The birth of a wombat in a zoo is cause for celebration because these marsupials seldom breed in captivity, the Budapest Zoo said in a press release. They said this is the fourth baby of the pair and altogether only the 16th wombat born in a European zoo in the past 100 years.
It may be surprising, but the zoo said the baby was born sometime in the autumn but was only recently observed with night-vision cameras. Although wombats have a short gestation period of only a month, they continue to develop in their mother’s pouch for another five months, will only peek out of the pouch at around the age of six months and will take their first hesitant steps in the outside world a few weeks later.
Given that the newborn is still in the pouch, the zoo could not yet ascertain its gender.
The slow but steady decline in Rhine water levels is not only an ecological issue, but could ultimately lead to higher prices of shipped goods and threatens the entire German economy, Origo reports.
Last October, the level of the Rhine in Cologne dropped to a historic low of 77 centimeters (the previous low of 81 cm was recorded in 2003), also revealing hundreds of unexploded bombs from WWII, some of them as large as several tons.
These bombs – the river is estimated to hide some 3,000 – were meant to destroy bridges but are now a real threat to shipping, as barges could set them off at any time.
But this waterway is also the one linking Germany – through Swizterland – to Rotterdam, Europe’s busiest seaport. Its loss would also mean an end to cheap barge transports – especially of durable household items, but also various ores and grains.
The Rhine is mainly fed by melting glaciers, but water volumes from those have dropped by as much as 35 percent since 1973. German data showed that in 2017 alone Rhine shipping volume was 186 million tons, or half of Europe’s entire fluvial shipping. Lower water levels mean that barges cannot accept a full load and some of the goods must be transferred to rail or road. Even excluding the cost of the re-loading, train freight is about 40 percent more expensive than shipping.
Swiss and German households using heating oil already have to pay higher prices due to the rising shipping costs, but steelworks such as Thyssen-Krupp, coal-fired power plants and chemicals companies are also facing increasing expenses. Chemicals group BASF spent an additional US$285 million on alternative transport.
Gulyás said that Antisemitism had reached Hungary in the 1930s and led to an “unacceptable curtailing of the rights of the Jews”. He added that Hungary had learned from its mistakes and the government is proud that in present-day Hungary Jews and non-Jews can live alongside each other in a blooming cultural and religious life and in full security.
The Hungarian Holocaust center estimates that of the six million Jewish victims some 500,000 were Hungarian Jews while another estimate says only 29.6 percent of the pre-war Jewish population of Hungary of about 861,000 survived.
Historians say that the first Jews arrived to what is now Hungary’s territory to the Roman province of Pannonia during the rule of Emperor Marcus Aurelius when he transferred some of the rebellious legions from Syria in 175 CE. The number of the Jewish population in Hungary was at its peak just prior to WWI, when – according to the 1910 census – their number was 911,227 or 4.99 percent of the total population.
Hungary currently has a Jewish population of about 100,000.
Title image: The Jewish cemetery in Tokaj, northern Hungary (MTI/Zsolt Czeglédi)
“It was Hitler’s Germany which fed itself with Fascist ideology, which was later and still is today, named so by all historians,” Morawiecki’s said. His words were received with applause. “But all the evil came from that country and we cannot forget that, otherwise relativization of evil occurs.
The PM underlined the gravity of the losses committed on the nations inhabiting the Second Polish Republic. “On Germany’s orders, Poles and other nations inhabiting the Second Polish Republic not only lost their freedom, but Polish Jews were sentenced to doom, as were Poles,” he said.
The Polish state is the guardian of truth, which cannot be relativized in any way and such a vow of truth about those times I would like to swear here
“The Polish state is the guardian of truth, which cannot be relativized in any way and such a vow of truth about those times I would like to swear here,” Morawiecki announced. “We must look the truth right in the eyes, so that this terrible and brutal death which affected all those imprisoned here and in other German death camps, so that they will never die again.”
The ceremony commemorating the 74th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz was held in the former camp. January 27th also marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In addition to Mateusz Morawiecki and former prisoners, the clergy and representatives of diplomatic corps accredited in Poland also participated.
Born in 1877 in a small village that is now in Romania, Ady was a radical progressive both in his journalism and his poetry. At a time when Hungarian poetry hovered between heroic nationalism and the pastoral, he was thoroughly modern and iconoclastic. While he liked to see himself as a lone revolutionary, the majority of his peers actually held him in great esteem.
In the year leading to the 100th anniversary of his death – he died on January 27th, 1919 at the age of 41 – the Hungarian was embroiled in a furious social media debate about his legacy, political views and life. On the day of the anniversary, at least two dozen articles emerged that struggled to define his place in national literary heritage.
Conservative news site Pesti Srácok – which since its inception had a heading borrowed from one of his poems, “Magyar ugar” (Hungarian fallow lands) – praised him as a poet but also pointed out the he was a Freemason promoting the interests of the global financial elite.
In another column, opinion portal Mandiner – again praising his poetry – also mentioned his debauchery and visceral opposition to the traditional Hungarian (especially aristocratic) lifestyle.
At a commemoration held at his grave in Budapest, László L. Simon – award-winning poet and one of the leading figures of the ruling Fidesz party’s cultural policy – said “it is pointless to criticize his opinions when his poetry stands as an example for posterity”.
Title image: portrait of Endre Ady by Aladár Székely, cca. 1915.
Hungary is committed to helping the communities and families in need in the Middle East and to contribute to the humanitarian disaster caused by the war and to mitigate it. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said so yesterday after receiving Syrian Cardinal and Apostolic Nuncio Mario Zenari’s to whom he handed over the Hungarian government’s Syrian humanitarian aid document. It is our country’s firm position that the trouble should not be brought to Europe but that help should be taken to where there are problems. To this end, he would reduce the involvement in multi-stakeholder international aid programs and instead would focus on bilateral cooperation. Poland has already joined the Hungary Helps humanitarian aid program, but the Hungarian government would like the V4, under the name “V4 Helps,” to help those in need in crisis areas during the first half of the year. After a brief summary, we will discuss this topic today.
Masses of people fleeing war, famine, religious persecution, extreme weather phenomena, and poverty are moving towards Europe in hopes of a better life. According to the Migration Research Institute, the population of potential emigration countries will increase by more than 500 million in the next 32 years, so the pressure on Europe is also expected to increase.
According to some Member States of the European Union, the community must show solidarity with the refugees from the third world. In recent years, many decisions have been made in the EU that encourage immigration. For example, the European Parliament voted for the introduction of a migrant visa and provides money to asylum seekers through anonymous bankcards, and the quota issue has not been entirely withdrawn from the agenda either. According to the Hungarian government, these decisions will only inspire those who want a better life to come to Europe.
We should be very careful about what messages we send. If the number of young people doubles—and this is considered a fact—by 2050, we can expect further and more severe refugee and migrant waves, either via the Mediterranean or on land routes. And, this will be a long-term problem that will stay with us. So, if we send the message about getting here and then distributing them here, it will work as pull factor and will pull these young people into Europe.
The government’s view is that migration pressure can only be mitigated if assistance is delivered to where the problem arises, that is, if the EU actively helps to improve the conditions of people living in conflict regions. This principle guided the MPs when the parliament passed the act on the Hungary Helps Program at the end of last year, making local assistance one of the key elements of international foreign policy. The Hungary Helps Program was launched by the government in 2017 with the aim of strengthening Hungary’s engagement and organizing assistance in crisis-stricken areas from which migrants start.
The project supports the poor, stands up for human and minority rights, and works to maintain international security. Workers in Hungary Helps explore the root causes of migration, actively work to preserve the religious and ethnic diversity of crisis areas, and support Christian communities. One of the most important innovations of the program is that it channels the support directly to the selected community, so there is no need to spend funds on administrative costs. And, this way, the majority groups cannot take the money from those in need. The program has been so successful that it has been extended to Poland as a first step, but the government’s undisclosed goal is to continue working with all the Visegrád countries under the name of V4 Helps. The first V4 aid cooperation is planned to be implemented in the first half of the year.
My guest in the studio is Tristan Azbej, the state secretary responsible for assisting persecuted Christians and for the implementation of the Hungary Helps Program. I wish you a good evening.
Good evening.
Let’s return briefly to the introduction before talking about the V4 collaboration. Yesterday, it was announced that Hungary is funding three Syrian hospitals for a full year within the framework of the Syrian initiative called Open Hospitals. Let’s start with which hospitals we are talking about and what we should know about the Syrian Open Hospitals initiative.
The support for Open Hospitals project is our latest support program, announced yesterday. In Syria’s big cities that have been suffering greatly, including Aleppo, Homs, and Damascus, we support hospitals that supply the poorest people. It is worthwhile and important to know that in Syria, 54% of the health infrastructure has been destroyed during the eight-year war. So, it is not about the quality of care, but about having a hospital and having or not having a care system. And, the result is that these days the number of people that die because of the lack of health infrastructure is higher than the number of people being killed in the war.
Secretary of State, let’s look at the facts for a moment. Who are the primary victims of the Syrian violence?
Victims of the Syrian violence come from a wide variety of groups. In his speech yesterday, Cardinal Mario Zenari, the Syrian Nuncio, who visited Hungary, said that more than twenty different armed groups or armies are fighting against each other, and they do not differentiate between victims. At the same time, it must be seen that the most afflicted community in any conflict is the minority community, which, in this case, among others, is the Christian community in Syria. They suffered a lot. In eight years, the number of Christians in Syria has been reduced to less than half of what it was.
What are the opportunities of the local Christian church to provide help there?
The Christian churches are the only supportive bodies to which the persecuted Christians can turn. Unfortunately, in many cases, it turns out that Christian refugees, that is, internally displaced people, are discriminated against by the international refugee aid system. Therefore, they can only rely on local churches. But, the resources of the local churches are finite, which is why the Hungary Helps Program supports the local Christian churches to help these people who have been left behind by everyone else.
It is very important that the hospitals operated or maintained by local Christian churches help not only local Christians, but also Muslims.
Yes, and it is important that if we want to practice Christian brotherly love towards fellow human beings who are suffering, it must not be a discriminative solidarity. So, if we chose one group to support, we would not be exhibiting Christian behavior. That is why we are not only supporting Christians, but, for example, by supporting these Christian-backed hospitals, we place Christian communities in a position to continue the gesture of brotherly care towards the Muslim and other communities that live with them. On the one hand, to do otherwise would not be morally correct, and, on the other hand, we would place the stigma on the Christians that they are favored in the West. So, with our program we support peaceful, lasting coexistence and shared survival.
Can we talk about the amount of support that is involved? I mean in the Open Hospitals program.
We spend half a billion forints on the Open Hospitals support program, slightly more than five hundred million forints. But, this is not our first support program in Syria. In Aleppo, which was locked in a siege for four years and now is trying to recover from almost complete destruction, for example, there we work with the largest local Christian denomination, the Melkites. We work on a program that aims to help families that fled from Aleppo to return there, to provide them some sort of housing, and to restart their lives.
How closely can the aid track be followed? In many cases, we hear that—and I’m not talking about Hungary Helps but about other assistance programs—somewhere in the big system this money is lost, and it turns out that a very high percentage of the money is financing corruption, for example. So, can you follow a trail to the last penny to see where these Hungarian forints go?
Yes, on the one hand, because we choose reliable actors as our partners, and, on the other hand, because even though we provide this support in the spirit of trust and solidarity, it is the money of Hungarian taxpayers, so we follow the program with appropriate program control methods. The goal that the donation actually arrives to the people we want to support is achieved through an “innovative support method”—as a number of Western organizations mockingly call it—in which we give our money not to a large, non-transparent international agency, but to those who we want to support. This is because we do not want to support agencies, but rather the suffering Christian people and other people in the Middle East and Africa who are suffering.
It is a research-based fact that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world today. Statistics show that it affects at least eighty countries and some 215 million Christian people. Do you think that this issue is managed proportionally to its weight by international politics or diplomacy?
Not even close. In my opinion, this is a shameful crime against humanity and failure of the West and international organizations. Human rights organizations and various NGOs focusing on human rights deal with a large number of groups who suffer from far fewer legal disadvantages. These include different gender minorities and sexual minorities. Discrimination against them must also be addressed, but at the same time, it is shameful and must be changed that international organizations and Western governments simply turn a blind eye to the daily suffering and severe discrimination of hundreds of millions of people.
What is the reason for this? Do you feel that it is deliberate? And, what can be done about it?
We do feel that it is deliberate. The fact that they are trying to keep a global humanitarian disaster as a secret, and even explicitly deny it on several diplomatic forums, cannot be a coincidence. I see a general, rather dirty political ideological approach. We believe that, on the basis of the experience gained in international forums, Western liberal political forces are trying to sweep this humanitarian catastrophe under the carpet. They usually try to present Christian religion, people of Christian religion, and Christian Democratic political forces as followers and promoters of an oppressive, aggressive ideology. They are trying to present Christians, Christianity, and Christian politicians as persecuting others and as depriving others from their rights. However, the truth is that, to say just one telling statistical fact, last year 4,300 people were murdered in the world because of their Christian faith.
In connection with this, let me ask you a question. In a previous interview not so long ago you said that the Hungarian and European people have a quantifiable financial interest in pursuing a proportionate humanitarian policy outside of our borders and outside of Europe. Would you explain this a little further?
Yes. Regarding our support program announced yesterday the question was raised about why we support Syria…
The question often arises about why we prefer to help the persecuted people abroad when, for example, there is deep poverty in Hungary. This is a constant criticism of both the program and the government.
Yes. The question is legitimate, so it is appropriate to answer it. I would like to tell you about the Syrian hospital program with which we will support the one-year operation of three hospitals with half a billion forints. In comparison, the Orbán government has spent 500 billion HUF on developing the hospital health infrastructure in the countryside in recent years and has invested 700 billion in Budapest. What we are giving to hospitals in Syria constitutes maybe some ten thousandths of this amount. And, that is correct. The primary task of the Hungarian government is to help the Hungarian people. Yet, with this donation, which cannot even be interpreted from the Hungarian budgetary point of view, we can save entire communities. And, it is in the interest of the Hungarian people as well, because this will prevent and mitigate the migratory pressure that is on our country and in Europe.
In a sense, this also answers the previously formulated question of why this donation is financially worthwhile for the Hungarian people and the Hungarian state.
If we want to speak in numbers, it is well known that, according to a study published by the Soros Plan, 9 million forints —which I think is an underestimation—is needed to achieve the integration of a migrant in Europe. So, Europeans, including Hungarian taxpayers, need to pay 9 million forints per migrant. By contrast, supporting people in distress, people in need, and people who are suffering, for example, to be able to stay in Syria, is a fraction of this amount, a fraction that can be expressed in a small percentage. An economic study has also revealed that, for example, the integration of 3,000 migrants in Sweden is more costly than maintaining one of Jordan’s largest refugee camps, which can accommodate 100,000 people a year.
What phase is the V4 collaboration in? This is the topic with which we started the show today. We know that Poland has already indicated its intention to join, but what cooperation has the Central and Eastern European region started at least on a theoretical level? We heard in the intro that the government is expecting results within half a year.
Indeed, Poland has indicated its intention to join the initiative. Not only has it indicated its intention—since we are the governments and politicians of not words but of actions—we have already started our first joint support program. In Syria we will jointly rebuild and finance an orphanage. In retrospect, this Polish–Hungarian joint initiative was quite natural, as the principles of our program are shared by the Polish party. These principles are that we must have solidarity with the suffering people and communities of other regions, that migration is not the right answer to the problems of the world, but that we have to bring help where there is trouble, and that the persecuted Christians, as they belong to the most persecuted religion, require and deserve priority support. We have already started the first program with Poland, but we are also looking for the Slovak and Czech parties to launch joint programs. Progress has already been made, for example, in the Slovak legislature. A parliamentary committee has been set up, based on the Hungarian model, to design programs to help persecuted Christians and other religious minorities. In Hungary, this initiative and program were also launched by the National Assembly.
By the way, regarding the parliament, the weight of the problem and the situation is indicated by the fact that, and perhaps we can tell the viewers what we were talking about before the shooting, the Deputy State Secretariat in charge of the task was soon transferred to the Prime Minister’s Office and became a state secretariat.
Yes, it also indicates that the Hungary Helps Program has become a national mission, a national policy. Hungary was the country that first dedicated a government unit in the form of a deputy state secretariat and then a program to help the persecuted Christians at the end of 2016. Based on the feedback of our first programs and activities, it has been proved that this is a very important matter, because the persecuted Christians could not count on anybody else, at least in the beginning, until we secured some allies for the case. And, it was obvious that, and we can say this without any self-glorification or bragging, what we were doing simply saved lives. For example, an entire community was saved in Iraq and in other places as well, for example, in, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Nigeria.
It is important to say, and it should be emphasized, that this is not just about helping the persecuted Christians. Hungary Helps started as a political initiative, and many people even today—and this obviously indicates the weight of the problem—associate it with the help of the persecuted Christians, but this is not entirely correct. The program also undertakes humanitarian aid in other directions. Is that right?
Yes. As I said, it would be morally wrong to deal only with the persecuted Christians. However, we need to focus on them as a prioritized group, for several reasons. On the one hand, because they represent the most persecuted religion, and the world has turned its back on them. On the other hand, Hungary is a Christian country, at least in its culture, traditions, and identity. And, we feel that since the allegedly Christian West has turned away from our persecuted brothers, we have a moral duty to help them. But, it is also a fact that, as we like to summarize it, our support program for persecuted Christians is explicit, but not exclusive.
Tristan Azbej, thank you for accepting our invitation. Our moral duty was to talk about this topic. I wish that the helpers also have helpers. I hope that we could contribute to this with today’s show. Thank you for being here.
Thank you very much for this opportunity and for the affirmative support.
Dear viewers, thank you for watching us this time. See you in a week. Goodbye.
According to Eurostat data, in 2017 the proportion of young people aged 18-24 in work and at risk of poverty in the Czech Republic was estimated at a very low 1.5 percent, especially when compared to the EU average of 11 percent.
The EU as a whole had the worst result in 2014 when the estimated average of young people at risk of poverty was 12.9 percent, which has been improving year-on-year since then. According to Eurostat, considered at risk of poverty are those whose income is below the 60 percent threshold of the national poverty rate average after all social transfers have been taken into account. The average household size and average income in the respective country is also taken into account. In the case of the Czech Republic, both are rather low in relation to European conditions.
In the past, the Czech Republic has always been among the top ranked countries together with Slovakia (3.8 percent), Finland (4.2 percent) and Slovenia (5.4 percent). At the other end of the ranking ranks Romania (28.2 percent), Spain (19 percent) and surprisingly Luxembourg (20 percent) and Denmark (19.1 percent).
In 2017, the European Council adopted a decision establishing the defense cooperation PESCO, in which 25 EU member states agreed to participate. Its purpose is to enable closer defense and security cooperation between the states. So far, 34 projects have been approved in two waves and the Czech Republic will participate directly in seven of them, observing another six.
The Czech Republic became the leader of the Electronic warfare capability and interoperability program for future joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. As put by the Defense Ministry, it aims to deliver a complex study that will evaluate feasibility of the use of electronic warfare tools for future operations. Potential of the use of passive surveillance systems, whose production has a great tradition in Czechia, is going to be evaluated as well. Ultimately, one of the outcomes could be a joint training program for electronic warfare experts or a joint force. It is all supposed to gradually unify electronic warfare approaches and procedures.
So far, six countries have joined the project. Czechia and Germany are project members and Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Sweden joined as observers. The first meeting is due in the first half of 2019.
Czechia also participates in the Military mobility project designated to simplify cross-border military transport procedures, which is now often disabled due to bureaucratic processes of the EU.
Juncker has already lost, and one could say – Thank God! We’ve seen many remarkable escapades from this former Prime Minister of the notorious Luxembourg tax haven. We’ve witnessed his transformation from a Christian democrat into a textbook leftist liberal.
Juncker laid wreaths at Karl Marx’s monument, he praised communist revolutionary and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. On his watch, around 2 million illegal Muslim refugees and migrants entered the EU uncontrolled and the UK is leaving the EU. It’s unknown who will replace him.
Bilal Hassani who was born a man, dresses like a woman, and claims to be gay is most likely going to win the French national round and then represent his progressive country well. If France can’t win Eurovision this time, it never will. The last time they won was in 1977 and this time, they would really like to be represented by someone who has been a front-runner since day one.
Hassani will face a lot of criticism just like Austrian singer Conchita Wurst in 2014, who was accused of winning only thanks to her sexual orientation and all the public hype and pressure surrounding her existence.
The Treaty of Aachen aims to deepen Franco-German cooperation in foreign policy, defense, economy and border region integration. Zeman said it inspired him to apply the strengthened cooperation pledge to the V4. Furthermore, Austria is free to join us in the effort if it wants to, “I’m going there in March so let’s see what they make of it,” he added.
Zeman believes that the unification of Europe should take place in transport, energy and IT networks. He said there are transnational matters you cannot cut off by borders, which means we can get back to diversity and variety, adding that all countries would only benefit from it.
The Franco-German treaty is supposed to strengthen Europe’s ability to act independently in foreign and security policy, and paves the way for Germany to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council. According to Zeman, Franco-German cooperation won’t have any impact on the Czech Republic.
According to “Die Welt”, the Hamburg office for foreigners called for 300 people to leave Germany in 2018. In another 312 cases, the office decreed that those people had lost the right to freedom of movement and therefore, their right to remain in Germany. In total, 77 lost the right to remain due to prison sentences, and 21 were deported from Hamburg to their countries of origin – made up of mainly homeless people from Poland and Romania.
In October 2018, a 43-year-old Polish woman died due to hypothermia
According to German law, people living on the streets longer than three months may be subject to control and sanctions. In October 2018, a 43-year-old Polish woman died due to hypothermia.
The office warrants its decision by claiming that those people are not employed or currently being educated. At the same time, Germany is accepting many migrants from Africa and the Middle East, most of who live off social benefits. For some reason, they do not qualify for deportation.
In an interview with the BBC, Morawiecki stated that he agreed with Angela Merkel that “we should fight for compromise till the very end.” He argued that since hard Brexit has become the most likely scenario, offering such a compromise would not be a break in European solidarity.
The PM believes that Brexit will have serious negative consequences for not only the EU’s economy, but for Britain’s and Poland’s as well. “I would strongly support every change of the situation, due to which the United Kingdom would remain in the EU,” he said.
I would not call it a stupid referendum – it was the voice of the British citizens and ignoring it would be a lack of respect
Although Morawiecki is “seriously worried about Brexit,” he would not “call it a stupid referendum – it was the voice of the British citizens and ignoring it would be a lack of respect.” This is in reference to the words of the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk.
In an interview for BBC 2’s “Inside Europe: Ten Years of Turmoil”, Tusk spoke of his conversation with former British PM David Cameron. “David be a realist. I know other PM’s promise to help you, but believe me, no one has an appetite for a referendum in Europe just because of your stupid referendum,” he said.
“Top 100 Global Thinkers” is a ranking of the 100 most important intellectualists who are still active in public. The ranking was based on the votes of the editorial board and readers of “Foreign Policy”.
Donald Tusk was distinguished in the category of “Economics and Business”. This is the short explanation for Tusk’s honors:
“As president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, has increasingly confronted his home nation, defending European values of integration against rising nationalism. Tusk has also faced off with the United Kingdom, warning since before the 2016 referendum about the negative consequences of a Brexit vote. His role will become ever more crucial in 2019 as he tries to hold together the European project.”
As president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, has increasingly confronted his home nation, defending European values of integration against rising nationalism
The reactions of Polish Twitter users were angry, to put it mildly:
“He knows his stuff with business, no one has sold Poland out as much as him.”
“This way we have official confirmation of the ideological motives of Tusk’s actions, against Poland’s interests. This must be remembered, because there will not be a better anti-commercial for his motivations.”
Tym sposobem potwierdzono oficjalnie ideologiczne motywy dziania Tuska, wbrew interesom Polski, trzeba to zapamiętać, bo lepszej antyreklamy dla motywacji jego działań nie da się wymyślić.
10,000 people defied the cold weather to attend Italian composer and musical director Ennio Morricone’s Budapest concert on January 23rd, proving interest in the old master’s art shows no signs of diminishing.
Morricone, arguably one of the greatest film score composers of all time, has written over 500 scores for cinema and television and over 100 classical works. In 2015, Morricone received his first Academy Award for Best Motion Picture Score in Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight – his first win after many nominations.
He has recently embarked on what is supposed to be his last tour at the helm of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, originally with performances in Saint Petersburg, Paris, London, Krakow, Prague, Budapest and several Italian cities.
But in response to the great demand, the number of Italian concerts has been doubled and several new venues have been added to the world tour.
Title image: Ennio Morricone conducting the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in Budapest, January 23rd (MTI/Balázs Mohai)
The Romanian currency hit a new record low of RON 4.7569 against the euro on January 23rd, when the Romanian Central Bank released its daily mid-rate. Central Bank spokesman Dan Suciu said that the slide of the leu was “partially explainable by (market) reactions to the government’s budgetary and tax policy”. This was a direct reference to the so-called “greed tax” on telecom companies, banks and energy utility firms the government announced at the end of December to plug the holes in the budget.
Telecoms and energy utility companies will be subject to an additional 3 percent tax on their revenues and energy companies will also see their prices capped at RON 68 (US$16.60) per MWh. The extra tax on banks will be a progressive tax based on the three- and six-month Romanian inter-bank offered rate (ROBOR) and with these rates currently at 3.04 and 3.34 percent respectively, their extra tax will be 0.9 percent on assets.
The additional taxes are necessary to cover the government’s already announced plans for wage and pension increases. According to estimates of the Romanian financial press, these taxes will bring in an additional RON 10 billion (US$2.45 bln) to the budget.
Since December 24th, the Romanian currency lost 2.4 percent of its value against the euro. In reaction to the fall of the national currency, the Central Bank also raised its indicative three-month lending rate (ROBOR) to 3.03 percent from a previous 2.99 percent.
The deal will be signed on Friday in Mielec, South-Eastern Poland, with the Polish State Aviation Works (PZL). PZL Mielec is a Polish subsidiary of Black Hawk-manufacturer Sikorsky owned by Lockheed Martin. The minister underlined that Polish workers will be building the choppers and this will be the first component connected with the needs of the special forces.
We are currently auctioning for helicopters for the Navy. There is also the matter of assault helicopters. This is an entire program
“We are currently auctioning for helicopters for the Navy. There is also the matter of assault helicopters. This is an entire program,” Błaszczak told TVP. He also explained that the purchase is being carried out via a legal procedure. “This is about the needs of special forces. This is a procedure, which is effective when it comes to obtaining modern equipment for the Polish Army,” he said.
Pay rise in the Polish Army
The minister also mentioned a pay rise in the military. The increased salaries will be put into motion starting on February 1st. The highest raise will occur among the privates – 15 percent, more than 11 percent among the non-commissioned officers and 10 percent among junior officers.
Germany’s plan to phase out coal-fired power plants in order to reduce emissions does not mean the end of fossil fuel usage as the shortfall in baseload supply will have to be compensated by higher natural gas usage, Merkel said in Davos.
Germany began to phase out its nuclear power plants in the year 2000, with the “Energiewende” plan of transition to a low-carbon, environmental-friendly and affordable energy supply. When Merkel came to power in 2005, she was also dubbed the “climate Chancellor” on account of her successes in closing environmental pacts.
In the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Merkel announced that all nuclear plants will be closed by 2022. This, however, left the country with a major problem: coal-fired plants now cover 40 percent of Germany’s electricity needs, but those are also being phased out so the country can meet its target of reducing CO2 emissions by 55 percent by the year 2030.
“But if we leave coal, if we leave nuclear, then we will need more natural gas. Energy after all needs to be affordable,” Merkel said. It was also in 2011 that Merkel set out a goal to cover 60 percent of energy demand from renewable sources by the year 2050. In light of the country’s higher gas demand outlined in the speech, it now seems doubtful that this latter goal can be met.
The failure of Szarvasi Zrt. which left 400 people unemployed may not seem a momentous event, but it can be argued that – for Hungary at least – it is the end of the last Communist vestige. In this caffeine-addicted country one would be hard-pressed to find a kitchen that does not have one, even if it has been forced out of service by more modern contraptions.
Szarvasi began making their machines in 1953, the year Stalin died. Originally made of aluminum and more recently of stainless steel, their typical gurgling sound was as much a part of the average Hungarian’s morning routine as washing their teeth – we dare say more.
Due to an unfortunate turn of history – the Battle of Mohács in 1526, following which the Ottoman Empire ruled a significant part of Hungary for more than 150 years – Hungarians became familiar with coffee a good half century before say, England.
To this day, Hungarians have a saying “now comes the black soup”, meaning a bad end to something. It evokes the peace talks with the Turks, during which a meal was always followed by coffee, hence the black soup.
The demise of Szarvasi had, of course, nothing to do with the Turks. While the company did not officially mention this, market rumor has it that having lost a sizeable part of their market to automatic coffee machines, the company was bidding for a large supplier contract with Swedish home improvements maker IKEA and even bought the production tools before the deal turned sour.
Based on a government bill that was approved by the Deputies in one reading, Brits will be treated as EU citizens at least until the end of 2020. However, it will come into force only in the case of a so-called hard Brexit, the no-deal option.
Without the bill, hard Brexit would put Brits living in the Czech Republic in the same position as non-EU citizens. According to the Interior Ministry, around 5,000 Brits working in the Czech Republic would be affected the most. In total, there are around 8,000 Brits legally residing in the country.
The Deputies also debated whether the UK promised reciprocity, so that Czech citizens in the UK will be treated the same way. The British side indicates it is going to treat Czechs in the UK in a reciprocal manner, said Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek, adding that it is not in the British interest to let so many people move away from the country by the day in the case of a hard Brexit.
Interion Minster Jan Hamacek noted that the Czech Republic relies on a British document from last December, which outlines a future migration system and operates with an interim period for EU citizens by the end of 2020. However, the Lower chamber called on the Government to initiate talks about the reciprocity with the UK.
The Strategy aims for the Czech Republic to become one of the most innovative countries in Europe. It consists of nine chapters, on which there is a broad agreement among entrepreneurs, academicians and researchers. It puts an emphasis on research evaluation and funding.
The Strategy puts emphasis on research funding and evaluation and aims to increase the Czech Republic’s share of science and research spending of GDP to 2.5 percent by 2025 and to three percent in 2030. In terms of spending on science, the Czech Republic is currently behind the European average. For example Sweden, Austria and Germany fund science more than the Czech Republic. On the contrary, Poland, Hungary and southern European countries invest less.
The document also emphasizes the development of start-ups and spin-off companies, or smart infrastructure. The Czech Republic is now very dependent on the automotive industry that will not only deal with car production in the future but also with the development of solutions for self-driving cars.
Another pillar of the strategy is a change in support for patent policy as the Czech Republic lags behind the most advanced countries in the world in protecting intellectual property. One of the pillars also addresses the promotion of the country abroad.
The Government Research, Development and Innovation Council has received a positive stance from the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, universities, business associations such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Industry and Transport Association, and key Czech innovators. The Council was inspired by geographically and similar sized countries, such as the Scandinavian countries and Switzerland.
The EU has been trying, so far unsuccessfully, to introduce a common migration policy since 2015, when more than a million immigrants mostly from the Middle East and Africa entered the EU. The migration wave in 2015 has triggered debates about mandatory, and later on voluntary, migrant quotas. Both options were rejected particularly by the Visegrad countries, later also by Italy among others, after experiencing an influx of migrants.
Toothless Brussels policy only gave strength to nationalist parties in many European countries including the Czech Republic. Now, the nationalist politicians are preparing their forces for the battle over the European Parliament. Matteo Salvini recently discussed a new Eurosceptical alliance in Warsaw, paving the way for Italy and Poland to join their forces. According to Salvini, Europe should get back to its roots, it needs less bureaucracy and more family values.
Viktor Orban called upon Hungarians to reject globalization and support patriotism in the upcoming elections. He believes that those who are in power in Brussels seek to replace an alliance of the free nations with a European empire and claims that allies of the empire are also proponents of migration and multiculturalism, thus they purposely don’t defend Europeans against hordes of migrants.
Overall, migration is still a hot topic in Europe. In Germany, for example, the Bundestag extended a list of safe countries, to which it is easier to return migrants. MEPs continue to discuss migration as well. They called on European leaders to proceed with the asylum and migration policy reform, while far-right politicians and populists see closed borders as the only option.
That said, the current balance of power in the EP could change. Either way, it looks like the Christian Democrats and the Socialists are going to lose majority.
Meanwhile in the Czech Republic, parties finish with their candidates’ lists. Criticism towards the EU will be certainly included in campaigns.
Klaus Jr. doesn’t believe that the EU is capable of reform and as he put it, more fellow Civic Democrats think the same. According to Klaus Jr., the Civic Democratic Party prevails those who are critical toward the EU but at the same time think there is no alternative, thus the EU should be reinvented. Klaus Jr. himself, however, sees things differently.
In the interview, Klaus Jr. turns to the term ‘better people’, saying its definition is indeed difficult. The better people tend to think of themselves as the educated, but the reality usually proves otherwise, wrote Klaus Jr. earlier. They also constantly try to interfere in others’ lives and do some reeducation campaigns, which are more and more aggressive, he added.
Klaus believes it is never a good idea to interfere with others’ lives and to reeducate others just because you mind a behavior that doesn’t threaten you. Nevertheless, he doesn’t like an idea of same-sex unions being called ‘marriage’ as it would destroy traditions of our society. Which is something that is threatening me and my life, Klaus Jr. explained.
All the efforts of the ‘political homosexuals’ to equalize everything and push for things that not even the real homosexuals want, won’t do any good, he concluded.
Famous actor Robert De Niro and his partners: film producer Meir Teper and famous chief Nobu Matsushisa are planning to open a Nobu Hotel in Warsaw.
“The beginning of 2019 is also the beginning of an exciting cooperation with our partners,” said the chairman of Nobu Hotels, Trevor Horwell. “With pride, we add Nobu Hotel Warsaw – the most modern hotel in Europe, to our growing family of Nobu Hotels and Restaurants.”
With pride, we add Nobu Hotel Warsaw – the most modern hotel in Europe, to our growing family of Nobu Hotels and Restaurants
The new Nobu Hotel, the only one in this part of Europe, will replace the Hotel Rialto, which is undergoing extensions. The hotel will offer 120 rooms, large conference halls for events and business meetings, a fitness area and the renowned Nobu Restaurant.
The project’s worth is PLN 100 million. Nobu Hospitality will be the hotel’s operator, and the main investor is Polish Tacit Investment.
The first guests will able to use the hotel’s services starting in early 2020.
Last year alone, the Hungarian Tax and Customs Office (NAV) seized illegally imported perfumes worth HUF 100 million (US$357,000), NAV spokesman for excise matters Róbert Leopold told Magyar Idők in an interview.
“Almost all seized perfumes were counterfeit,” Leopold said. “Most importantly, these knockoffs could be a health hazard, because there is no way of knowing what’s inside the bottles.”
He said the best-case scenario is when the bottles contain water and a small amount of fragrance, but some of the samples have been found to contain harmful chemicals and even traces of animal urine.
While most of these perfumes originate from the Far East, they typically reach Hungary via North Africa and the Middle East. He also said that while these products are typically of extremely poor quality, their smell can be deceivingly similar to the original.
The most telling giveaway of a counterfeit perfume is that it comes in 100ml bottles, while legitimate perfumes normally come in 20, 30, or at most 50ml bottles. The second most obvious sign of a counterfeit – besides the significantly cheaper price – is that serial numbers on both bottle and cardboard box are on stickers as opposed to printed on the genuine articles.
Title image: Hungarian Tax and Customs Office seizes counterfeit perfumes (MTI/János Vajda)
Among his many other meetings at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici also met George Soros, the founder of the Open Society Foundation.
This was Soros’ 21st meeting with the leaders of the European Union.
Hungarian MEP Tamás Deutsch (Fidesz) addressed a series of written questions to the European Commission regarding a Soros’ meetings with leaders of the European Union:
1. Who initiated these meetings and with what goal?
2. What topics were discussed?
3. Is it appropriate that a private citizen and businessman without any democratically elected political mandate should coordinate with such frequency with the leaders of the European Union?
According to data from LobbyFact, between 2014 and 2018 lobbyists of Soros’ Open Society European Policy Institute met leading representatives of the European Union on 49 occasions.
In mid-February the United States and Poland will hold a joint international conference concerning the Middle East. One of the main topics is to be the issue with Iran, but Iran has not been invited to participate.
“This is still a matter to be discussed with our partners,” Andrzej Duda told Polish Radio. “Please remember, that we are the host, we co-organize it with the US, but there are other participants and I’m sure that the ministry of Foreign Affairs and minister Czaputowicz is leading intensive dialogue.”
The President added that “we want to do all we can to help return peace to the Middle East, and that is a much broader issue than just Iran.”
[block:views=related_articles_field-block]
Three Seas
Duda also commented on Poland’s role as a bridge between Western Europe and the United States. He underlined that Germany and the US are partner states of the Three Seas Initiative and that is a “contact point”. Although cooperation was working well, there were some issues such as Nord Stream 2.
This is a powerful game of interests. We are a part of it, because we are a large EU country and have our own interests
“This is a powerful game of interests. We are a part of it, because we are a large EU country and have our own interests,” the President added.
Duda referred to the rumors that Donald Trump would want to take the US out of NATO: “I do not believe Donald Trump realistically considers the US leaving NATO.” He also evaluated that alliance has no sense without NATO.
“Although Poland does all it can to defend itself, the main guarantor of Poland’s security is the USA,” added president Duda.
Who is actually leading the European Union? Maybe Jean-Claude Juncker? Or Frans Timmermans? Or maybe the European Council? Or maybe those critical decisions are made at public summits? I will give you my answer right at the beginning: the most important decisions of the European Union are made through informal channels.
The European Union is in fact led by the global – primarily financial – elite through direct or more often indirect means. Sure, some details are being decided by either the bureaucrats in Brussels or the European Commission, but these are rarely crucial decisions.
In order to understand the global elite’s function around and within the EU, we must look outside the traditional information channels and turn towards alternative sources.
The western media speaks a politically correct language whose main aim is to obfuscate the real motivations, decision-makers and networks or – should these somehow be revealed – discredit any such information.
We rarely hear about an organization working beside – or above – the EU with an informal but huge influence on most of its decisions. This is the European Council of Foreign Relations (ECFR). It was established in 2007 as a subsidiary of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) with the help of George Soros who at some point was a member and even director of the parent organization.
To understand the motivations of the subsidiary, we must first understand the parent organization. The New York-based CFR is one of – if not the – most important global leader with enormous resources and a network to match.
The Council of Foreign Relations was established in 1921 and initially controlled by the Rothschilds and subsequently by the Rockefellers. Almost every U.S. President after WWII has been a member of the council. Its corporate members include Chevron, ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs, Google, Moody’s, Deutsche Bank, Shell and Toyota – to name but a few – and, of course, Soros Fund Management LLC.
The members of the CFR are committed to establishing a new world order, promote global free trade, encourage migration and dismantle nation states and – most importantly – to making Europe a super-federation, the European arm of a global government.
There is no doubt that the ECFR as a daughter institution follows the same goals as its Soros-led parent. In my opinion, the European Council of Foreign Relations is present at all levels within the EU and not only does it influence or pressure decisions, but it actually makes them.
It is, if you will, the deep state behind the European Union. A background power that exerts a decisive influence on all crucial decisions. That is as long as it can and until public opinion realizes the fact.
The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirms that Kowalski will remain in agency in Norway. The diplomat is known for his work in helping Polish families, whom the Norwegian Child Welfare Services – Barnevernet is taking children away from and giving them to foster families.
Kowalski has been “in the bad books” of the Norwegian government for more than one and a half years. Oslo argued that Kowalski had referred to public persons “in a way, which cannot be reconciled with the role of a diplomat.” In the letter, the Norwegian foreign ministry underlined that this issue will not affect relations between Norway and Poland.
We believe, that the consul worked correctly and in accordance with his duties. He is effectively defending the interests of Polish families in Norway
“The Norwegian Foreign Ministry has asked us to consider the dismissal of the consul due to their accusations. We do not accept these accusations. We believe that the consul worked correctly and in accordance with his duties. He is effectively defending the interests of Polish families in Norway,” said Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk, the deputy Polish foreign minister.
“We positively evaluate the work of the consul and don’t see a reason for him not to complete his term,” said the Polish deputy minister.
The Norwegian side has used disinformation, as the spokeswoman of the Norweigan Foreign Ministry Ane Haavards-datter Lunde claims that Kowalski has been dismissed and has three weeks to leave the country.
Norway has a right to do so, but then Poland would have to dismiss the Norwegian consul, which would dramatically worsen the relations between the two countries.
“When the journalists of those media, which described serious corruption accusations against the mayor of Gdańsk, today try to make him a model character of public life of the Third Polish Republic, this is a conscious manipulation,” Zybertowicz said about Paweł Adamowicz.
The case is very similar with the figure of Lech Wałęsa, who is known to have been a “paid snitch”. “The same is with the conscious manipulation of building a secular saint with Jerzy Owsiak [WOŚP charity fundraiser chairman], who said that he will headbutt all those who spoke ill of Wałęsa,” Zybertowicz reminded.
There is an attempt to turn them into secular saints, in an attempt to control human emotions
The professor claims that if one day “a historic sociologist will be describing the blueprints of commanding the collective imagination of the Third Republic, they will have to put Wałęsa, Owsiak and Adamowicz in one row.”
“There is an attempt to turn them into secular saints, in an attempt to control human emotions,” he said.
After the ongoing wage negotiations since last September failed, the trade union (AHFSZ) at the German car maker’s western Hungarian plant began a one-week strike demanding an 18 percent wage increase and additional bonuses.
AHFSZ president Sándor Németh said at a press conference on Wednesday that a strike committee was set up on January 14th after earlier wage negotiations failed. On January 18th the union held a two-hour warning strike.
While workers at the plant have an average net wage of around HUF 300,000 (US$1,073) compared with the national average of HUF 215,544 (US$771), their income is significantly lower than at the group’s other regional operations.
A recent comparison showed that wages are 28 percent higher in Slovakia, 24 percent higher in the Czech Republic and 39 percent higher in Poland. Audi workers in Belgium have an average wage 3.6 times higher than in Hungary.
The Audi plant in Győr began as a greenfield investment in 1992 and has since produced over 34 million engines for the Volkswagen group brands and it also began car assembly in 1998, with more than 1.2 million cars assembled since.
Being asked about the current situation in the EU, Sichtarova, one of the Czech Republic’s leading entrepreneurs, said Europe is quietly falling apart with its efforts to become a superstate. It is obvious that there’s a hard core that wants deeper integration. However, Sichtarova warned that countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Great Britain as well as Italy will be thrown overboard.
The connection between France and Germany within the European Community is not considered by Sichtarova to be a threat. “If these two countries want to move on with deeper integration, they will probably not force the periphery of the EU to do the same. That’s exactly what Central Europe is currently upset about,” she said.
In the next part of the interview, Sichtarova sharply criticized politicians for reducing civil rights and hiring more and more clerks. The reduction of civil rights in our democratic system was a gradual process, thus it is hard to blame one particular administration for it, but two governments in the last eight years have made a huge leap forward in this regard. The government is constantly hiring more clerks and the private sector is shrinking because it has to fund the public sector, she added.
Although the Aachen treaty is just a symbolic gesture, it is about time we debate the role the Czech Republic plays in the EU. After all, it is a topic that is largely absent in public debate. Certainly, it’s because local politicians don’t understand what is going on in Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg.
At first, Editor-in-chief of Info.cz Michal Pur looked at the history. Many politicians did warn against the Lisbon treaty, saying it will damage small EU states and their interests, including then-President Vaclav Klaus who signed it, who in fact had no other choice. Now, years later, Pur thinks the Lisbon treaty was a step in the wrong direction. The economic crisis proved that big member states are not taking the smaller into account. Key regulations have been adopted by a qualified majority and not unanimously. For example, financial market regulation was decided by a majority vote on purpose.
Lately, a think-tank working closely with the EC recommended the qualified majority vote for tax-related matters. Which is exactly the kind of regulation the Czech Republic should sharply reject. We should learn how to say no in general, mainly in regard to the emission limits in the automotive industry, a backbone of the Czech economy. Despite many ways of how to block debates on this, Czechia decided to just copy and paste the German approach.
Moreover, as the UK is leaving, we are in a very difficult situation, wrote Pur. The UK has been our only ‘ideological’ ally among the big states, although not always reliable. The point is that the German-French engine won’t do any good for the Czech Republic. Visions of Macron and Merkel are miles apart from the Czech’s. The idea of federalism means that our voice will no longer be heard.
Therefore, if the Lisbon treaty allows us to retract an agenda from Brussels to member states, we should try it. Either on our own or within the Visegrad group. We have to be vocal, both when supporting and opposing something. Currently, the Czech Republic doesn’t have a clear opinion on anything. It had for a while – about the migrant quotas – but that’s it. It would be okay, only if our vital interests weren’t at stake.
As put by Charanzova, Babis is a great Prime Minister with big plans that he delivers. She admires his wok commitment, but she also believes that his achievements are brushed aside by his causes, which of course attract a lot of media attention. It is nearly impossible to move on and start to deal with more important things. At the same time, her work is often overshadowed by Babis’ causes as well and it bothers her. Nevertheless, Babis will be remembered for many things he did for the Czech Republic, said Charanzova.
Charanzova rejects allegations about Babis’ conflict of interest. She thinks that the cause is not based on rational grounds and his actions are fully in compliance with Czech law. Even though the PM is in touch with the European Commission, it is not enough. Nothing will ever be good for the opposition, said Charanzova and added that she respects the presumption of innocence.
Charanzova is the first choice for Babis when it comes to the European elections and it is expected that she will lead ANO’s candidates list. In the EP, she wants to defend Czech interests. She would like to focus on security as terrorist threats still loom over Europe. However, migration is the most pressing issue of today because Europe pays for mistakes it has made, said Charanzova. She stressed the importance of external border protection, so that we will be prepared for a potential future migration wave.
We could easily say “let them have their superstate, if they wish, it’s their business”, and even let other states join. Either way, it creates a parallel integration project to the EU. And something which must concern us. Yet it seems like it doesn’t concern our political representation at all. Or, worse, Czech politicians may try to join this initiative servilely.
The little that is known about the treaty does affect the Czech Republic. It is an attempt to revise WW2, so that Germany will become a permanent member of the UN Security Council? Would it be instead of France or as a part of some new entity? A plan is to “create a Franco-German economic zone with common rules.” Does it mean different rules than are currently in place in the EU? If so, would it be more towards a market or central economy?
Another fragment mentions a creation of “a common culture” in their armed forces. We must ask, what exactly is a common military culture? Especially indications of a joint deployment of Franco-German armed forces against internal or external enemies are worrying. Who is supposed to be an internal enemy? Those who oppose “European values” as defined by Macron and Merkel or those who criticize Brussels and its post-democratic way of ruling?
The Aachen Treaty is a renewal of marital vows on the 56th anniversary of the Elysee treaty, which marked a transition of the Franco-German relations from hostility to friendship. Apparently, the old good partnership isn’t enough for Macron and Merkel. Both countries tried and failed to take over Europe, and the same applies for the EU, so why not try Francogermany?!?
According to the report, supporters of the opposition hold more negative feelings towards supporters of the government than vice versa. At the same time, they feel more aggrieved. The report was made right after the tragic death of Paweł Adamowicz.
“The supporters of opposition parties have more negative stances towards PiS supporters than towards groups which are the least liked in Polish society (Jews, Muslims, refugees, homosexual people and transgender people).”
The supporters of opposition parties have more negative stances towards PiS supporters than towards groups which are the least liked in Polish society
“Among the supporters of PiS, contact with opposition supporters is connected with positive stances towards them. The more frequent the interactions with opposition voters, the warmer the emotions towards those groups. There is more trust and less dehumanization,” states the report.
The report “Political polarisation in Poland. How much are we divided?” was prepared by Paulina Górska of the University of Warsaw Research Center on Prejudice.
The Center is headed by Michał Bilewicz, a researcher of “derivate anti-Semitism”.
Katalin Moldován disappeared from the southeast Hungarian town of Tiszakécske on January 5th and hasn’t been seen since, the director of the movie she featured in, Petra Szőcs wrote on Facebook.
Moldován was the lead actress in Szőcs’s short film “The Execution”, featured at the Cannes Film Festival. It is about a group of school children re-enacting the execution of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu.
Moldován is albino and almost completely blind, only having five percent vision.
The award was presented by Minister of Human Capacities Miklós Kásler, who said Böjte began his service as a priest in the Romanian town of Déva in 1992 and he immediately took in a few street urchins.
From those modest beginnings, the St Francis Foundation has now grown into an organization that operates 26 live-in orphanages in Transylvania, home to 2,500 children.
“The duty of all men is love, building communities and working and creating in these communities,” Böjte said when accepting the award.
Since the end of Communism Hungary celebrates the Day of Hungarian Culture on January 22nd, the day when poet Ferenc Kölcsey wrote in 1823 the final version of the lyrics for the National Anthem, put to music by composer Ferenc Erkel in 1844.
The original manuscript of the Hungarian Anthem
Title image: Csaba Böjte’s acceptance speech at the Hungarian Heritage House in Budapest. (MTI/Noémi Bruzák)
The movie has been nominated for Best Director, Best Cinematography and Foreign Language Film. The latter is the most prestigious for such a movie, which will be up against the likes of the Mexican flick “Roma” by Alfonso Cuaror, and Japan’s “Shoplifters”.
Ewa Puszczyńska of Opus Film said that the decisions of the Academy are “unpredictable”. “We cannot be driven by the success of “Ida””. “Ida” is a Polish film which won an Oscar for Foreign Language Film in 2015, also directed by Pawlikowski.
[block:views=related_articles_field-block]
There is also an active promotional campaign for “Cold War”. “There was a joint concert in the USA, also promoting “Cold War”, by Marcin Masecki and Joasia [Kulig]. Joasia also performs at all sorts of cozy events in the US. Therefore, the music from “Cold War” is also used to promote it,” Puszczyńska said.
The 91stAcademy Awards will be held in the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood on February 24th.
“Without a dynamic return of nuclear energy, we will not be able to face climate challenges,” Poland’s minister of energy Krzysztof Tchórzewski believes. “In Poland, if we want to overcome these challenges, we must make a fast choice now.”
Nuclear energy will bring a solution to climate challenges as well as clean energy and energetic security.
Nuclear energy will bring a solution to climate challenges as well as clean energy and energetic security
The Polish energy policy project foresees the construction of six nuclear blocks from 2033 to 2040. The idea is a natural consequence of the limiting of coal resources in the current infrastructure.
The director of the department of nuclear energy, Józef Sobolewski claims that full data on the price of this endeavor will only be known after an agreement is signed with a general contractor. “Believable data will only be known once there is an offer on the table,” he said.
The costs are estimated to be between 100 to 150 bln PLN. If there is strong support from the national treasury, then the costs will be 150 PLN/MWh and in commercial conditions, 450 PLN/MWh.
PM Orbán made the announcement after meeting Cardinal Mario Zenari, Apostolic Nuncio to Syria at his Budapest office.
“Hungary is committed to helping the communities and families in need in the Middle East and would like to contribute to the effort of relieving the humanitarian catastrophe caused by the war,” Orbán said. “Hungary remains firm in its position that the problems should not be brought to Europe but rather help should be delivered to where the problems are.”
The Hungarian help will cover the operating cost of three hospitals: the St Louis hospital in Aleppo, and the French and Italian hospitals in Damascus.
During the meeting Mario Zenari said the violence in Syria hit the minorities hardest – primarily the Christian minority – and among them the most vulnerable, women and children.
He said that the war destroyed every third school and every second hospital was also either destroyed or rendered unusable. Zenari said that the Christian hospitals in Syria also receive Muslim patients, who are often surprised by the help they receive from those they regard as infidels.
“These health centers also serve reconciliation and social peace,” Zenari said.
Title image: Apostolic Nuncio Mario Zenari (center left) and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (center) in the Prime Minister’s office. (MTI/Balázs Szecsődi)
It’s fascinating how little concrete information there is in the new treaty between the two states which want to lead the European Union. Germany and France signed it on Tuesday, on the 56th anniversary of the Elysee Treaty.
Different times, a different Europe and a different world. The retiring Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron damaged by “Yellow vests” are not Konrad Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle.
In the new treaty on German-French cooperation and integration, “strengthening” is repeated a dozen times, and mentioned only a few times is rapprochement but not in the context of the Eurozone. There is nothing about it in relation to the Eurozone, only some vague words on a strengthened and deepened currency union.
It seemed that in exchange for economic gifts from Berlin, Paris would gift them a stronger political role in the world
Macron’s plan to transfer money from the disciplined and rich countries of the North, with Germany at the head to the in-debt countries of the South, with France at their head is gone. And with them, the dream to return France to its position in the EU on par with Germany.
All the strengthening concerns trans-border cooperation, youth exchange and teaching languages: German in France and French in Germany. This is not what Macron expected when he beat Marine Le Pen. It seemed that in exchange for economic gifts from Berlin, Paris would gift them a stronger political role in the world.
It is clear in the treaty that the two countries are distrusting of the most important country in the alliance – the USA, and not only that of Trump
Germany would like for France to share (with the entire EU) their permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Instead, they will simply receive France’s support for Germany’s project to extend the Council by new members. This is highly unlikely and therefore, such promises cost France nothing.
Something that is worrying is the declaration to strengthen and deepen military cooperation between France and Germany. Although this is meant to be as part of NATO, it is clear in the treaty that the two countries are distrusting of the most important country in the alliance – the USA, and not only that of Trump.
These droplets of Aachen rain are falling on the Eastern flank. They are not revitalizing. They are forcing thoughts and actions.
Women in England dread the aftermath of football matches, it has been claimed. An analysis of statistics from crime reports from the West Midlands – with a population of 2.8 million – show that in the three hours following a major game, domestic violence against women will spike.
Anna Trendl – a graduate of the ELTE University of Budapest – is currently researching the topic at Warwick University as a PhD theme. She says that the phenomenon is not singular to England: a 2011 study in the United States also showed that if the home team suffers an unexpected defeat, reported cases of family violence will rise by 10 percent.
Another British study looking at the aftermath of England’s 2014 World Cup matches showed that when England lost, domestic violence rose by 38 percent and if the match ended in a draw, violence was also up by 26 percent. Yet another study – this time looking into the effects of match results from two popular Scottish teams – showed that team results had no impact on domestic violence – except when the two teams faced each other.
While she hasn’t yet finished her study, Trendl says two things are already clear: one – when England wins, there is a massive 60 percent rise in men’s violence against women in which the men involved consumed alcohol. The other is that the effect is short-lived and restricted to the three hours following the game.
She also said that independently of these research results, a British NGO against domestic violence ran a poster campaign ahead of the World Cup, which said “If England get beaten, so will she”.
Title image: National Centre for Domestic Violence poster
Hrdinkova has experience from the Finance Ministry, where she was in charge of the Minister’s office until last November and helped Babis push through the reverse charge in Brussels. The measure that shifts liability for final VAT payments to the government budget from the vendor to the customer has been one of Babis’s main topics on his European agenda.
As put by Hrdinkova, her main responsibility is to secure a perfect service for the PM in his position as the highest representative of the Czech Republic in the EU and a member of the European Council. A rumor has it that she was the one to replace Chmelar for quite some time, but allegedly Finance Minister Schillerova wasn’t in favor of her nomination. Hrdinkova won the selection procedure, because the other candidate didn’t meet the requirements for the position.
It is necessary to build healthy and productive relationships with our counterparts from other EU member states and institutions, but at the same time, we must cooperate with other resorts on an overlapping agenda so that the Czech stance will always be coherent, Hrdinkova told the press.
Among all the EU member states, France records the highest volumes of illegal cigarettes smuggled into its territory. Around 30 percent of the smuggled cigarettes are originally from Algeria, a recent study by the Royal United Services Institute shows. According to the study, the flows from Algeria to France have increased by 300 percent between 2012 and 2016. Thus, it is a legitimate concern for Brussels to worry about billions lost from both French and European budgets.
Although smuggling is a problem requiring more countries to cooperate, the French government has unfortunately always rejected the EU´s help without guaranteeing they would focus on addressing this issue. The fight against illegal trade is, of course, a matter for the French authorities. However, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) could be very helpful because it has experience with complicated cross-border cases.
French rejection of the EU´s help and the steady growth of goods flowing from Algeria have direct consequences for neighboring countries, particularly Italy and Spain. They serve as secondary routes for smuggling cigarettes manufactured in Algeria into France. Smuggling also has a much greater impact by supplying the terrorist and criminal networks operating in the Maghreb, where cigarettes are smuggled from.
It has already been well documented that Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, under the leadership of the Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar (also known as “Mr. Marlboro”), uses illegal cigarette smuggling to finance terrorist operations. These groups not only destabilize governments in the region but also directly threaten the safety of millions of Europeans.
President Macron usually pictures himself as a great advocate of European integration, but words are not enough. It is time for France and other EU countries to act together and effectively, which implies closer cooperation between countries, but also greater involvement of OLAF, Europol and Eurojust. In this case, fighting against smuggling means fighting terrorism as well.
Number two on the list is MEP Evzen Tosenovsky, followed by MP Veronika Vrecionova. Notably, Alexandr Vondra, a former Defense Minister and Deputy PM for European affairs, returns after six years out of politics in 16th place. Fourth place belongs to Ondrej Krutilek, who worked in the EP as an assistant, fifth to Radka Trylcova, a Councilor of the Town of Pilsen, and sixth to a lawyer, Eva Decroix.
According to party leader Petr Fiala, the list of candidates is well balanced and they’ve put together a competent team. As you can see, we don’t need any gender quotas, he added.
The ballot leader Zahradil said they would like to offer a middle ground between two extremes – radicalism and excessive euro-optimism. He believes that the atmosphere in the EU has been shifting more into a direction held by the Civic Democrats.
As put by Zahradil, ODS always wanted a decentralized and debureaucratized EU in which the Czech Republic should stay independent in tax, fiscal and budget matters. ODS also aims for an independent asylum and social policy, he added.
Regarding the candidacy of prominent party member Vondra, Fiala noted that he is extraordinarily competent in foreign and European affairs, adding that Vondra didn’t want to appear high on the list. Vondra’s name has been linked with a so-called ProMoPro cause about an extremely overpriced tender for an audio technique during the Czech European Presidency.
As Buchert concludes, it will help parties with longtime potential and high preferences such as ANO, the Civic Democrats and the Pirates. On the other hand, some Parliamentary parties may end up empty handed.
There is no suggestion that the ANO movement would lose. Subsidy causes of its leader Babis won’t be investigated before the elections and the trial over his past involvement with the Communist secret police will drag on in Slovakia. Meanwhile, Babis’s government will continue to squander the tax payers’ money right, left and center. Moreover, on the European stage, the PM is firm in his migration stance. Thus, ANO can easily gain 8 or 9 mandates (out of 21 in total), more so if the turnout would be low.
The polls show quite a stable result for ODS and the Pirates, and both parties have a chance to get three or four mandates. The proportional electoral system is also on their side. It is to be assumed that some parties won’t meet the 5 percent threshold, and their votes will be recounted, also this is in the three strongest parties’ benefit.
What remains unclear though, is how Okamura’s far-right SPD will end up. Even though a 10 percent gain from the last Parliamentary elections in 2017 would be enough for two mandates, its preferences have been lower ever since. Governmental CSSD can count on two mandates at best, weakening Communists and KDU-CSL on only one. But the rest, who knows?
TOP 09, which has only one stronghold – Prague, is most likely going to ally with STAN. Depite its leader Pospisil having the most preferential votes in the 2014 EP election, voters may be tired that he is running for so many offices. Additionally, there are MEP renegades like Stetina and Telicka and potentially also an entrepreneur, Soukup.
Overall, severely weakened left and enormously fragmented (center-)right are playing into the hands of ANO, ODS and the Pirates, which will be the only parties able to meet our expectations.
The last week has brought a complete plot twist when it comes to Brexit, one of the most important historical issues of the 21stcentury. For the last two and a half years, Brussel’s, Berlin’s and Paris’ approach to the UK leaving the EU was as if the Britons should be punished as an example.
The rejection of the agreement with Brussels by the British Parliament and the simultaneous support for Theresa May’s government has changed the situation in London’s favor. Nervousness has risen in European capitals, who have seen voices urging for compromise.
Nervousness has risen in European capitals, who have seen voices urging for compromise
From Poland’s perspective, one cannot help but feel sad about the UK’s decision to leave. The UK strengthened the global aspect of the Union and enriched it through diversity. While being in the UK several years ago, I could feel hopeful that Europe can be different and not based on French or German whims.
Everything is changing, so is Poland’s position in Europe.
Looking at Brexit from the British point of view, it is hard to argue that we are dealing with some mass insanity. Brexit is the fight for the soul of Great Britain, shown by one of the protagonists in Toby Hayne’s “Brexit: the Uncivil War”. The movie shows what politics in democracy lead to; taking away the feeling of being represented from the people.
The want to retrieve control over their own fate becomes the biggest challenge of modern democratic societies in Europe
The want to retrieve control over their own fate becomes the biggest challenge of modern democratic societies in Europe. This no longer can be ignored, as it will otherwise lead to deep divides and polarization which no one will be able to control.
Brexit is an event which demonstrates that our world has irreversibly changed. Will we be able to read the signs of this new age?
Koleszár announced the end of her current relationship on Instagram on Sunday. She has recently been in the German news because the police department of Dresden, the east German city she serves with has given her an ultimatum to return to work or be discharged.
She took unpaid leave last summer and has since spent her time traveling around the world – Florida, the Maldives and Dubai – and naturally, posting bikini selfies – another fact the Dresden police is decidedly unhappy about.
Koleszár has 691,000 followers on Instagram, more than the total population of Dresden (551,000).
The recording shows the moment in which Adamowicz was stabbed in slow motion. The analysis is as follows:
“An analysis of the attack in Gdańsk. The culprit was hiding in the left side of the stage, next to him we can see two other people. It is hard to tell whether he had been there for longer or whether he had entered the stage from the left. The murderer prepared and executed the crime with unbelievable precision.”
The murderer, Stefan W., is confirmed to have been treated in a psychiatric hospital. During the investigation of his apartment, the police found a whole arsenal of side arms and melee weapons, including two machetes. The knife with which he had fatally wounded the mayor of Gdańsk was almost 15cm in length.
The murderer prepared and executed the crime with unbelievable precision
Some sources claim that the man had earlier planned a “spectacular crime” in Warsaw.
Paweł Adamowicz was 53 years old. His funeral was held on Saturday. The urn with his ashes was laid to rest in Saint Mary’s Church, Gdańsk.
Last year alone, traffic rose by 10 percent on the M3 stretch leading into the capital, the busiest motorway leading into Budapest from the east, data from public road management company Magyar Közút showed. Most motorway stretches around the capital run at or above 100 percent capacity and traffic jams have become a permanent fixture even without accidents and road repairs.
This is a combined result of several factors. First the growing number of motor vehicles: last year alone, the number of new cars was 136,000 and this year the number could rise to 160,000. The second factor is that a growing number of residents leave central Budapest for the outskirts because of lower real estate prices and a more livable environment. Additionally, an increasing number of commuters choose personal instead of public transportation. Finally, fuel prices have also remained low in the past year.
Budapest has a population of 1.75 million and according to think-tank Lechner Tudásközpont some 200,000 people commute every day to downtown Budapest from the suburbs, coming from over 2,000 settlements.
Although public transport has seen some improvements – mainly in rolling stock – over the past years, the aging rail infrastructure is prone to malfunctions that can halt trains for hours at a time. Additional suburban rail lines are also required, as well as an underground connection between the capital’s two busiest railway stations.
But all of these are huge investments and could take decades.
At a Euromoney conference in Vienna, Nagy said that if core inflation excluding tax effects exceeds the Central Bank’s 3 percent target, that would be “sufficient evidence for the MNB to start tightening its monetary policy.
The comments were especially important because the MNB has kept its base rate at a historic low of 0.9 percent since May 2016. In reaction, the forint rose to 317.85 against the euro, while in previous months it hovered above 320. Against the dollar, the forint also rose to 279.54.
Last week, the Central Statistics Office (KSH) released its latest inflation data, which showed a core inflation of 2.8 percent or – adjusted for tax effects – 2.9 percent, which is just 0.1 percentage point below the 3 percent threshold mentioned by Nagy.
Nagy also said that the main goal of the MNB is to steadily keep inflation within its target range, saying that “market participants will certainly understand that”. This was also in line with a December change in the Central Bank’s communication strategy when analysts pointed out that it signals the end of a loose monetary policy.
The famous actress underlined the strength of her devotion when commenting on what she missed while in the United States:
“I miss the language. Family. The most important person is with me, but I miss my mom and sisters. During All Saints’ Day, I was sad that I could not visit the cemeteries. I thought I’d ask my friend to bring me some vigil lights. Halloween is something different. I miss All Saints’ Day and the Church.”
I miss the language. Family. The most important person is with me, but I miss my mom and sisters. I miss All Saints’ Day and the Church
“Kler” trailer
Commenting on the “Kler” movie trailer, Kulig explained that a scene which included a love-scene between her character and a clergyman, was added to the trailer despite her agreement with the distributor.
“And so the bashing of “Kulig and sex with a priest” began,” she told “Tygodnik Powszechny” weekly.
Although religious herself, the actress said she is happy that she played a role in the controversial movie about the Church. She said it helped spark discussion about the issues of the Church: “For me as a religious person, who has been given much by the Church in her life, taking part in this film was a very tough decision. I decided to do so, because I see a deeper meaning in this. As a member of the community, I don’t want situations such as the ones shown in the film to be swept under the rug. For them to be fuel for the fire of the Church’s opponents.”
Kulig complained that due to the trailer and tabloid headlines, which she called “pathetic”, she has become “objectified.”
Czaputowicz told Rezczpospolita daily that Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov will not be present at the conference. “Russia has just informed us that it will not participate in the conference even before seeing its program. This shows that the conference is not in Russia’s best interest. A pity, because Russia plays an important role in the Middle East,” he said.
The minister also explained why Iran was not invited to the conference. “We haven’t invited the representatives of Iran because that wouldn’t allow for a normal assembly. The Iranians are using language that is hard to accept. They have also been using it against Poland,” explained the Polish FM.
The Iranians are using language that is hard to accept. They have also been using it against Poland
Czaputowicz also referred to the potential time of choice for Poland – between Washington and Brussels, concerning the Iran nuclear deal. “We are not opposed to the EU! We are part of the community and share the view that this agreement plays a positive role. The first person I informed about the conference was Federica Mogherini,” he said.
[block:views=related_articles_field-block]
The foreign minister also argued that Poland is trying to convince the EU not to oppose America when it comes to the Middle East. “During the EU Foreign Affairs Council meetings we draw attention to the fact, that the Union cannot oppose America when it comes to the Middle East and pretend that our agreement with Iran exists in an unchanged form, despite the most important country leaving it. Western companies have resigned from cooperation with Iran.”
“This conference is an opportunity for the EU to leave this impasse,” Czaputowicz claimed.
Markus Söder, Prime Minister of Bavaria since March 2018, has been elected President of the region’s Christian-Social Union (CSU) with 87.4 percent of the votes as sole candidate.
“The traditionally strong partnership between the Bavarian and Hungarian governing party is an important pillar of Bavarian-Hungarian and German-Hungarian relations,” Orbán wrote. “Our commitment to Christian values offers a firm basis to solve together the issues affecting Europe’s future.”
Söder – previously considered a hardline conservative – has recently adopted a more moderate tone, replaces his long-time rival Horst Seehofer, Germany’s Minister of Interior. Söder’s election is seen as part of a wider renewal of the CSU.
“You can continue to count on my personal and the (Hungarian) government’s support,” Orbán added.
Within Germany – Hungary’s largest foreign trade and investment partner – Bavaria accounts for 50 percent of German-Hungarian economic relations.
Theresa May took the baton right after the narrow Brexit vote and attempted the impossible – negotiate free trade and an independent British trade policy with the EU, which is directly undermining the whole integration project. She was supposed to calm down those who voted stay and assure them that nothing is going to change, and to prove to her conservative fellows and other MPs who voted for sovereignty that Brexit means Brexit.
The talks with the EU immediately clashed with directives from Brussels and it has been nothing but a charade ever since. An odd quasi-Brexit deal came into being. The UK left the EU, but the trade regulations including fiscal, tax and internal rules remain unchanged including those to be invented. Moreover, Britain isn’t allowed to opt-out unilaterally, all changes have to be decided by the EU Court of Justice. Something completely unacceptable for those seeking an independence and much worse conditions for the country if compared to a membership in the EU.
To add some more salt into the wounds of the Brits, the EU made a ‘safeguard’ deal with Dublin about the Ireland’s internal border. British Parliament was supposed to hold a loss of sovereignty vote, but May only achieved Brussels’ reassurance that the deal is only temporary. Now the conservatives across the country are storming out. Corbyn’s opposition voted against almost unanimously, simply because the chaos suits them well. Also, they don’t want a real Brexit, regardless of what Corbyn wishes for.
Yet, the odds that the government is going to cancel Brexit are very low. Such an open betrayal would only disrupt the Conservative party. May couldn’t make a deal which would unite divided British nations. Even though the media, government and majority of elites are threatened with a no-deal Brexit, according to recent polls, proponents of the membership in the EU would win a referendum by a narrow margin.
Labour’s no-confidence motion is just a waste of time. The idea of new elections and a socialist Corbyn at the wheel is simply too scary for most. So, what’s next? The government will try to cross off the Ireland ‘safeguard’ and, if successful, it could propose three option to its citizens. No-deal Brexit, quasi-Brexit and an option to stay, with a strong preference for the middle option.
The first reactions from Western Europe were frightened, saying that Brits had gone mad. European politicians were furious, as expected. And chief negotiator Barnier said he is willing to postpone the Brexit date as he is worried by the no-deal option.
Total chaos and a partisan war on both sides will continue and another quasi-deal could put a new election in motion. The nation is divided and the revolution is already on.
Those also low at risk of poverty are the Finns at 11.5 percent, the Danes at 12.4 percent, but in Germany it is already over 16 percent. In the Czech context it means that 9.1 percent of the population didn’t reach a minimum wage of 11,200 CZK per month for a one-person household or 22,500 CZK for parents with two small children, respectively. In 2018, the number of Czechs threatened by poverty most likely decreased below 9 percent due to a lowering unemployment rate and rising minimum wage. Thus, an income inequality gap is narrowing.
Positive trends can be seen in terms of material deprivation, which examines whether a household would be able to pay various expenses like a week-long holiday or a washing machine. A severe material deprivation rate is defined as an inability to pay for at least four out of ten listed items. In 2017, 3.7 percent of Czech households experienced material deprivation, and in 2018 it went even lower thanks to the above mentioned narrowing of the income gap.
Again, the EU’s average was much higher than the year before last at 6.9 percent. Less materially deprived people are for example in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden. Austria equals to the Czech Republic and higher rates show Italy and France among others. In Slovakia, material deprivation is nearly doubled.
Yet, the left is frequently trying to undermine these results. It is understandable to some extent, especially regarding the wage level. But in general, if the data doesn’t reflect the reality accurately, then why isn’t the left criticizing Eurostat and the CSO? Moreover, material deprivation is always hard to question as it takes the income level into account.
Apparently, the data is valid. However, they don’t show the Czechs as deprived people who vote for extreme political groups out of desperation. If true, the Czech progressive left would have to proclaim the same also in regard to Austria, France, Italy and Slovakia.
Even if the situation was worse in the Czech Republic then in the above mentioned countries, would more redistribution be the solution as the left suggest? If the state is unable to collect valid data, as the left tends to claim, why should we trust it with an even more difficult task? And who are those who need it anyway?
When it comes to the divorce of the nation, other states can learn from us. And it is particularly relevant now, when we have witnessed a quasi-divorce between the UK and the EU last week that was undignified for both sides. It is a failure of all those involved. It’s a mockery of democracy.
After Brexit, disaster will allegedly come because Britain has been associated with the EU for 45 years and is thus excessively connected to the continent. The Czechs and the Slovaks were united for 70 years, we were far more connected through the centrally planned economy and the common state than any country is with the EU, and when we broke up, no disaster took place.
The two sides just had to want it to happen. But now, Brussels does everything to prevent Britain from leaving. Because if the UK succeeded and would prove to be fine without the EU, other states could follow it.
The UK´s withdrawal will be a big loss for the EU because much of the best of Europe has come from Britain in recent centuries. There have been many key discoveries, there are the best universities, there is culture and wealth.
The lesson from the situation around Brexit is clear. The EU is a golden cage that has a theoretical exit. However, it is practically walled up. Maybe some bricks will loosen in time but the exit would first have to be broken through by a larger calibre than the Czech Republic.
Czech knowledge about the remaining MEPs is relatively low. At least three fifths of the public do not know them at all (the proportion of ignorance varies from 63 to 81 percent). The least known MEPs are Dita Charanzová (81 percent of citizens do not know her), Martina Dlabajová (80 percent) and Petr Ježek (79 percent).
Pavel Telička is best assessed (35 percent of people have a positive opinion on him). However, the proportion of positive and negative responses to him is relatively balanced (35 vs. 37 percent). Also Evžen Tošenovský is positively perceived by a third of people (34 percent of favorable opinions vs. 27 percent of the unfavorable ones which is the greatest predominance of positive assessments over negative ones among all MEPs).
On the contrary, MEP Miroslav Poche, who is also better known among Czech citizens, has more negative reactions than positive ones. He is negatively rated by 41 percent of citizens, positively by only a tenth of the public (13 percent). The perception of him was certainly affected by the situation around his intention to become foreign minister.
Court proceedings began last week in the most blatant breach of data protection Hungary has ever seen, NAIH president Attila Péterfalvi told daily Magyar Hírlap.
The NAIH lanuched an investigation against the Church of Scientology in Hungary in 2016, for multiple breaches of the law and subsequently fined the church HUF 40 million (US$143,000).
“Never before have we seen such a breach. The church has practically breached every single data protection law,” Péterfalvi said.
In 2017 the Tax and Customs Office (NAV) raided the Budapest headquarters of the organization – Scientology lost its status as a state-recognized church in Hungary in 2011 – on the grounds that they have violated the personality rights of their members.
During its investigation the NAIH found that the church illegally kept files on both its members and employees, containing private information which it didn’t even have the right to collect, let alone store.
With regard to its members, the church – beyond personal information – also gathered information on unbecoming conduct regarding its employees, it also collected information on their sexual preferences and circle of friends.
The commander of the Polish WOT, general Wiesław Kukułka and KASP colonel Dainius Pasvenskas signed the document in the Lithuanian parliament in Vilnius on the 28thanniversary of establishing KASP.
The spokesman of WOT Marek Pietrzak explained that the agreement concerns joint exercises and training. “The quantifiable effect of this training will be the joint exercises, such as the “Dragon”. The important part of this agreement, is that it is the first such agreement with a formation from a different country. We are also proceeding such agreements with Latvia, Estonia and the American National Guard,” he said.
It is the first such agreement with a formation from a different country. We are also proceeding such agreements with Latvia, Estonia and the American National Guard
The resolutions of the agreement will be fulfilled mainly by the Podlaskie WOT, whose partner will be KASP. Specific Polish WOT brigades have had their foreign partners indicated.
The global elite is intent on global governance and doesn’t even deny it anymore. I would divide this intent into three distinct areas: the economy, societies and politics. The institutions of global economic dominance are more or less already in place: these include the IMF, the World Bank, but also the WTO, G7 and G20, to name just a few.
The global governance of societies is mainly spearheaded by George Soros and his Open Society Foundation, his so called NGOs through which he intends to transform societies above and below governmental levels.
In politics, the goal is also to establish a global government. The migration crisis – partially triggered by these forces themselves – was very convenient in this sense: organizing migration and changing the ethnic and religious composition of Europe also functions as a test of the new global governance.
But what exactly are the elements of this global governance? First of all, they have singled out the institutions best suited for the goal: globally, the United Nations and in Europe the European Union and its Commission in particular.
The EU leadership and the Brussels elite has long been dedicated to global governance, but in the meantime Soros’ people have also infiltrated the United Nations and do his bidding at every turn.
On August 10th, 2018 Chilean Socialist politician Michelle Bachelet was appointed U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. During her tenure as president of Chile, she awarded Soros the highest Chilean state award.
But, even more importantly, the assessment of the global migration pact was – on behalf of U.N. Secretary General António Guterres – compiled by none other than the Canadian Louise Arbour, who previously worked as the director of Soros’ Brussels-based international crisis group.
Based on the above, we are probably justified in saying that the global migration pact is a blueprint for mixing ethnicities, religions and cultures into a cosmopolitan global society.
What are now only recommendations of the migration pact will eventually become the ethical and subsequently legal norms. Once this has been achieved, recalcitrant nations will also be penalized for not abiding by them.
But our message from Budapest to the global elite is that we will stand for our values and will not assist in the murder of our national, religious and cultural identity. Never.
The deputy head of the Museum of Warsaw is not the only person to have shared the poster. A member of staff from the Warsaw Rising Museum, Jarosław Trybuś has also done so. The graphic image shows a black knife on a white background. Its handle bears close resemblance to Jarosław Kaczyński’s profile. (picture above)
Many internauts believe that this is a reference to the murder of Paweł Adamowicz and an attempt to put the blame on PiS’s chairman.
Both the deputy head of the Museum of Warsaw and Trybuś have removed the photo from their Facebook profiles.
Warsaw councilman Sebastian Kaleta has called for a response from the city’s mayor, Rafał Trzaskowski: “Mister Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski. You declared to fight against hate speech. Now is an ideal opportunity, because this involved the deputy head of the Museum of Warsaw which is an urban institution. What action will you take in this case?”
Kamil Dąbrowa, the spokesman for the Warsaw City Hall has informed that Rafał Trzaskowski has called for a meeting with the deputy head.
The postman duly delivered the bill to the phone – which was for an amount of 0 (zero) Hungarian forints. For reference Remix articles always give a conversion to U.S. dollars, but in this case we will skip that step.
“For reasons of internal accounting, the public phones of Magyar Telekom are registered as individual subscribers. The pictured 0 forints bill was produced and mailed due to an unfortunate technical error. We have taken steps to remedy the mistake,” Magyar Telekom said in a statement.
Born András György Vajna in Budapest in 1944, Vajna fled Hungary after the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising and studied cinematography at UCLA to later become a well-known producer of mainly action movies. These include the first three Rambo movies, Evita, Red Heat, Total Recall and Air America.
He returned to his native Hungary and was appointed Government Commissioner for the Hungarian film industry in 2011 and essentially reformed movie production along market requirements, while also establishing the state-financed Hungarian National Film Fund that recently financed such titles as the Oscar-winning Son of Saul.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also said his farewell on social media, borrowing a phrase from Terminator.
“We are bidding farewell to the greatest Hungarian film producer. Hasta la vista, Andy! Thank You for everything, my Friend!” – he wrote on his Facebook page.
“Just to be clear – the murder in Gdańsk had no political background,” Paruch told Wprost weekly in an interview. “Saying that it happened due to some kind of “atmosphere” is just building cause-effect connections, which aren’t there. It is also a massive abuse with huge political consequences.”
Paruch believes that “anyone who is trying to draw such connections is strengthening the political conflict in Poland. It doesn’t matter if it’s done by a politician, journalist or analyst. It was a murder done by a man, who had left prison,” Paruch explains.
“The event was poorly secured, since the murderer had got up on stage with such ease and after killing the most important politician present, had ran around the stage for half a minute shouting into a microphone.” (picture above)
Saying that it happened due to some kind of “atmosphere” is just building cause-effect connections, which aren’t there
Paruch also commented on whether the chairman of TVP Jacek Kurski should be recalled: “This is not my decision.” He responded that he had not seen the news station’s controversial material about the murder, as he had been travelling.
The expert referred to the naming of TVP materials as “propaganda”: “An important good in Polish politics and public debate after 2015 is media plurality. Information monism, which was represented by news stations prior to 2015, is no longer present. It did not show Poland’s political reality.”
Paruch concluded that one should look at Polish media today as a whole, “because if we pick out one station, then we are overinterpreting the state of the media.”
Morawiecki delivered his speech during a conference organized on the 145thbirthday of Wincenty Witos, a famous Polish peasant politician who helped build the Second Polish Republic.
The PM urged for national unity and trust: “We need national unity and trust, let the death of Paweł Adamowicz be a breakthrough. I appeal to all politicians, media, people of culture: let us improve our public lives!”
We need national unity and trust, let the death of Paweł Adamowicz be a breakthrough
Morawiecki also urged for public debate to become “calmer, wiser and full of respect for one another.” The PM underlined that “unity and peace are key to the development of the entire nation and to make use of the chances fought for by the fathers of our independence.”
“Pojednanie i zgoda są kluczowe dla rozwoju całego narodu oraz do wykorzystania szans, o które walczyli ojcowie naszej niepodległości” – piękne słowa premiera @MorawieckiM, w których apeluje o pojednanie i wzajemny szacunek w debacie publicznej.#tvpinfo#wieszwięcej@PremierRPpic.twitter.com/viq0F3hgPZ
The mayor of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz was stabbed to death on stage during a charity event on Sunday 20thJanuary. More than 40,000 people participated in his funeral in Gdańsk on Saturday.
Morawiecki’s appeal come after the Polish opposition had tried to blame Law and Justice for the death of Gdańsk’s mayor. PiS spokeswoman Beata Mazurek criticised these accusations on Twitter:
“In the face of human tragedy, PiS behaved as it should have. Unfortunately, the total opposition and some of the media used this tragedy as part of their election campaign to attack the Right. We will not stand by in the face of these suppositions, lies and insinuations.”
W obliczu ludzkiej tragedii, PIS zachował się jak trzeba. Niestety totalna opozycja i część mediów wykorzystała to nieszczęście jako kampanię wyborczą do polit. ataków na Zjednoczoną Prawicę.Nie będziemy bierni na supozycje, kłamstwa i insynuacje.
Good evening and welcome. As expected, the London Lower House rejected the Brexit agreement by a huge margin on Tuesday evening. 202 MPs voted for the agreement and 432 against it, so the House rejected the proposal by a majority of 230 people. At last week’s government press conference, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that they had examined and quantified the effects of Brexit on Hungarians and found that it would not have a serious consequence for Hungary or for Hungarians living in the UK.
Tomás Petrícek, Czech Foreign Minister, wrote in a Twitter post that the Czech Republic is prepared for every possibility, but he personally would prefer if the UK remained a member of the EU and believes that the rejection of the agreement was the least bad of the possible scenarios.
According to Slovakian Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, we will have to wait and see the next step of the British government. Slovakia is willing to seek a solution by March 29th that would ensure that Brexit would not negatively affect the lives of citizens and entrepreneurs. But, at the same time, it is also necessary to prepare for the absence of an agreement.
Warsaw is waiting for new British proposals. According to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Brexit without an agreement would be a bad solution for the UK and for the European Union as well. Incidentally, last week, at the invitation of Polish Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini, the Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister visited Warsaw. According to the Italian politician, Rome and Warsaw could represent the new European equilibrium instead of the French–German axis. We’ll show you the details.
Poland and Italy will be the heroes of the new European Spring after the European Parliament elections in May, and a new European balance will be sought, said the Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister during his visit to Warsaw. According to experts, Matteo Salvini visited Poland to further strengthen the alliance with the governments of those EU Member States that oppose the Eurocrats in Brussels.
The Polish and Italian governments are taking a very clear stand against immigration. Since Salvini has been Minister of Interior, the Italian government has been trying to prevent the migration pressures that are affecting the European Union and Italy on the Mediterranean route. Poland has been a very good ally for the anti-immigration league over the past 3–4 years. In the Visegrád Four, Poland and Hungary are the two countries that have been at the forefront of confronting decision makers in Brussels and offering an alternative to the pro-immigration policy. Obviously, this was complemented by the other two Visegrad countries.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke at last week’s government press conference about the emergence of a new political power in Europe. “I wish Europe to have the Rome–Warsaw axis or whatever it is called, which is to the political right of the European People’s Party and is a political power that is capable to govern, that is responsible, and that is anti-immigration, and is willing to cooperate with the anti-immigration forces of the European People’s Party. That’s why I say it’s a great development.”
The research director of the Center for Fundamental Rights says that the right-wing conservative parties that are not radical, but strongly oppose immigration, and which will have good results at the spring European Parliament elections, will form an alliance against the current elite in Brussels.
It can be seen in almost all EU Member States affected by immigration in the last 3–4 years that those forces that stand up against immigration have strengthened, even if not everywhere in a groundbreaking fashion, but they have definitely gained a more serious electorate. This was the case in France with the Front National, in Germany with the AFD, and in the Benelux countries as well. However, these parties are alternative political forces, unlike in the Visegrád Four and the Central European Region where traditional parties represent the policies that voters expect of them. That is why there is no political force right now in Hungary, nor in the Czech Republic or in Poland, that would be considered more to the right from the government parties on the issue of immigration, as the governing parties represent what the electorate expects of them, and that is typical of this region.
Matteo Salvini said that Italy and Poland are integral parts of the EU and they both want the security and the reform of the EU. Therefore, the Italian Minister of Interior is working on a plan with the Polish allies that strengthens Europe with fresh blood, new power, and new energy.
It is not only through political interests that the Visegrád countries achieve common successes, but they also have close cooperation in the field of innovation. The V4 countries represent a market of 64 million people. According to EU statistics, the current economic growth in the Central European region is the highest in the EU. The regions of all four capitals have an innovation indicator above average. With startups, a good idea can result in a business worth of billions in a couple of years. We’ll talk about this soon with my guest, but first let us introduce two talented entrepreneurs who have become successful in the Central Eastern European region.
“Order is the soul of everything,” so goes the saying. And, while most people do like cleanliness, not everyone can or wants to spend time on cleaning. Rendi.hu can help those who are looking for fast, reliable cleaners for their homes. The Hungarian-developed online platform connects cleaners with households. Managing Director Timur Csillik is now working to make Rendi the largest platform of cleaning organization in Central Eastern Europe.
“This includes Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Romania. So, these are the five countries next to Hungary that we are targeting. The main reason for targeting this market was that we had looked at our competitors abroad, and we have seen that there is such a strong competition in Western Europe and America in the household cleaning industry that it would be very difficult for us to break into those markets. However, the Central Eastern European region is a more virgin market in this respect.”
Rendi.hu participated in the V4 Eyes startup competition in 2017, and as a result they could go on a study trip in the Visegrad countries. In Poland, they met with several local actors who connected them with potential country managers and other professionals with whom they have been in good contact since.
“In Poland, for example, we met Google’s local affiliate, Google Campus, with whom we have had a very close relationship ever since. For example, we conducted the latest country manager interviews with them. We went to the Wolves Summit startup tournament/conference where we met our Polish competitor. Also, we visited several incubation houses, and there we met with future team members who would like to join Rendi.”
Investors target not only Poland in the region. The economic environment is becoming more and more favorable every year in Hungary. It is no coincidence that the Polish-based company Blinkee has just found its first foreign franchise partner in Budapest. Tamás Varsányi worked for multinational companies for 20 years before he realized his long-cherished dream and launched the first social scooter sharing service in Budapest, Blinkee.City.
“Blinkee.City is a community electric scooter sharing service. Practically, this is a station-free community scooter sharing service. It is one hundred percent electric, which means you can start renting and picking up scooters within the zone. You can also go outside the zone up to the administrative borders of Budapest.”
The company started with 50 vehicles, but they closed the season with an 80-unit fleet. According to statistical data, community riding is becoming increasingly popular in Budapest. On average every vehicle is rented five times a day, and one use takes 28 minutes. The machines were manufactured in China but assembled in Poland and were designed to meet the needs of Blinkee.City.
“The scooter itself is a Polish development, although it is manufactured in China, but the IT structure itself, as well as the GSM/GPS system, which is used for tracking and communication, are made in Poland. They were developed and installed in Poland. In addition, the battery is Polish and is made and installed in the scooters in Poland. What we need to add is building up the structure and fully operating the local unit, and, in addition, we have to buy the scooters. It is a business based on a franchise construction.”
The success of a business is always influenced by growth. That’s why Blinkee.City’s primary goal now is to make the experience of community scooter driving available in the largest possible area.
My guest is Piroska Szalai, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Budapest Enterprise Agency. I wish you a good evening
Good evening.
Here we are talking about an early-stage entrepreneurial form. Approximately how many startups are operating in Hungary today?
Approximately, regarding good startups that are not only in the idea phase but where there are already prototypes, there are hundreds of them. I think that there are many more than five hundred, more like a thousand of these larger, more advanced startups. At the Budapest Enterprise Agency, we focus on them in all of our competitions. We are helping those for whom international relations are very important for their business conduct and growth. The capital city is helping them to take part in many international competitions.
We also presented two such companies in the lead of this conversation. Before we talk about this particular competition, and it is very important, we must definitely talk about the fact that businesses do not apply to win, but it is an actual competition. We’ll talk about the details soon. A question about what you said about good startups just came to my mind. Is the opinion I read on the internet true that one, maximum two can be successful from every 10 startups today. What does their success depend on?
Well, the numbers may be even worse. If you read other materials, they say that only one becomes successful from every 100 ideas. But, I think you shouldn’t be concerned about what happens with the other nine or the other eight, but it’s worth focusing on those that find their market and that can get to the market.
What can find a market?
According to international experts’ opinions, innovation is very good in Hungary. Our startups have very good ideas. Startups should be further strengthened, and this is what we want to do, to find their ways to the market. So, it is important that these young people have good market orientation, market knowledge, entrepreneurial knowledge, and skills. As the previous two speakers said, they are no longer focusing on the idea, but rather on how they can grow very quickly in the market.
I have two related questions. First, what is the economic and social weight of startups, and, second, can we keep pace with the international competition?
The startup world has been developing recently. Ten years ago, very few people knew there was such a thing as a startup, but maybe I should say that our first startups were born ten years ago. If someone hears the word startup in Hungary, they are surely thinking of Prezi or Ustream.
Well, those were big deals back then.
Yes, but after that we know less about the subsequent teams. And, I feel that this next generation, the generation after the giants, the number of them is now starting to grow really large. We, the Budapest Enterprise Agency, took the very first delegation in September 2015 to Tel Aviv, because Budapest is its twin city and we received an invitation. Since then, we have organized 32 delegations and more than 100 startups have been abroad. Today, we are able to present valuable teams similar to those of Rendi and Blinkee in such big numbers.
Does this new form of enterprise have a demonstrably stimulating effect on economic actors or even on the development of an entrepreneurial mindset, either at home or abroad?
In Hungary, it is often said that SMEs, but sometimes even the old big businesses, are not active in business innovation. We should be more active to make the country more competitive, but it is also true for the region, as the competitiveness of the region should be increased as well. These startups can definitely increase the business innovation by example, with the very simple idea that they can turn into a popular service for many. So, with their ideas and examples, we now have a restaurant in Józsefváros or in Győr where robots are serving the food, for example. We wouldn’t have thought before that it would be possible.
We started this conversation by saying that the Visegrád countries are successful not only in terms of political cooperation, but also in this area. In fact, I would even say that the results might be more tangible, more visible here than in politics, or faster, since speed is obviously a trait in this form of entrepreneurship. So, what is the most visible and most tangible cooperation between the four Visegrád countries in the startup field?
I think that the ones we have shown are really good examples. A Hungarian company opened an office in Warsaw. A Warsaw-based startup opened a business in Budapest. Another Hungarian company in Budapest opened offices in western German cities. I’m thinking of BeeRides, which operates car-sharing systems near airports. It has an office not only near Ferihegy, but also in Dortmund, Düsseldorf, and many other cities. The headquarters of these companies stay here in Hungary, but they get into European circulation. And, we know about many of these. I’ll tell you another one. Route4U has made maps of the pavement systems of many cities in Europe so that wheelchair users and mothers pushing strollers can see where to go in order not to collide with stairs.
Do people use these applications? Do you make follow-ups? Or, in what form can it be measured at all?
Yes, evidently. These services are all available as an application or online. Nowadays, more and more people, and not only young people, but statistics show that in Hungary people over 50 or sometimes even the 65–74 generations, use these applications in a very large number in comparison to in other European countries, and they are very well involved in the online world. So, there is a need for these services.
Regional cooperation must be obviously also facilitated by the fact that, as we already said in the discussion, these are innovative, early-stage enterprises, whose products or services do not have geographical or linguistic barriers.
Correct. These applications, for example, an English-language teaching application teaches the same English in relation to any other language and may not translate into Hungarian. This is also a very good Hungarian application. The online page of Rendi is now available in several languages, or there is a Budapest-based hotel whose application is now available in Portuguese. The distance is irrelevant. We at home, too, when we go on holiday, we can find and book a lot of things online in advance.
How are employment rates affected by the startup world? Is there measurable or detectable data both in the private and public sectors?
These businesses belong usually to the private sector, as they are micro-enterprises or small businesses. They normally start as micro-businesses, and we have see many examples that cross the 10-person limit within a year, so they grow to 15–20 or more. Each business employs IT professionals as well. In Hungary, the ratio of those businesses that employ IT professionals is the third largest in the European Union, and this is also true for SMEs. Only in Ireland and Belgium can we find IT professionals in businesses in such large proportions. So, well-trained professionals are very quickly absorbed by this market. And, in Hungary, higher education pays close attention to train professionals who can be the engines of innovation, not just engineers, but also economists, doctors—I’m thinking of Semmelweis University—and many other professions.
One last thing we should finally talk about is the attractiveness of Budapest. According to the Economist, Budapest became first in the Central Eastern European region in the global livability ranking. In addition to our geographic location, what can be attractive to the international market and international businesses?
I could talk about a lot of economic indicators. The price-value ratio is very good for maintaining a business here. In fact, the workforce is very affordable, and the offices are also very affordable. And, the technical indicators are very good too: our 4G internet is the third fastest in the world. Whether one is sitting in an office here or in a different office in a much more expensive city, it doesn’t matter in terms of physical accessibility. But, in terms of economic and other indicators, it is better to sit in an office here in Budapest. And, for young people, Budapest is not only interesting from business perspective, but from the after work, leisure time, and private life perspectives too.
It has become an attractive metropolis and attractive in Europe in terms of security as well. And, of course, it is beautiful. Piroska Szalai, thank you very much for accepting our invitation.
Thank you.
Dear viewers, you have just watched V4 – The Future of Europe. We will be back with fresh news in a week. Goodbye.
Her colleague Martina Dlabajová is also concerned about the consequences of Britain leaving the EU without an agreement. “Brexit is really behind the door, and after the vote we are again at the very beginning. Now we are in a situation where none of us know how the process will continue and whether the UK has any plans at all,” Dlabajová said.
Non-partisan Pavel Telička considers the vote of the British deputies as a further step towards a hard Brexit, Communist MEP Kateřina Konečná then considers the rejected agreement as the only possible, though not ideal one.
Tomáš Zdechovský (KDU-ČSL) remarked that May was given a lesson for weak politicians. He perceives the result of the voting as a confirmation of Brexit chaos. This is similarly seen by his colleague Jiří Pospíšil (TOP 09). “The key will now be to prevent Britain from leaving the EU without an agreement because it would damage not only Britain but also the interests of the Czech Republic,” Pospíšil said.
Olga Sehnalová (CSSD) would then like British citizens to decide on the future of the country themselves. “I personally would like the political representation to find the courage to let citizens vote not only on the intention to leave the EU but also on the conditions in which this can happen,” Sehnalová said. Jaromír Štětina, who founded new movement Europe together, agrees with her. As a solution, he would rather prefer a new referendum on Britain´s future in the EU.
In the first three quarters of 2018, 17 million tourists booked a stay in the Czech Republic. Overall, the number of both local and foreign tourists has been rising constantly. More and more tourists are also arriving from East Asia, in particular China.
In the 2018 Global Peace Index (GPI), compiled by the British Institute for Economics and Peace, the Czech Republic ranked seventh out of 163 countries, among the most peaceful worldwide.
Tourists visiting the Czech Republic are increasingly satisfied with quality of services, which used to be an issue, and more say they would like to visit again, said Dostálová. She thinks the current situation may change once it improves elsewhere, especially in the Mediterranean. Additionally, tourism in the Czech Republic could be affected by an economic slowdown or recession. Therefore, it is important to support local tourism and services, Dostálová added.
According to Dostálová, cheaper fares for students and pensioners introduced by the government, and EET (electronic evidence of sales) last year helped domestic tourism as well. The problem is, on the other hand, a lack of qualified labor in gastronomy and the hospitality industry, said Jana Vildumetzová, the Chairperson of the Czech Association of Regions.
The Minister of the Interior, Jan Hamáček met with representatives of Parliamentary parties to discuss the Brexit bill, which is supposed to protect Brits living in the Czech Republic in case the UK leaves the EU with no deal on March 28th.
At the meeting, all parties confirmed their support to fast-track the bill. The Lower Chamber received a norm affecting relations between the Czech Republic and the UK from the government a week ago. The government’s proposal allows for a temporary period until December 31st, 2020, during which British citizens would be treated the same as if they were EU citizens in 18 specific areas.
Prior to the meeting, some opposition parties announced they would support the bill as it is reciprocally beneficial for Czechs living in the UK. There are some 40,000 Czech citizens living in Britain and approximately 8,000 British citizens in the Czech Republic.
Other EU member states are working on a similar bill as well. However, as put by Ambassador Nick Archer, the Czech bill is so far the most generous for Brits out of all member states.
According to Klaus, the European Parliament is in fact anti-Parliament, where an individual has no voice and sitting there is just a waste of time. MEPs cannot address the Parliament with an important speech, its agenda is fully in the hands of the European nomenclature, he added. We as the Czech Republic must develop a strong Czech Parliament able to say a clear NO to the EU, continued Klaus who was briefly considering running for an MEP seat back in 2002.
Klaus believes the more MEPs critical towards the EU and its policies will get elected in May, the better. Sadly, there is no real anti-EU party emerging on the Czech political scene, and the Civic Democratic Party isn’t one, he added. Klaus stated it will be tough again for him to choose who to vote for. Yet, as put by Klaus, it doesn’t matter how many mandates each party gain, what matters is whether the campaign could bring up some crucial questions for the public discussion on our future in an increasingly integrated Europe.
Strikingly enough, the European Commission proposed to finally move to qualified majority voting on the common future of taxation in the EU, and there has been no backlash at all, it didn’t make the headlines the day after, said Klaus. For him, it is unimaginable to let MEPs or Commissioners in Brussels decide on taxes of member states. I hope voters will realize how critical such intervention would be and reflect it in the elections.
Regarding the recent vote on Prime Minister May’s Brexit deal in the British Parliament, Klaus noted that all the debates about Brexit have been biased by a misunderstanding – that there are two equal partners who equally care about their citizens and want to reach a rational agreement. In terms of the game theory, most of the commentators and Brits assumed it is a cooperative game and were fatally wrong. It was a textbook example of a non-cooperative game, in which one side desperately wants to humiliate the other. Now it would be a fortune telling exercise to predict what is going to happen, concluded Klaus.
The official also claimed that there are too many uncertainties concerning the attendance of different EU member states at a ministerial level.
A week ago, the US Department of State and Polish Foreign Ministry informed that the Warsaw Middle East conference will take place between February 13th and 14th. The main topic of the conference will be the building of peace and security in the Middle East. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also confirmed that special attention will be given to the influence of Iran in the region.
What game is the EU playing?
“Our American partners did not give Poland the responsibility to co-organize this conference without reason. This proves that Poland’s position on the international arena is stronger,” commented the Polish minister of national defense, Mariusz Błaszczak.
PM Mateusz Morawiecki has announced that Poland treats the topic of security in the Middle East as one of the greatest challenges of international and defense policies.
The Polish foreign minister, Jacek Czaputowicz believes that the conference will pave the way for a platform for dialogue and will bring the USA and the EU together when it comes to Iran.
“Is the EU also looking for this dialogue, however, if its head of diplomacy is going on a different trip, instead of to an important conference?,” asks niezalezna.pl in the editorial.
Hungary has completed the concept for hosting the 2021 World Hunting and Nature Expo, government commissioner of the event Zoltán Kovács said, adding that actual work on the locations will begin this year.
The year 2021 for hosting the event is also an excellent match because it is the 50th anniversary of Budapest hosting the Expo 1971, a hunting-themed expo with the participation of 52 countries which at the time attracted 1.9 million visitors.
That expo was also notable because – only three years after the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia – it was attended by both Soviet Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Archive image: Hungarian Secretary General János Kádár (L) and Soviet Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev hunting in Hungary.
The Hungarian budget will provide HUF 7 billion (US$24.95 million) for the initial preparations while the final budget must be submitted to the cabinet in the first half of the year.
Even with that small decline in the index, the BÉT had a better performance than most other European Exchanges and daily turnover rose to HUF 11.4 billion (US$40.6 million) while annual trade volume rose to HUF 2,791 billion (US$9.95 billion).
Just like last year, shares of the four so-called “blue chip” companies (bank group OTP, oil and gas group MOL, pharma company Richter and Magyar Telekom) accounted for 89% of the turnover.
Three companies advanced into the premium category and for the first time the exchange also lists regulated real estate investment companies as well.
The capitalization of BÉT rose by 5.3% or HUF 80 billion (US$285 million) and has reached 20% of the country’s GDP. BÉT is the second largest stock exchange in Central and Eastern Europe by market capitalization and liquidity.
The document reminded that in the last year of the First World War, Wilson introduced his peace program, the Fourteen Points. The 13th point declared the creation of an independent Polish state made up of a territory inhabited by Poles, with access to the sea and whose independence would be guaranteed by international conventions.
“He was one of the main characters deciding about the post-war borders of Europe during the Paris Peace Conference on the 18thof January 1919,” the act states.
Wilson strengthened the friendship between the Polish and American nations, referring to common values: the right of nations to self-determination, equality and freedom
The act of the Polish parliament also underlines that Wilson “strengthened the friendship between the Polish and American nations, referring to common values: the right of nations to self-determination, equality and freedom. For his contributions to Poland, he was awarded the Order of the White Eagle.”
In addition to an act commemorating Wilson, Polish MPs also undertook another, connected with Poland’s 100th independence anniversary. They commemorated the 100th anniversary of the inauguration of proceedings in the Polish parliament.
The thing is that most of my acquaintances are beginning to question the scientific nature of economics, seeing how the so-called “analysts” never once guessed correctly in their forecasts of the Hungarian economy. This is especially true at a time when a conservative government works on righting the mistakes of its left-liberal predecessor.
Back in 2010 – when the above-mentioned comrades suffered a historic electoral defeat – said analysts declared that the task was impossible. They said the plans of (prime minister Viktor) Orbán and (economics minister György) Matolcsy are unfeasible, the IMF loan cannot be repaid ahead of schedule, restrictions are necessary, there cannot be economic growth with low inflation and unemployment.
Now we have an additional 800,000 jobs, of the promised one million, the soothsayers keep adjusting their growth forecasts upwards, there is no inflation to speak of and the word “restrictions” has all but disappeared from the political dictionary. Minimum wages have doubled, poverty is receding and consumption is growing. The state debt has both been reduced and is less exposed to the fluctuations of the international markets.
So what do these eminent economic experts say now? They won’t allow themselves to be misled by the facts. They say growth is first of all a result of EU subsidies and is otherwise entirely untenable.
Nobody (in Hungary) thinks, of course, that everything is perfect and there are no risks whatsoever. Those who have a pondered opinion of the Hungarian economy are aware that we are only at the beginning of a growth path. It took this long to clear the rubble left behind by (former prime ministers Ferenc) Gyurcsány and (Gordon) Bajnai.
So economics is not a pseudo-science, it’s just that there are too many left-liberal pseudo-scientists. And we should only take them as seriously as any augur who will predict the most horrible future unless paid enough.
How will the other parties react – that is unknown for now but in the face of the tragedy, which occurred on Sunday, the best solution would be to support one candidate.
Today the majority of politicians speak about the need to be calm, to not extend divisions and to keep emotions in check. How they will react in the by-elections will show, whether these are just empty declarations or a real direction to work in.
Today we can see a queue of people eager to pass judgment on who should be responsible for the crime
I don’t know whether we will ever learn what drove the perpetrator of this vile crime. Unfortunately, even today we can see a queue of people eager to pass judgment on who should be responsible for the crime. Yet that is nothing more than stoking the hatred, with which everyone wants to fight so much.
[block:views=related_articles_field-block]
I believe that such a narration would conquer the election campaign in the by-elections and such a thing cannot be – neither in this or in the next campaign.
The Chinese company has almost completed its new campus in Dongguan, north of Szenzhen, which will house up to 25,000 employees. The campus is made of up of 12 distinct areas named and modeled after European cities.
These include Paris, Granada, Verona and Bruges. The campus is built on an area of nine square kilometers – the different “cities” are linked by a tram line. The bridge serving the tram line is a replica of Budapest’s Szabadság (Freedom) Bridge.
The Budapest Freedom Bridge
The Freedom Bridge, opened in 1896, the 1,000-year anniversary of Hungarian statehood, was originally named Franz Joseph Bridge after the then emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was destroyed in 1945 by the retreating German army and received its new name when it was rebuilt in 1946.
Over the course of the last centuries, Britain has been accused of being arrogant, Machiavellian and cold in the way it treats its allies. No one would deny, however, that Britons were rational, keeping cool heads and always sensibly evaluating a situation.
Meanwhile, in the last couple of years we can see a true spectacle of irrationality from the Britons and their leaders. First David Cameron announces a risky Brexit referendum. Then most Britons vote leave, with many of them looking up what the European Union is after casting their vote.
In the last couple of years we can see a true spectacle of irrationality from the Britons and their leaders
That was followed by the UK government lying for months about the negotiations with Brussels, claiming that the UK will be the victor. Then they revealed the real deal, which only confirmed what was inevitable from the beginning. The House of Commons finally rejected the deal and now there are claims to renegotiate the terms.
There are 10 weeks left to the date of leaving the European Union.
The biggest irrationality was the decision of Brexit itself. The UK profited immensely from its membership to the EU. When it joined, it had one of the slowest developing economies in Europe. Britons made the sensible choice: to be part of European integration and make the most out of the membership.
They voted for an imperial past that was no longer there
For 45 years it worked extremely well. The UK was the virtuoso of negotiations in Brussels and its GDP per capita was second only to Germany. London was the financial heart of Europe. The UK’s leader could become the EU’s.
Then the majority of Britons went insane. Manipulated by Putin’s populists and IT specialists, they let emotions and economic and political ignorance guide them. They voted for an imperial past that was no longer there. Now they can’t even make rational decisions which are consequences of their choices – or to retreat from those choices.
The world changes, and Theresa May is neither Wellington nor Winston Churchill.
A mechanized brigade, a tank battalion, and an artillery unit from the Czech army will take part in the training. The Air Forces will be represented by an anti-aircraft rocket regiment and the 22nd Helicopter Air Force base. The exercise is going to take place in Hranice, Přáslavice and the Center of simulation and training technologies in Brno.
“The training aims to test the capabilities of the commanders and international crews to command subordinate units of the combat group, to jointly plan and manage the combat and react flexibly to the current development of the battlefield situation,” said Commander of the Czech Land Forces Josef Kopecký.
On Tuesday, more than twenty members of all four armies attended the first planning conference in Prague. The main planning meeting is scheduled for May. “Every crew has a different command structure, the training is going to focus on the ability to cooperate and to manage the planning, and at the same time we are going to examine how the flow of information works,” said the commander of the 7th Mechanized Brigade, Jiří David. Battle orders and reports will be issued in English.
The states of the Visegrad Group are members of NATO; their armies cooperate closely in training and some international actions, such as in the Baltic Sea.
A relocation of the Czech Embassy in Israel shouldn’t be rushed, it is wiser to wait for other states to join us, to talk them into it, other V4 countries may get on board, the Chief of Senate Jaroslav Kubera told the press after a meeting with the President and speaker of the Chamber of Deputies.
The three highest constitutional representatives also discussed Zeman’s intention not to sign the same-sex marriage bill. According to Kubera, it won’t be easy to put this bill though both chambers of the Parliament in the first place.
Kubera expressed his wish to settle the relationship between the President and the Senate, which has been damaged by Zeman’s calls to ‘starve the Upper Chamber out’. On the other hand, some Senators have been vocal critics of Zeman’s controversial steps. I’ve invited Mr. President to introduce to us a candidate for the Constitutional Court, Mr. Gerloch, and I hope he will accept, said Kubera.
Regarding Zeman’s recent announcement that he is not going to appoint two professors, Kubera responded that he considers his reasons relevant, but he doesn’t find them worth provoking a dispute with universities. “We shouldn’t just repeat we want to unite our society, but rather be doing something about it, it is one of the things I don’t agree with Mr. President,” added Kubera.
The program focuses particularly on migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Mongolia, Russia and Vietnam. Anyone who voluntarily leaves the country and promises not to return not only to the Czech Republic but to the EU, will be eligible for the money.
Returns is supposed to help them fund transportation costs and integration in their country of origin including accommodation, household equipment or domestic animal expenses. The Interior Ministry announced it will be suitable for all categories of foreigners, those who are legally in the country and illegals and asylum seekers as well.
Allocation for the program amounts to 60 million CZK, 75 percent is to be covered from the European Asylum, migration and integration fund. Each individual could get funds ranging between 40,000 and 100,000 CZK. First funded returns should be processed in the third quarter of 2019.
Similar programs are already underway in other European states and they aim to encourage migrants, who are unwanted in the respective country and would not be granted asylum to leave. Many migrants who weren’t granted asylum nor temporary protection avoid deportation.
Statistically, only 40 percent of rejected asylum seekers are deported from the EU. And while the allocation will be a burden for the taxpayers, the cost is by far less than deportation would. The Ministry noted that especially detention of illegals is extremely costly, which goes hand-in-hand with administrative procedures and healthcare expenses.
Soukup is currently best-known for hosting several shows and programs on his Barrandov TV channel, where he also interviewed PM Orbán of Hungary last year. With his movement called ‘Jaromír Soukup’s LIST’, Soukup wants to defend Czech national interests against corrupted politicians and oligarchs.
Soukup previously announced that he is going to reveal ‘a life changing decision’ during his TV show called ‘My news’. For over a year, I’ve been discussing with the most important politicians what is bothering us all, I’ve pointed out many pressing issues, said Soukup live on air. It was me who drew attention to a huge difference between what politicians say and do for the first time, he added.
The LIST is a new political movement which will compete for your votes, and every year I will publish a list of specific things to be changed, continued Soukup. The first item on his agenda is to push through a legal responsibility for politicians to make the lives of their own citizens better. Soukup blamed them for a lack of apartments, expensive energies, overpriced bills for internet and mobile services among other things, while paying billions to solar-barons and oligarchs for things the state should be provide on its own.
Soukup was actively involved in politics once, in 2009 he was on a list of the Democratic Green party for the European elections and gained 72 votes.
Csányi said OTP has finalized the purchase of Bulgaria’s Société Générale Expressbank (SGEB) which will be integrated into its present Bulgarian subsidiary, DSK Bank. He said SGEB is the seventh largest bank in Bulgaria, with solid retail and corporate operations.
He said OTP has been present in Bulgaria since 2003 and has been posting profits every single year. He added that Bulgarian DSK’s mother bank, OTP Hungary was placed ninth in the European Central Bank’s recent stress test – involving 48 banks from 15 EU member states – showing that it is one of the EU’s most stable banks.
Csányi also said that OTP will purchase another two banks this year, one each in Albania and Serbia – both deals have already been signed – and a third acquisition in Slovenia is also being considered.
Besides its home market, the Hungarian OTP Group currently operates in eight countries of the region via its subsidiaries in Bulgaria (DSK Bank), in Croatia (OTP banka Hrvatska), in Romania (OTP Bank Romania), in Serbia (OTP banka Srbija), in Slovakia (OTP Banka Slovensko), in Ukraine (OTP Bank JSC), in Montenegro (Crnogorska komercijalna banka) and in Russia (OAO OTP Bank).
Although Targalski believes the removal of Huawei products by the government, which is reportedly under the consideration of Polish authorities, would be a good thing, he doubts it will actually happen.
“This is because every institution that I know uses Kaspersky and Huawei. The cheaper a product is, the more likely we are to use it,” says the journalist and historian.
Targalski claims that there are two ways to approach the issue of Huawei being an extension of Chinese intelligence: “either we take this into account, or we pretend that we don’t know and pretend to be blind and deaf, and continue on.”
He underlined that there is no need to listen to the opposition in this case. “If the government decreed the extermination of lice, then the opposition will claim that we need to breed lice.”
American pressure?
Targalski also referred to the claims that action against Huawei would favor the US: “this isn’t about whether this is an American or non-American action, but whether it is right or wrong. If the Americans are pressuring us to do something that is right, then firstly, that is good and secondly, it just means that the state cannot act rationally.”
Targalski warned that, “if a state is unable to realize this on its own, because it is so weak and fake, then in such a situation foreign pressure is a positive.”
Brexit began with a huge gamble. David Cameron put all his money on a seemingly formidable horse and lost. The then Prime Minister announced the referendum two and a half years ago with the certainty of a win. He thereby sought to appease the eurosceptic wing of his party while certain that the Brits would not vote to leave.
But he made a huge mistake and lost all his previous achievements – savior of the Conservative Party and the architect of economic recovery – in the blink of an eye. He had no intention of leaving the European Union at whose table the “great” in Great Britain still carried some weight on account of the country’s economic and military muscle.
While the referendum – the previous one on the issue having been held in 1975 – was certainly justifiable, the country was not prepared for the outcome. This is reflected in every political and economic event since the vote. This was the first time a member state made an attempt to negotiate a divorce, and found that it was impossible to untangle all the threads – especially against an unhelpful Brussels.
Two and a half years later and Britain is still divided over the issue: should there be a Brexit? If yes, of what kind? The reform of the EU – moving the bloc towards a deeper political integration which also takes away chunks of national sovereignty – is a concern to most member states.
At present, the Marxist Jeremy Corbyn is gambling with the future of the country, rejects every agreement the government works out, with the sole aim of acquiring power. All through this big gamble, a single person was able to represent the interests of the people. Theresa May remains committed to the outcome of the referendum, even she personally was never a supporter of leaving the EU. But what the future holds for her or for Brexit, not even the shrewdest of pundits can guess.
One of the main topics of the upcoming conference will be Iran’s policies and their influence on the region. Iranian publications are not hiding their outrage:
“Today, at a time when the Iranian nation is struggling with illegal sanctions by the Trump administration, officials in Warsaw have agreed to host an anti-Iran conference. Though this joint Washington-Warsaw measure against the Iranian nation will reach nowhere, the great treason of this European country will not be wiped from the Iranians’ minds,” writes Teheran Times.
Today, at a time when the Iranian nation is struggling with illegal sanctions by the Trump administration, officials in Warsaw have agreed to host an anti-Iran conference
Mojtaba Zonnour, the chairman of the Nuclear Subcommittee of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, has also threatened Poland and the United States: “The Islamic Republic must take a determined stance against this affront and impertinence. We cannot be lenient in the face of them.”
Relations between the US and Iran have been in turmoil ever since Donald Trump abolished the Nuclear Agreement from 2015. This means sanctions will be placed on Iran once again.
It started with the US deploying sanctions on licences to export aerial goods and services to Iran, the selling of metals, steel, coal and aluminium. Sanctions on licences concerning motorization are also in effect. America has also introduced sanctions on oil trade.
The global conflicts of the 20th century were not the result of nations’ fights against one another, but a clash of imperial powers vying for supremacy. In World War I, the fight was between the challenger, Germany and Great Britain and its allies as guardians of the status quo.
By 1917, this evolved into two conflicting global missions: the American-type Liberalism (Wilsonism) and the Soviet-type Communism (Leninism). In World War II, Germany again made an attempt for hegemony (this time justified by a more atavistic, racial supremacy), but its efforts had been denied by two powers emerging on either end of the continent, Europe.
The second half of the 20th century was a time of the Cold War, with two competing ideologies facing one another in relative stability.
As of 1991, the United States – as the winner of the Cold War – began building a unipolar international order, challenged on two levels: in the form of two localized challenges by China and Russia and a global challenge of Islam.
Shortly after the onset of globalization, historians – such as Samuel P. Huntington – regarded it as a unified phenomenon surrounded by local conflicts. In the present, we are witnessing a halt in globalization and there is an increasing chance for a multipolar world gathered around civilizations coalescing around a regional power vying for hegemony.
Internal and external opposition to globalization has also given birth to a contrary trend, that of a more assertive representation of national interests, a loss of trust in international organizations and the rejection of global agreements.
The change we are now living is a result of the crisis of liberalism and everything modern is based on the rejection of liberalism to varying levels (non-liberal -> illiberal -> anti-liberal).
A growing importance of policies dictated by geographic reality, economic autarchy, the ethno-populism of indigenous European nations and the desire to preserve national identities are accelerating the demise of the liberal world order.
The PM defined cybersecurity as a “very intricate ecosystem” which no Western country will be able to tackle on their own, let alone in isolation.
Morawiecki highlighted the fact that the world now is much more connected than it was in the past. “If a weakness of one of our partners should be discovered, then it is a weakness of us all. Without cybersecurity policies, it would be as if we didn’t have an army. Modern independent countries cannot ignore this issue,” he said.
The head of Poland’s government urged the leaders of other countries to invest in cybersecurity. “Our enemies will surely not wait. Our enemies are arming themselves right now and only a collective effort will let us repel the attack and only if it is decisive,” he added.
If a weakness of one of our partners should be discovered, then it is a weakness of us all
The PM argued that for nations and economies to be safe, the sector of cybersecurity must be controlled by “us and not our enemies.”
“I believe that we will succeed,” Morawiecki concluded.
The PM’s speech was held at the inauguration of a two-day Polish-American cybersecurity conference, organized by the Atlantic Council in Warsaw.
Századvég based its research on data between 2008 and 2017, and its focus was on households’ wealth in relation to the country’s GDP. It showed that in Hungary wealth rose from 58 percent of GDP in 2008 to 105.9 percent in 2017. In comparison, Czech wealth rose from 58.7 to 80.1 percent, Slovak wealth from 30.3 to 39.1 percent and Polish from 41.6 to 65.3 percent.
To put things into perspective: Germany – where GDP per capita is US$54,987 compared with US$16,905 in Hungary, households’ wealth over the same period rose from 100.1 percent of GDP to 126.1 percent.
The think-tank said in Hungary the growth was a combined result of higher wages, rising savings and lower private debts. The research also showed that household savings also rose significantly in every country over the period under scrutiny: the increase was 24.1 percentage points of GDP in the Czech Republic, 28.9 in Poland, 28.7 in Slovakia and 29.1 in Hungary, while the same figure in Germany was 19.5.
The research also showed that household debt in Hungary were the lowest among the five countries, with debts highest in Germany, followed by Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic.
As an example of a society in which this phenomenon is occurring, Wildstein gave France: “As part of combating hate speech in France, and not just there, one may be persecuted for anti-abortionist claims,” Wildstein said in an interview for Radio Wnet.
He also explained that people have been sentenced for claiming that opening the country up to Muslim immigration will change France’s culture.
Wildstein argued that the so-called “combating” hate speech will not help solve political tensions in Poland. The journalist claimed that the opposition doesn’t seem too keen on stopping the conflict. “The opposition completely without merit is accusing the government for what happened in Gdańsk. At the same time, they are calling for an end to hate speech. So I ask, who really is spreading hate speech?”
The opposition completely without merit is accusing the government for what happened in Gdańsk. At the same time, they are calling for an end to hate speech. So I ask, who really is spreading hate speech?
Wildstein underlined exactly why the opposition attacks Law and Justice (PiS): “The opposition’s struggle with PiS is about delegitimizing them, because they proposed different political solutions and criticized the Third Polish Republic, which was deemed as “hate speech.”
The issue is that although social media gave a platform for everyone to speak, it has created a tribal division instead of a public forum for discussion. “There is no place for argumentation and explanation. If you have a few-hundred characters, then you can beat someone up. Something that was meant to bring amazing consequences also brought so much evil,” Wildstein explained.
“Can something be done? No. Every idea about what to do with this – which has already happened in the EU – are attempts to censor the internet in favor of dominating forces,” the journalist concluded.
‘Dear Frenchwomen, dear Frenchmen, my dear fellow citizens. In a period of questioning and uncertainty such as the one we are going through, we must remember who we are. France is a country unlike any other,” wrote Macron.
Macron’s unusual address to his nation aimed to quell the current unrest after the last protest on Saturday, when more than 80,000 followers of the Yellow vests took to the streets across France. In his letter, Macron sharply stated he won’t accept any form of violence, pressure and insults and suggests finding a solution through discussion.
He called upon all French people to join the national debate on dozens of social and economic issues, which is supposed to lead to a ‘new agreement for the nation.” The society-wide debate starts now and will last for two months. According to Macron, it is a way to transform anger into solutions together, adding that none of the issues is forbidden.
At the same time, he warned his citizens that there are two sides of a coin. Thus, if anyone demands lower and more fair taxes, then it is important to keep in mind necessary cuts in the state budget.
Even though the address was meant to be a conciliatory step, Macron already in advance announced he is not planning on changing two crucial taxes – mandatory social insurance and so-called property solidarity tax. The most important two for French citizens.
In his letter, Macron tried to explain and defend a lower property tax and it backfired. One of the Yellow vests’ movement representatives replied that the letter is addressing only a part of the problem and is too shallow to resolve what bothers protestors the most – decreasing purchasing power.
While 70 percent of French people think the debates won’t change a thing, it would be actually good for them to realize that there are two sides of a coin.
As reported by Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the migration topic wasn’t debated much during the latest EU summit in December. Plans to build new processing centers for migrants’ redistribution on both sides of the Mediterranean is apparently off the table. Even though the plan was officially approved by the member states, none of them are willing to host such a center.
The same applies to the so-called ‘disembarkation platforms’ in third-world countries. Since the EU hasn’t been able to find an agreement among its members, it doesn’t come as a surprise that it also hasn’t been able to find a partner elsewhere. All North African countries rejected the platforms, as well as the Western Balkans states despite their ambition to access the EU, which even offered them aid.
Ironically enough, Chancellor Kurz who had been pushing for ‘disembarkation platforms’ for years and wanted to realize them during the Austrian presidency, stated later in September that he doesn’t really know who came up with the idea.
Also, a plan to strengthen Frontex will not take place anytime soon. It looks like neither of the member states is able to find enough skilled border guards. Therefore, there is already talk of a new date of 2025 instead of the originally planned 2020.
It is highly unlikely that anything will change before the European elections, so the asylum system reform stays on hold until June at least, however what is going to happen after the elections is even more uncertain.
Even though PM May’s failure was largely expected, the defeat is astounding. More than 230 members of parliament voted against than in favor of the agreement, which corresponded with the most pessimistic estimates. At the same time, May’s defeat doesn’t give much chance for another compromise between London and Brussels.
As expected, the British pound dropped and it could be assumed that such a significant defeat will have a negative impact on American and Asian stock markets, and that Europe will follow tomorrow.
Now, PM May has three days to deliver an alternative Brexit plan. She is going to face enormous pressure from the opposition as well her own party and its coalition partner. Not to mention the media and the public.
The way in which May lost her battle is bad news for both the European and Czech economy. It is more likely there will be no deal. The highly polarized UK parliament will hardly find a meaningful consensus. Yet a no deal Brexit would be the most painful alternative, at least in economic terms. It applies to the Czech Republic as well, as the UK is its fifth largest export market.
“It’s about the UK now,” the prime minister said. The EU must now wait until Monday when May should introduce new steps but Babiš hopes for a clear agreement.
According to Tomáš Petříček, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Britain must say what to do next. “I am sorry that the oldest democracy in the world is divided into three unappeasable camps. The departure of the United Kingdom from the EU is getting stuck but we will surely be able to find a solution,” Petříček said, who considered the Brexit agreement the least damaging solution.
The Czech Republic is, however, prepared for all scenarios, thinks Petříček and Interior Minister Jan Hamáček agrees with him. On Thursday, he plans to hold talks with parliamentary parties on how to adopt a law addressing the position of British citizens in the Czech Republic.
The draft law addressing relations between the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom in case Britain leaves the EU without agreement was approved last week by the government that now wants to seek an accelerated approval of the bill in the House.
In the future, the European Commission should be de-politicized according to PM Babiš, and people from real life instead of professional politicians should be elected to the European Parliament. He would like the EU to return to its substance, four fundamental freedoms, and the Member States to have the main say.
Ceva-Phylaxia will invest HUF 8.17 billion in the new research and production facility, complemented by a non-refundable state grant of HUF 1.83 billion, bringing it to a total of HUF 10 billion ($35.23 million), Szíjjártó said. He added that the state grant was justified by the fact that the company will create jobs for highly qualified personnel and bring innovative technologies to Hungary.
Phylaxia was established as a Hungarian company in 1912 and was acquired by French veterinary medicine maker Ceva Santé Animale in 1999.
Left to right: Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szíjjártó, Ceva-Phylaxia CEO Thierry Le Flohic and French Ambassador to Hungary Pascale Andréani (image: MTI/Zoltán Máthé)
Szíjjártó also said that the pharmaceutical sector is traditionally strong in Hungary, it has the highest production and research activity among Visegrád countries, employs some 30,000 people and last year made total revenues of HUF 810 billion.
Ceva-Phylaxia CEO Thierry Le Flohic said that half of Ceva’s global vaccine research – or 130 researchers – is based in Hungary.
“Hatred has destructive results and everything begins from words,” Trzaskowski explained. This is why in Warsaw’s schools, before the Winter break, lessons concerning how to react and oppose hate speech will be introduced.”
Nienawiść ma niszczycielskie skutki. A wszystko zaczyna się od słów. Dlatego w warszawskich szkołach jeszcze przed feriami zostaną przeprowadzone lekcje na temat tego, jak reagować i przeciwdziałać mowie nienawiści. Dziękuję @SutrykJacek za inspirację. pic.twitter.com/Pm3KR9lIat
Twitter users are outraged by this decision, as it is also seen as a method of sowing Left-wing propaganda in schools. Krzysztof Bosak of the National Movement harshly criticized the idea:
“WARNING PARENTS: I’d like to draw your attention to the fact that the Leftist “hate speech” and the Christian meaning of the word “hatred” are two different things. “Hate speech” is verbal expression of hatred and the lack of acceptance of Left-wing ideology (so called “equal treatment”, the prerequisite of “verbal acceptance”).
Bosak also explained how the Left is changing the meaning of words to suit their political needs:
“It is also important to notice that apart from the term “hatred”, the Left is trying to redefine the term “violence.” The end result is that conservative views become a form of “verbal violence” and “symbolic violence” in Christian culture, meanwhile a blind eye is being turned on the Antifa’s violence.”
Both Hungary and Poland regained their independence after World War I, but the experience was quite different for each.
In the case of Poland, this was preceded by 123 years during which the country was divided between three adjacent empires: Russia, Prussia – which during this period became Germany – and the Habsburg monarchy. But the Poles never stopped to fight for their independence – even if the revolts always ended in bloody repression.
During World War I in 1917, the Polish Legions established by Józef Piłsudski withdrew their support to the Central Powers and as a result he was thrown in jail. It was Roman Dmowski who afterwards created the famous “Blue Army” in France, which fought on the Entente side – and was subsequently rewarded for it with independence.
Hungary’s story is quite different. After the Ottoman invasion and the occupation of Buda, the country was split into three. The central part was under Turkish rule, Transylvania was nominally independent but a vassal to the Turks, while the northwestern part was grabbed by the Habsburg empire.
After the Ottoman empire was defeated, Hungarians continued to fight for national independence. During World War I, Hungary – faced with separatist national movements – had no choice but to side with the Central Powers. This ultimately led to it losing a significant part of its territory after the war.
Thus, while it is factually true that both countries regained their independence after World War I, these had been very different experiences. While for the Poles it was unbridled joy, it was a tragedy for Hungarians.
Now, at the beginning of the 21st century the two countries continue to fulfill their historic mission of protecting Christian Europe against the Tatars, Turks, Russians, Soviets and Nazism. Only now the greatest enemies of Poland and Hungary are Jean-Claude Juncker, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron.
For us Poles living in Hungary – as for all Poles anywhere – the reconquest of independence is a great celebration that is overshadowed by the fact that it is inextricably linked to the tragedy of our Hungarian friends.
“If there was to be a turning point after the death of Paweł Adamowicz, it would be for the worse – towards more conflict and not national unity,” Dudek – political scientist and historian – said in an interview for DoRzeczy. He also warned of calling the tragedy a result of hatred and hate speech.
Such tragedies also occur in “stabile societies.” An example that Dudek gave was that of Anders Breivik, who was deemed a madman who had mass murdered in a seemingly calm country.
I believe that after the attack in Gdańsk, more politicians will decide to use the services of security companies
“I would rather adhere to such an interpretation and not – what as some are trying to do – blame a certain political faction, with which Paweł Adamowicz was at deep odds with,” Dudek underlined.
“I believe that after the attack in Gdańsk, more politicians will decide to use the services of security companies,” Dudek argued, referring to the recent discussion concerning the necessity for protection of public figures in politics.
The relief – advertising Vienna piano manufacture Ehrbar – is made of plaster and hand-painted in gold. It was found in a downtown Budapest apartment which previously functioned as a piano salon, said architect and interior designer György Selmeczi, who made the discovery.
Ehrbar relief by Gustav Klimt (Photo: MTI/Zoltán Máthé)
The relief – made between 1890 and 1892 – has been hanging on the same wall for over a century. Selmeczi said that the relief was probably commissioned by the Austrian piano maker’s Hungarian distributor for the 1896 celebrations of 1,000 years of Hungary’s foundation.
He said the relief was by all indications designed by Gustav Klimt and made by one of Klimt’s brothers, either Georg or Ernst. It has many distinctive elements of Klimt’s art – such as wave lines, a laurel wreath and a lyre – and finished in gold, which became the hallmark of Klimt’s subsequent creations.
It also closely resembles a later Klimt work, the so-called Beethoven frieze.
