Hungary to benefit from global trade agreement, says ForMin

The global trade agreement signed at a ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Bali, Indonesia represents a positive development for Hungary and Europe, Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi told MTI on Saturday.

Martonyi, who was one of 160 government ministers from around the world to participate in the conference, said that the agreement, aimed at lowering trade barriers and accelerating the passage of goods through customs, was to the benefit of Hungary because it will serve to increase the country's exports, particularly to non-European Union countries.

He added that the importance of the agreement "exceeds its substantive content."

The global trade agreement was the first the WTO had reached since the organization's formation in 1995.

Parliament introduces extra childcare benefit

Lawmakers on Monday adopted a government-initiated package called extra childcare benefit designed to encourage young couples to have more children.

Under the new legislation, mothers will be able to return to work when their child is one year old, and continue to receive childcare benefits. The system will also be applied to students and young graduates, and firms employing mothers with three or more children will be eligible for further tax incentives.

The extra childcare benefit is a milestone in handling the problem of a shrinking population, deputy head of the ruling Fidesz party Lajos Kosa told a press conference earlier in the day.

Most women want to have two or three children, but in many cases they have to choose between their career or motherhood, he said, adding that the new scheme would allow young mothers to work without giving up their benefit.

The extra childcare benefit will promote employment among women, Kosa said.

Orban says Antall's heritage still exerts influence

Even though Jozsef Antall died twenty years ago, his legacy exerts an influence on today's Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.

The institutions of Hungary's parliamentary democracy strengthened as a result of Antall's devoted efforts, Orban said.

He was given the task to wake Hungary from "the daze of the Kadar era," Orban said. Hungary, which was described as the "happiest barrack" in the Socialist bloc was in reality "a brainwash camp for 10 million people" where people were taught to neglect politics and great plans. They were told instead that "it's best not to stand out of the line because greyness would never cause trouble," he added.

Speaker of Parliament Laszlo Kover said Antall was one of the real twentieth-century statesmen of Europe. During the collapse of Communism Antall was deeply committed to a Christian, responsibly nationalist and democratic direction, and, as a prepared politician, he became Hungary's first freely elected prime minister. Antall wanted a Christian Hungary since this would be its only future, he said, adding that his Christian beliefs were rooted in his European identity.

Zsolnay vase fetches record sum at auction

A remarkable Zsolnay vase was sold at auction in Budapest's Virag Judit Gallery on Sunday for 19 million forints (EUR 62,700), setting a new record for the work of the renowned porcelain and stoneware maker.

The one-metre-high vase was made about a hundred years ago by Sandor Apati Abt, one of the factory's most famous artisans.

Bidding for the vase started at 10 million forints, and nine offers were made before the Zsolnay Museum in Pecs, southwest Hungary, took it for its collection.

The last record set at auction in Hungary for a piece of Zsolnay was 15 million forints, for a bowl designed by Jozsef Rippl-Ronai, a renowned Hungarian painter.

Hungary’s Environment Generally Good

Forrás: MTI | 2013. 12. 17. 07:32:00

Hungary is generally doing well environmentally, though there are specific areas which it must devote greater attention to, Zoltan Illes, the state secretary in charge of environmental protection, said.
European Union trends have made their way to Hungary. Just like in the EU, the main problem in Hungary is dust particles in the air which pose a health hazard. Managing pollution is among the most challenging tasks in Hungary and the EU alike. The country’s water reserves are vulnerable and protecting them is an important task, he added, presenting an environmental report to the press. Some 94 percent of Hungary’s surface waters originate from beyond the borders, so bilateral relations with neighbouring countries have great importance in preventing pollution, he said. Soil is also something that deserves heightened attention because pollution can easily seep into water reserves. He said more organic farming would be one way of improving Hungary’s environment.

Parliament introduces extra childcare benefit

Lawmakers on Monday adopted a government-initiated package called extra childcare benefit designed to encourage young couples to have more children.

Under the new legislation, mothers will be able to return to work when their child is one year old, and continue to receive childcare benefits. The system will also be applied to students and young graduates, and firms employing mothers with three or more children will be eligible for further tax incentives.

The extra childcare benefit is a milestone in handling the problem of a shrinking population, deputy head of the ruling Fidesz party Lajos Kosa told a press conference earlier in the day.

Most women want to have two or three children, but in many cases they have to choose between their career or motherhood, he said, adding that the new scheme would allow young mothers to work without giving up their benefit.

The extra childcare benefit will promote employment among women, Kosa said.

FUGA hosts exhibition on "recycled" communist architecture

Budapest's FUGA architecture centre will offer a selection of international studies seeking ways to utilise Soviet-style housing estates in an exhibition opening on Friday.

The bids, tendered in a competition announced at this year's Architecture Biennale in Tallinn, offer ideas on "recycling" the space, structures, concepts and materials of communist architecture for use in the present and future, the organising Estonian Institute in Budapest told MTI.

Bidders in the competition were asked to make plans to improve Vaike-Oismae, a large housing estate in Tallinn built in the 1980s. Participating designers have come up with ideas of large parks and new functions, with increased focus on energy efficiency and resident involvement.

The competition was won by a team of students from Moscow's Strelka Institute.

The exhibition will be open till January 21 next year.

Hungary wants access to clean drinking water as independent development goal

Hungary, as co-chair of a working group on the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), wants access to drinking water to become an independent development goal, foreign ministry state secretary Peter Wintermantel said on Thursday.

Wintermantel met European Union development officials in Brussels. They discussed plans for the period following 2015 when the Millennium Development Goals embraced by 189 countries in 2000 expires.

The working team operating under the UN's auspices and co-chaired by Hungary and Kenya will submit a proposal on the SDGs in September 2014.    

Wintermantel said the 110 national delegations at the Water World Summit held in Budapest in October expressed their readiness to support the Hungarian proposal on making access to clean water an independent goal.  

Wintermantel added that only parts of the Millennium Development Goals will have been fulfilled by 2015.

Orban says Antall's heritage still exerts influence

Even though Jozsef Antall died twenty years ago, his legacy exerts an influence on today's Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.

The institutions of Hungary's parliamentary democracy strengthened as a result of Antall's devoted efforts, Orban said.

He was given the task to wake Hungary from "the daze of the Kadar era," Orban said. Hungary, which was described as the "happiest barrack" in the Socialist bloc was in reality "a brainwash camp for 10 million people" where people were taught to neglect politics and great plans. They were told instead that "it's best not to stand out of the line because greyness would never cause trouble," he added.

Speaker of Parliament Laszlo Kover said Antall was one of the real twentieth-century statesmen of Europe. During the collapse of Communism Antall was deeply committed to a Christian, responsibly nationalist and democratic direction, and, as a prepared politician, he became Hungary's first freely elected prime minister. Antall wanted a Christian Hungary since this would be its only future, he said, adding that his Christian beliefs were rooted in his European identity.

Zsolnay vase fetches record sum at auction

2013. december 16. hétfő 08:57 |

A remarkable Zsolnay vase was sold at auction in Budapest's Virag Judit Gallery on Sunday for 19 million forints (EUR 62,700), setting a new record for the work of the renowned porcelain and stoneware maker.

The one-metre-high vase was made about a hundred years ago by Sandor Apati Abt, one of the factory's most famous artisans.

Bidding for the vase started at 10 million forints, and nine offers were made before the Zsolnay Museum in Pecs, southwest Hungary, took it for its collection.

The last record set at auction in Hungary for a piece of Zsolnay was 15 million forints, for a bowl designed by Jozsef Rippl-Ronai, a renowned Hungarian painter.

Washington screening of The Notebook by Janos Szasz great success

Forrás: MTI | 2013. november 19. kedd 09:20 |

The Notebook by Hungarian director Janos Szasz received an ovation after a full-house screening at the American Film Institute in Washington, DC on Sunday local time.

"I've seen that the film had a strong emotional attraction for the audience," Szasz told MTI adding that The Notebook's North-American premiere had been held in Toronto at a screening he also attended.

        "It could be felt that the film had a deep impact on the people," he said.  "You don't have to be Hungarian to understand this film... In Sao Paolo for instance I was approached by an Indian woman who said this film should be played in the favelas (shanty towns of Brazil) to poor and neglected children because it is about their lives," Szasz said.

        Hungarian actress Piroska Molnar, playing the film's female lead, received a staning ovation at the Washinton screening. She had been previously awarded by the Chicago film festival's international jury.

        Szasz's film fetched the Karlovy Vary international film festival's main prize in July and it has been screened at several international festivals since, including in Haifa and Adelaide.

    The film Szasz made in 2013 tells the story of twin boys sent to live with a cruel grandmother at the end of WWII.. It is Hungary's entry to the 86th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

Foreign tram drivers to hit Budapest tracks

Forrás: MTI | 2013. november 20. szerda 19:14 |

The city of Budapest will host the 2nd European Tram Championship with competitors from 14 other cities, through the coming weekend, the Public Transport Company BKV told MTI on Wednesday.

The best tram drivers from Berlin, Dresden, Rotterdam, Vienna, Barcelona, Florence, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Manchester and Paris will compete on a designated section in Sport Street, in front of enthusiasts, the company said.

Smaller cities like Debrecen, Szeged and Oradea (or Nagyvarad - Romania) have also fielded their drivers.

Last year's contest in Dresden was won by two Hungarians, Zsuzsanna Ledniczki and Tamás Veperdi, who were best at smooth navigation of the tram carriage, without spilling the glass of water placed on their dashboard.

Szekszard Merlot, Etyek Chardonnay win Wine of Budapest prizes

2013. november 20. szerda 21:03 |

A 2011 vintage Merlot from the Szeleshat cellar of Szekszard, in southern Hungary, and a 2012 vintage Chardonnay from the Nyakas cellar in Etyek, near Budapest, have won the Wine of Budapest prizes, granted for the first time by the capital.

Deputy Mayor in charge of health and social affairs Tamas Szente said at the awards ceremony on Wednesday that Budapest wants to participate in the promotion of Hungarian wines, and the prizes for best red and white are planned to be granted each year.

Head of the National Wine Expert Committee Andras Horkay told MTI earlier that more than 70 submissions had been made divided roughly between reds and whites. City council representatives shortlisted the wines with the help of experts and the final prizes were granted after a repeat tasting of the shortlisted wines, he added.

A total of 16 gold medals, 35 silver medals and 16 bronze medals were also granted.

EU support pays observatory in SW Hungary

Forrás: MTI | 2013. november 21. csütörtök 20:52 |
An observatory will be built from 670 million forints European Union support in the Zselic area of southwestern Hungary which is free of light pollution, the head of the Somogy County general assembly said on Thursday after the cornerstone laying ceremony.

Attila Gelencser, of the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrats, said that the Zselic Nature Reserve was first in Europe, together with the Galloway Forest Park in Scotland, that won in 2009 the Dark Sky Park status from the International Dark-Sky Association.

The Zselic observatory complex will be built on an area of 600 square metres and is planned to be completed by November 2014. 

The architects Robert Erdelyi and his wife Judit Erdelyi-Gaspar paid special attention to using environmentally friendly solutions, such as using water from a local well, rainwater for sanitation and geothermic energy for heating.

Abundant with forests, wild animals and natural water, Zselic is one of the most well-preserved microregions in Hungary. It is also well known among foreign hunters.

Egervar castle reopens as renaissance visitor centre

2013. november 17. vasárnap 11:26 |

A renaissance visitor centre has been established in the castle of Egervar (Zala county, W Hungary), which has been renovated for almost 640 million forints (EUR 2.2m).

Local mayor Jozsef Szijarto said at the opening ceremony on Saturday that the historic monument embodies not only the past, but the future as well for the community of Egervar as the renovation of the state-owned Nadasdy-Szechenyi castle could give a boost to tourism.

European Union and national funding covered 531 million forints of the project costs; the ministry of the interior provided 63 million forints and the municipality contributed 44 million forints.

A downloadable smart guide helps tourists in exploring the museum, available in English, German and Slovenian as well. The exhibition is fitted with replica reneissance and baroque pieces of furniture. 

Hungary to up border police by 600 before year's end

Forrás: MTI | 2013. november 17. vasárnap 21:03 |

The number of border police will increase by 600 before the end of this year, interior ministry state secretary Karoly Kontrat said on Sunday at the new police headquarters currently under construction in Balatonalmadi in western Hungary.

The new border police will be introduced in service mainly at Hungary's border with Serbia where the number of illegal crossings has increased significantly, from 2,700 in 2012 to more than 15,000 in the first nine months of 2013, Kontrat told the press. 

Kontrat said this is expected to further increase Hungarians' sense of security. 

He noted that in 2010, the government promised to increase the number of police and over the past three years and a half, some 3,500 new police have been introduced in service. 

The new police headquarters in Balatonalmadi will be built at total cost of 595 million forints and is scheduled to be opened next spring, he said.

Brain-dead woman gives birth, organs save four in Hungary hospital

Forrás: MTI | 2013. november 13. szerda 17:24 |

A woman treated in hospital for three months as a brain-dead patient gave birth to a healthy baby through cesarian section in the maternity clinic of Debrecen University, Professor Bela Fulesdi, head of the university's medical centre, told an international press conference on Wednesday.

After the unprecedented birth, five organs of the woman were given to four patients waiting for a life-saving transplant, the professor said. State Secretary for health Miklos Szocska, who attended the press conference, said that "one life has helped save five" and thanked both doctors and nurses of the hospital, and the deceased woman's family for "choosing life" through their consent to the operations.

Hungary Reformed Charity medical team with aid to help in typhoon-hit Philippines

2013. november 10. vasárnap 20:37 |

A team carrying medical equipment and 15,000 dollars in aid from the Hungarian Reformed Charity will leave for the typhoon-hit Philippines on Monday, the charity told MTI on Sunday

The team of eight doctors will provide medical help in the coastal city of Tacloban, on the island hit hardest by Typhoon Haiyan, where they will start work in a fully equipped tent upon arrival, it said.

The aid package provided by the charity contains medical equipment, medicine, bandages and infusions.

The secondary aim of the mission is to assess rebuilding needs.

Donations to the charity may be made by calling 13600 and punching in code 66, by visiting the website www.jobbadni.hu or through the account number 10702019-85008898-51100005.

According to the Philippine government's estimate, some 10,000 people have died in the disaster.

Synagogue reconstruction launched in Debrecen, Oradea

Forrás: MTI | 2013. november 12. kedd 10:18 |

The synagogue in Debrecen's Kápolnás street in eastern Hungary and the Zion synagogue in Oradea (Nagyvárad) in western Romania will be reconstructed in a 1.41 million euro cross-border project.

Tamás Horovitz, head of the Jewish Community of Debrecen, said the synagogue built in 1910 seats 600 people and has a dome of the Star of David. The building will undergo repairs to its roof and drainage pipes and the interior and facade will be repainted. Work will start on Dec.1 and expected to finish by May 31 next year, he said.

Felix Kappelmann, the head of the Jewish Community of Nagyvárad, said the synagogue, built on the banks of the River Körös, will help make the city a meeting place for not only different nationalities but for spiritual communities too.

Hungary Reformed Charity medical team with aid to help in typhoon-hit Philippines

2013. november 10. vasárnap 20:37 |

A team carrying medical equipment and 15,000 dollars in aid from the Hungarian Reformed Charity will leave for the typhoon-hit Philippines on Monday, the charity told MTI on Sunday

The team of eight doctors will provide medical help in the coastal city of Tacloban, on the island hit hardest by Typhoon Haiyan, where they will start work in a fully equipped tent upon arrival, it said.

The aid package provided by the charity contains medical equipment, medicine, bandages and infusions.

The secondary aim of the mission is to assess rebuilding needs.

Donations to the charity may be made by calling 13600 and punching in code 66, by visiting the website www.jobbadni.hu or through the account number 10702019-85008898-51100005.

According to the Philippine government's estimate, some 10,000 people have died in the disaster.

Korean films shown at Urania for free

Forrás: MTI | 2013. október 29. kedd 15:43 |

Five Korean films will be shown at free screenings in Budapest's Urania cinema between November 4 and 8.

The films will be shown with Hungarian subtitles in the main screening room and with English subtitles in the Csortos screening room, cinema director Edit Bakos told the press on Monday. Spokeswoman of the Korean Cultural Centre Dora Palffy said that four of the five films will be Hungarians premieres.  

The programme will include the 2012 award-winning historical drama Masquerade on November 5, the renowned 2004 thriller Oldboy on November 5 and 6, the comedy Barking Dogs Never Bite from 2000 on November 6 and 7, the award-winning 2010 thriller Secret Reunion on November 7 and 8, and the 2008 action moive Rough Cut on November 4 and 8.

Budapest hosts conference on Indian-Hungarian links in art

Forrás: mti | 2013. november 04. hétfő 17:49 |

A conference dedicated to Indian painter of Hungarian origin Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941) and cultural links between the two countries started in Budapest on Monday.

Gyorgy Fekete, head of the conference's organiser Hungarian Art Academy (MMA), said at the opening event that "the spiritual journey between the two countries" includes such notable persons as Hungarian Orientalist Sandor Korosi Csoma, Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore, former Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, Hungarian writer and Islamologist Gyula Germanus and Hungarian-British archaeologist Aurel Stein. Ministry of Human Resources official Imre Lazar told the conference that cultural cooperation between the two countries goes back to the 16th-17th centuries but links became especially strong in the early 20th century thanks to many Hungarian scientists and researchers who visited India, including Stein, Ervin Baktay and Germanus. The conference features 23 lectures over two days exploring bilateral relations in science, painting, music, dance, literature, architecture and ethnography. The second day will be focused on Sher-Gil, whose birth anniversary is commemorated this year. The chief patron of the event is Minister of Human Resources Zoltan Balog.

Whale-shaped cultural centre opens on Budapest embankment

Forrás: MTI | 2013. november 08. péntek 17:50 |

Balna Budapest, a modern cultural and commercial centre built in the shape of a whale, opened its doors on the city's eastern embankment on Friday after prolonged legal and technical battles.

Deputy mayor Gabor Bagdy said at the opening that in 2010 his administration had inherited a technically unfinished building which lacked commercial potential, in an underfinanced project under a legally challenging public-private-partnership.

The building, designed by the Dutch architect Kaas Oosterhuis, should have opened by August 2010, but the contractor left it in a half-finished state and failed to pay his subcontractors. Budapest municipality bought up outstanding debt in 2012 and paid some of the subcontractors, although there still remain problems, Bagdy said.

"The Balna could be the Eiffel Tower of Budapest," he said, adding that the New Budapest Gallery opened its doors on level 2 and level -1 will house an eco-friendly market and antique shops.

The Gallery opened with an exhibition containing the works of 58 contemporary artists on Friday and a wide range of programmes will be on offer until Sunday.

Emigrants part of Hungarian political nation, says Ader

Forrás: MTI | 2013. október 27. vasárnap 20:03 |

Emigrants part of Hungarian political nation, says Ader

Hungarians living as emigrants are part of the Hungarian political nation, President Janos Ader said at a 1956 memorial event in the United Magyar House in Los Angeles on Saturday local time.

Ader told around 200 people attending the event that ever since the peaceful civic transformation of Hungary, nobody could say that emigrants were not part of the political nation. The Hungarian parliament passed a new citizenship law in 2010 "that opened the gates wide to all those that wish to become citizens of the Hungarian state out of their free will," Ader said.

He expressed appreciation of the Hungarian Americans' efforts to preserve their identity and said that Hungary respected their achievements and success. Additionally, he expressed thanks to the US for accommodating them. 

Earlier on Saturday, Ader met a group of Hungarians who left the country after the ill-fated 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, including Nobel laureate chemist Gyorgy Olah.

Nobel Prize chemist suggests using shale gas, mineral water for methanol production

Forrás: MTI | 2013. október 28. hétfő 12:54 |

Hungarian-born Nobel Prize chemist George Olah has suggested that Hungary should produce methanol using its shale gas and thermal water.

At a meeting with Hungarian President Janos Ader in Los Angeles on Sunday, Olah outlined ways to replace fuels for heavy vehicles with ones produced from elements found in Hungary, he told MTI after the meeting.  

Olah, 96, noted that the country was rich in shale gas and thermal water and suggested that both were suitable to make a new liquid fuel. He also cited the example of Iceland, where they produce methanol using thermal water. "If it can be done in Iceland... it could also be done in Hungary," he said. 

Olah said that scientists of Massachusetts Institute of Technology had elaborated a method to use methanol as a universal suitable even for railway engines, and suggested that Hungary could make use of that technology.

Olah, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1994, left Hungary in 1956 and spent periods in England and Canada before moving to the United States, where he was naturalised in 1971. Olah is currently a distinguished professor at the University of Southern California and the director of the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute. In 2005, Olah wrote an essay promoting the methanol economy.

Korean films shown at Urania for free

Forrás: MTI | 2013. október 29. kedd 15:43 |

Five Korean films will be shown at free screenings in Budapest's Urania cinema between November 4 and 8.

The films will be shown with Hungarian subtitles in the main screening room and with English subtitles in the Csortos screening room, cinema director Edit Bakos told the press on Monday. Spokeswoman of the Korean Cultural Centre Dora Palffy said that four of the five films will be Hungarians premieres.  

The programme will include the 2012 award-winning historical drama Masquerade on November 5, the renowned 2004 thriller Oldboy on November 5 and 6, the comedy Barking Dogs Never Bite from 2000 on November 6 and 7, the award-winning 2010 thriller Secret Reunion on November 7 and 8, and the 2008 action moive Rough Cut on November 4 and 8.

European umbrella org FUEN, Hungary Fidesz state support to Szekler march for autonomy

Forrás: MTI | 2013. október 25. péntek 17:41 |

The Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) has stated its full solidarity with and support for the ethnic Hungarian community of Romania in their autonomy endeavours on the occasion of an upcoming peace march on Sunday, according to the newsletter of the ethnic Hungarian RMDSZ party.

FUEN, the largest umbrella organisation of national minorities and ethnic groups in Europe, said in its statement that it supports its members in every forum in their efforts to enforce their rights, including those for the territorial autonomy of Szekler Land.

FUEN's leaders, the statement's signatories, pointed out that all historically existing national minorities in Europe are entitled to the right of autonomy and Romania's ethnic Hungarians, the largest national minority living in the same country, long ago declared its endeavour towards territorial and cultural autonomy of the Szekler land in central Romania. 

FUEN said it encourages Romania's ethnic Hungarians to never give up on their faith in autonomy, to take advantage of the opportunity of political representation and make use of civilian pressure.

Hungary's governing Fidesz supports the Oct. 27 march for the Szekler land's autonomy and asks members and supporters to join a simultaneous march expressing support held in Budapest, a lawmaker told a press conference.

Balazs Hidveghi said Fidesz asks their supporters to take only Hungarian and Szekler flags and no party symbols to the march from Heroes Square to the Romanian Embassy.

Semjen commemorates 1956 in Sydney

Forrás: MTI | 2013. október 26. szombat 19:49 |

Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen attended a commemoration of Hungary's 1956 anti-Soviet revolution organised by Hungarian organisations in Sydney and New South Wales during a visit to Australia on Saturday.

Semjen attended a commemoration at the Hungarian House in Sydney and gave a briefing on current nation policy issues and registration options for Hungarians living abroad for next year's general election. 

He also attended an oath-taking ceremony for new Hungarian citizens at the South Hungarian Club, Consul Kinga Tamas told MTI.

Wrapping up his visit, Semjen thanked the Polish state at the Polish consulate-general for offering Hungarian consular services once a week at its consulate.

March to promote Roma rights held in Budapest

2013. október 19. szombat 19:42 |

Around 800 people participated in a march held to promote Roma rights in central Budapest on Saturday afternoon.

The Roma March organised by the Roma community network We Belong Here started off from Matyas Square in the 8th district and went along Rakoczi Avenue to Blaha Lujza Square. Many of the participants were carrying Roma, Hungarian and European Union flags.

Chief organiser and Roma activist Jeno Setet said at the end of the march that the day of Roma pride was held in response to the negative public sentiment against the Roma that had developed in recent years. The Roma must work together and join forces for human dignity and also against the extreme right and "political exploitation," he added.

Aladar Horvath, the leader of the Roma Civil Rights Movement, said the situation of the Roma further deteriorated in Hungary under the current government in the past three years. He said Hungary's Roma had been "separated from the majority nation" on "an ethnic and social basis" and for this reason he announced he would join the Hungarian Gypsy Party.

Opposition Democratic Coalition politicians Laszlo Varju and Peter Niedermuller, as well as E14-PM co-chair Peter Juhasz participated in the march.

Ader lays wreath at 1956 victims' memorial in Paris

Forrás: MTI | 2013. október 20. vasárnap 19:54 |

President Janos Ader laid a wreath at the symbolic grave of Imre Nagy and other martyrs of the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising in Paris' Pere Lachaise cemetery on Sunday at the start of his two-day official visit.

The symbolic grave was built on an initiative by Tibor Meray, a Hungarian writer and journalist living in Paris, and was inaugurated on 16 June 1988, a year before the ceremonial reburial of the victims of 1956 in Budapest. The memorial was designed by Laszlo Rajk and the plot was made available to Hungary's democratic opposition by then mayor of Paris and later French President Jacques Chirac free of charge.

After paying his tribute at the memorial in Pere Lachaise, Ader left for the Arc de Triomphe for a joint commemoration of the 57th anniversary of 1956 with his French hosts.

Hall in renovated Music Academy named after Georg Solti

Forrás: MTI | 2013. október 22. kedd 21:48 |

The small concert hall of the newly refurbished Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music was named after world-renowned conductor Georg Solti and inaugurated by Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, on Tuesday.

"An old dream has come true. … The late conductor is a symbolic figure of Hungarian and universal music, someone who is able to connect Hungary with the world," Katalin Bogyay, President of UNESCO's General Conference, said at the ceremony.

Previously, a Georg Solti statue was unveiled in front of his one-time alma mater.

Addressing the ceremony, Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi said that Solti had always been loyal to his homeland but Hungary had abandoned him both in 1939 and in 1945. In the 1990s, however, they found each other and Solti "is at home again".

Lady Valerie Solti, the conductor's widow, said that the seminal years spent at the Budapest Academy of Music had a major influence on the life and career of her husband.

The nearly three-metre-tall bronze statue was sculpted by Peter Parkanyi Raab.

Govt to discuss Tokaj world heritage programme before end November

Forrás: MTI | 2013. október 16. szerda 21:47 |

The government will discuss by the end of November a Tokaj world heritage programme to support developments in the region's 27 municipalities, head of the Prime Minister's Office Janos Lazar said on Wednesday.

Lazar spoke at the foundation ceremony of a 1.5-billion-forint storage facility and processing hall for state-owned winemaker Tokaj Kereskedohaz in Tolcsva.

The state secretary said that Tokaj, among Hungary's 22 wine-growing regions, was of key importance for the government, to be promoted through both legal and financial means. 

The government is committed to maintaining the high standards of wine making in the region and is working to make Tokaji recognised as a "truly world quality wine", Lazar said. 

The Tokaj wine-growing region is included in UNESCO's World Heritage List.

Statue of conductor Solti to be unveiled in front of renovated Music Academy

Forrás: MTI | 2013. október 17. csütörtök 19:18 |

A statue of conductor Georg Solti will be unveiled in front of the newly refurbished Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in central Budapest on Tuesday.

The bronze statue sculpted by Peter Parkanyi Raab is nearly three metres tall.

"I was honoured to be commissioned and to have been chosen by Lady Valerie Solti herself after being shown the work of several artists," Parkanyi Raab told MTI on Thursday.

The artist said the Academy building, where several statues and ornaments by great artists such as Alajos Strobl are on display, had been an inspiration.

He said Lady Solti had been a great help by lending him photographs that aided his depiction of Solti as seen through his wife's eyes.