The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary expresses its perplexity and rejects the statement made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay on 18 June 2013. The UN High Commissioner, while welcoming the opinion issued by the Venice Commission regarding the fourth amendment to the Fundamental Law of Hungary, made several untenable critical remarks with respect to the state of democracy in Hungary.
Enikő Győri, Minister of State for EU Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, was shocked that the ALDE Group of the European Parliament announced on Twitter that "a Fidesz MEP" had accused the EU of being a dictatorship. The referred statement was made by a representative who was elected on the Jobbik ticket, an opposition party.
State Secretary for External Economic Relations and Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó declared that Hungarian-American economic relations will expand significantly in the near future, after meeting in the United States with among others the directors of Protector and Gamble, IBM, Citigroup, GE, Honeywell, Cargill, the Republican leader of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives and the leaders of the Hungarian Congressional Caucus.
Hungary has drafted a new framework strategy for international development cooperation in line with its policy of eastern orientation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on 17 June 2013.
Upon the request of Hungarian Foreign Minister János Martonyi the Venice Commission published an opinion on the Fourth Amendment to the Fundamental Law on 14 June. The CoE body after having received documents and detailed explanations from the Hungarian Government has brought several modifications to the previous draft opinion and dropped its previous negative assessment on a number of important issues.
The handover of the Ófehértó Motorway Engineering and new motorway police site at kilometre section 254 of the M3 motorway between Nyíregyháza and highway No. 49 took place on 18 June 2013. Mr Pál Völner, Minister of State for Infrastructure under the Ministry of National Development spoke at the event.
State Secretary for External Economic Relations and Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó is on a two-day official visit in Washingon DC and met with Co-chairs of the Hungarian Congressional Caucus Marcy Kaptur and Andy Harris.
The parliamentary representation of ethnic Hungarians living outside Hungary – which will be accomplished following the 2014 elections – will hopefully bolster Hungary's sense of responsibility for them, Parliamentary State Secretary Zsolt Németh declared in Paris on Monday.
The Hungarian Government issued a Non-Paper concerning the latest, modified opinion of the Venice Commission on the Fourth Amendment to the Fundamental Law.
According to the flash report of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), the strengthening of wages’ purchasing power continued unabated in the fourth month of the year.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán signed an agreement in Budapest with Chairman of the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture, Balázs Győrffy.
Hungarian people have made tremendous efforts to end the Excessive Deficit procedure against the country, but the result “shall be upheld and protected”, and that is the reason the Government has submitted new measures in Parliament, Government Spokesperson András Giró-Szász said, and Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga announced the concrete measures.
The National Development Agency (NDA) organised the open day of European Union development projects for the second time on 15 June 2013, at which over 60 development projects implemented within the framework of the New Széchenyi Plan were presented to the public nationally, said Nándor Csepreghy, Deputy State Secretary for Development Projects of the Ministry for National Development (MND).
In his pre-agenda speech in Parliament, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared that the biggest flood Hungary had ever experienced has left the country without causing any casualties or major damage, adding that through recent protection efforts along the flooding river Danube, the country has proved that it stands united and strong when people are needed on the dykes.
A summit meeting took place in Warsaw between the Prime Ministers of the Visegrad Group (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) and the Prime Minister of Japan.
From Hungary’s viewpoint, we have succeeded in achieving favourable and significant changes to the draft report of the Venice Commission on the fourth amendment to the Fundamental Law of Hungary, Minister of Foreign Affairs János Martonyi declared in Venice on Friday. However, this does not mean that Hungary agrees with the content of the document, János Martonyi told reporters after attending the Friday session of the Venice Commission.
Even from a European aspect, the Government has achieved outstanding results in the field of employment in general and women’s labour prospects in particular, Ministerial Commissioner Piroska Szalai, responsible for the improvement of women’s labour market prospects, said in Győr, at a conference organized within the framework of the Fidesz programme entitled Hungary is Doing Better.
The Hungarian government has helped more than 7,000 young people to find or retain their jobs since 2010, Bence Rétvári, State Secretary for Parliamentary Affairs at the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice said on Friday.
The Ministry of National Development together with the Hungarian Office for Mining and Geology and the Geological and Geophysical Institute of Hungary held an investment forum on the 14th of June 2013, in the Karolyi Csekonics Residency in Budapest. Potential investors, trade union representatives and other interested parties had been informed about the Hungarian legal framework of the proposed mining concessions as well as about the EU member states’ working solutions and characterized basic conditions.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán participated in an interview at the public Kossuth Radio. Regarding the flood situation the Prime Minister declared that with unprecedented cooperation, good organization and expertise the danger could be averted and dykes were functioning well.
On June 12, Foreign Minister János Martonyi received Tomicah Tillemann, the grandson of late Congressman Tom Lantos, who serves as the Senior Advisor for Civil Society and Emerging Democracies to Secretary of State John Kerry. Mr. Tillemann was invited to Budapest by the Tom Lantos Institute to hold the first of a series of public lectures focusing on human rights.
Hungary is determined to repay the IMF loan taken out in 2008 until 2014 at the latest; Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga said in Budapest at a presentation held within the framework of the Fidesz programme entitled Hungary is Doing Better.
The Government adopted the National Research, Development and Innovation Strategy for 2014-2020, Minister of State for Economic Strategy Zoltán Cséfalvay announced.
On June 7, the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a workshop entitled „The Road to Seoul: Inviting Africa to Take Part in Cyber Security”, as part of the Africa Forum taking place in Budapest. The workshop was attended by representatives from several, mainly African countries, the EU, NGOs and enterprises.
The Ministry for National Economy is launching two new employment programmes: the Road to Your Job ("Út a szakmaválasztáshoz") scheme assists young people with social disadvantages in finding a profession, and another programme will help local governments to employ students during the summer vacation period.