Monthly newsletter Hungary – February 2023

Annual opening meeting of the Hungarian Cabinet

On Wednesday. On January 11, 2023, the government held its first cabinet meeting of the new year, after which Gergely Gulyás, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, and Alexandra Szentkirályi, government spokeswoman, informed about the latest decisions in a press conference. Prime Minister Gergely Gulyás explained in detail the government's clear position on the EU's Erasmus program. The government has also reviewed the budget and decided to present it to Parliament next week. This could accept it in March after the debates in February.
Growth of around 4.5 percent was forecast for the past year 2022. Despite inflation, real wages rose by 4.3 percent in the first ten months. The 2023 budget envisages growth of 1.5 percent, so there is a chance of avoiding a recession. It was also stated that Hungary was withdrawing from hosting the 2024 European Women's Handball Championship, which is scheduled to take place in Hungary, Austria and Switzerland, due to the high costs. According to the announcement, salaries for health workers will increase by 40 percent. This will happen in two steps, on July 1st and then on March 1st. The government has continued to reject the idea of ​​forcing private doctors into public care. The draft regulation needs to be revised.

Dispute and compromise with the EU over Erasmus+ funding for Hungary

The participation of Hungarian universities in Erasmus+ and Horizon is secured for the time being. The Hungarian government is ready to change the rules for the bodies of foundation universities to take into account the EU's concerns, said Tibor Navracsics, the Hungarian Minister for Regional Development and EU Funds, on January 26, 2023 in Brussels. Corresponding “not too complicated” changes to the law in two cases are expected from Parliament in March. 2 The background to Navracsics' visit to Brussels were reports that the EU Commission did not intend to release the funds for the participation of Hungarian foundation universities in the Erasmus+ and Horizon programs, as these were allegedly included in the decision of the EU Council of Ministers on December 15th.
There are currently over 30 institutions organized as public foundations in Hungary, including 21 universities with over 180,000 students. Critics complain that active politicians are represented on the supervisory bodies of these foundations. Navracsics stated that the rules for these supervisory bodies should be changed in order to reach a compromise with the EU. To this end, we are in close coordination with the EU Commissioners for Budget, Johannes Hahn, and for Research, Mariya Gabriel. The Hungarian parliament could introduce corresponding changes to the law that would regulate the incompatibility of positions in the supervisory bodies of these foundations with mandates in active politics as early as spring.
In the run-up to the negotiations mentioned, Finance Minister Mihály Varga had already announced that the Hungarian state would secure continued participation in the Erasmus+ and Horizon programs from its own resources if negotiations with the EU failed. Varga also referred to the fact that active politicians are also represented on university supervisory boards in other member states, including Germany. The Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Gergely Gulyás, sharply criticized the EU's actions. The EU's actions are unacceptable and intolerable, while at the same time emphasizing the government's openness to change and repeating Vargas' funding commitments. Efforts are being made to find a peaceful solution, but if negotiations fail, the government will appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
This year's Erasmus costs are in no way at risk, as they were already agreed at the end of last year.

Meeting of Serbian and Hungarian Foreign Ministers in Budapest:
Hungary against Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić visited Hungary on Tuesday, January 10, at the invitation of Foreign and Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó. In Budapest, he was also received by Viktor Orbán in the former Carmelite monastery, after which Szijjártó and Dačić held a joint press conference. Responding to a journalist's question about the Serbian-Kosovo conflict, Szijjártó said Hungary was interested in a peaceful solution and compromise through dialogue, which is why it had previously taken command of the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo (KFOR).
He added that in his opinion the success of a compromise solution could be jeopardized if various European organizations 4 accepted Kosovo prematurely and that the Hungarian government would therefore vote against the admission of Kosovo to the Council of Europe. On the issue of energy security, he also announced that since the Turkish Stream is the only gas pipeline on the continent that is currently at 100 percent capacity in the east-west direction, the “guarantee for Hungary's energy security” now lies in Serbia. He emphasized that last year, 4.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas reached Hungary via Serbia, which corresponds to almost half of the total domestic consumption.
Trade between the two countries reached a record high last year and increased by 75 percent. He said Hungary was ready to make new investments in infrastructure to ensure the security of Serbia's crude oil supplies, adding that the parties would double the capacity of the electricity interconnection between the two countries in the next five years.

Asset reports from political decision-makers are published

In Hungary, active political decision-makers (such as the president, members of the government, state secretaries, members of parliament, mayors and even local elected officials) must provide detailed information about their assets, income and liabilities by January 31st of each year. This information 5 will be published on the Internet for everyone to see. This screening, which is unique in international comparison, is carried out for reasons of transparency and to combat corruption. Of course, these financial reports also give the press enough to talk about. Every year, a particularly critical check is carried out to see whether leading decision-makers have any major changes to their assets to report.
Since the reports are very detailed, there are also numerous curiosities in them. You can even read that government representative Szilárd Németh increased his private pension provision by 6,000 forints per quarter, or that Interior Minister Sándor Pintér still registers a Wartburg as his vehicle.

Vodafone takeover: Vodafone ends business in Hungary

The takeover of Hungary's Vodafone could be completed within a few days. The government decided on a major financial injection at the weekend. According to the deal, which has been known since last year, 4iG, also a giant in the telecommunications market, will buy 51 percent of Hungary's Vodafone and the Hungarian state will buy 49 percent. The government has approved a large credit line of EUR 425 million (almost HUF 170 billion) to the state-owned Hungarian Development Bank (MFB), with 80 percent of the capital requirements guaranteed by the state.

Current survey results: party preferences, European elections, EU membership

In January, some polling institutes published their latest survey data on various political issues in Hungary. According to a recent survey by the Publicus Institute, 68 percent of Hungarians believe that EU membership is more beneficial for the country overall. That's more than June 2015 (57%), but much less than December 2020 (74%) or March 2022 (85%). In a referendum this Sunday, 66 percent would vote in favor of joining. The proportion of those who believe the Hungarian government is undermining European unity fell to 50 percent from 67 percent last March. The proportion of those who believe that Viktor Orbán wants to take Hungary out of the EU has also fallen from 48 percent in March to 30 percent.
A survey by the Nezőpont Institute 500 days before the 2024 European Parliament and local elections showed that if the European Parliament elections were to take place this Sunday, the ruling party would receive 56 percent of the vote and could win up to three quarters of the seats up for grabs, as several opposition parties are unlikely to reach the five percent threshold.

To the source:

The German-Hungarian Institute for European Cooperation is intended to provide a forum for academic, scientific and political dialogue between Germany and Hungary and to familiarize decision-makers and interested specialist audiences from both countries with topics, debates, processes, thought patterns and ideas from the other country. The aim is to achieve greater understanding, communication and constructive cooperation by objectifying the German-Hungarian discourse and thus renew our Europe together.

We would like to support this goal and publish excerpts with the kind permission of the authors. The complete issue can be found here as a PDF. The institute's website you can reach here.