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Budapest Airport: a „matter of sovereignty” worth HUF 1400 billion to Orbán’s government

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“After almost twenty years, the airport has returned to national majority ownership” – Minister for National Economy Márton Nagy announced the deal in which the Hungarian state and French company Vinci jointly bought out the foreign operators of Budapest’s Ferenc Liszt International Airport.

The purchase price amounts to EUR 3.1 billion plus the assumption of EUR 1.44 billion in loans (previously provided by an international bank consortium to the foreign investors), totalling HUF 1,770 billion.

Balogh Zoltán / MTI Minister for National Economy Márton Nagy

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Is the Minister of Culture really resigning due to having fulfilled his commitments?

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The most probable reason why I’m not a politician is because I’m fulfilled by contemplating the deeper causes of things

– János Csák said in an interview with our newspaper in 2019. At that time, we described him as a semi-philanthropic businessman whose career had seen him leading companies such as Hungarian petrol giant Mol and T-Mobile Hungary, and had served as the nation’s ambassador in London, bought and then sold weekly paper Heti Válasz, been a member in the board of the foundation taking over Corvinus University, all while translating philosophical books in his spare time (about Socrates, for example, or the not-so-obvious connections between Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance).

By spring 2022, however, it seemed that he would eventually no longer be fulfilled by mere contemplation, as he accepted Viktor Orbán’s request to lead the newly established Ministry of Culture and Innovation (KIM). The day after the European parliamentary and municipal elections, it turned out that Csák would not complete his four-year term, as he unexpectedly submitted his resignation to the Prime Minister. Viktor Orbán accepted his decision, and his successor was named straight away: the new minister will be Balázs Hankó. While Hankó is a pharmacist by education, he has worked under Csák in recent years as the state secretary responsible for higher education, vocational training, adult education, and innovation.

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Half of Hungarians oppose the EU sending any kind of assistance to Ukraine

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46 per cent of Hungarians oppose any kind of EU support for Ukraine, which has been facing a Russian invasion for nearly two years

– as revealed by Závecz Research’s new public opinion poll, conducted on 24.hu’s behalf.

One-third of respondents (32 per cent) are more lenient when it comes to financial, economic, and humanitarian support, while 16 per cent of the population would not refrain from sending weaponry and other military supplies to Ukraine. In light of this, those in favour of helping Hungary’s eastern neighbour form a relative majority, albeit only by a few percentage points (4 per cent did not reply to the question).

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Hungarians disappointed in the EU, want to remain members nonetheless

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Although the share of Hungarians considering EU membership to have been beneficial for Hungary overall has decreased by four percentage points over the past five years, nearly three-quarters of the country’s inhabitants still feel this way

– as revealed by Závecz Research’s study commissioned by 24.hu. Regarding several matters, we asked the same questions as we had in 2019, making the distribution of answers well comparable.

Moreover, the proportion of those claiming that membership is very beneficial increased: in 2019, 17 per cent of respondents thought so, while in 2024, this figure rose to 25 per cent. However, the share of those choosing the “rather beneficial” option decreased by 12 percentage points – from 59 per cent – while those who find membership in the Union “rather disadvantageous” increased by 6 percentage points. The proportion of Hungarians unable or not willing to answer also decreased: in 2024, 96 per cent of respondents have an opinion on the matter.

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Has Hungary become a solar power superpower? Ministry omits important details

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According to independent global energy think-tank EMBER, Hungary has the planet’s third highest share of solar energy in domestic electricity production. The Ministry of Energy has presented this data as a world-class achievement. In 2023, Hungary generated 18.4 per cent of its electricity with solar power plants, surpassed only by two warmer climate countries, Chile (19.9 per cent) and Greece (19 per cent) – the Central European country outperformed solar powerhouses like Australia, Germany, and Spain.

According to the Ministry, the result is primarily due to the significant solar energy capacities that have been recently developed in Hungary. The expansion rate set records with approximately 1.1 gigawatts in 2022 and more than 1.6 gigawatts in 2023. In this year’s February, the total installed capacity of solar systems exceeded the previous target of 6 gigawatts set for 2030.

According to representatives of domestic solar organisations, there is no reason to doubt the credibility of EMBER’s data. In fact, this year Hungary is even expected to climb to the second place globally, thanks to new plants coming online one after another as the result of projects that had started years ago. The result also reflects that in Hungary,

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“Living in Slovakia is like being in a spy movie. Fico’s attempted assassination has only intensified this feeling.”

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Last week’s attack on Robert Fico once again proved that assassinations, murders and attempted murders against political and public figures are much more frequent in Slovakia than in other EU countries. Our earlier article covers these violent acts in detail, including the 1995 case when President Michal Kováč’s son was kidnapped with the cooperation of the secret service, and the subsequent explosion that killed Róbert Remiás, one of those involved in the investigation. The story also covers how a few years later, Vladimír Mečiar’s former economic minister was killed in front of his own home. However, it is not only the ‘90s we can mention such sad cases from. We could also recall the 2018 Kuciak murder or the 2022 Bratislava tragedy, originally targeting then-Prime Minister Eduard Heger and ending with the murder of two men.

STR / AFP Former Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar in Bratislava on April 4, 2004.

Regarding the topic, we issued our questions to crime investigative journalist Dávid Barak, the author of several books on Slovakia’s underworld – such as Buried Truth and Bad Blood, covering the particularly brutal story of the Dunajská Streda mafia. How should we interpret these different cases, do they share a common thread, or is it the differences we should focus on? – we asked the journalist.

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Forced to kiss busts of Lenin, Stalin and Putin – Ukrainian soldier returns from captivity seven centimetres shorter

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Oleksiy Anulja recounts unemotionally the events that had taken place over these ten months. He speaks for about an hour and forty minutes – without showing any feelings. Having finished, he also mentions that he feels indeed nothing since returning to his family at the end of 2022, which is the hardest part of it all. Or rather, there is one thing that was even more difficult: that his children –now five and nine years old – did not recognize him upon returning home.

The now disabled soldier of the Ukrainian army also says that it is easier for him to share his experiences with strangers than it is with family members, to whom he still has not told everything regarding his ten-month captivity at the hands of the Russians. Of the severely tortured prisoners of war, he is almost the only one still living with his family; most of the others’ marriages have already ended since their return from Russia.

Adrián Zoltán / 24.hu

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Convicts, defendants and suspects to run for mayor across Hungary

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Zugló – Csaba Horváth

Zugló – Budapest’s District 14 – is the largest of the municipalities on our list, currently led by Csaba Horváth. The MSZP politician has been suspected of influence peddling for more than two years in connection with the paid parking system of District 14. According to the testimony of Zsolt Fuzik, former technical director of Budapest’s public transport corporation, Horváth had accepted a bribe from him. The investigation, still underway, has been extended until the end of August, so even if the current mayor is found guilty, it could take years for the court to make a final ruling. However, Horváth maintains his innocence and is re-running for mayor. His chances are diminished by the fact that liberal-centrist Momentum has fielded their own candidate, András Rózsa, against him, creating the possibility that Fidesz could win as the laughing third.

MOHOS MÁRTON / 24.HU Csaba Horváth

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Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party refutes decades of experience: what can we learn from the diverging polls?

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To a lesser or greater extent, every party has lost some of its base since Péter Magyar entered the political arena – as shown by the calculations of 24.hu. To arrive at our results, we once again relied on the surveys of six different polling institutes.

Compared to neighbouring countries, the Hungarian party system had been characterised by stiffness: neither Jobbik, LMP, Momentum, nor Mi Hazánk could enter politics with such momentum that could earn them a mandate in their first election, not to mention MKKP (Two-tailed Dog Party), which has been waiting for a breakthrough for ten years. However, the grace scandal that eventually led to former President Katalin Novák’s resignation, as well as the emergence of Péter Magyar instantly overrode decades of experience. Three months ago, just before the turbulent week leading to the resignation of Katalin Novák, Fidesz could count on 13-14 MEP seats and another overwhelming victory, while it seemed that DK could strengthen its dominance on the opposition side.

Today, these expectations already seem very distant.

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István Ujhelyi: Why couldn’t a member of Fidesz have sensible proposals?

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You spent ten years in Brussels. What will you miss the most?

The hustle and bustle of the European Parliament. Also, being a professional politician. This has been more than ten years for me; I’ve been an elected representative since I was twenty years old.

You spent most of this time in Hungary. So what will you particularly miss from Brussels?

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“The European People’s Party tolerated Fidesz for too long, we will not do the same,” says European socialists’ top candidate

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We released some of the funds, including a part of those intended for teachers. I consider the issue of teachers’ salaries a serious problem, since a nation is only as good as its teachers. They need to be adequately compensated, and I don’t understand countries that fail to do so. This decision was made after we had realised that we didn’t want to punish the teachers. The Hungarian government stated that a wage increase would happen once the funds were released. I agree that the Hungarian government hasn’t done enough in this regard, and we could have continued to press for answers. However, this money goes directly to the teachers, so we accepted what the Hungarian government did. The most important question, by the way, was the issue of monitoring teachers’ computers, whether employers could access them. Amendments were made in this regard. This was also the subject of a heated debate with the committee’s chairman as well. In the end, the deciding factor was that the teachers had indicated their need for a pay raise. We will check whether the money indeed goes to the teachers

– said Nicolas Schmit, the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, in a background conversation with 24.hu during his visit to Budapest. Schmit visited the Hungarian capital to speak at the congress held by the Democratic Coalition, the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP), and Dialogue, supporting the Hungarian left-wing EP list. Schmit is the lead EP candidate of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the major left-wing political group in the European Parliament. In other words, if the socialists were to win the most seats in the EP elections, Schmit would be proposed for the position of President of the Commission.

Vörös Szilárd Nicolas Schmit at the campaign opening event of DK–MSZP–Párbeszéd in the Congress Center on April 14, 2024.

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“Clearly, nothing is fine here” – teachers at state universities forced to take second and third jobs

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At three of the country’s leading universities, more than 3000 employees have expressed dissatisfaction regarding unjust wages and working conditions.

Such discontent is becoming ever more visible, while our sources report of taking on second and third jobs amidst persistent desperation.

According to our sources, the desired wage increase would require approximately 0.02 per cent of the central budget, making the future of state universities “solely a matter of political decision”.

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Thinking along with the PM: how to conquer Brussels?

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“With the Compromise (of 1867), we showed that as long as we are respected, we also fulfil our end of the bargain and create a peaceful, flourishing era as far as the eye can see. My friends, it seems that it’s Brussels alone that does not want to understand this. Therefore, if we want to preserve the freedom and sovereignty of Hungary, we have no choice but to conquer Brussels. In 1848, we stopped at Schwechat – this time, we will not.

This time we march all the way to Brussels, and we ourselves will make the change in the European Union. We are not exactly foals anymore; after all, we are a state of 1100 years, experienced and resilient.  We know which gate to march through and how to rearrange the European Union. It is time for the Council of Lieutenancy (another reference to the Revolution’s history) to tremble in Brussels as well.

— This is what Viktor Orbán said in his speech on the stairs of the National Museum on March 15th. The Prime Minister has long been discussing how Hungary’s goal is not to adapt to the political expectations of the West, but to transform them.

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Demand for IT professionals drops significantly in Hungary

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Last year, on average, the demand for new workforce in the Hungarian information technology (IT) sector could have decreased by 15-20 per cent compared to the previous year. Comparing January 2023 to December 2023, the decline is as high as 40 per cent. The downward trend continued in the first month of 2024, as revealed by a recent study from Bluebird International, a company specialising in IT headhunting, workforce recruitment, and software development. The survey, conducted among Bluebird’s own clientele, suggests that the primary focus of IT companies was to retain existing staff and to optimise their operations. Nonetheless, minor layoffs also occurred to save costs. Clearly, expansion was less of a goal than it was in 2022.

At many of the company’s partners, salary budgets either did not increase or increased only minimally. Salary adjustments in the IT-industry were mostly single-digit or absent altogether.

Following years of steady growth, job-hopping professionals noticeably restrained their salary demands last year.

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Ferenc Hammer: We already live on Mars, we just don’t know it yet

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The square in front of the entrance is illuminated by the fire jugglers’ performance. Fire is crackling cheerfully in the few oil barrels set up as decoration; it feels nice to stand by them for a few minutes in the chilly night. After lingering for a short while, I head inside. It’s Saturday night, the winter carnival party of Radio Tilos.

I meet with Ferenc Hammer, associate professor at the Department of Media and Communication at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE). When not lecturing at the podium, Ferenc Hammer is the frontman of punk band Lopunk (“We steal”). Or perhaps he is a punk vocalist first and foremost, acting as a social scientist when not on the stage? It hardly matters; he wears a suit for both roles, so there’s no confusion. When asked if his two personalities are ever at odds, he replies with a question:

– Do you sometimes ride a bike?

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Where did all the money go from the company that had once made HUF 12 billion in the ventilator business?

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In the shadow of the emerging Covid epidemic, OTT-One had managed to secure a business deal worth over ten billion forints, but the former stock exchange company has not been showing any life signs for a while. Since last year the firm has neither a board of directors nor a supervisory board, and when the National Tax and Customs Administration did not find it at its registered address, the authority decided to cancel its tax identification number. In the end, the Budapest Metropolitan Court declared the company defunct in early February.

It is only a matter of speculation how the company’s path could lead from the showers of public funding to compulsory liquidation. The company’s balance sheets prepared in recent years would provide some guidance, but since 2019, a line of auditors have refused to authenticate them one after another. In other words, the financial experts did not find the company’s account of the economic events and the evolution of the firm’s assets credible.

Yet not so long ago, OTT-One was one of the lucky pioneers that were given a chance to participate in the Chinese ventilator business totalling several hundred billion forints, led by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó. The ministry didn’t bother with tenders; OTT-One previously told our paper that they had approached the authorities themselves and offered their services in the procurement process, citing their good Chinese connections. State agencies ordered life support devices from dozens of companies mostly unknown in the healthcare business, immediately paying the purchase price after signing the contracts. The deal looked like a great opportunity for OTT-One too, as

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The half-Hungarian maverick of French politics, Emmanuel Macron’s political mentor: Nicolas Sarkozy

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In mid-February, the Paris Court of Appeal decided to sentence Nicolas Sarkozy, former President of the French Republic, to six months in prison (he also received an additional suspended sentence of six months). According to the verdict, the politician committed illegal campaign financing back in 2012, using a PR company to conceal the true extent of his presidential campaign expenses. Sarkozy’s lawyer claimed his client to be innocent and will therefore appeal to the Supreme Court. The proceedings could take years, during which Sarkozy can retain his liberty. The politician hastily left the courtroom after the verdict had been announced, refusing to speak to the press.

However, this was not the first sentence made against him. Earlier, Sarkozy was sentenced to three years (only one of which is to be served) for illegally obtaining information from a judge in exchange for various favours. However, instead of going to jail, the politician can serve the sentence in home detention with an ankle monitor. Investigations are underway against Sarkozy in several other cases, as the politician allegedly accepted illegal funds from Russia as well as the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi.

From mediocre student to political prodigy

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Admission of Chinese police officers to Hungary raises questions of sovereignty

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Chinese and Hungarian police officers will conduct joint patrol services in Hungary in the future – confirmed the Ministry of Interior on last Wednesday. Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér signed the agreement with the Chinese Minister of Public Security in mid-February. Regarding the matter, the ministry stated last week:

police officers of the two countries will jointly perform patrol services in the future, facilitating more effective communication between the citizens and authorities of the parties, while also improving public order and security.

According to the Ministry of Interior, the purpose of the cooperation agreement is to enhance the security of the most significant tourist destinations within the two countries during peak season and at events attracting larger crowds. A similar agreement is already in place regarding the involvement of Hungarian police officers in Croatia and the Austrian police force in Hungary – the statement of the Ministry recalls.

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Economy minister and national bank president in conflict over PM’s distribution of roles

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Petty drama or a major confrontation with serious economic consequences? President of the Hungarian National Bank (MNB) György Matolcsy, Minister for National Economy Márton Nagy, and Minister of Finance Mihály Varga seem once again to be at odds with each other.

Indeed, the conflict among Hungary’s chief economic policymakers is nothing new. The short summary is usually that while Matolcsy and Varga hate each other, they hate Márton Nagy even more. However, never before have verbal confrontations escalated to the level of personal attacks seen at last week’s award gala of the Budapest stock exchange.

Matolcsy

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