IT security, one of the priorities of the Hungarian Presidency, was an indispensable constituent of efficient policing, life and property saving - Minister of State for Infocommunication Zsolt Nyitrai of the Ministry of National Development pointed out at the opening ceremony o Tetra World Congress and exhibition on 25 May 2011 in Budapest.
There are few things that express the spirit of the Hungarian Presidency as well as volunteering does – Enikő Győri, Minister of State for EU Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, emphasised in the Femmes d’Europe Gala in Brussels on 25 May. With her, the wife of President of the Republic Pál Schmitt, Katalin Makray, also attended the event.
On April 18 2011 the Hungarian Parliament adopted Hungary’s new Fundamental Law, which was signed in a ceremonial event by the President of Hungary, Pál Schmitt, on Easter Monday, 25 April 2011. The new Fundamental Law came into effect on 1 January 2012.
A series of direct negotiations between representatives of the Hungarian Government and those of Surgutneftegas, a Russian oil company, has been concluded with an agreement on the fate of a 21.2% MOL share package held by the company.
It is crucial for the regions to have a functioning Cohesion Policy with a clearly identified role, emphasised Minister for National Development Tamás Fellegi at the press conference held in connection with the informal meeting of ministers for Cohesion Policy at Gödöllő on 20 May, 2011. During the meeting, the ministers discussed the future of Cohesion Policy in the interest of improving competitiveness of the European Union and the quality of life for its citizens.
Minister of State for European Union Affairs, Enikő Győri held talks with her Spanish and Belgian counterparts on the preparation of the European Council’s meeting in June; and the present state of the most important Presidency dossiers in Brussels on 23 May. Following the Trio’s discussion, the Minister of State invited Member State Ministers and Ministers of State for EU Affairs to an informal lunch.
The waste collecting campaign organised by the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice in cooperation with the Ministry of Rural Development and the Volunteer Centre Foundation was a great success. In the initiative, approximately 162,000 volunteers took part in 800 locations, and thousands of tonnes of waste was collected.
At the opening event of the ‘TeSzedd! Volunteer for a clean Hungary!’ action on Saturday, Sándor Fazekas said that this was a very important date in the European Year of Volunteering, because it was without precedent for more than162,000 people to apply to take part in such an event.
As territorial cohesion is our common cause, the measures taken in the interest of its promotion are of crucial significance, Minister for National Development Tamás Fellegi pointed out at the press conference that followed the informal meeting of ministers responsible for territorial development on 19 May, 2011 at Gödöllő. At the meeting the ministers approved of the Territorial Agenda 2020, the most significant framework of territorial cohesion. To continue the meeting, on Friday the responsible ministers will discuss the future of cohesion policy.
Compared with this time one year ago, 18,000 more people are in employment in Hungary. According to the latest briefing from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (CSO), between January and March 2011 the average number of those employed in businesses with at least five staff, budgetary institutions, and non-profit organisations surveyed was 2,642,000: 1.18 per cent higher than the figure of 2,611,000 for the same period last year.