó announced at a press conference after signing the grant agreement with MESZ President Tamás Regényi.
Minister of State for EU Affairs Enikő Győri held a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 8 January at which she discussed several EU issues that are important to Hungary, such as the Multiannual Financial Framework, EU enlargement and the principle of free movement.
Erzsébet Programme, Hungary’s most prominent social programme of the past two decades, gave the opportunity for more than 250,000 people to go on vacations last year, 100,000 among them were children. As the spokesperson of the programme, Anna Nagy said in a press conference this Wednesday in Budapest, 62 new calls for proposals are announced for children, large families, and the elderly and disabled people this year.
The central sub sector of the state budget posted a preliminary deficit of HUF 929.2bn for the year 2013. At the end of December, cash-flow data of the central sub sector of the budget turned out to be even more favourable than the Government’s expectations. Preliminary cash-flow figures for revenues and expenditures of the year 2013 confirm that the below 3 percent deficit target calculated in accordance with EU methodology will be met.
According to the Ministry of Human Resources, in 2014 the amount of financial support provided to people with disabilities will be higher than last year. According to current plans, the Hungarian Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SINOSZ) and the Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted (MVGYOSZ) are each scheduled to receive 173 million forints, the National Federation of Disabled Persons' Associations (MEOSZ) and the National Autism Association (AOSZ) will receive 168 million forints and 52.5 million forints, respectively.
The Ministry for Human Resources has launched a programme with a budget of 4.5 billion forints (EUR 15 million) aimed at facilitating cooperation between schools in Hungary and abroad that cater for underprivileged pupils, Minister of State for Public Education Rózsa Hoffmann and Minister of State for Social Inclusion Zoltán Kovács announced at a press conference in the village of Nyergesújfalu, northern Hungary.