The Hungarian Parliament has once again passed the Waste Management Act. This was required, because President of the Republic János Áder sent the draft of the new Act back to Parliament for reconsideration at the end of October.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán handed the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary to Vice President of Banco Espírito Santo, Ricardo Espírito Santo Silva Salgado on Tuesday in the Parliament Building. The award was granted for his work to develop Hungarian-Portuguese economic and cultural relations and to improve Hungary’s international image.
Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér held talks with his Georgian counterpart Irakli Garibashvili.
Minister of Human Resources Balog and Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Torgeir Larsen at a press conference prior to the start of a two-day Council of Europe conference to tackle hate speech.
The Office of the Government Spokesman, the Fidesz party faction and various governmental politicians have condemned to the greatest possible degree the statement made in Parliament by Jobbik MP Márton Gyöngyösi. According to the Office of the Government Spokesman, the Government takes the strictest possible action against every form of racism and anti-Semitic behaviour and does everything in order to ensure that malicious voices incompatible with European norms are driven back, adding that every citizen will be protected from such insults.
Deputy State Secretary Ferenc Kumin, currently in New York, also condemned to the greatest possible degree Jobbik MP Márton Gyöngyösi’s comments.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán pledged to set up an English-language business school at an event on Tuesday where the Hungarian Government signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement with Hankook Tire.
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.
It is in Hungary’s best interest to utilize European Union development funds efficiently and invest a large part of them in economic development between 2014 and 2020, Minister of State at the Ministry for National Economy stressed at a Budapest press conference held on the occasion of his appointment as EU chief negotiator on Monday. He added, conclusions need to be drawn from the period 2007-2013 and in the next development cycle EU fund application shall be more targeted, less piecemeal and the entire process shall be supported by a more efficient institutional background.
In spite of the heavy workload, the soldiers of the Hungarian Defence Forces are doing a good job in Afghanistan – Gen. Tibor Benkő told Hungarian News Agency MTI on Friday, November 23 after returning from his visit to the Central Asian country.
The Hungarian Defence Forces have officially been declared able and qualified to use the full range of so-called Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) capability, as both NATO and the United States of America have accredited the Hungarian JTAC capability, among the first ones in the world. The Ministry of Defence received the certificate this week.
The Hungarian Government condemns to the greatest possible degree the statement made in Parliament by Jobbik MP Márton Gyöngyösi.
Rating agencies can no longer be taken seriously as they were the ones that suffered the largest loss of credibility during the years of crisis. Having failed to predict the financial crisis, they are a thing of the past now. The future will not depend on them or on speculators, but on countries and production. Instead of credit rating agencies, Hungary has been assessed by investors which have brought working capital to the country in the past couple of years, such as Daimler, Audi, Knorr-Bremse, Alcoa-Köfém or Coca-Cola.
Hungary's efforts to promote Roma integration in society and a European Union proposal to set a quota for women in listed companies' boards were among the topics discussed at a meeting between Minister for Human Resources Zoltan Balog and EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding in Brussels on Monday.
There have been no cases of certification by, contracting with or even offer given prior to contracting by the notified bodies – this was the result of the investigation of the Hungarian Office of Health Authorisation and Administrative Procedures, which was launched based on an article published by The Daily Telegraph at the end of October 2012.
Beneficiaries of the past 20-25 years in Europe and in Hungary should bear a larger part of the public burden, Minister of State heading the Prime Minister’s Office János Lázár said at a conference on 23 November.
All Hungarians understand the necessity of comprehensive reforms and for this reason they have avoided large-scale anti-government actions and strikes, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after talks with his Slovenian counterpart Janez Jansa.
Minister for National Economy György Matolcsy entrusts Minister of State for Economic Strategy Zoltán Cséfalvay to head the negotiations on implementing European Union development funds in the period 2014-2020.
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.
“Implementing the Chicago Summit Decisions – a Hungarian Perspective”
As prepared for delivery
In the initial three quarters of 2012 the volume of retail sales declined by 1.5 percent year-on-year that has been the consequence mainly of lower sales of non-food products and automotive fuel. Mail order and internet sales have continued to boom. Turnover of food has been practically unchanged in the past nine months. In September 2012 total retail sales declined by 3.1 percent, whereas there are several expanding sub sectors such as, for example, trade in non-specialized stores, textiles, clothing and footwear as well as cosmetics articles. The overall unfavorable data have not been a purely Hungarian phenomenon: this trend has been typical of several other countries and regions in Europe.
New, Hungarian-made fire engines were handed over for fire fighters of nine counties by Minister Pintér in Budapest.
The Ministry of Interior has done a successful work over the past two years by organizing public employment, expanding the number of police forces, establishing the national network of disaster management and helping citizens by creating a new and easier system of public administration – said Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér in Kecskemét at a press conference about the past two years’ work.
Zsolt Németh, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, claimed that NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) was beneficial because it contributed to achieving the goals of the Allaince as well as to promoting security.