Tamás Fellegi (Minister without Porfolio for Liaising with Certain International Financial Organisatons) today confirmed that the Hungarian Government continued to make efforts towards the earliest possible commencement and closing of negotiations with the IMF and the EU.
On Wednesday evening Zoltán Kovács, Minister of state for Government Communication, and Fidesz MEP György Schöpflin took part in a political debate at the prestigious London School of Economics. The subject was the policies of the present Hungarian Government, and domestic and economic affairs in Hungary since the political transition of 1989-1990.
The Board of Governors (BG) of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is holding its regular annual meeting between 5-8 March, 2012. Hungary is currently a member of the policy-making body of the organisation headquartered in Vienna. The Hungarian delegation is represented by Minister of State for Climate Change and Energy Pál Kovács of the Ministry of National Development acting as governor.
In their meeting on 1 March 2012, the heads of state and government of the European Union officially granted candidate status to Serbia. Thereby the Western Balkan country opened a new chapter in its institutional relations with the EU and its accession process.
From 5 March 2012, on the basis of a bilateral agreement Hungary’s Embassy in Damascus represents Canada as well. This is not unprecedented, as Hungary entered into a similar cooperation in Tripoli in 2011 during the revolution in Lybia. The Hungarian diplomacy performed the task it undertook excellently.
On 5 March 2012, in the framework of the Czech Presidency of the Visegrád Cooperation János Martonyi participated in the extended V4 Foreign Ministerial Meeting in Prague. Besides the Foreign Ministers of the Visegrád countries, the Baltic states, and the Eastern Partners; the Foreign Minister of Denmark holding the current Presidency of the Council of the European Union, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, and Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle were also invited to the event, which centred around the Eastern Partnership.
On 15 February 2012 the Hungarian Government decided to organise the International Conference on Cyberspace in Budapest on 4-5 October 2012.
The 2012 data of the central subsystem of the state budget
The Hungarian Government welcomes the decision of the European Commission to accept the answers submitted by Hungary in ninety per cent of the issues raised by the Commission. Therefore, these can be settled now.
The government has been and will be committed to achieving the deficit target. The proof of this commitment is that this is the first government since Hungary’s EU accession in 2004 which cut the budget deficit to below 3 percent.
Another major project is being launched in Hungary. The opening event of the Kecskemét project of Knorr-Bremse’s utility vehicle division was held on 6 March 2012 attended by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The Prime Minister also made a speech.
The Government has approved an equestrian programme named after ‘Kincsem’, the historic Hungarian racehorse. This programme aims to develop the Hungarian equestrian sector and ensure its sustainability, integrating national equestrian education culture, horse riding tourism, stud farms, equestrian sports, hippotherapy and horse racing. Thus Hungary’s role in horse tourism, based on a long and famous tradition of horsemanship, may increase still further within Europe.
The number of churches recognised by Parliament has risen to thirty-two. Parliament decided on the amendment of Act CCVI of 2011 on the Freedom of Conscience and Religion and the Status of Churches, Religious Denominations and Religious Communities on 27 February.
Hungarian-Algerian agricultural relations have gained new impetus. Minister of Rural Development Sándor Fazekas, acting in representation of the Hungarian government, and Algerian Minister of Agriculture Rachid Benaissa, have signed an Economic Cooperation Agreement (ECA) in Algiers on the 50th anniversary of the beginning of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Hungary would like to thank the people and politicians of the Republics of Lithuania and Poland – including, of course, the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk – for standing by Hungary in its efforts to determine its own fate, and for espousing Hungary's right to sovereignty and self-determination.
On the occasion of 20th anniversary of Central-European Police College (CEPOL) established on the initiative of Hungary and Austria ceremony was held on Monday evening in Vienna with the participation of Sándor Pintér, Interior Minister of Hungary and Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Austrian Federal Minister for the Interior.
Agricultural investments rose significantly by 11.7% in 2011. Investment in the processing and food industries also increased by more than 24%.
The 1st founding meeting of the COMEDS Military Surgeon Ad Hoc Expert Team (MSET) took place on 1-2 March 2012 in Budapest, organized by the NATO Centre of Excellence for Military Medicine (MILMED COE). The meeting was led by its chairman, Col. Dr. Teunis van Egmond.
Hungary will not lose any penny of its convergence or cohesion fund support next year, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a press conference after the EU's summit on Friday.
On 29 February the Democratic People's Republic of Korea announced a moratorium on test launching of long-range missiles, nuclear test and on uranium-enrichment. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea also agreed on the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors to verify the moratorium on uranium-enrichment.
The European Commission has registered the name "Alföldi kamillavirágzat", and given it "protected designation of origin" (PDO) status. The Commission registry currently includes more than 1000 officially protected denominations.
Zoltán Kovács, Minister of State for Government Communication, took part in a round-table discussion on the subject of the eurozone crisis at the Paris office of the European Commission.
Geneva, 1 March 2012
Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, welcomes as a positive development that Hungary has made its legislation concerning assembly more stringent in order to regulate and sanction unlawful demonstrations designed to create fear. The report also acknowledges that the European Roma Framework Strategy was conceived under the coordination of the Hungarian Government. Hungary was the first Member State to complete and submit to the European Commission its own inclusion strategy, the National Social Integration Strategy.
Hungary is committed to keeping its budget deficit below 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the level set by the European Union, Zoltan Csefalvay, state secretary at the economic ministry, told a committee of European Parliament on Wednesday.