Archive for February, 2011

Hungary and EU Both Back Down, Crisis Averted

Hungary gave as good as it got when Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban castigated France and Germany, two European Union heavyweights, for what he called double standards. He called upon France to return “to the level of reality in rational discussion.” He asked why Hungary was being considered regressive when the French president was empowered to appoint the head of French public television.

When a German minister suggested that Hungary should be disqualified from discussing media issues with Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Belarus, Hungary filed a diplomatic protest in Berlin. Hungary claims that its media laws are the same as in other European Union countries and therefore if Hungary is forced to amend them, other European Union countries should be required to do the same.

read more Hungary and EU Both Back Down, Crisis Averted – World News – Israel News – Israel National News.

2011
02/03
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Hungary forint hits 9-month highs vs euro

Hungary’s forint firmed through the key 268.70 level versus the euro on Wednesday, hitting a 9-month high at 268.68 before Prime Minister Viktor Orban started a news conference on pension changes.

By 1344 GMT, the forint EURHUF=D2 retreated to 269.24 but its firming may gain new momentum if comments from Orban underpin hopes that the government will launch durable fiscal reforms, dealers said.

“We will also see what he will say about the amount of funds which will be transferred (from private pension coffers to the state),” one dealer said.

via Hungary forint hits 9-month highs vs euro | Reuters.

2011
02/03
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Why Hungary Is Not A Dictatorship

Is this Belarus, where Aleksander Lukashenko despatched his brutal riot police to club demonstrators senseless and scores of activists remain in prison on trumped-up charges? Or perhaps Ukraine, where President Viktor Yanukovich’s government has arrested former cabinet ministers on charges of corruption and is now gunning for former prime minister Julia Timoshenko? Er, no. It’s Hungary.

Yes, Hungary, the small country of ten million in the heart of Europe that now holds the EU’s rotating presidency. The same Hungary that has made a solid transition from Communism, is a stable, modern democracy, with a proud history, rich culture and tradition of technical wizardry that has brought the world countless inventions from the ballpoint pen to Vitamin C. Reading some of the press coverage of recent events here, including a call in The Times by Bill Emmott for Hungary to be expelled from the European Union, and Nick Cohen’s description in The Observer of Hungary as an “ugly little state” I get a distinct sense of the playground bullies ganging up on the new kid.

The reality is this: since his right-wing Fidesz party won a two thirds majority, Viktor Orban, the prime minister, has used his mandate to consolidate political power with unprecedented speed and determination. A former Fidesz MEP has been appointed President; a former Fidesz MP has been appointed to run the State Audit Office; the Fiscal Authority which oversaw the budget has been abolished; the powers of the Constitutional Court have been cut back and a new National Media and Communications Authority is now in charge of print, broadcast and online, with powers to impose massive fines for vague offences such as offending “human dignity.”

read more Xpat Opinion: ‘Why Hungary Is Not A Dictatorship’ by Adam LeBor – XpatLoop.com – Current affairs.

2011
02/03
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Hungary Set For Massive Rebound in 2011

Interest from investors in property in Hungary is growing, the latest market report from Colliers International has found.

According to the property consultant, the total investment volume in the Hungarian real estate market over the course of 2010 was around EUR 185 million. Within this, interest from both domestic and foreign buyers has climbed, Colliers International said.

The predictable shortage of prime office space foreseen around 2012 is also an attractive draw for investors who anticipate rental growth, Property Magazine reported.

However, Hamish White, partner and Investment Services director at the organisation, said that the total figure was below their expectations set out at the start of the year. Mr White added that there had been continued weak confidence toward the country since the GDP contraction in 2009, now combined with the government’s crisis measures and the state of the European sovereign debt.

Collier International forecast that overall investment volumes in 2011 will be much higher, potentially reaching EUR 500 million, driven in particular by a strong “pipeline of potential deals”.

via Hungary Set For Massive Rebound in 2011.

2011
02/02
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Iberdrola Renovables starts up three wind farms in Hungary

Spanish renewable energy company Iberdrola Renovables has begun production from three new wind farms with a total generating capacity of 70MW in Hungary.

The company installed the 36MW Scott wind farm in the town of Nagyigmad, while the 26MW Amundsen and the 8MW Csoma II power projects are located in Ikervar, western Hungary.

The three wind farms are equipped with Gamesa G90 turbines, each with a generating capacity of 2MW.

With the start up of the new facilities, Iberdrola Renovables has now five wind farms in operation in Hungary, with a total capacity of 158MW, and the company is now developing another 100MW of capacity in the country.

via Iberdrola Renovables starts up three wind farms in Hungary – Energy Business Review.

2011
02/02
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Downtown Budapest residential property still way down

Despite falling prices in the Belváros – Budapest’s District V – apparently not many people want to move there, mfor.hu reports. Analysts say that before the crisis broke out, the Belváros was one of the most overpriced neighborhoods in the Hungarian real estate market. Back then, flats went for between Ft 450,000 and Ft 500,000 (€1,600-€1,800) or even more per square meter. As a result of the crisis, foreign buyers and renters deserted the district in fall 2008, and Hungarians are less willing to take out loans now than two and a half years ago. This means that currently, luxury apartments – especially those costing hundreds of millions of forints – are nearly impossible to sell.

In the neighborhood, the average asking price is still around Ft 450,000 (€1,600) per sqm, but 30% to 40% of apartments for sale are offered for less than Ft 350,000 per square meter, even for flats close to the Hungarian Parliament.

Two of the most expensive apartments currently for sale in the district are a 660-square-meter flat in a building with a Danube view for Ft 660 million and a 138-square-meter home with a panoramic view of the Parliament for Ft 99.5 million.

By comparison, the cheapest apartments in the area – small, first-floor flats with a view of an inner courtyard – cost around Ft 10 million. There is some selection between Ft 15 million and Ft 18 million and a real selection between Ft 20 million and Ft 40 million. For the latter price, the flat may have a panoramic view of Buda or the Danube, but is likely to be in a building that, like the overall market itself, has seen better days.

via Downtown Budapest residential property still way down: Realdeal.hu.

2011
02/01
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The new national public employment programme in Hungary

The so-far complicated and, in certain aspects, often lavish system of public employment in Hungary is about to be replaced by the transparent and financially viable national public employment programme of the government that acknowledges value-creating work. Public employment, which was organized by municipalities, employment centres or traditional state-run municipal public employment programmes will be abolished. Locally, employment centres can work out the new municipal public employment programmes. As a new feature, private enterprises, churches and civic organizations can also be drawn into employing the jobless with multiple disadvantages, reported BC the Embassy of Hungary in Latvia, referring to Ministry for National Economy.

read more The new national public employment programme in Hungary :: The Baltic Course | Baltic States news & analytics.

2011
02/01
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Hungary ready to compromise with EU over media law

Hungary signaled to the European Union’s executive it was ready to end a row over its controversial media law by tweaking its provisions, official documents showed on Monday.

The international controversy over Budapest’s media law has clouded Hungary’s debut at the EU’s rotating presidency, and has drawn attention to supposedly authoritarian tendencies in Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government.

Earlier this month, the European Commission asked Hungary to clarify three aspects of the legislation, warning it suspected that it breached technical EU media rules as well as fundamental principles on freedom of expression.

In Hungary’s reply on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics offered counter-arguments in defence of the law, but still offered to change it if the EU executive remained unconvinced.

read more Hungary ready to compromise with EU over media law (Roundup) – Monsters and Critics.

2011
02/01
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Head of Hungary’s diluted Fiscal Council resigns

The head of Hungary’s Fiscal Council says he is resigning because of the government’s decision to weaken the independent budget watchdog.

George Kopits said in a statement Monday that the “evident cessation of trust” in him and the lack of continuity between the new, three-member council and the one he headed for the past two years were behind his resignation effective Feb. 8.

Last year, lawmakers from Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s governing Fidesz party replaced the original council — whose three members, backed by several dozen analysts, prepared studies and opinions of the state budget and the economy — with a new board made up of the heads of the central bank and the state audit office and an expert named by Hungary’s president.

via Head of Hungary’s diluted Fiscal Council resigns – Bloomberg.

2011
02/01
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Bank governor attacks Budapest ‘pressure’

Hungary’s central bank governor has accused the government of exerting “blatant political pressure” in at attempt to erode the institution’s independence.

Andras Simor, governor since 2007, said constant criticism from the government of Viktor Orban, prime minister, was complicating the task of controlling inflation.

read more FT.com / Brussels / Economy – Bank governor attacks Budapest ‘pressure’.

2011
02/01
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