On Friday, 14 September the United Nations' Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) will host high-profile events to honour Hungarian neuroscientist János Szentágothai and Hungarian-born British conductor Sir Georg Solti in Paris.
In an interview given to Dow Jones on 12 September 2012, Minister of State for EU Affairs Enikő Győri said that Hungary has doubts concerning the European Commission’s proposal to grant supervisory powers over banking in the eurozone to the European Central Bank (ECB).
Net external financing capacity of Hungary has steadily and significantly improved in the past couple of years. The same applies to the first quarter of 2012, when the combined surpluses of the current account and the capital account amounted to 3.1 percent of GDP. The current account surplus of the country was the consequence of the continued positive balance of real economy transactions, and the capital account – due primarily to the inflow of European Union resources -- has also recorded a significant surplus.
Opening to the East is reasonable regarding the external trade of Hungary, as the growth engine of the global economy is already outside Europe, Deputy State Secretary for External Economic Relations Balázs Hidvéghi said at the joint conference of the economic daily Világgazdaság and the Hungarian Foreign Trade Association, on Thursday in Budapest.
Minister for Rural Development Sándor Fazekas officially opened the 21st Budavár Wine Festival with bottle no. 1 of the limited edition Törley 130 Rosé Brut Nature champagne from the Törley Pezsgőpincészet champagne cellars, made especially for the company's 130th anniversary. "The wine sector contributed 67.5 million forints to the profits of Hungarian agriculture last year", said the Minister. The great celebration of wine awaits visitors from Wednesday to Sunday with the wines of some two hundred vineyards; this year's guest of honour is Croatia.
Defence Minister Csaba Hende started his official visit to the United States of America on 13 September with his participation in the UH-1N program at Andrews Air Base near Washington DC.
On Tuesday, 11 September the Bank Austria Kunstforum opened the exhibition “The Eight. Hungary’s Highway to Modernism” about the group of eight painters - Károly Kernstok, Béla Czóbel, Róbert Berény, Ödön Márffy, Lajos Tihanyi, Dezsö Orbán, Bertalan Pór, Dezsö Czigány.
Budapest, 12 September 2012, Wednesday – Today Minister Mihály Varga, Hungarian Co-Chairman of the Hungary-Kazakhstan Inter-governmental Economic Cooperation Joint Committee held negotiations in Almaty with Kazakh Co-Chairman and Minister of Economic Development and Trade Bakytzhan Abdirovich Sagintayev.
The European Commission’s 2013 work programme recently accepted by the European Parliament is in line with the Hungarian Government’s measures taken in the last two years, since the European Commission’s work plan put the emphasis on growth incentives and workplace creation.
State Secretary János Lázár talked about the electoral procedure proposal of Fidesz proposing among others voluntary voter pre-registration for next year's general election. The registration would start on September 1, 2013 and last until two weeks before the election, the head of the Prime Minister's Office said on Monday.
The Ministry of Human Resources is targeting the Roma with its recently published tender, which provides support for the realization of Roma cultural events and the production of other cultural content and products. The domestically funded project helps to set up cultural forums aiming at the preservation of Roma culture, traditions and language.
The government's job protection scheme costing the budget 300 billion forints (EUR 105m) in 2013 is expected to protect 1.5 million jobs and create several hundred thousand more, Economy Minister György Matolcsy said on Tuesday.
11 September Prime Minister Orbán met with President of the Moldavian Parliament Marian Lupu, who was in Budapest on a courtesy visit.
Drought is affecting Central and Southern Europe on an unprecedented scale, causing widespread damage to crops. Hungary is therefore planning to raise the issue of assistance at the European Council meeting on 24 September.
Visitors may acquaint themselves with a number of Hungarian innovations on 22 September in Budapest. The event entitled Bridge of the Future will be held on the beautiful Chain Bridge connecting Buda and Pest. This is an innovative outdoor exhibition showcasing the inventions and innovations of young Hungarians.
Eleven years ago on this day, one of our closest allies, the United States has been brutally attacked by terrorists, which lead to the death of thousands of innocent civilians in the New York World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Washington, and near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke at the opening session of the Hungarian Parliament following its summer recess, stating that Hungary is in a different situation than in 2008 and a different International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement is necessary. He highlighted that the country is stronger than it was four years ago with larger room for manoeuvre, which is a result of the policy linking the country’s success to greater autonomy and independent decision-making.
Minister of Foreign Affairs János Martonyi awarded Ambassador of Croatia Ivan Bandić with the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary on September 10.
Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development responsible for Parliamentary, Social and International Relations Katalin Tóth was on an official visit to Subcarpathia on September 7-8. Communiqué.
Speaking at the Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Evening yesterday, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zsolt Németh underlined the importance of preventing anti-Semitic incidents and ensuring the safety of Hungarian citizens.
According to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, there will be an agreement between the Hungarian government and the International Monetary Fund, but not based on the conditions that were revealed on Thursday. This is why the cabinet is elaborating alternative IMF/EU negotiation positions – he added on Kossuth Radio's 180 minutes program.
The Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic is handed to Ambassador of Finland to Hungary Jari Vilén by Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament László Kövér.
In the framework of the Wallenberg Year a Hungarian-Israeli Diplomat Seminar will take place between 9-12 September 2012 organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary and the Embassy of the State of Israel in Budapest.
The Sixth World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples concluded with a declaration marking the success of a 20-year cooperation between Finno-Ugric nations, institutions and civil society organisations. In the closing plenary session of the congress, Minister of State for Culture László L. Simon delivered a speech and, together with his Estonian counterpart, signed a four-year cultural work plan.
In the second quarter of 2012 Hungary’s GDP – matching almost exactly prior expectations – decreased by 1.3 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. Several countries in the EU have similar trends, Italy and Portugal have been in deep recession, while the economy of our regional peer, the Czech Republic, contracted by more than 1 percent according to preliminary data.