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Joint Water Polo
Two of Europe´s best water polo teams will be training
together for the next world championships. The Italian squad will be joining
Hungary in their practice matches in Kecskemet to prepare for Melbourne,
Australia. In 2003 Hungary beat Italy in the finals, to win gold medal.
Hungary won the Men’s championship in 2003 and 19073. It was placed second
in 2005, 1998, 1982, 1978, 1975. In 1991 it won third place. Italy won
the championship in 1994, taking second place in 2003 and third place
1975.
School
Diplomacy Contest
After last year’s major success, the Educational Contest
on Foreign Policy will again be held in Budapest. The event is organized
by the Corvinus Association for Culture and Foreign Policy, and the Ministries
of Education and Culture and Foreign Policy. The aim of the contest is
to educate high-school students on Hungary´s diplomacy and foreign relations
oustide the EU, and its relations to world-powers such as the US and China.
 More Gyurcsany Programs
Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány announced his
cabinet’s five ‘flagship’ programs at the end of his annual ‘state
of the union’ speech. The five programs were the fight
against child poverty, the
modernization of public education, development of disadvantaged
regions, the need for empowering leaders, and the helping
of SMEs. The PM also
described the past months as the “ most difficult time
since the change of regime,” and stressed the need form reform
over political fighting.
Gyurcsany also said he hopes to reduce child poverty by
at least 5% by 2013. Currently about 20% of Hungarian children
live below the poverty
line, Gyurcsany admitted in his recent ‘State of the Union’-style
speech in parliament. The Socialist leader also said his
government wants to
launch major reforms in health care, which the opposition
fears could mean the end of free services. Gyurcsany promised
to also “improve public
education and to help disadvantaged regions.” Gyurcsany
believes his reforms could be implemented without having to implement
new austerity measures. Critics have expressed their doubts
saying Gyurcsany had already
admitted he lied about the economy to win re-election last
year.
Neo-Nazis Rally
Some 1,000 Hungarian neo-Nazis and skinheads and dozens
of like-minded foreigners protested at Budapest's Heroes Square
against globalisation.
The demonstration commemorated the escape attempt with
which German Wehrmacht armed forces and pro-German Hungarian
Arrow Cross Party members
tried to break up the encirclement of Budapest during the
Soviet siege on Feb 11, 1945. The protests, which were
registered by a private citizen,
were peaceful. Hungarian prosecutors argue they have virtually
no discretion to act if private citizens register demonstrations,
due to the relatively
liberal Hungarian right of assembly.
Kissing Record Broken?
February is the month of Valentine’s day. This year though,
the record for most simultaneous kisses, which was held
by Hungary, was
broken in the Philippines. More than 6,000 couples kissed
simultaneously at midnight Saturday in Manila, breaking
the Hungarian record, where
5,875 couples kissed simultaneously in Budapest in 2005.
The new number needs to be verified by an independent auditor
and approved by Guinness
World Record officials before it becomes a world record.
 Vastagh
Becomes Ambassador
After being an MP for two terms, Pal Vastagh was nominated
to become the next Hungarian ambassador to Canada. The politician
accepted his mandate on Oct 3, 2006 and relocated this year
to Toronto, Canada.
Vastagh presented his credentials officially on Jan 30,
and first appeared as the new ambassador at the Toronto Helikon
Ball, where
he met with
young Hungarians participating in their traditional first
ball event, organized by the Hungarian community.
First Prime
Minister
 2007 has been designated ‘year of remembrance’ for Lajos
Batthyany, first prime minister of Hungary, in honor of the 200th
anniversary of his birth. The first in a series of events paying tribute
to the prime
minister, was held at the cemetary grounds of Fiumei ut.
Dignitaries laying wreaths at the commemoration included
Hungarian
Prime Minister
Ferenc Gyurcsany, Education Minister Istvan Hiller, former
prime minister Peter Boross, and Pal Schmitt, vice-president
of FIDESZ.
Check Mate
Hungarian contemporary artist Sam Havadtoy, also closely
associated to Yoko Ono, recently ended his latest Budapest exhibition
entitled ‘The Game’ at the Centralis Galeria in District
5. Havadtoy continued his unique
technique painting on lace applied to aluminum plates. His
latest works are documents of the forty-one moves of the
famous third game of the Reykjavik
chess match of 1972 in which Chicago-born Bobby Fischer beat
world champion Boris Spassky. The artist himself claims
to loves chess, adding there
were times he played the game at least three times a day
with his once companion Yoko Ono.
MOL Profits up 35%
The Hungarian Oil and Gas Co (MOL) on Monday announced
its 2006 consolidated net profit was HUF 331.42-bil (USD 1.7
billion), up 35%
yr/yr, on stronger operating performance of its main businesses
and a one-off gain from the sale of its natural gas businesses.
Its earnings
per share (EPS) rose 45% to HUF 3,480 (USD 17.90) for the
period.
T-Kabel To Launch
T-Kabel, a Hungarian subsidiary of Deutche Telekom is launching
its cable phone service in February. The company intends
to spend more than HUF 1 billion (USD 0.0050 billion) on
the project. According to
T-Kabel, the development will allow customers to make phone
calls on the cable of their television and internet connection.
Schneider
Expands
The French-owned Schneider Electric plans to expand in
Hungary in the foreseeable future, investing HUF 2.4 billion
(USD 12.3 million), according to Philippe Bertrand, Country Manager
of Schneider Electric
in Hungary. He says, “This year we expect Schneider entities
in Hungary to have a turnover of HUF 62.7 billion (USD 322.4
million) as compared
to HUF 53.6 billion (USD 275.7 million) in 2006 and HUF
43.2 billion (USD 222.3 million) in 2005.” Schneider employs
900 people in Hungary.
Kosovo Violence
Hungarian and other international peacekeepers remain on
high alert in Kosovo after clashes in February left at least two
people dead during a demonstration against a United Nations
plan on the future
of
the province. During the clashes, the worst in three years,
UN forces and Kosovo police say they fired tear gas and
rubber bullets to
disperse
thousands of ethnic Albanians who say the UN proposal falls
short of independence for the breakaway Serbian province.
Soon after the violence
ethnic Albanians
commemorated those who died during a candlelight vigil while
Kosovo's Interior Minister Fatmir Rexhepi resigned saying
he felt "personally
responsible" for the violent aftermath of the protests. (see
page 25 for more on the UN plan and its implications).
Entrepreneur
Awards
Consulting goup Ernst & Young recently awarded Gabor
Bojar, President of Graphisoft the title and award for being Hungary’s
“Entrepreneur
of the Year” 2005. Zoltan Kovacs CEO of the Kirowski company
was awarded the title “Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year.” Jozsef Varadi
CEO of budget
airlines WizzAir won recognition as the leading Hungarian “Innovator.”
Jozsef Beres, President of Beres Pharmaceuticals was awarded
the title “Master Entrepreneur.” Bojar is also co-founder
of Graphisoft,
a multinational
software exporter specializing in computerized architect designs,
was CEO-President of his company for 20 years. He said
that while in the west
children were using Comodore 64 computers to play with he was
compelled to write sophisticated programs on these as there
was an embargo on western
high tech equipment when Hungary was still a member of the
COMECOM countries. Bojar and his company have won many industry awards,
including
the title
of being one of the Wall Street Journal Europe’s top 10 Central
European executives in 1998.
Green energy
Parliamentary Speaker Katalin Szili was among those who
agreed to sign up for the collecting signatures for the green
group ‘Hungarian Nature Protection Association’ in February at
Ferenciek tere in Budapest’s
District 5. Thousands of people signed the organization’s
petition requesting that the government help boost alternative
energy sources and this way
reduce CO2 emissions and the effect of global warming.
Activists called for the EU Prime Ministers’ meeting in march
to only accept green energy
solutions during their discussion of the energy law. After
Budapest similar events and petitions were staged in 11
more European capitals.
 Italian Alps Claim Hungarians
Two Hungarian alpinists lost their lives while climbing
a glacier in the Italian Alps near the town of Belluno, in NE
Italy, according to Italian police reports. The dead bodies were
recovered with the help
of a helicopter and rescue team, who informed the Hungarian
consulate in Milan of the tragic accident.
Budapest Art
Night
Budapest’s so-called ‘Night of art collectors’ was held
in February. This is the third time the increasingly popular
event was hosted, in
a part of Budapest’s District 5, also dubbed the ‘gallery
quarter’. The list of events included seven exhibitions,
three concerts, several
book reviews and a even a wine show. Organizers said they
intend to “boost an appetite” for fine arts in the capital.
In total there were
25 participants, mostly galleries and bookshops, located
in four streets.
Living Danube Unveiled
Budapest city leaders unveiled plans for project dubbed
‘Living Danube’ (LD) at a press conference in February. The briefing
was held at the Budapest Sewage Treatment Plant by mayor
Gabor Demszky, Miklos
Hagyo deputy mayor, and project manager Gabor Ivantsy.
Participants were shown around the site, which is considered
to be a state-of-the-art. According to Demszky, Budapest has seen significant
development
in the past few years, but added that surface construction
is to be preceded
by the modernization and improvement of underground infrastructure,
like the construction of the new sewage treatment plant.
Diplomatic
Dog War
A Russian diplomat has vowed to avenge two Bulgarian park
keepers in the town of Russe (320km north-east of Sofia) after
they shot dead his dog. The Russian consul said he lived near
the park, where he used
to take the dog for walks. One night the dog escaped from
home and was missing in the morning. After the diplomat ordered
a search for the
dog the animal was found shot dead alongside other stray
dogs. According to eyewitness accounts the park-keepers amused
themselves by using dogs
as shooting targets. The shocked diplomat said he reported
the incident to the Bulgarian police and to the Russian foreign
minister, from whom
he expects persuasive action.
Homage To Horthy
 In February Hungary commemorates the 50th anniversary of
the death of Admiral Miklos (Nicholas) Horthy, Regent and Hungarian
head of state during the interwar years and most of World
War Two. He was
an admiral of the Austro-Hungarian Adriatic fleet and elected
Regent by the Hungarian Parliament in 1920. Under his regime,
Hungary became
the first nationalist dictatorship after the World War
One in Europe, ruthlessly suppressing all political opposition.
In 1938 Hungary acquired
parts of Czechoslovakian territory. Although he was considered
a charismatic leader, he was helpless when Hitler’s Nazi
German forces annexed Hungary
and allegedly killed his adult son. Horthy believed his
power could be restored when the Hungarian Revolution broke out
in the 1956, and
after its failure he dies of heartbreak in exile at his
home in Spain on Feb 9, 1957.
Common Interest
A radio reporter and an online journalist received the
first “Our Common Interest”, Journalist Awards founded by the
British Embassy in Budapest in cooperation with the Embassy of
the Republic of South
African in Budapest. Hungarian Radio’s Agnes Bihari and
Origo media’s Gergo Saling were the lucky winners selected from
40 contenders for
their “understandable and digestible coverage” on issues
related to Africa and the developing world. The 40 articles
dealt with international
trade, development and challenges (like reducing poverty
and fair trade) the developing countries face. Each winner
received HUF 200,000 (about
USD 1,000) in prize money. The prizes were handed over
by South African Ambassador Duduzile M. Khoza and British Ambassador
John Nichols.
Powerpower To French
Dalkia Energia, the Hungarian subsidiary of the French-based
energy group Dalkia (a member of the French consortium
Veolia - EDF), in February acquired a 99.94% stake in Hungary’s
545 MW power generating
company Pannonpower Holding for an undisclosed amount.
This was announced by the two companies via a statement. The Hungarian
competition office
has given the deal the green light. Pannonpower has a 313MW
generating unit that is Hungary’s biggest biomass-generated
power producer. According
to the new owner, it acquired 85% ownership via the Cyprus-based
RPG Industries and a Czech financial investor while 14.94%
was purchased from small shareholders. The new owners say their
latest
acquisition
is part of their group’s CEE regional expansion strategy,
now targeting Hungary and Romania after having completed
acquisitions
in the Czech
Republic, Poland and Slovakia.
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