Talks over the last few months have culminated in the breakthrough achieved by Viktor Orbán and José Manuel Barroso at their meeting in Brussels yesterday. This is an important milestone, which is already producing favourable results in the markets. As you know, today there was a decision by the European Commission − the College of Commissioners, to be more precise − according to which, and I quote: “The Commission has decided to start talks with Hungary on precautionary financial assistance.”
Hungary sees Indonesia as an emerging regional giant, with commendable democratic governance credentials. Hungary and Indonesia share very healthy, comlementary relations. Visiting Foreign Minister of Hungary Dr. János Martonyi talked to The Jakarta Post’s Yohanna Ririhena on bilateral relations and the future trends of ASEAN-European Union (EU) relations.
Press release
Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic awarded Mr. Péter Szaló, Deputy State Secretary to the rank of Officer in the National Order of Merit. Deputy State Secretary for Area Management and Construction received the award from Ambassador Roland Galharague during a ceremony at the French Residence in Buda on 25th of April.
"Only technical comments arrived from the European Union with regard to the new Act on waste management. Replies were received from three member states: France, Austria and Germany, and our nation will incorporate the observations into the draft of the new legislation", announced the State Secretary for Environmental Affairs of the Ministry of Rural Development at the conference entitled SymbioCity. At the event, organised within the framework of the "Green Sweden" programme, Swedish and Hungarian experts presented opportunities for sustainable city development.
Hungary's talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on financial assistance are likely to last for weeks, under the current international financial climate, Tamas Fellegi, chief negotiator for talks, told a press conference on Wednesday.
On 23 April, Minister of State for Culture Géza Szőcs opened the China Centre of the University of Miskolc, which is going to offer linguistic and cultural training. The Centre has been established in cooperation with Chinese-owned chemicals group Wanhua-BorsodChem.
In particular, thinking about patriotism has a special stake nowadays, especially when working on the renewal of the Hungarian defence system, “… and when thinking about the future of Europe what is in a crisis now” – said Csaba Hende Defence Minister of Hungary at the conference “Patriotism in the European Union”, organised by the Association of the Hungarian Graduates of Germany in 21 April.
The authorities tested 146 products primarily containing rice, corn, soya and linseed, but found no foods that did not comply with GMO regulations.
Foreign Minister János Martonyi – on his official visit to Indonesia – had a meeting with his counterpart, Marty Natalegawa in Jakarta on 24 April 2012. The parties explored several new areas of cooperation during their talks.
At the start of his tour in Southeast Asia on 24 April 2012, Foreign Minister János Martonyi gave an interview to The Jakarta Post, the leading daily newspaper of Indonesia published in English. The Minister introduced the purposes of his visit in the paper aimed at Indonesian businessmen and decision makers, as well as foreigners living in the Asian country. The head of the Foreign Ministry focussed on the overview of the Hungarian-Indonesian relations, and following the interview, he negotiates with his colleague, Marty Natalegawa.
Alternative fuelled vehicles constructed by Hungarian university teams were presented on 23 April, 2012 in the driving technology centre of Hungaroring. The apparatuses that were available for on-site testing will compete at several international competitions in the near future. The Ministry of National Development will of to promote the engineering students' successful participation. A separate project office was set up in order to promote and coordinate higher education workshops.
At today’s informal meeting, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the President of the European Commission, Mr. José Manuel Barroso held an exchange of views about the issues under discussion between Hungary and the European Commission. Prime Minister Orbán informed the President of the Commission about the intentions of the Government in relation with these issues.
On 23 April Prime Minister Viktor Orbán took part in a workshop at the European Policy Centre in Brussels where he spoke about the general political and economic situation in Europe, and Hungary’s goals within that.
Participation of private capital in Hungarian sport financing system used to be quite poor and that is the reason why the new system of tax benefits for companies that provide additional subsidies for team sports was introduced.
According to the latest flash report of the Central Statistics Office (KSH), in the initial two months of 2012 retail sales totaled almost 1115bn HUF in Hungary. The turnover of foodstuff which makes up almost half of sectoral sales (48 percent) increased by the greatest extent in 5 months (1.7 percent) in comparison to the corresponding period of the previous year.
On 17 April 2012, Foreign Minister János Martonyi conducted negotiations with Peter Slipper, Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives.
Hungary and Lithuania are jointly providing help to Serbia so that it may integrate the European Union's food safety and animal welfare requirements into the Serbian legal system as smoothly as possible. The EU is providing 2 million Euros in support until 2014 towards the professional cooperation between our countries.
With the Széll Kálmán Plan 2.0 Hungary has complied with the requirements of the Council of the European Union, and the excessive deficit procedure related to the country can be resolved after years of failure to meet targets up until last year’s success.
On 1 May the Government will appoint János Fónagy as government commissioner for the restructuring of public transport, for a one-year term. The restructuring of public transport is one of the important commitments in the structural reforms launched in 2011 (Széll Kálmán Plan).
This year Hungary is not planning to significantly reduce its contribution to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, but it has started discussions with the allies on the timeline of the expected future drawdown – Defence Minister Dr. Csaba Hende told General John Allen, the Commander of ISAF in Brussels on April 18.
On April 18 Maj.-Gen. László Domján, the Commander of the HDF Joint Force Command paid a visit to Potsdam at the invitation of Lt-Gen. Rainer Glatz, the Commander of the Bundeswehr Operations Command.
Organized by the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy and Hungarian Institute of International Affairs
Hungarian Institute of International Affairs, April 20, 2012
As Prepared for Delivery
A new bio-technology plant for the pharmaceutical company Richter Gedeon was opened in Debrecen on Thursday. The project is worth HUF 25bn. At the opening ceremony, the Prime Minister said that this and similar projects indicate that Hungary has begun to recover from the failures of the past and to move forward.
The Press Office of the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice said that the Ministry has taken note of the Hungarian Constitutional Court’s decision on oversight of print and online news media, issued on Tuesday. Proposed amendments to media regulation are being prepared, and will be submitted to the Hungarian parliament in May.