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  • Cats read human gaze, Hungarian scientists conclude

    Human communication can take many forms. Pointing, for example, can be done with an extended arm, just a finger or by turning our head or just looking at an object. Etological studies have long established that many animal species can correctly interpret pointing, but interpreting human gaze as a pointing gesture has so far only been observed in dogs.

    Dogs have been the subject of significantly more studies than cats, simply due to the fact that convincing cats to cooperate is much more difficult. But a team at the ELTE University lead by Péter Pongrácz has found that cats can also correctly interpret human gaze. The experiment was fairly simple – a treat was placed in one of two bowls and cats had to find the correct one by just interpreting their master’s gaze. The study – conducted in the homes of cat owners – showed that in 70 percent of cases cats can positively identify the bowl with the treat: this is both significantly higher to be random and is about the same success rate as dogs exhibit.

    The experiments also showed that cats could interpret even a short human gaze correctly, while they also reacted faster to the visual clues if previously called by their names. The study gives valuable insight into the domestication process of cats, who, unlike dogs, are solitary animals. The study, entitled “Cats can read human gaze for referential information” was published in Intelligence magazine.

  • Brexit brushes away CE workers from the UK

    The number of workers employed from EU countries has dropped by 132,000 in the last year, reports the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is the highest decrease since 1997, when the research began.

    The largest changes have been noted among workers from the so called A8 group – the eight Central-Eastern European countries which joined the EU in 2004. In the last twelve months, their number decreased by 154,000. This may be proof of the foreseen wave of emigration from the UK due to the uncertainty resulting from Brexit. 

    The UK’s decision to leave the EU has slowly presented the country as less attractive to live and work in

    The number of workers employed from the remaining EU states has seen a minimal increase (22,000). This is mainly due to the migration of 16,000 people from Romania and Bulgaria.

    Professional associations have been warning for months, that the sectors of healthcare, nursing and production will be those most heavily impacted by emigration due to Brexit. The UK’s decision to leave the EU has slowly presented the country as less attractive to live and work in. 

    The Nursing and Midwifery Council has reported that between April 2017 and March 2018, 3,900 people had resigned (a 29 percent increase compared to the previous year). The number of new registrations has also dramatically decreased – from 6,300 to 805. 

    The exact estimates of foreigners, including Poles, living in the UK will be published by the end of November. According to last year’s statistics, just over 1 million Poles lived in the UK with 3.2 million EU citizens living there overall.

  • Back to the football’s past

    The stars who took part in the photoshoot are, among others, Robert Lewandowski, Wojciech Szczęsny, Grzegorz Krychowiak and Polish national team coach Jerzy Brzęczek. 

    Each of the football players posed in an outfit reminiscent of important events from the beginning of the history of Polish football. Lewandowski, Bayern Munich’s star player, wore the football attire from Poland’s first professional international football game against Hungary in 1921. 

    Lewandowski, Bayern Munich’s star player, wore the football attire from Poland’s first professional international football game against Hungary in 1921

    From the photos, one can tell that the players had fun during the session and enjoyed this journey to Poland’s football past: “If only we could go back several years…” writes the PZPN’s Łączy nas Piłka portal on Twitter.

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    Wojciech Szczęsny (pictured above), who is the goalkeeper for Juventus, presented himself in a historic goalkeeper shirt from the 1924 Paris Olympic Games. Krychowiak, Lokomotiv Moscow’s midfielder, dressed as a footballer from the 1938 World Cup.

    It is a memorable tournament, because it was Poland’s debut at the Cup during which they played a dramatic game against Brazil which they lost 5:6. Coach Brzęczek wore a suit from the 1920s. 

  • Nonsense emission limits will damage the Czech economy

    Hunger in the Third World countries, an irretrievably destroyed environment, hundreds of billions of euros spent on absolute nonsense – biofuels. Hypocritically acting as nothing has happened, we have silently canceled the targets for biofuels. Unfortunately, we did not learn anything, and we are on the best way to seriously damaging the Czech economy by lowering CO2 emission limits.

    The European Parliament proposes a 40 percent reduction in CO2 emissions for cars by 2030. EU member states propose 35 percent and Czech politicians, in line with German politicians, call it a great success of diplomacy.

    The draft of Brussels is not so strict this time. MEPs and some member states, hunted by environmental activists, compete with each other to see who will push for more cuts, regardless of the technological possibilities and the damages they will cause.

    Emission limits carry a problem that everyone knows about, but nobody addresses it, because the whole fight for greener cars would collapse like a house of cards. The emissions limits legislation anticipates that an electric car has zero CO2 emissions. But in fact, the production of an electric car has a negative effect on the environment, the batteries are powered mainly by coal from coal-fired power plants, and the recycling of electric cars is particularly complicated because rare elements in batteries cannot be recycled. Legislators, however, ignore this process. Otherwise, the production of electric cars would not make sense.

    Consequently, the current practice is nothing but subsidies for the sale of electric cars and the fines for not following the emission limits are drastic. Carmakers selling electric cars will have to go well below the actual car production costs to meet the emission limits. Basically, their margins will fall, resulting in mass dismissal. Volkswagen has already warned that it will dismiss 100,000 people out of a total of 550,000 employees. At Czech Škoda Auto, the same model would mean dismissing 7,000 people. The Czech Republic is a supplying giant, and the automotive industry represents 10 percent of Czech GDP.

    Additionally, carmakers will no longer be able to produce affordable lower-class cars because they would risk high fines for the emissions of such cars. This would limit the availability of cars to low-income and medium-income groups. The poor would essentially subsidize the rich in their purchase of a car.

    The regulation is even more nonsense if you realize the real share of car traffic in CO2 emissions. It represents 5.5 percent of the 3.5 percent CO2 emissions for which humanity is responsible. Thus, the share of cars in CO2 emissions is 0.2 percent.

    We try to solve a real problem simply, with minimal resistance. Cars are something that everybody thinks is a problem, and the carmakers earn enough to survive it somehow. Politicians have chosen the simplest target that will have a significantly negative impact on the Czech Republic.

  • Low expectations for Palermo conference

    The two-day summit on the future of Libya started with a private dinner. Among the attendees are the main political actors in the country as well as the EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, the UN special envoy for Libya, Ghassan Salamé and Egypt’s president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

    Saying that he is curious who will show up at the summit, Czech PM Babiš stressed that the stable situation in Libya is a key issue for the European Union.

    But the chances of success for the Palermo summit are low because key world leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin did not agree to attend.

    The talks are also overshadowed by a diplomatic wrangling between Italy and France, which plan to hold Libyan elections in December. While France has been courting military commander Khalifa Haftar, Italy is the main backer of Libya’s prime minister Fayez al-Serraj.

    Still, Italy hopes the conference will help keep pressure on Libyan players to overcome their divisions.

  • Babiš stresses the importance of Schengen and border protection

    Two days ago, PM Andrej Babiš lectured at the Paris Institute of Political Studies during a visit to France. He believes internal reform of the European bloc is important, along with a need for fewer directives and a return to the roots of European values.

    Babis compared the EU to the Asterix village which has a strong defense, while there is freedom of movement inside. “Why is Greece in Schengen and Bulgaria not?” Babiš asked, adding that the single currency is not important to him because it is Schengen that really matters.

    The EU, according to Babis, must focus on border protection and the fight against human smugglers. However, internal reform of the European Union is also important. “There is no need to have the same tax and social systems, on the contrary, the internal market is still limited, it does not work as it should,” the prime minister said.

    Babiš ended his three-day French visit in Paris, where he attended a memorial ceremony on Sunday to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War.

  • Giving way to gender lobby is madness

    According to him, we live in an insane period when men are automatically considered violent, freedom of speech is being attacked, and people are afraid to call things by their real names because of ubiquitous political correctness.

    The debate on homosexual marriages is an attempt of a small group of people to raise their rights but it only opens another anti-discrimination door. It started with a registered partnership, and it may end up with a marriage of three or four people.

    For Juchelka, marriage is a bond of man and woman, a symbol of the society we live in. Traditional family is a unit of the future, and we need to preserve it because Europe is dying out. Nowadays, only 1.67 children per woman is born but to preserve the population, 2.1 child per woman is needed. This is not achieved by any state in the European Union. Therefore, the state must support traditional families.

    The debate in the Chamber of Deputies will be tense as well as the debate on the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women which, according to Juchelka, divides men and women and tries to introduce a new class war. It makes men aggressors and rapists and works with gender-based violence against women.

    However, freedom of speech is also threatened. “If we are to decide what to say in a pulpit, on campus or in the Chamber of Deputies, it is a way to hell. We cannot be endlessly dealing with political correctness and be afraid to speak freely,” Juchelka said.

    He also emphasized the importance of conservatism. More and more, people are starting to claim allegiance to it. They are bothered by constant enforcing some rights without dealing with the obligations. Conservatism must not be crushed by leftist progressists who are contemptuous of common sense.

  • Romanian president signs natural gas mining law

    The law gives the theoretical green light for exploitation of the Neptune Block deep water sector, an area of approximately 7,500 square kilometers in water depths ranging from 100-1,700 meters which is estimated to hold between 42 and 84 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

    Oil and gas firms ExxonMobil and OMV Petrom have a concession to exploit 50 percent of the area. The Black Sea gas reserves are the reason why four countries, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria decided to build the BRUA pipeline in a bid to lessen the region’s dependence on Russian natural gas.

    The agreement for the construction of the BRUA pipeline was signed in 2017 at a total cost of EUR 479 million (UD$538 million). Financing for the first phase is provided by a European Commission grant of EUR 180 million, a EUR 50 million European Investment Bank loan and a European Bank for Reconstruction and Development loan of EUR60 million. The pipeline is planned for inauguration in two phases, in 2019 and 2022.

    Plans outline a transport capacity of 4.4 billion cubic meters per year.

  • Barcelona honors Golden Age of Hungarian football

    The exhibition – opened by Gerard Figueras, secretary general for sports of the Catalonian government – commemorates the “Golden Team” of the 1950s and the players who later joined Barcelona: Zoltán Czibor, Sándor Kocsis, László Kubala and Ferenc Puskás.

    Figueras said Catalonian sports had the privilege to have such outstanding players join FC Barcelona and help enhance the love of football there.

    Puskás

    Ferenc Puskás during a 1949 championship match. (source: Wikipedia Creative Commons)

    During the inauguration of exhibition, short excerpts from the “Match of the Century” were screened. 65 years ago on November 25th the Hungarian national team beat England 6-3 at Wembley Stadium in front of some 105,000 British fans. Forward midfielder Nándor Hidegkuti scored a hat-trick in that game.

    Title image: Opening of the exhibition “The Golden Age of Hungarian Football” in Barcelona (source: Gerard Figueras, Twitter). 

  • Controversial movie script on national hero Hunyadi

    It is inadmissible and unforgivable to make a movie about the greatest Hungarian military successes for HUF 7 billion (US$24.4 million) – one that is a fictionalized fantasy in which a bona fide national hero only plays a supporting role, Pesti Srácok columnist Tamás Pilhál writes.

    Pesti Srácok managing director István Stefka had the opportunity to read the script of the movie, provisionally entitled “The Last Bastion”, about which he said “the movie that is purportedly about János Hunyadi is neither about him, nor about one of the most resounding Hungarian victories, nor patriotism or Christianity. It is about the Turks and their bravery, fake romanticism and historically inaccurate fiction.”

    János Hunyadi (1406-1456) lifted the siege of Belgrade in 1456, defeating the Turks led by Sultan Mehmed II and set back the Ottoman Empire’s ambitions to conquer Europe.

    “We have been waiting for half a century for a truly patriotic and proud movie about Hungarian history,” Pilhál writes. “A movie about one of the greatest Hungarians, István Széchenyi (The Bridge Man, 2002) portrayed him as a half-mad man. Now they want to reduce one of our greatest generals to a supporting role in a fantasy movie. Stop this madness before it’s too late!”

  • A good day for Poland

    The most important thing was accomplished – we paid our respects to everyone who in the last century fought, cared and died for Poland. It was worthy also on a state level and the great white and red march allowed pro-Polish forces to succeed. There was a huge attendance at every event and a beautiful commemoration of late President Lech Kaczyński.

    There is nothing to be ashamed of. This was a worthy celebration of our great anniversary. 

    Dear friends, we have to say this outright: the Independence Day celebrations were a knock-out, the evil people were clean swept. The Polish Hussars did it! 

     

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    There was also a political aspect. The opposition, with Donald Tusk who broke every official rule of conduct at the helm, wanted to ruin these celebrations. They wanted to steal the whole subject for themselves, humiliate the government and prove the ruling party’s weakness. 

    Everything was prepared by the opposition as usual: Tusk agitated with Bolshevism in Łódź when he compared Law and Justice to Bolsheviks. This provoked incredible outrage among the government and the public.

    Warsaw’s mayor, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz tried to provoke violence by blocking the Independence March and Civic Platform (PO) leader Grzegorz Schetyna tried to prepare his own celebrations.

    Nothing worked. Tusk’s “Bolshevism” proved that he is losing contact with society. It did not strengthen his political position. The March wasn’t blocked owing to the quick response of President Duda and PM Morawiecki. PO celebrations turned out to be so poor in comparison, so much so that the organizers probably regret making them. 

    Really, the opposition shouldn’t do such things to its beloved TV station (TVN), which once again has had to struggle to make stuff up to paint an alternative reality.

    Dear friends, we have to say this outright: the Independence Day celebrations were a knock-out, the evil people were clean swept. The Polish Hussars did it! 

  • What’s wrong with having gold reserves?

    The opposition claims – along so-called “professional” arguments – that increasing gold reserves is an antiquated, unproductive and ultimately unexplainable move. Meanwhile, the average citizen, who has learned since childhood that gold means stability, security and reduces risks to a minimum cannot understand why this would be a bad thing.

    But those with a bit of common sense realize what the problem is: its exactly the fact that gold offers security and serious stability. This is what has triggered the anger of those who regard national security in Europe an unnecessary luxury and would rather see it gone from the cozy nation-states.

    They immediately attack such decisions and would rather like to see massive foreign currency loans and an overall increase in debt levels. At the prompting of an ageing billionaire they would even have the European Union incur billions of euros in debt to bring in and host millions of migrants.

    It is quite a coincidence that Martin Schulz, the disgraced former leader of the European left has said that what “refugees” bring is far more valuable than gold. So it is not an unreasonable assumption that if Hungary took in migrants instead of increasing its gold reserves, international attacks against it would diminish.

    But Hungary does not wish to follow that path and – as many other central banks do – will rather invest in gold. And despite the wishes of the globalists, Hungarian economic indicators are strong and forecasts indicate that it will remain in good health.

    It seems like the retrograde label they so love to stick on the conservative side is rather more appropriate to those who preach progress but are bent on undermining security in order to grab power in the ensuing chaos, without the need for elections.

  • Poland’s journey home

    The ad, published by the Polish National Foundation (PFN), compared Poland’s path to independence with a journey home.

    The narrator, Mel Gibson, explained that Poland’s journey lasted for 123 years: “The Poles didn’t have their home for 123 years. Now, 100 years have passed since they regained their home. Let’s celebrate with them.”

    https://twitter.com/Fundacja_PFN/status/1061165311087366144 (the clip in English)

    The Poles didn’t have their home for 123 years. Now, 100 years have passed since they regained their home. Let’s celebrate with them

    At the end of the clip, there was a reminder about the history of Polish partitions between 1795-1918. Internaut reactions ranged from “I love Poland, my homeland,”, “Amazing! Poland!” to “God Bless Mel Gibson” and “The lucky 100! Independence!”

    The video was also shared by important Polish officials, including deputy PM and former PM Beata Szydło as well as President Andrzej Duda.

  • Tusk in trouble over his “modern bolsheviks” remarks

    On Saturday, at the Eve of Polish 100th independence anniversary celebrations, in Łódź, Donald Tusk called for opposition sympathizers to fight against “modern Bolsheviks”. The President of the European Council now tries to explain his words following a public backlash:

    “When I said, that Poles today also can defeat modern Bolsheviks, everyone assumed I was talking about PiS. Even PiS thought so. It was about Bolsheviks, however, and no one else,” Tusk wrote on Twitter. 

    When I said, that Poles today also can defeat modern Bolsheviks, everyone assumed I was talking about PiS. Even PiS thought so. It was about Bolsheviks, however, and no one else

    PiS MP Krystyna Pawłowicz harshly criticized Tusk’s statements: “The ginger BEAST still circles Christian Poland. It ogles, it lies, it schemes, pretends, lurks and waits for the right time and place when it can strike at Poles. The 100thanniversary of our independence is a symbolic time for revenge for it. The Ginger Beast lurks…”

    “I cannot believe, that Donald Tusk comes to the Fatherland and the day before Independence Day celebrations his only message are words about “modern Bolsheviks,” commented Michał Dworczyk, the head of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister. 

    Many commentators suggest that this increased public activity from Donald Tusk may be the start of a campaign which could lead to his victory in the 2020 Presidential elections.

  • Kaczyński and his new cat

    PiS spokeswoman Beata Mazurek posted a picture of Kaczyński holding his new cat on twitter: “Kind regards to all cat lovers!” wrote Mazurek.

    Jarosław Kaczyński explained to Super Express that the cat’s owner is a young activist of PiS who asked him to give a name to the cat. “I named the kitten Imka,” Kaczyński told the tabloid. 

    Several people posted pictures of their own pets beneath the photo. Each in a unique pose with greetings and thanks. One user posted a meme, in which several cats are reading Jarosław Kaczyński’s book “The Poland of Our Dreams”: “Kind regards to you too!”

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    Kaczyński’s love for felines has been well-known for years. He’s owned several during his life. His favorite was “Busio”, who died a few years back. It was forbidden to mention the cat in the Kaczyński family after its death.  

    Another known cat was Alik, who lived with the chairman for 11 years. Kaczyński had found the cat wounded at a roadside and took it in. The name is derived from “Aleksander”, who was Kaczyński’s grandfather. 

    Currently, Kaczyński lives with three cats: Fiona, Czaruś and Feliks. One of his cats became a recent internet phenomenon during opposition protests. During their manifestations under Kaczyński’s house, instead of the chairman appearing in the window, his cat did.

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    TVP Info jokingly updated their banner during a live recording of the event to say that “the chairman’s cat is bravely facing members of the opposition.”

  • Adopting the euro will not help say economists

    It all started with an interview published on aktualne.cz. Daniel Prokop, a popular Czech sociologist, backed the common currency by saying it would help us to get closer to the German salary and economic level.

    “People do not realize that they look like a donkey when they comment on economic issues without ever opening a textbook of economics,” Martin Pánek said during the interview.

    “I wonder how Mr. sociologist imagines it? Will it help us as much as it helped Greece or Italy? Is the media about to ask dentists about monetary policy next time, while economists will comment on trends in dental fillings?,” economist Marketa Sichtarova asked in her tweet, which received hundreds of likes.

    Another well known Czech economist, Pavel Kohout, argued that no poor country has been successful with the euro. “Try to come up with the story of at least one single country that the euro demonstrably helped to get closer to the level of Germany – you will not find it. Not one. Not even Ireland where the low income tax rate played the main role. The same goes for the Baltic countries.”

    Even Czech trade union leader Josef Stredula criticized Prokop´s idea. “The euro will not help us to catch up. Only real convergence will,” he wrote in a discussion, adding that the exchange rate of the Czech currency should be completely different to what it is today. According to Středula, the Czechs cannot adopt the euro.

  • Queens of tennis

    The last match, in which Katerina Siniakova outlasted American Sofia Kenin in front of a sold-out Prague O2 Arena, lasted almost four hours. “It was an unbelievable match for me,” Siniakova said right after the match. “It was up and down, with nerves. I’m extremely happy that I won. I thank all who came for their support. It was felt.”

    The Czech Republic retained its perfect record in the Fed Cup finals by capturing the trophy for the sixth time in eight years by defeating the United States in the best-of-five final. The remaining two matches were not played.

    On the way to the final, the Czechs beat Switzerland 3-1 in the first round and Germany 4-1 in the semi-finals. Then, on Saturday, Barbora Strycova beat Kenin to put the Czechs 1-0 ahead and Siniakova doubled the advantage with a win over Alison Riske.

    Both of the teams, the Czechs and the Americans were missing top players. Karolina Pliskova was ruled out due to injuries and Petra Kvitova due to illness. Also, the Williams sisters, Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys from the US team decided to miss out.

    “It was terribly difficult, I do not know what to say. The score on paper is 3:0, but the action on the court does not correspond to it, it was really challenging,” said captain of the Czech team Petr Pála.

  • Istanbul gender engineering

    If something is missing in our legislation, let’s get it there. If police capacity is insufficient, we can strengthen it. If it is necessary to train the police, even more, we can do it. No one has explained to me yet, what the added value of the Istanbul Convention is. To disagree with the Convention does not mean not protecting women and not fighting against violence against women, but disagreeing with a mad ideology that can easily be misused and is an integral part of the Convention. After all, the #MeToo campaign is a beautiful example of how far protection against sexual harassment can get.

    This is not about gender equality, but about something that overcomes even the existing absurd attempts of positive discrimination. The Convention will, among other things, require “a change of attitudes, traditional gender roles, and stereotypes that make violence against women acceptable”. Finally, this is not about protecting women, but about ideology.

    It will start with women´s and men’s quotas, through the implementation of various measures to promote new gender roles and the support of non-profit organizations that will carry these measures to the control and possible displacing of information supporting the original concept of the role of men and women in society. Here we are openly talking about censorship, and no one pretends we are not. Everything will be supervised by new experts, a new control body (GREVIO) with broad competencies and even wider immunity.

    Social engineering is green with envy. Also, critics of the Istanbul Convention are being labeled with backward, anti-Western, ignorant, or even a chauvinistic attitude, because reportedly they do not care about violence against women.

  • Mária Schmidt: Trump changed everything

    The first question of the interview was about Viktor Orbán. Kaiser asked Schmidt how Orbán has become almost a pan-European phenomenon able to stand up against the mainstream in the EU. Schmidt reminded that Orbán is backed by a two-thirds majority in the Hungarian parliament and is not alone in Central Europe either, with the support of Salvini and Babiš. “And this is a radical novelty in European history. The West is not used to a situation where Central Europe formulates its interest and advocates it,” Schmidt states.

    Similarly, the vote of the European Parliament against Orbán, according to Schmidt, stands on the idea of Western states that Central Europe should not defend its interests. Poland and Romania experience the same. “It’s about giving us a lesson. Even the Western media is attacking Orbán very brutally and unfairly.”

    Also, according to Schmidt, there is no freedom of expression in Germany, and the opposition media stands on the periphery, while the content of all mainstream media is practically the same. “A few days ago, I surfed all the major German servers from FAZ to Spiegel to find out who took the hostages in Cologne, but I learned from the English newspaper that it was a Syrian who referred to the ISIS. There is no freedom of speech in Germany, but there is in Britain. In Hungary, you could conceal such facts for half an hour.”

    On the issue of migration, Schmidt believes that if Orbán did not oppose Merkel in 2015, more than 10 million new migrants would be in Europe today. “Germany intended to let everyone in to Europe and then choose the best, the most qualified and to send the rest to other countries on the basis of the quota system.”

    Asked why FIDESZ is still in the European People’s Party, Schmidt said that part of the EPP is sovereignists such as the Bavarian CSU, some are globalists. Orbán hopes that there will be more sovereignists than globalists in the EPP after the next elections.

    Schmidt considers today’s western establishment worse than in the 1980s and 1990s when the elites tried to understand what is happening in other parts of the world. They later stopped doing so, and lack the skills and mental capacity to lead Europe. They do not even understand what Trump, who changed everything, means for Europe. “He set up a completely new political doctrine. He does not turn America into total isolationism, but at least he does not want to control the whole world. He does not want to export democracy to different places on the planet. He prefers bilateral agreements between governments over multilateral agreements with the ambition to pay around the world. This is very important.” Europe, according to Schmidt, cannot afford not to take Trump seriously.

  • Flat tax for small businesses is a runaway success in Hungary

    This past week, the number of small enterprises that opted for the simplified KATA tax scheme has surpassed the 300,000 mark, Varga said, meaning that one in three individual entrepreneurs or small businesses have chosen it.

    The popularity of KATA is due to its simplicity and low tax rate. Under KATA rules, businesses only have to pay a monthly HUF 50,000 (US$175) flat tax as long as their income remains under HUF 12 million (US$42,000) per year and that already includes healthcare and pension contributions.

    This means that a small business or individual entrepreneur whose income is around the maximum level has a total tax burden of 5 percent, but even with half that income, the total tax is still a very reasonable 10 percent. In addition, businesses opting for this tax scheme only have to keep and submit a monthly record of their billed income.

    Varga said the success of KATA is understandable as it is both the lowest and simplest one in the history of Hungarian taxation. He added that with the changes approved by parliament for next year in this tax scheme, bureaucracy will be reduced further. Varga said the KATA tax is also a pioneering practice within the entire European Union.

    Title image: Finance Minister Mihály Varga (MTI/Márton Mónus)

  • Hungary unveils heroes’ monument on Armistice Day

    World War I was the conflict that claimed the most victims in Hungarian history, state minister of the Ministry of Human Capacities Bence Rétvári said at the unveiling ceremony. During the war, Hungary fielded 3.8 million soldiers, 661,000 of those died, 743,000 were injured and 734,000 were taken as prisoners of war.

    Rétvári said Budapest did so far not have any such monument, as all of them had been destroyed during the Communist rule. He said that World War I was a clash of empire-building powers in which a free Hungary would not have taken part of its own accord.

    Until the end of the war, Hungary was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the war began when the Empire declared war on Serbia following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive of the throne in Sarajevo on the 28th June 1914.

    Ferenc Ferdinánd

    Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 (Austrian National Library, Ferdinand Schmutzer)

    In another event in the northeast Hungarian town of Debrecen, Hungarian defense minister Tibor Benkő opened the city’s renovated military cemetery where he said Hungary honors the memory of all soldiers fallen in WWI, regardless of who they fought for and expects similar respect from other nations.

    Title image: Hungarian officials inaugurate a Heroes’ Memorial in a Budapest cemetery (MTI/Márton Mónus). 

  • Renovated 425-year-old school opens in Transylvania

    The school was renovated mainly due to a grant of HUF 1.5 billion (US$5.28 million) from the Hungarian budget. The school- currently named after Áron Tamási, one of the greatest Transylvanian writers and playwrights, was established in 1593 by the Jesuit order.

    Headmaster György Laczkó said at the ceremony the renovation was possible with the help of Hungary, the Roman Catholic church in Transylvania and the personal support of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and speaker of the house László Kövér.

    Miklós Soltész, Hungarian state minister for churches and national minorities said that while Hungary’s conservative government has fulfilled its duty of supporting ethnic Hungarians living abroad, the Hungarian community in Transylvania must also do its utmost to preserve its values and hand them down to future generations.

    Title image: Hungarian state minister for churches and national minorities Miklós Soltész at the opening ceremony (MTI/Nándor Veres). 

  • 57 years on, Hungarian astronomers confirm Polish theory

    Polish astronomer Kazimierz Kordylewski claimed in 1961 to have observed two dust clouds – what one might call “dust moons” orbiting the Earth. 57 years later, a team of astronomers and physicists of the Budapest Eötvös Loránd Science University (ELTE) have confirmed the find.

    The team consisted of Judit Slíz, András Barta and Gábor Horváth.

    “The Kordylewski clouds are two of the toughest objects to find, and though they are as close to Earth as the Moon are largely overlooked by researchers in astronomy,” Slíz said.

    “It is intriguing to confirm that our planet has dusty pseudo-satellites in orbit alongside our lunar neighbor.”

    Csillagász

    Kazimierz Kordylewski on the terrace of the Jagellonian University observatory in Krakow, 1964 (public domain image). 

    The two dust clouds exist at the L4 and L5 Lagrange points of the Earth-Moon system. Lagrange points are regions where the gravitational forces of two larger bodies are in balance, meaning that smaller bodies will remain in position relative to the two larger bodies.

    The hidden moons could now be used to store pollution from Earth or serve as transfer stations for manned missions into deep space, the scientists said.

    Title image: The Lagrange points of the Earth-Moon system.

  • Reborn Poland is one hundred years old

    250,000 people took to Warsaw’s streets to celebrate Polish independence. In what was called the largest Independence March in Polish history, Poles proudly walked through Warsaw’s center waving thousands of white and red flags.

    President Andrzej Duda opened the March with a speech. In it, referring to the multitude of gathered flags, he declared that “this is our state flag, our national, red and white flag. It will never just be white and it will never just be red ever again.”

    This is our state flag, our national, red and white flag. It will never just be white and it will never just be red ever again

    The image of the huge demonstration in Warsaw by Ada Zielinska made a thrill on Facebook.

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    Throughout the world, famous buildings and monuments were lit up in the colors of the Polish flag. 

    In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the Burj Khalifa turned white and red: “For the first time in history, the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa shone white and red on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Polish independence!” writes the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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    The Polish Embassy in Vilnius posted a picture in which Vilnius’ Three Crosses were lit in Polish colors: “The symbol of Vilnius – the Three Crosses – in Polish colors!”

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    In New York’s Time Square, the Polish – Slavic Federal Credit Union initiated an ad in which the Polish flag covered the NASDAQ building. “The 100th Anniversary of Poland’s Restoration to Independence” were written across the ad.

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    US President Donald Trump also wished Poland all the best on the occasion of the anniversary: “Poland, a great country – Congratulations on the 100th Anniversary of your Independence. I will never forget my time there!”

  • Migration crisis is a project of liberal left-wing elites

    According to Jiří Weigl, it is rather a project of the liberal left-wing Western elites that have dominated the political mainstream and are determining the agenda at national and international level.

    Saying we should be careful not to be tricked, Weigl warns that the migration crisis is not only a fatal threat to the European future. At the same time, it is a phenomenon that shows how the original ideas of cooperation and integration in Europe have been transformed into something horrible.

    The UN Migration Pact shows that mass migration is something positive and desirable for today’s Western mainstream. What is more important, the ideas behind this pact are (finally) an open explanation of the current approach of the EU institutions and the top European politicians led by Chancellor Merkel to mass migration.

    Pointing to efforts to make migration a basic human right, Weigl also considers that main aim of the Pact is not to stop migration, but to make it easier and legal. More and more it is becoming obvious that the problem with redistributive quotas is far from over.

  • Traditional political parties are falling and Brussels is out of reality

    According to Jindrák, the end of the Merkel era will affect the Czech Republic. Merkel is known for being historically connected with the Czech Republic. Even though president Zeman is a strong critic of migration and EU policy, he said it is a pity that Merkel ends. Germany loses continuity, and it is not clear what direction it will go. Merkel, given the length of her mandate, embodied security and continuity, and President Zeman values his relationship with Germany.

    Jindrak states that migration is one of the causes of the collapse of traditional political parties not only in Germany but across Europe, and criticizes the European Union for not taking any substantial steps to prevent the “demolition” of traditional parties and the system. He added that on the basis of his experience while working in Germany, the media did not speak about certain topics for the sake of correctness, which is disaster for the EU. He also said the president and the prime minister agreed that the right to migrate is not a given right and expressed concerns about traditional political parties such as the German SPD, which are due to migrating and delaying decisions in danger of extremists.

    The Head of the Foreign Affairs Department then spoke about not having any “central topic“ which would represent the Czech Republic as a state and that is not good. Rejecting everything is not a program according to Jindrák who also criticized politicians for discussing the Pact in the last minute while it has been publicly known for more than two years. He ended this interview by saying that president Zeman is not a Russian troll and talks between Putin and the Czech side are conducted in a fair and balanced atmosphere.

  • Istanbul and the Migration Pact

    Péter Szijjártó described the UN migration pact as “a threat to the country’s security interests” and withdrew Hungarian participation in further talks. At the end of October, Austria, currently presiding over the European Union, has withdrawn very loudly. Sebastian Kurz confirmed that the pact was “outwardly charming, but very tough inside”.

    The Polish Prime Minister has also announced a press conference with Angela Merkel and said that his country is unlikely to sign the pact. Then Croatia, Slovenia, Switzerland and, of course, the Czech Republic followed the others. Only Slovakia remains a little bit silent from the Visegrad countries, but there are already excited discussions in Parliament.

    Supporters of a signature use the same non-moral arguments. The signature is defended by the fact that the pact is non-binding, implicitly saying: We will sign it and then we will not have to keep it. We will not be the reactionaries, the peasants! Apart from the exceptions, they do not mention the contents of the Pact and its benefits, they probably believe that the voters are not able to read it, and they might still be wondering why the words “commit” and “commitment” appear more than eighty times.

    The advantage probably is that the government of Andrej Babiš lives only by probing a mood. The Istanbul Treaty is a harder nut. If the purpose of the apocalyptic preaching of Petr Piťha was to halt the public debate and to prevent the silent reception of the document, it was fulfilled. 

    The Istanbul Treaty might appear an innocent piece of paper which is against violence, but ‘Homo brusselicus’ cannot do anything without “obligatory” adherents, which make the message unreasonable. Generally speaking, there are gender issues, LGBT marriages, reproductive rights and abortions, paid from the state budget.

  • Czech and Polish Foreign Ministers satisfied with meeting in Warsaw

    Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček was satisfied with the way the Czech Republic and Poland dealt with the current issue of illegal migration. According to the Czech and Polish ministers, both countries want to cooperate with countries which share a similar point of view.

    “We, together with Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, have a joint project with Italy, where we want to address some issues, for example protection of coasts in Libya,” Petříček said. He also wants to cooperate with Poland on strengthening European security. In connection with security, Petríček spoke with Polish Foreign Minister Czaputowicz about the Polish effort to create a base for US soldiers in the country.

    They also discussed cooperation in building transport and energy infrastructure. However, they did not agree with the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany. While Poland does not agree with the plans, the Czech Republic, which imports the vast majority of gas from Germany, does not have a problem with the construction.

    The ministers also agreed to coordinate the preparations for the forthcoming presidency in the V4, when the Czech Republic begins its presidency in the middle of 2019 and Poland will take over the leadership of the group a year later. So the country wants to ensure the V4 will speak with one voice and better promote its interests in the EU.

  • Rock stars play Bartók on new album

    The producer is Hungarian-born Leslie (László) Mandoki, of Dschinghis Khan fame. The album will feature an all-star cast of musicians such as guitar player Al DiMeola, three-time Grammy winner keyboard player Cory Henry, Jethro Tull lead vocalist Ian Anderson, Grammy-winner jazz trumpeter Randy Brecker on the instruments and singers such as former Toto frontman Bobby Kimball and former Manfred Mann’s Earth Band singer and guitarist Chris Thompson.

    The producer, Mandoki, was born in Budapest in 1953, and received classical training in percussion at the Budapest Conservatory and fled to Germany in 1975 to avoid persecution by the Communist government for being a member of the student opposition.

    His biggest hit, Dschinghis Khan, was the German entry in the 1979 Eurovision song contest, finishing fourth.

  • China and CEE central bank heads meet in Budapest

    This is the most important banking event ever hosted by Hungary, with opening speeches by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Chinese Central Bank President Yi Gang and György Matolcsy, President of the Hungarian National Bank.

    The 16+1 cooperation – an initiative of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs – was launched in 2012 in Budapest and aims to promote cooperation between China and the 16 regional states involved in it, as well as to support the Chinese One Belt, One Road economic initiative.

    Hungary was the first European country to join the Chinese One Belt, One Road initiative. The 16+1 cooperation has made a series of steps in speeding up money transfers, clearing and settlement between China and the region’s states. It has also launched projects such as the E763 Highway in Serbia, the Budapest-Belgrade railway and the China-Europe land-sea express line. In Croatia it leads the first of the construction of the Pelješac bridge while in Poland it has acquired the civil engineering machinery division of defense contractor and steel mill Huta Stalowa Wola

    Title image: György Matolcsy, President of the Hungarian National Bank.

  • Telekom ad mocking Hungarians causes outrage

    The ad by Magyar Telekom, a subsidiary of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG, begins with the image of a young woman in traditional folk costume – which she spectacularly sheds later on a catwalk – and an iconic Hussar (Hungarian cavalry) figure which goes on to mock Hungarians.

    It shows a young man jumping a cue, a pair of skinhead youth sipping milk from plastic bags and an elderly couple dancing in a decrepit restaurant. The previously mentioned young lady – dressed in white, having shed her folk garb – says: “What is typically Hungarian will be decided by us, the ‘now generation’”.

    While the ad was aimed at promoting a modern, “connected” lifestyle, it has seemingly missed its mark by a wide margin. A large number of Hungarian social media users went as far as threatening to switch to other telecom service providers.

    Media critic site Médiavadász said the ad suggests that being Hungarian is a bad thing, or at least people generally think bad things about Hungarians. If you don’t want to be ridiculed, you should get rid of your stereotypes and become a technocrat.

     

  • The provocation game

    Kania sees these decisions as a provocation designed to tarnish the image of the Polish right and to send a signal abroad that they are extremist and fascist.

    The bans on the independence marches in Warsaw and Wrocław are designed to ratchet up tension. It’s a well tried and tested method of ensuring that the media message which goes out is one about ‘fascists’ and ‘troublemakers’. These are provocations so often used in the bad old days of communism. The script that has been prepared by our ‘total opposition’ is clear and transparent.

    The bans on the independence marches are designed to ratchet up tension. It’s a well tried method of ensuring that the media message which goes out is one about ‘fascists’ and ‘troublemakers’

    Poznań is to host calm, dignified European independence celebrations organized by liberal mayor Jacek Jaśkowiak and attended by such pillars of the establishment as former presidents Lech Wałęsa and Bronisław Komorowski. In Warsaw, Wrocław and other cities where independence marches will take place, liberal opposition friendly media will show an aggressive hateful crowd….

    The liberal opposition wants to use these scenes, so that in a few days there is a reaction from abroad condemning Polish fascists. This is why we have to show that the opposition does not want peace. Quite the opposite. It wants to see a spiral of aggression. We need to be aware of that and peacefully and happily celebrate the centenary of our independence.

  • PM Orbán: A Europe for the people

    He was paraphrasing French politician Robert Schuman, one of the founding fathers of the European Union who famously said “Europe will either be Christian or it will not exist at all”. 

    “”Upon the re-accession of the Central European nations, Europe has become more peaceful, stronger and wealthier than before. The truth is that Europe has been made successful by its strong members only. This also applies today. There is no strong Europe without successful member states. Without nations, Europe would lose its spiritual and cultural identity. We are the EPP. We are the European People’s Party,” he said. 

    Orbán_Helsinki

    “Europe would either be a Europe of the people or it will not exist at all. The Socialists, Liberals and Greens are working for such a Europe that has no roots and no spiritual identity. Our vision is a Europe which has 27 faces at the same time. A Europe that is equally Christian and democrat. We, the EPP should never be afraid to reaffirm what we are: Christian democrats. We wish you good luck. You can be assured that Fidesz will do its best to bring the EPP to victory in Hungary next year,” he added.

    The EPP elected Bavarian politician Manfred Weber (CSU) as its lead candidate for next May’s European elections with 79 percent of the votes. Weber’s candidacy was also supported by Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party. Under a precedent established in 2014, the lead candidate of the largest group in the European Parliament is unofficially the most likely to become the next President of the European Commission.

     

  • Anakonda strikes again

    Armed forces from 10 countries are participating in the latest military exercises. The Anakonda 18 exercises are aimed at integrating national and allied command structures and armed forces in the process of strategic defense, preceded by actions aimed at preventing hybrid attacks.

    The exercise will for the first time be held not only on Polish soil but also in the Baltic states and on the Baltic sea. One of the exercises will consist of rescuing hostages from a ferry.

    The Anakonda exercises are a part of the realization of the decisions taken during the NATO summit in Warsaw on strengthening its eastern flank while maintaining NATO operating standards.

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    The eastern flank

    The Warsaw NATO summit in 2016 took strategic decisions to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank. The decision was a consequence of Russian aggression in Ukraine and security concerns of Poland and the Baltic states.

    The Anakonda exercises have been held once every two years since 2006. Up until now the biggest edition was held in 2016 and involved 31,000 soldiers from 23 countries. These were the biggest military exercises held in Poland since 1989. 

  • Poles sign a new LNG contract with the Americans

    President Andrzej Duda expressed his pleasure at this development.

    “I am very pleased that this contract has been made with a US supplier. Poland is cooperating closely with the US on security matters. There are US military units present in Poland. I am happy to see this cooperation being extended to energy security. I can say that this is the kind of transatlantic partnership with the US that President Lech Kaczyński dreamed of.”

    I can say that this is the kind of transatlantic partnership with the US that President Lech Kaczyński dreamed of

    The Polish President recalled his talks with President Trump in Warsaw last year and how the US President had asked him if Poland could buy LNG gas from the Americans. Andrzej Duda replied that Poland was anxious to diversify its gas supplies and that Poland would gladly buy LNG gas from the US at a competitive price.

    Poland’s President also mentioned that Poland was expanding its LNG terminal in Świnoujście and participating in the Baltic Pipe project that will bring gas from Norway to Poland via Denmark. He underlined that this capacity would enable Poland to help its neighbors diversify their supplies and thereby achieve energy security.

    The US Energy Secretary Rick Perry said that Poland was taking “center stage” in US plans. He praised the country for its grasp of the significance of diversification for energy security.

    It is a signal sent to the whole of Europe to build energy security via diversification of supplies

    According to Secretary Perry the contract Poland is signing for the supply of LNG gas is a “signal sent to the whole of Europe to build energy security via diversification of supplies”.

    According to PGNiG the contract is based on conditions and prices which are fully satisfactory for Poland. The company’s CEO says that the prices on LNG contracts his company is negotiating are 20-30 percent lower than those covering gas supplies from Russia.

    In October PGNiG signed two long-term LNG contacts with US Venture Global Cacasieu Pass and Venture Global Plaquemines.

  • The Polish cause

    Picture above: Józef Piłsudski, the founding father of the reborn Poland

    An article in Vatican’s daily “Complicated Mozaic called Poland” analyses the rebirth of Poland after 123 years of partition. Independence came after constant struggle and suffering, as witnessed by two major uprisings and participation in the First World War.

    For decades Poland had been the “Christ among nations” as the poet Adam Mickiewicz called it. But in 1918 the age of the poets ended and Poland was present in history on its own terms

    According to the Vatican’s emissary to Poland, later Pope Pius XI, Józef Piłsudski, the Polish commander who was the founding father of the reborn Poland was “a Polish Garibaldi”, a national idol.

    He had no illusions about the difficult task of bringing the country together after occupation by three separate partition powers and having to deal with territorial disputes with the Germans, Russians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians and Czechs. He made the maintenance of armed forces a top priority, as there was no ally Poland could rely on.

    In 1918 the most important thing was the rebirth of Poland. For decades Poland had been the “Christ among nations” as the poet Adam Mickiewicz called it. But in 1918 the age of the poets ended and Poland was present in history on its own terms.  

  • The gender debate continues…

    “When we consider nuclear weapons to be a possibility for killing a large number of human beings within a short space of time, we must think equally in the case of genetic manipulation or gender theory. They also do not respect the order of the world.“

    If you think some conservative politician said those words, you are wrong. This is not any random statement, the widely admired Pope Francis criticised the theory of gender many times.

    First in 2015, a year after the Istanbul Treaty came round. He shares the same visions on this topic as Prof. Petr Piťha, who has been an easy target for liberal critics after his recent speech against the Istanbul Treaty.

    “Man is committing a new sin against God the Creator. God created men and women as the ultimate creature and entrusted them with the earth. The intention of the Creator is inscribed in nature,” the Pope added, concerning people who do not follow the traditional notion of the division of male and female roles in society.

    On another occasion, he speaks of “the wickedness that today’s indocryption is by gender theory,” and considers it “an ideological colonization enforced by children,” whose proponents do not fit in with their methods of the “fascist youth organization Balilla or Hitlerjugend.” Pope called the theory of gender “a mistake of the human mind that creates so much confusion” and is a “step back”. I do not think there is a need for further explanations to make clear what Pope Francis tells us and on which side he would stand up for.

    In all cases, the need for protection of women and children is clearly declared, as is the position of the Czech Churches (representing over 90 percent of believers in the Czech Republic).

    A similar critique of the Istanbul Treaty is also heard by leading figures and highly educated experts. Each of us can make an opinion and compare it with that of Prof. P. Piťha and the vague attacks of his critics. We do not deny the discussion at all, but try to lead it correctly and in the spirit of brotherly love.

  • No “blue wave“ during the US midterms

    As expected, the Democrats gained the majority in the House of Representatives, but that is more or less all of their successes. Democrats promised the “blue wave” but it did not take place this time. On the contrary, thanks to the successes of the Republicans, Trump has strengthened his position in the Senate. This will be important for his “conservative revolution” in the judiciary, when the president, together with his ministers, seek to appoint new judges with conservative opinions.

    The fact that the Republicans in the upper chamber of Parliament have strengthened means that virtually all the hopes of the radical wing of the Democrats, who are pushing for ​​impeachment, have dissolved. The Democrats can make a proposal for a presidential appeal in the House of Representatives, but they won’t get the required majority in the Senate.

    Trump’s election successes include the fact that his party has won all the most watched duels last night. Conservative Senator Ted Cruz defended the traditional Republican bastion in Texas and remains one of the main leaders of his party. Rick Scott, the successful governor of Florida, who has become the new senator of probably the most important state.

    Trump is not an election loser, because yesterday’s elections made him a lucky loser – a happy loser. Despite the loss the president became a clear leader of his party and an almost indisputable candidate for 2020.

  • Indecisive CDU/CSU fail to reach agreement on UN migration pact

    Tuesday’s CDU/CSU debate on the Global Compact for Migration had an interesting development. We should pay close attention to the words of deputy Stephan Harbarth. “The Migration Pact is in German’s interest. Germany is the main target country for migration because it provides healthcare, social benefits, and education. This pact should move other countries to comply with these standards, and thus the migratory pressure on Germany would decline,” said Harbarth.

    While Harbath received applause for his speech, we should be careful. His proposals are clearly not in the Czech interest. Harbarth de facto says that the purpose of the pact is to move other countries to provide generosity in the German style.

    On the other hand, not all deputies agree with the pact. For example, Michael Frieser pointed out that if the pact is not legally binding, why should we accept it at all? After all, this opinion is often heard in the Czech Republic. However, the division of forces is not yet known, because in the end there was no voting put forward following the stormy debate.

  • UN migration pact to be rejected by the Czechs

    “This is a political, legally non-binding declaration, but we have discussed it anyway. In the past, the Czech Republic had comments and objections that were not accepted. We are concerned about the possible disruption of national sovereignty due to this pact. There is a vague distinction between legal and illegal migrants,” PM Babiš said after the government meeting.

    Babiš added that he is not afraid of impending international isolation. According to him, the UN should improve the conditions in the countries from which migrants come, thus eliminating the reasons for migration, rather than plan a global migration treaty.

    Minister Petriček also said that not all the Czech objections were accepted during the negotiations. Also, the whole of the EU has not succeeded with its comments. The Czech Republic, according to Petříček, should step back from the pact and so he will conceive the final material for the pact that will be submitted to the government.

    Former Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg (TOP 09) has sharply criticized the cabinet for its planned rejection of the pact. On the other hand, for example, the SPD is satisfied with the expected withdrawal from the pact. A representative of the opposite ODS Jan Skopeček then directly asked the government to refuse the convention.

    The Global Pact on Migration was pre-approved by all member states of the UN two years ago, except for the United States. In addition to the USA, Australia, Austria and Hungary rejected the pact, too. Further, Poland´s attitude to the document is negative, and Italy and Japan also plan to withdraw. Denmark, Croatia, and Slovenia also have objections about the pact.

    In spite of the attitude of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, the Visegrad Group will probably not adopt a common position on the pact because of Slovakia, whose Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák negotiated the agreement and now defends it.

    The pact is also being debated in Germany. Against the pact stand the AfD and some members of Chancellor Merkel´s CDU. According to them, the document does not sufficiently distinguish between refugees and economic migrants.

  • Stubb attacks Orbán at Helsinki EPP congress

    Stubb – competing with German Manfred Weber for the position of the European People’s Party (EPP) top candidate position at next year’s European elections – said illiberal democracy is incompatible with the European Union and the EPP,  the two being mutually exclusive.

    Viktor Orbán must change his opinion and embrace European values. If he is not willing to do that and keeps talking about illiberal democracy, then we have nothing to discuss

    He added that should Orbán stick to his opinion, launching a procedure to expel (Hungarian ruling party) Fidesz from the EPP could not be ruled out. Stubb also said that while he has great respect for the other candidate, Weber, he considers himself being left of Weber. “The top priority in my program is to defend European values. Digitization, making European economies more competitive, climate protection and security are also important topics, but I also have a proposal on how to solve the issue of migration,” Stubb said.

    Orbán and other Fidesz officials have repeatedly stated that they support Weber’s candidacy against that of Stubb.

  • Wizz Air reduces 2018 profit expectations

    Wizz Air – whose main markets are in Central and Eastern Europe – has reduced its profit expectations for 2018 to EUR 270-300 million (US$309-343 million) from an earlier EUR 310 million forecast.

    The airline said in a statement that one of the main reasons for the lower profit was s 23 percent increase in aviation fuel and a summer strike of airport employees which in itself cost the company EUR 80 million in lost revenues.

    Other European budget airlines – including easyJet and Ryanair – have also reported that the summer strike and very busy airports have had a significant impact on their costs.

    Wizz Air – which earlier planned to increase its capacity by 14 percent next year – has now scaled down that plan to 4 percent. The full-year forecast is even more pessimistic in light of the fact that in the first half of the year the airline had a profit of EUR 292.2 million – meaning they expect no or very little profit for the second half of the year.

    Title image: MTI, Bea Kallos

  • Independence march banned while another is announced

    The fact that the march will now be a state occasion means that no other march may use the same route to the one that will be taken by the President’s and the Prime Minister’s demonstration.

    According to the President’s press spokesman, at their meeting the President and the Prime Minister agreed that in accordance with the proposals of veterans a joint march under the national white and red colors will be held as a state occasion.

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    The march will be organized by the government and will be granted Presidential patronage.

    The President’s aide assured that everyone is invited to take part in the march, regardless of their political views. “Let us show that we are one white and red team and that we can on this day all celebrate together,” he said.

    Let us show that we are one white and red team and that we can on this day all celebrate together

    Earlier in the day the Mayor of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz took a decision to forbid the annual Independence March organized by nationalist and patriotic organizations. She argued that it was not appropriate to celebrate Poland’s independence centenary in this way and that the police, facing a dispute over pay with its state employers, would not have sufficient numbers to provide security for the demonstration.

    The organizers of the banned demonstration said the march would take place regardless of the Mayor’s wishes and that they would be appealing against the decision to a court of law.

    Last year’s Independence March attracted 60,000 people marching under the call “We want God”. Some of the banners present at the march contained racist slogans.

  • Romanian parliament amends controversial bill on language tuition

    At the end of August, the Romanian government passed a regulation that teaching the Romanian state language in minority schools can only be performed by native Romanian teachers – contrary to previous practice that permitted ethnic minority teachers to also teach Romanian.

    The conflict came to a head at the end of September, when Hunor Kelemen, Chairman of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) suspended cooperation with the ruling Social Democrats (PSD). Although RMDSZ only holds 6.4 percent of seats in the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, their support is crucial to the PSD.

    The conflict was swiftly settled on September 27th by PSD President Liviu Dragnea, who many say is the real power pulling the strings behind Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă. Following a meeting with Dragnea, Minister of Education Valentin Popa announced his resignation, and at a cabinet meeting held shortly thereafter, the government withdrew the regulation.

  • Helsinki elects new king

    On Thursday the top candidate of the EPP will be selected. One of them, Manfred Weber was deputy caucus leader during my ten-year tenure there and was elected caucus leader after the resignation of Joseph Daul.

    The other, Alex Stubb, sat for a long time next to me in the plenary sessions (of the European Parliament). He later became Foreign Minister and then Prime Minister (of Finland). Weber is a smiling, easy-going, always approachable man. Stubb is stiff and self-contained. Typical Northerner, someone prone to stereotyping would say.

    Weber – not least because of the thousand-year historic link between Hungary and Bavaria – is my favorite of the two. But I don’t want to talk about my personal preference, but rather one of the major problems of the European Union, the in-fighting among its institutions.

    The role of the EP in the election of the President of the Commission was designed to increase its weight, but it has instead formalized the process. This not only goes against the spirit of the (European Union’s basic) treaty, but it forever prevents all small factions to have a President elected from their ranks.

    Jean-Claude Juncker is the worst possible example. I am still proud that I didn’t vote for him. Unlike many others, we, Hungarians already saw at the time that he was unfit for the job.

    Whoever the next President of the Commission is going to be, for us, Hungarians the key issue is to have a majority in the EP that is able and willing to defend European values. In my opinion, the EP elections will decide whether our continent will remain committed to its principles, values and culture, or it will cede the ground to some other nation. So the stakes are high.

    Title image: EPP President Joseph Daul at the party’s (center right) at the party’s congress in Helsinki MTI, Szilárd Koszticsák

     

  • Tarczyński: Merkel’s madness is not the EU’s responsibility

    The Polish MP from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) showcased his appearance and commented on Twitter.

    “Where is Saudi Arabia, one of the richest countries in the world, where is Qatar? Most of the refugees are Muslims which are neighbors to this country, so why you are calling this a European problem?” asks Tarczyński in response to the world’s refugee crisis.

    https://twitter.com/The_Newsmakers/status/1024323813302054913 (a part of the program in English)

    Appearing on the Turkish TRT program, Tarczyński argued that the migration crisis is a worldwide and not a European problem and questioned why Muslim states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, one of the richest countries in the world, were not doing anything to help.

    How many Poles blew themselves up? Zero

    In another tweet he declared that Poland is not willing to leave the EU. 

    “We will not leave the EU! This is what the lefties want! They are hoping that we will storm out like an angry child. Let’s fight and return to EU’s Christian roots! We will not let Muslims take away our European Christian culture and history.”

    Asked by the TRT interviewer whether he was not ashamed of his unsympathetic attitude bearing in mind that thousands of Poles migrated during the time of martial law in the 1980s he replied that the situations are incomparable as Polish migrants never committted acts of terrorism.

    “How many Poles blew themselves up? Zero,” quipped Tarczyński. 

  • Mogherini fails to take a clear stance on Nord Stream 2

    The work is already under way and the German government has been doing its best to remove any EU obstacles that could stand in the way of the project.

    Visiting Montreal, Mogherini signaled the EC’s unwillingness to take a clear stance. The EU Commissioner was only prepared to say that assuring coherence in energy projects such as Nord Stream 2 was still “a work in progress”.

    Mogherini emphasized that maintaining the transit of gas supplies through Ukraine was a joint position, but that maintaining cohesion between the stances and activities of individual member states was another matter.

    “A work in progress”

    Commenting on energy policy Mogherini said that although this was the responsibility of individual member states efforts were being made to ensure greater coherence. “It is true that dependence on Russian gas is high and that this is one of the reasons for exploring the possibilities of diversifying sources or supply and transmission routes, but this is also a ‘work in progress,” she said.

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    Mogherini went to Canada to attend the EU-Canada Committee of Ministers. The Canadian Foreign minister Chrystia Freeland said that Canda “values and supports” the maintenance of gas transit through Ukraine. Both diplomats emphasized close relations between the EU and Canada which were based on common values.

  • “God, honor, homeland” on the front of Polish passports

    The ministry of the interior has informed that the new design is to celebrate the centenary of Poland regaining its independence and that the figures chosen for commemoration in the design were picked via a poll conducted on the internet. The passport will be valid for ten years and will be issued according to biometric standards in use since 2006.

    However, the ministry has not commented on the fact that on one of the pages of the passport there appears the historic military Polish motto “God, honor, homeland.” This patriotic and religious inscription has caused a storm on social media.

    “In God we trust”

    Some support the measure, but others argue that it violates the secular and civilian nature of the Polish state.

    Former Ombudsman in communist times Prof. Ewa Łętowska argues that “the use of the motto lacks constitutional tact” as the preamble of the constitution does not single out any single faith.

    Robert Biedroń, the gay activist now forming a new political party commented sarcastically on Facebook and Twitter. “God, honor, homeland” on new passports. Modern, secular state in a nutshell…”

    In reply, Twitter user Marcin Wojtkowiak posted a picture of one US dollar note with the inscription “In God We trust” and asked Biedroń: “And what will you say? This is also a secular state”:

    tt

  • Hungarians drink more premium beer

    Data from Dreher Breweries – a subsidiary of Japanese Asahi Breweries – showed that demand has grown even faster in the first half of this year, at a rate of 27 percent. Dreher said that as part of their strategy to promote premium and super-premium beers the company is focusing on increasing domestic production and introducing foreign brands, such as Peroni Nastro Azzuro, one of Italy’s most popular premium beers.

    Last year Dreher Breweries sold 2.3 million hectoliters of beer in Hungary, representing a 34.7 percent market share. It posted net sales of HUF 46.4 billion (US$165 million) and had an after-tax profit of HUF 473.7 million (US$1.69 million).

    In 2016, Asahi Breweries acquired a significant chunk of Central and Eastern European breweries formerly belonging to SABMiller for US$7.8 billion. In the deal, it has bought businesses and breweries in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania and is now the owner of brands such as Pilsner Urquell, Velkopopovický Kozel, Tyskie, Lech, Dreher and Ursus.

  • NBP making a mint out of gold

    According to the IMF, the NBP between July and September purchased over 13 tons of gold, representing 13 percent growth of the reserves. This means that Poland holds over 116 tons of the precious metal. Poland now holds more gold reserves than Greece and nearly as much as Mexico.   

    Poland holds over 116 tons of gold. Poland now holds more gold reserves than Greece and nearly as much as Mexico

    Poland’s national bank was buying gold in a period when its price was falling because Turkey was having to sell off gold to prop up its rapidly devaluing domestic currency, and Germany, Morocco and the European Central Bank were also offloading some of their gold reserves, preferring to invest in the strengthening dollar. 

    The price of gold on November 1st alone rose by two percent. On November 2nd the value of Polish gold reserves amounted to 17.5 billion PLN.

  • The army needs you!

    The solution is to launch another recruitment campaign of distributing leaflets in rural communities and shopping malls.

    The recruitment drive is being spearheaded by the defense ministry. The target is to recruit 10,000 new soldiers. The action will involve military professionals touring rural communities, shopping and sports centers.  

    The present conservative government wants to see the army expanded to 200,000 men and women under arms. This number includes the target of 53,000 part-timers serving in the territorial army, even though this has of late been scaled down to 30,000. 

    100 EUR per month

    According to the liberal opposition this campaign is a sign of the failure to recruit into the territorial army where remuneration is only just above 100 EUR per month. Currently the number under arms is less than 100,000, including around 10,000 reservists and less than 15,000 territorials.

    Former special forces commander Roman Polko is also critical. “These are practices reminiscent of communist Poland. If we have a problem we go to schools, rural communities and bazaars mouthing off platitudes.” 

    The government disagrees, arguing that low unemployment means the army has to try harder to find recruits and do more outreach activities. It acknowledges that the package offered to full-timers is still attractive, but given the rapidly rising employment opportunities in other sectors that may not hold for long.  

  • PM Orbán posts Facebook video of China visit

    Orbán was there for the opening of the first China International Import Expo, a visit during which he also met Chinese President Xi Jinping.

    The video’s soundtrack was from Orbán’s speech at the opening of the Expo.

    “Well, looking at the precious list of invitees you can raise the question how it comes that a small land-locked country is involved in a list full of giants? And the answer is Central Europe. Hungary represents more than herself, when you hear our voice, you hear the voice of this region. A region which has recently become the growth engine of Europe. The growth rate of this region is two times higher compared to the continental average and having the trends in mind it is a matter of broad consensus that this region will definitely be the source of the future European growth as well.”

    Orbán_Shanghaj

    “We understand these developments have been realized by China while creating the 16+1 China – Central Europe cooperation format. 16 countries located in Central Europe, representing quite a considerable grouping, even from the perspective of the giants. We were honored to host the summit last year and we are committed to remain strong promoters of this platform. To conclude I would like to underline that you can count on our region’s support when it comes to your initiatives to promote free and fair international trade, when it comes to enhancing Eurasian cooperation under the framework of One Belt One Road initiative and when it comes to pay more attention to Central Europe.”

  • Weber says no calls to expel Fidesz from the EPP

    Weber, who has been leading the EPP since 2014, said no calls had been made to expel Fidesz from the party in a radio interview a day before the beginning of the EPP congress, which begins in Helsinki today. 

    Hungarian Prime Minister and Fidesz president Viktor Orbán will represent his party there and Hungarian officials have previously stated that they support Manfred Weber as the EPP’s lead candidate at the European elections next May against that of former Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb.

    Stubb is a prominent figure of the EPP’s liberal wing and has several times suggested that Fidesz should be excluded from the EPP. Weber, however, said that while Hungary needs to uphold European values “we should not complain about one another but sit down at the table and discuss (the issues)”.

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel also supports Weber’s bid for top candidate of the EPP. This, however, does not mean that Weber – should the EPP be the strongest party after the elections – will automatically become the next President of the European Commission as the heads of the member states have a significant degree of liberty in choosing the president.

    Title image: EPP leader Manfred Weber (L) and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (R) – MTI

  • PiS slipping in its very own Ohio

    In the second round of the local government elections Law and Justice (PiS) did not expect to win in major cities such as Gdańsk or Kraków, but they will be concerned they did not win in smaller cities.  

    No Republican in the US has won the presidency without taking Ohio. Its seen as an electoral weather belt state. In Poland it’s the smaller cities which are the crucial battleground. And there, in cities such as Radom, Tarnów and Ostrołęka, PiS is systematically losing ground. 

    Losing ground in its own Ohio does not bode well for PiS prospects next year. Especially the European elections which come just before the Polish Parliamentary elections could be a problem

    After the second round PiS are second best not only in large cities but also in medium sized cities. These are places where social transfers the ruling party has concentrated on should have proved more effective. 

    But the liberal opposition cannot feel satisfied. PiS is stronger in the 16 provinces and over 300 counties. It has gained new means of exercising power at local government level. 

    However, losing ground in its own Ohio does not bode well for PiS prospects next year. Especially the European elections which come just before the Polish Parliamentary elections could be a problem, if they are perceived to be some sort of referendum on Poland’s presence in the EU. 

  • Tusk plays the cool dude

    The Tusk hearing was far from an ordinary testimony of a witness appearing before an organ of state. In fact we witnessed a battle to create an image in which the former PM was trying to emulate former MP Beata Sawicka and present himself as a victim of political attacks. (Sawicka was trapped in an anti-corruption sting and won people over by crying in front of TV cameras saying she was being victimized.)

    Tusk seems to have learned from the results of the last election about the effectiveness of such a mascarade. It seems that personal propriety of candidates no longer constitutes a key criteria for electoral choice. Candidates such as the Mayor of Łódz convicted of falsifying information on a credit application are a case in point. 

    By demonstrating arrogance and aggression towards members of the Investigative Committee Donald Tusk is acting like a “marquis” showing contempt towards all those Poles who dream of a honest country

    This shows how the liberal opposition intends to position itself and crates a serious dilemma for the conservative government. On the one hand the government should insist on executing the law, but on the other it seems that they are getting trapped by being perceived as victimizing the opposition. 

    By demonstrating arrogance and aggression towards members of the Investigative Committee Donald Tusk is acting like a “marquis” showing contempt towards all those Poles who dream of a honest country. This is the only way of describing the former PM’s acts of evading responsibility for his own negligence and excusing himself from failing to exercise the duties of the state.  

    Donald Tusk testified before the Investigative Committee on November 5th. He was attacked for failing to do anything to stop a financial pyramid, Amber Gold, developing.

  • Living near the volcano – interview with Michel Onfray

    Growing up, Michel Onfray – self-declared hedonist, Epicurean and atheist – spent four years in a Catholic boarding school. Those years were a “hellish period” he says, the roots of his atheism and refusal of both religion and authority.

    He has a PhD in philosophy from the Caen University and is a difficult man to categorize: politically he is closest to anarchism, a strong critic of the “caviar Socialists”, the European Union and export of democracy to the Middle East.

    A few weeks ago – upon seeing an image showing Emmanuel Macron with two rapper-looking youth – he wrote an open letter lambasting the French government. His lectures have subsequently been banned from public radio and a television interview invitation has been withdrawn.

    He says contemporary French politics is defined by the imminent death of the Judeo-Christian civilization.

    “We are living the final stages of this civilization. The politicians of our time don’t make history, but it is history that shapes them. This is why their personalities are permeated by nihilism.”

    He says we can do nothing to save our dying civilization and the only thing we can do is to keep our dignity. “All we have left is majesty and elegance, these Roman virtues. But whatever we do, we are done with: the ash cloud is coming.”

    Onfray says the opposite of populism is not progressivism but populicide – those bent on destroying nations. He says France has a “fake left” and is also very critical of the European Union.

    “The right and the liberal left both subscribe to the same pro-Europe vision that supposes the existence of the Maastricht Empire – an empire that is aggressive against the weak (the people) but bows before the strong (the capital).”

     

  • Fresh U.S. research may offer relief to bug-ridden Hungary

    The brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys, pictured above) first appeared in large numbers in Hungary in the early 2010s due to warmer summers, extended mild autumns and milder winters. It has since become public enemy number one, due to its well… stink and its resistance to pesticides.

    Social media is full of largely ineffective advice on how to get rid of them. The issue has become so annoying that several municipalities around the country have also issued similar (and also mostly ineffective) advice to the population.

    The Plant Protection Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences – mainly on account of the bugs being plant-eating and destroyers of crops – has been conducting reasearch funded by the European Union to combat them. They are working on a solution where pheromone traps would be placed along their migration routes (these bugs travel in large groups). They also promise the first prototypes of the trap would be ready next year.

    But U.S. researchers have identified a natural enemy of these bugs, the Samurai wasp (Trissolcus japonicus).

    in 2005, entomologist Kim Hoelmer and his team at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Newark, Delaware, turned to a strategy known as classical biological control: They travelled to Asia to find natural enemies of the stink bug that they might release in the United States.

    Ever so careful not to cause more harm than good, the U.S. team then began controlled experiments on the possible side-effects of introducing these wasps as a counter-measure. It turned out, however, that the wasps have also appeared alongside the stink bugs, apparently being brought in by the bugs in egg form. Further studies are still needed, but it appears that at least in the U.S. the Samurai wasps have no respect for bureaucracy or environmental regulations.

  • Muse to return to Budapest in 2019

    The band’s widely expected new studio album “Simulation Theory” will be released this coming Friday and the Budapest concert is scheduled for May 28th, 2019 at the Budapest Sports Arena.

    Muse – consisting of Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard – formed in 1994 and has since sold 20 million copies of its seven studio albums and has won two Grammy Awards: in 2011 for their album The Resistance and in 2016 for Drones.

    They are considered the 21st century equivalent of Queen, mixing various styles in an innovative manner. This will be their fifth concert in Budapest.

  • Hungarian economic whitening gains international recognition

    In the two years since Hungary introduced the electronic management of the road transport of goods and the online teller system, these two measures have brought HUF 420 billion (US$1.5 billion) in additional revenues to the national budget, Varga said.

    Varga met – among others – Romanian Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici, who was very interested in details about Hungary’s above-mentioned measures and the topic was also in the focus of his meeting with Czech Finance Minister Aneta Schillerová. He also discussed with his Czech counterpart the relocation of the International Investment Bank (IIB) to Budapest.

    Varga also said in his statement that last year the Polish SENT road freight monitoring system was also introduced based on the Hungarian model and that Slovakia also plans to introduce a similar system next year.

    Concerning one of the main topics of the Eurogroup meeting, Varga said that while there was committed to establishing the long-planned European Banking Union, it does not wish to enter the debate regarding its timing.

    The banking union – whose details are yet to be worked out – has three main pillars: centralized supervision, a mechanism to deal with failing banks and a still-unestablished deposit insurance system.

     

  • Hungarian visit to China may trigger attacks against Orbán

    Every time officials from the Orbán cabinet meet with leaders of countries such as Russia, Turkey or China the liberal camp immediately brings up the issue of human rights, pointing out the evil in befriending states that are different than the elevated Western European ones.

    When say, the German chancellor does so, that is simply called “Realpolitik”.

    Now is the time to launch fresh attacks against Orbán, who went to the opening of the China International Import Expo and even met the Chinese president. The Hungarian government did indeed make a Realpolitik decision when launching its strategy of opening to the East. While one cannot disregard the economic growth in the East, Hungary will still remain a member of the European Union.

    The figures are self-explanatory: last year Hungarian exports to China reached a new record of US$2.7 billion. Everyone is jostling for a better position in the huge Chinese markets. Two years ago, China became the largest trade partner of Germany, overtaking the United States. Bilateral trade in 2016 amounted to EUR 170 billion (US$193 billion). But we don’t even need to go that far back in time because only this summer, China and Germany signed over two dozen economic policy agreements.

    Since the United States has introduced protective tariffs, the opening towards the East has increased in importance, and not just for Hungary. So it should need no further explanation as to why Hungary is opening a trade center in Shanghai, the economic capital of China.

    A few months ago we heard the news that BMW is building a car plant in Debrecen (Eastern Hungary). Now a major Chinese automotive industry supplier is about to invest US$110 million in Eastern Hungary. The two are probably the best symbols of how the Hungarian economy is standing on more than one leg.

     

    Title image: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán opening the Hungarian pavilion at the China International Import Expo. Prime Minister’s Press Office/MTI, Balázs Szecsődi.

  • Moving from Fukuyama to Huntington

    Radziejewski analyzes Wess Mitchell’s address to the Atlantic Council in Washington DC in which the US official outlined the new American strategy on Europe. Mitchell is an Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. In the address he underlined the importance of sovereign nation states over international organizations which are incapable of reform, and confirmed the US perception of China and Russia as a global threat to the West. A threat to both US leadership and the values of the free world. 

    Wess Mitchell conveyed a “vision of the West as a community not only based on security, prosperity and global leadership but also cultural unity.” This, in foreign policy terms “means moving from Fukuyama’s ‘end of history’ to Huntington’s clash of civilizations,” argues Radziejewski. 

    Mitchell warns Europe against doing deals with adversaries, citing cooperating with Russia over energy and financial and infrastructural dealings, such as the silk trail with China

    Radziejewski notes that the US official emphasized the need for greater loyalty from US allies not only in political and military matters, but also on economic affairs. He warns Europe against doing deals with adversaries, citing cooperating with Russia over energy and financial and infrastructural dealings, such as the silk trail with China.

    Finally, Radziejewski argues that Poland as a keystone on NATO’s eastern flank should make more of the fact that it is key to the US strategy on Russia. But it can also benefit from any conflicts in the Pacific region by encouraging a transfer of American and Western production “from China to the Vistula” which would in turn raise Poland’s status in its relations with Germany and within the EU.  

     

  • Europe nostalgic about the past

    The Bertelsmann Foundation research shows that 67 percent of Europeans believe the world used to be a better place. Italians are most nostalgic (77 percent), Germans (61 percent) and Poles (59 percent) the least.

    Those inclined to nostalgia are politically right leaning and mainly critical of immigration. Over half of them (53 percent) believe that immigrants are taking jobs from Europeans and 78 percent believe that immigrants do not want to integrate into western society. 

    Italians are most nostalgic (77%), Germans (61%) and Poles (59%) the least

    The research survey also shows that tendency towards nostalgia tends to go with age. 70 percent of Europeans in the 55-65 age group are sentimental about the past, whereas in the age group of 25 or less those susceptible to nostalgia was 52 percent. 

    The survey is based on a sample of over 10,000 in five of the largest EU states: France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Poland. It is noticeable that the number of nostalgic respondents in countries which are most stable economically (Germany and Poland) was the lowest and that it was highest in the country currently suffering from the most chronic social and economic problems (Italy). 
     

  • Liberal cities, conservative interior

    The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) saw their candidates in the cities losing to the Civic Coalition (KO) and independents in the run-offs between two top candidates in 649 municipal authorities across Poland.

    The influential commentator argues that getting PiS support was like a kiss of death for incumbent mayors, citing the example of Wojciech Lubawski, the mayor of Kielce who lost after being endorsed by PiS. 

    The cleavage which used to run along regional lines… is slowly evolving in the direction of division between big cities (understood as 30-40 centers) and the rest of the country

    Antoni Dudek is critical of the reaction of both the ruling party and the liberal opposition to the results. They are both, in his view, guilty of denial. The KO argued that voters on Sunday showed PiS a red card, ignoring that PiS won in the country at large in the more represented overall public opinion, during the elections for the 16 provincial authorities. PiS, for repeating like a mantra that “only 15 percent of Poles live in big cities” ignore all but the largest seven Polish cities.

    Prof. Dudek concludes that the key division is no longer between the east and west of the country.

    “The cleavage which used to run along regional lines… is slowly evolving in the direction of division between big cities (understood as 30-40 centers) and the rest of the country.”

    This means the ruling party can be moderately optimistic about its chances in next year’s parliamentary elections. The reasons why that optimism can only be modest are that the economy maybe beginning to slow down, the provincial elections produced results which would not have guaranteed the ruling party another majority in parliament and the European elections are not good hunting ground for PiS. 

  • Donald Tusk testifies on Polish financial scam

    The financial pyramid in question is Amber Gold, which lured savers by offering high rates of interest which were supposed to be guaranteed in gold. The pyramid in which 19,000 people lost nearly 200 million euros collapsed after it invested in a failed airline and became the subject of scrutiny. 

    The Parliamentary Investigative Committee has been charged with investigating whether the PM and other state officials knew about the existence of the pyramid and took no action. Should that be the case both Mr Tusk and others could face prosecution. 

    I was full of expectation for the sixth season of House of Cards but today’s hearing beats any serial. Gripping stuff

    After the hearing Donald Tusk said he was surprised how often his microphone was switched off by the chair of the committee Małgorzata Wassermann, but he praised the “neutrality and professionalism” of the experts used by the committee.

    He argued that the hearing undermined the Law and Justice (PiS) hypothesis that he was responsible for the scandal as members of the committee argued that he “did not adequately control the security services”. 

    The Tusk hearing was comedy of the “heard nothing, seen nothing” variety

    Małgorzata Wassermann the chair of the Committee said that “Tusk did not know what was going on” so was responsible for neglecting his duties. She added that in her opinion “the work of the Committee proved Tusk did not pass his test as a prime minister and did not cope with governing such a large country as Poland”. 

    Mixed reactions on Twitter

    Social media reaction from well-known journalists was swift. 

    I was full of expectation for the sixth season of House of Cards but today’s hearing beats any serial. Gripping stuff, wrote Katarzyna Kolenda-Zaleska of TVN. 

    Krzysztof Feusette of conservative Sieci weekely called the hearing “a comedy”. The Tusk hearing was comedy of the “heard nothing, seen nothing” variety.

    Michał Kolanko of 300polityka.pl said the hearing was not a big success for PiS. Tusk’s testimony for PiS was as politically successful  as the second round of local elections on Sunday. 

    Senior journalist, blogger and anticommunist opposition member Krzysztof Wyszkowski summed up. Thanks to Tusk we know that politics is the domain of total ignorance. Polish PM did not know he was acting in Germany’s interest and the German Chancellor did not know she would put him on Europe’s throne…

  • Opinion: UN migration pact in trouble

    The Austrian Chancellor’s announcement was very clear and unequivocal. “Austria will not join the UN migration pact,” he said in a statement.

    We view some points of the migration pact very critically, such as the mixing up of seeking protection with labour migration.

    Reacting to the above, Jean-Claude Juncker – who for some time has been displaying two-faced policies – said it was absurd that the European Union is unable to find a common voice in such crucial issues affecting the future. In a very liberal approach, he added that it would be best to have a system whereby such major issues did not need consensus, but could be agreed upon by a qualified majority.

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres – of a long Socialist past – did not personally comment on the decision but his spokesman did say that they regret the Austrian decision. The spokesman added, however, that the overwhelming majority of the popular opinion and UN member states support the pact.

    The pact is scheduled to be signed in Morocco this December. But it is quite possible that by then – in addition to the United States, Australia, Austria and Hungary – other countries will also opt out of it. First among them might be Poland, as Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a joint press conference with Angela Merkel that Poland will probably not join the pact either.

    And of course, the Czechs are also expected to make a decision this week. According to the latest opinion polls, their Prime Minister, Andrej Babiš remains the most popular politician. And this also shows that in supporting him and his anti-migration stance, the Czechs are making a very responsible choice.

     

  • Hungarian speed skating team sets new 5,000m world record

    The team consisting of Krueger Cole, brothers of Chinese extraction Liu Shaoang, Liu Shaolin Sándor and Csaba Burján beat South Korea and the Netherlands in the five-team finale and set a new world record. The previous world record was held by the U.S. relay team for almost a year.

    Additionally, Liu Shaoang – the youngest of the Liu brothers – also won gold in the 1,000 meter and silver in the 500 meter discipline. The next stage of the World Cup series will be held in Salt Lake City this coming weekend.

  • China notices Central Europe’s economic growth

    One could wonder how Hungary has made it to the guest list of the giants invited to the expo and the answer is Central Europe, Orbán said in his speech at the opening ceremony.

    The economic growth of Central Europe is twice as high as the European average and China has also noticed that

    Later on Monday Orbán is scheduled to open the Hungarian pavilion at the expo and will also meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.

    Orbán said Hungary’s presence at the expo is not only a national, but also a regional matter. “When they hear Hungary’s voice, they also hear the voice of the region, which has become the engine of European growth,” he said. 

    He added that the Central European region was able to achieve its economic results through consistent social and economic policies and by preserving its national, political and cultural identities amid growing migrationary pressure.

    Orbán said Hungary is very much interested in the Chinese One Belt, One Road initiative and has welcomed Chinese economic presence in Hungary such as that of the Bank of China, Huawei and Wanhua.

    The expo has participants from 130 countries or territories and Hungary is among the 12 countries that are guests of honor.

    Title image: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán speaks at the opening of the first China International Import Expo in Shanghai. Photo: MTI/ Prime Minister’s Press Office, Balázs Szecsődi

  • War reparations are the debts owed to Poland, says German historian

    Picture above: 17 September 1939, Warsaw’s Royal Castle after German bombardment; the building was blown up and completely flattened by the Germans after the Warsaw Uprising in 1944

    Karl Heinz Roth, a German historian employed by the Social History Foundation in Bremen points out that the scale of destruction suffered by Poland was unprecedented.

    “5.4 million people perished in Poland as a result of acts of aggression from the Nazi occupying power whereas that number in Greece was 330,000. This quantitative difference is visible in other areas too. Both Poland and Greece share a similar fate of so-called ‘small allies’. In terms of reparations they have been marginalized. Right up to today.”

    Dr Roth regards the damages incurred by Poland as a result of World War II as particularly severe because of the context of it being an attempt to “Germanize Poland” and conducting a “systematic and planned holocaust”.

    The damages to property and human life suffered by Poland, at current prices amount to nearly seven and a half billion Euro

    The German historian believes that reparations are an ethical issue which must be tackled. According to his calculations the damages to property and human life suffered by Poland, at current prices amount to nearly seven and a half billion euros.

    Dr Roth felt that Polish-German reconciliation is dependent on this being resolved

    “The efforts to achieve reconciliations between Poland and Germany up until now… are not based on any firm foundation. This foundation will only exist if the reparations are settled, even if only in part”.

    Dr Roth also urged Poland, Greece the post Yugoslav states and the Czech Republic to work together to open “Pandora’s box” and place it on the table of international debate.

  • Former liberal government ministers mock Lech Kaczyński

    On the eve of Poland’s independence centenary celebrations, a statue commemorating President Lech Kaczyński will be unveiled in Warsaw. President Kaczyński died in the tragic plane crash in Smolensk in April 2010.

    The previous government and the liberal city authorities in Warsaw were opposed to erecting a statue to Lech Kaczyński or the victims of the Smolensk air disaster in any prime Warsaw location. The work on erecting the statue which will be unveiled on November 10th only began as a result of actions taken by the current conservative PiS government.

    Two former ministers in the government headed by Donald Tusk have taken to social media to mock the former President and the erection of the statue.

    Wow. Its bigger than Piłsudski’s — mocks Radosław Sikorski on Twitter.

    tt

    The statue of  #LechKaczyński must be bigger than #Piłsudski’s! Don’t you know who created the Polish Legions?#Rewriting history — joined in prominent euro-federalist liberal Polish MEP Róża Thun.

    I hope that they will turn Marshall Piłsudski around so that he is bowing in the right direction… added Sławomir Nowak, a former Minister for Infrastructure who left office in disgrace after being caught failing to declare expensive watches in his declaration interests.

    Józef Piłsudski was a military leader who led Poland to independence in 1918 and continued to hold considerable influence over the emerging Polish state until his death in the 1930s.

    The industry of contempt continues

    Poland’s leading blogger and commentator Kataryna commented wryly at the mocking comments of the liberal politicians:

    The industry of contempt continues even after Lech Kaczyński’s death. What did he do to them to deserve this? And to think that these were both Cabinet ministers.

    The term “the industry of contempt” was used by the then conservative opposotion to describe the defamatory actions taken by liberal media outlets against Lech Kaczyński when he was president of Poland. 

  • Hungary opens trade center in Shanghai

    “Hungary has realized in good time that the Chinese market offers huge possibilities to quality Hungarian goods and services,” Minister Szíjjártó said at the opening ceremony. He said China is no longer only a destination for Western capital looking for cheap labor in the East, but major multinationals from the Far East are increasingly present in Europe and North America.

    He said there is continuous jostling for market share in China and the new, 1,700 square meter Hungarian trade center primarily serves that purpose. Last year Hungarian exports to China reached a new all-time high of US$2.7 billion (EUR 2.37 billion).

    Minister Szíjjártó said Hungary also plans to open similar trade centers in six further Chinese cities with populations over 10 million. He also said that China continues to show interest in investing in Hungary. During his visit an agreement with a major Chinese automotive industry firm has been reached over a US$110 million investment in Eastern Hungary. The name of the company and the Hungarian location will be announced shortly, he said.

    Title image: Opening of the Hungarian trade center in Shanghai, China. Left to right: Gábor Ligetfalvi, Péter Szíjjártó and Kuo Yen-Hua. MTI/Mitko Sztojcsev

  • Polish green berets hang 100 meter flag on Jasna Góra Monastery

    The Jasna Gora (or Jasnogóra) Monastery in Częstochowa is a revered shrine for Poles. It is a sanctuary that attracts hundreds of pilgrimages throughout the year.

    This Sunday’s celebrations commemorated the centenary of the arrival at the monastery of a Polish infantry regiment which replaced an Austro-Hungarian outpost at the monastery.

    The 100 meter flag was brought to the site of the monastery by brigades of scouts, before being placed on the tower of the fortress by a special forces green beret unit.

    tt

    At the celebration a letter from Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS), was conveyed to the crowds. Kaczyński saw the events of the 4th of November 1918 at Jasnogóra as “symbolic”.

    Jasna Góra was a beacon of freedom, proclaiming as always the primacy of the spiritual over the physical

    “The fortress of Jasna Góra was under Austrian occupation but the rest of the city was under German occupation, so for seven days between the liberation of the sanctuary and the liberation of the rest of Częstochowa, it was, as for many centuries, a space of spiritual freedom and an outpost of an independent homeland. The rebirth of Poland was within reach…Jasna Góra was a beacon of freedom, proclaiming as always the primacy of the spiritual over the physical.”

    This year Poland celebrates the centenary of it regaining its independence after over one hundred years of being partitioned by Russia, Prussia and Austro-Hungary.

  • PiS losing mayoral races in the big cities

    In Kraków and Gdańsk the siting mayors, backed by the liberal Civic Coalition won around 65 percent of the vote. In Kielce the sitting mayor, supported by PiS, lost to a liberal MEP who polled 64 percent.

    According to Tomasz Sakiewicz, chief editor of the conservative newspaper “Gazeta Polska Codziennie” PiS “must keep on trying to reach the inhabitants of major cities, it must mobilize”.

    Sakiewicz felt that PiS could not be fully satisfied with the local government election results.

    We can see that PiS has the support of 35-40 percent. It can say it won these elections nationwide, but the results in the cities show that something is missing

    “We can see that PiS has the support of 35-40 percent. It can say it won these elections nationwide, but the results in the cities show that something is missing,” said Sakiewicz during the evening election exit polls coverage on Telewizja Republika.

    PiS won in regional councils two weeks ago

    In the first round of voting two weeks ago PiS won in the elections of the 16 regional councils polling 34 percent of the vote. However, it lost to the liberal opposition in the major cities.

    In the second round of voting 649 municipalities elected their mayors in run-offs between the top two candidates from the first round.

  • If Merkel leaves…

    Angela Merkel’s declaration that her current term as chancellor will be her last and that she will not be re-running for chairman of CDU means that matters might get complicated from the Polish point of view. Without leading her party, Merkel might not survive till the end of her term.

    Germany, due to Merkel’s position on the matter, has been the main pillar of the European Union sanctions towards Russia for its aggression in Ukraine. If Merkel leaves, then the changes on Germany’s political stage may promote the so-called Russland-Versteher in both the Left and Right camps.

    If Merkel leaves, then the changes on Germany’s political stage may promote the so-called Russland-Versteher (to show Russian understanding) in both the Left and Right camps

    As a result, Germany will stop upholding sanctions against Russia when meanwhile, the remaining large European countries, mostly focused on Brexit, will not be interested in them. 

    This is bad news for Poland. Just like the changes to Germany’s political stage this will most likely lead to the development of the anti-American camp. As a result, the trans-Atlantic conflict will escalate.

    The silver lining may be that the mainstream EU will relent in its pressure on Poland due to being busy with the serious issues it faces with its own structure. 

  • Leading film director calls to boycott region in response to pro-life zone proclamation

    Jacek Kotula, a councilman of the Podkarpackie Voivodship Sejmik informed “Nasz Dziennik”, that the region wants to follow in Italian Verona’s footsteps, which declared itself a pro-life city.

    “We are preparing an act modeled on Verona’s. I think it’ll go through without any issues, as we have 25 out of 33 councilors. These are people with consciences,” Kotula explained. He also argued that this act is meant to declare that Christian values are being abided in Podkarpacie. “Gender, euthanasia, in-vitro, abortion, sex-education and demoralizing children in general will not be promoted. We want to promote lawful behaviors.”

    Gender, euthanasia, in-vitro, abortion, sex-education and demoralizing children in general will not be promoted. We want to promote lawful behaviors

    The proposal completely outraged liberal TVN star Andrzej Saramonowicz (pictured above from his FB profile), who called for a boycott of the entire Podkarpackie Voivodship on Facebook:

    “I’ve been reading that Podkarpackie is threatening to become a pro-life zone. (…) I think that if this really happens then we, the urban zone of moral laxity and debauchery, should stop spending our vacations there. We should just leave a ton of our money outside of the pro-life zone,” Saramanowicz, who has been a long-time critic of PiS, wrote on Facebook. 

    We should also stop buying products from Podkarpacie. Let’s make a list of companies from there and start to boycott them

    “We should also stop buying products from Podkarpacie. Let’s make a list of companies from there and start to boycott them. We’ll see who relents first,” the film director continued.   

    Underneath the post, both critics and supporters of PiS criticized Saramonowicz: “This is how you divide people!”, “To be honest, you are insulting the inhabitants of Podkarpacie. You are just like PiS, in that you divide people into those better and worse” and “following this line of thought, we may as well start to build border posts within the country.”

  • Morawiecki: We lost a lot due to selling our media to the Germans

    The Polish Prime Minister argued in an interview with Telewizja Republika, that the selling off of Polish media is “a result of a childish disease of Poland’s Third Republic. During that time, people were told that capital has no nationality and it doesn’t matter who the owner is.” 

    “The media has been sold off. We’ve lost a lot due to that. Today, the media are in foreign, mostly German hands. These German media activated themselves during the municipal elections,” claimed the Polish prime minister.

    Today, the media are in foreign, mostly German hands. These German media activated themselves during the municipal elections

    Morawiecki mentioned the case when Germany’s largest newspaper, the Berliner Tageblatt was to be sold to the Americans, “It sparked a massive protest.” The PM explained that “Germans themselves say that their papers have to be in their hands.” 

    During Civic Platform rule and earlier, Germany bought out all of the main Polish media, including more than 90 percent of local newspapers. “Let’s not be blinded,” urged Morawiecki.

    “A Great victory” in the local elections

    Morawiecki also said that PiS had won the municipal elections. “This is a great victory,” said Morawiecki. His party gained two million more votes than in the previous elections four years ago. PiS also had one million more votes in municipal elections than any party before it.

    “Our program was strongly local. We got to the citizens with our message about the Clean Air project, high speed internet, house insulation, civic budget and infrastructure developments,” said Morawiecki.

  • Poles: Do not remove those lion statues!

    “The statues of the lions at the Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów must remain. We cannot imagine our memorial park without them,” Poles from Lwów who visited Łyczakowski Cemetery told PAP.

    Last week, the Ukrainian Lviv Oblast Council decreed that the two stone lions should be removed. Their reasoning was that the lions represent “Polish occupation of Lwów” and were constructed there illegally. 

    “This is not a good sign,” the chairman of the society of conservation of military cemeteries Janusz Balicki told PAP. “It has been three years since the lions returned, and there still hasn’t been a positive decision towards them.” 

    Balicki expressed hopes, however, that “human wisdom” will prevail and that all the issues will soon be resolved peacefully. “I hope that the lions will be accepted by Ukrainian authorities in their rightful places. This is the only possible solution that we see.”

    100 anniversary of the Lwów’s Eaglets’ fight

    The 31stof October marked the 100-year anniversary of the start of a dramatic three week struggle for Lwów between young Poles and Ukrainians in 1918. Out of more than 6,000 Polish defenders of Lwów, more than 1,400 were no older than 17. Over a hundred of them died. Eventually, the Poles managed to claim the city.

    The Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów is a separate part of the Łyczakowski Cemetery. Its Memorial of Glory was first revealed on the 11th of November 1934. It commemorated the young Polish heroes, the Lwów Eaglets, who fell in battle fighting for Lwów.

    In the 1970s, the Soviets bulldozered the graves and tombstones and tried to destroy the triumphal arch with tank-fire. What they could not destroy, they stole and hid. The reconstruction of the memorial park started in 1989 and was finally completed on the 24thof June 2005. 

  • EBRD upbeat on Central European economies

    The report – that includes Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and North Africa – stated that Central European economic growth will average 4.3 percent in 2018 and 3.5 percent in 2019.

    Average growth in the area included in the report is expected to hit 3.2 percent in 2018 and 2.6 percent in 2019 compared with 3.8 percent in 2017. The outlook for average economic growth has been revised downward by 0.1 percentage points for this year and 0.6 for 2019, mainly due to a slowdown of the Turkish economy.

    “Overall, growth is strong and growth is continuing,” said Sergei Guriev, the bank’s chief economist.

    In Poland, workforce supply declined because of the ageing population, lower retirement age and women’s reduced participation in the economy due to higher social benefits. This was somewhat compensated by higher immigration from Ukraine and Asia. The report also said that economic growth in the first half of the year was 5.1 percent, mainly due to robust household consumption and economic investment.

    In Hungary, economic growth accelerated further to 4.7 percent in the first half of the year by continued strong domestic demand and a double-digit growth in investments. In Slovakia, economic growth in the first half increased further to 3.9 percent, also fuelled by domestic demand and a high investment rate, but also helped by strong external demand and extended production in the automotive industry.

    The report did not include the Czech Republic, nor did it give any explanation as to why.

  • Speaker of the House: Hungary must treasure its heroes

    Kövér said before the ceremony that in the past century Tisza has been slandered in many ways but he deserved to be included in the Hungarian pantheon.

    Tisza István

    Portrait of István Tisza (MTI reproduction of a painting in the National Museum)

    Tisza, born into a puritanic Calvinist family, held a doctorate in political sciences from Oxford University and eventually followed in the footsteps of his father, Kálmán Tisza, Liberal Prime Minister of Hungary between 1875-1890. The younger Tisza was first elected Prime Minister in 1903.

    During his political career he had been the target of anti-Semitic circles for granting titles to wealthy Jewish families, Socialists for quelling a railway strike and radical nationalists for his alliance with the ethnic minorities represented in Parliament.

    But he is probably most remembered for being Prime Minister when Hungary entered World War I in 1914. He was forced to resign in 1917 by Austrian Emperor and King of Hungary, Charles I.

    He was assassinated by unidentified officers in his home on October 31, 1918.

    “His greatness lies exactly in his tragic fate, as even he was unable to find a solution that could have saved Hungary,” Kövér said.

    Title image: Speaker of the House László Kövér lays a wreath at a memorial for assassinated former Prime Minister István Tisza (MTI/Zoltán Máthé)

  • First pictures of Netflix’s “The Witcher” taken in Hungary

    This is the first ever picture of Netflix’s “The Witcher” released to the public. It comes right after shooting began in Hungary over recent weeks. You can see above how Cavill looks in the role.

    Netflix Polska also published a short video on Twitter presenting Cavill in his new role: “Drink up Geralt, good luck on the trail! We’ll see you next year.”

    https://twitter.com/NetflixPL/status/1057640839743180801

    In addition to Cavill, the TV series’ cast includes Anya Chalotra (“A.B.C”, “Wanderlust”) as Yennefer, Freya Allan (“War of the Worlds”) as Ciri and Palme d’Or laureate Jodhi May (“Game of Thrones”, “Genius”).

    One of the biggest casting reveals is Lars Mikkelsen, who will play Stregobor. Mikkelsen is perhaps best known for his role of Viktor Petrov in Netflix’s “House of Cards”. 

    [block:views=related_articles_field-block]

    “The Witcher” is a series based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels and is slated for a 2019 release. Given the creators’ production plan, fans can expect the TV series to hit the streaming site during the back end of the year. The first season will run for eight episodes.

  • 10,000 migrants arrived in Spain in October

    For the first time since the migration crisis began, Spain has received more than 10,000 immigrants during one month, as reported by the International Organization for Migration. By comparison, only around 1,000 migrants arrived in Italy, which had been the most popular destination for immigrants until now. 

    A total of 100,000 immigrants have arrived in Europe by the Mediterranean Sea so far this year. Almost half of them ended up in Spain, which is more than in 2015, 2016 and 2017 combined. An overall number of immigrants trying to reach Spain by sea is constantly growing.

    However, if compared with the previous years, the total number of arrivals in Europe from Africa in 2018 is significantly lower. For example in 2016 over the same period, nearly 350,000 immigrants arrived.

     

  • Migration is a global problem, an issue yet to be resolved

    Once the United States and Europe tightened their border controls, countries like Malaysia and South Korea became appealing. Most of the people seeking refuge in those countries are in fact economic migrants – young African and Arab adults. Also, they only want to reach their desired destination, as the American ‘caravan’ showed recently when refused an offer to stay in Mexico.

    From the European point of view, the main problem is immigration from Africa. In many countries, liberation from colonial rule has not met people’s expectations. Even though the overall economic figures have been rather positive, GDP has been rising slowly and even falling in some cases.

    It’s partly due to an extreme increase in the population across Northern Africa and Sub-Saharan countries. In general, the GDP of African states is volatile. The high unemployment rate around 10 – 15 percent in the North is even higher when it comes to young people. And foreign aid doesn’t bring an ultimate solution, billions and billion have been flowing there since 2000, many countries have seen their debt or a large part of it forgiven. Yet only the elite profit, while the poverty index doesn’t change. 

    Not even successful projects in the fields of oil extraction and resources management are benefiting the people. They almost entirely benefit only foreign investors and the local kleptocrats. That combined with recurrent famine caused by climate change, active militias, and tribal wars, it’s evident that migrant flow is not going to stop.

  • Merkel’s (un)certain future

    From the Czech perspective, Merkel has been a politician with an understanding for post-communist countries, and as such an ally. The rest of the EU led by France and Italy would treat us much worse if it weren’t for her.

    On the other hand, her decisions on the eurozone helped to divide states into the poorer South and wealthier North. The euro remained just a political project – a monetary union without a fiscal one, which is unsustainable in the long run. A lot of energy and time has been wasted on a debate that is no longer valid, and the structural issues of the common European currency weren’t properly addressed. The Czech economy is dependent on the eurozone. Unfortunately the German emphasize on too many savings left the EU deeply trenched, which now is to be seen in an Italian dispute over the draft budget.

    The other most important decision that shaped the EU that Merkel made was in relation to migration. Some may say she imposed her views on migration to the whole Europe. That said, it is important to mention that time hundreds of thousand of migrants were fleeing into Europe and Merkel’s decision to open the German borders may well have saved European stability.

    It would be premature to mourn or celebrate over Merkel’s political career. She said she wants to remain the Head of the German government to better tackle international challenges such as Brexit and Trump’s policies.

    The Chancellor also rejected speculations over her future in European institutions. However, rumor has it she may be a candidate for the next European Commission president or another top post in Brussels. If so, everything would remain more or less the same.

  • 88% of Czechs don’t want Muslims as relatives

    The organization compared older data from the West, and North European countries with more recent East European data and the difference is striking. For example, while in Spain almost three-quarters of citizens wouldn’t mind having a Muslim in the family, in Poland it’s just 33 percent and in Ukraine 25 percent.

    The result from the Czech Republic stands out even if compared with other Visegrad countries. The Czechs lead the charts with only 12 percent in favor, while for example in Slovakia 47 percent would welcome a Muslim in a family. When it comes to views about Jewish people, most people across Europe wouldn’t mind having them as relatives. Czechs are divided though, with 49 percent who would mind a Jewish person in the family.

    The research also focused on the role of religion and whether it is important to their national identity. According to the results, 78 percent of people agreed that you don’t have to be a Christian to be a ‘true Czech’. Only 7 percent of Czechs said that Christianity has an important role in their life and 29 percent of them responded that they believe in God.

    In Central and Eastern Europe, it also matters if a person was born in the country to share the national identity. It matters for most of the Romanians, Bulgarians, Hungarians and 78 percent of Czechs.

  • Slovaks view the past 100 years differently to Czechs

    While many world leaders visited Prague, in Bratislava only the French president came to visit. And the postmen had less work to do than their Czech colleagues. Prague is celebrating enthusiastically in a pompous way, no matter the quality of the politicians attending or talking about the events. At first glance the relative passivity appears as another Slovak short-sighted debacle, as if Slovakia was unable to value a century which elevated the country more than any era before.

    It is sad, but it has to be respected, Slovak feelings are simply different. Czechoslovak isn’t the same as Slovak. The current state of Slovak nationhood is the result of leaving the common house. While the Czechs are celebrating under the same flag, Slovakia desired a different one, which is their own. The country hasn’t understood and neglected the concept of a political nation, it is not France or the United States. Maybe it is a bit provincial thinking, but this is how it is. Slovakia learned its lessons from the emergence of Czechoslovakia, but those are different from the ones told in Praha over the last few days.

  • Polish public finance deficit below 1% of GDP

    The average public finance deficit for the last four quarters (third quarter 2017 to the second quarter of 2018) amounted to only 0.7 percent of Poland’s GDP. This is the first time when this measure has fallen below 1 percent of GDP.

    Therefore, the deficit for the entire year may also fall below the same percentage. What’s more, the Ministry of Finance is suggesting that the deficit may reach below 0.5 percent. For comparison, the government’s longstanding financial plan foresaw a deficit at 2.1 percent of GDP.

    The income tax and social insurance contributions are rising rapidly. This is a key factor

    The main financial hero of the previous years, the collectability of VAT, has had minor impact in correcting the balance of public finances. The income from the tax has stopped increasing (although this is data from before the so-called split payment.)

    Meanwhile, the state’s revenue connected to salaries and profits of companies – the income tax and social insurance contributions are rising rapidly. This is a key factor, which has corrected the state’s budget in the previous year. This is influenced by the quick increase in salaries and employment, as well as the mass registration of migrants in the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) – 150,000 people over the course of a year.

  • Czaputowicz: Europe should unite, not divide

    “First of all, Poles believe that the European Union is a value to be respected and cared for,” Czaputowicz declared in an article written for “Rzeczpospolita”. He claimed that Poles are most thankful for those EU accomplishments which help them in their everyday lives. “This pragmatism is a desired course of development for the EU,” he said. 

    Czaputowicz emphasized the necessity for Poland to cooperate with Central European partners to fulfill her interests. “This is cooperation as part of tested formulas such as the Visegrad Four and using the potential of the Three Seas Initiative,” the minister said. He also underlined the complimentary character of the Three Seas with other EU activities.

    Great value for fulfilling Polish interests has cooperation with Poland’s Central European partners. This concerns the cooperation with tested formulas such as the Visegrad Four as well as utilizing the potential Three Seas initiative

    The minister believes, that there is a necessity to build a Europe based on nation-states, which stems from a real need of society. He explains that this is where caution or even “skepticism” towards the idea of European sovereignty comes from which boils down to a “Europe free from American influence.”

    Czaputowicz warns, however, that any attempts to enforce any kind of singular model of state and society in Europe will result in the “alienation” of several social groups. This would make the European project a “project of elites” and would discredit it in the long run.

  • Czaputowicz: Europe should unite, not divide

    “First of all, Poles believe that the European Union is a value to be respected and cared for,” Czaputowicz declared in an article written for “Rzeczpospolita”. He claimed that Poles are most thankful for those EU accomplishments which help them in their everyday lives. “This pragmatism is a desired course of development for the EU,” he said. 

    Czaputowicz emphasized the necessity for Poland to cooperate with Central European partners to fulfill her interests. “This is cooperation as part of tested formulas such as the Visegrad Four and using the potential of the Three Seas Initiative,” the minister said. He also underlined the complimentary character of the Three Seas with other EU activities.

    Great value for fulfilling Polish interests has cooperation with Poland’s Central European partners. This concerns the cooperation with tested formulas such as the Visegrad Four as well as utilizing the potential Three Seas initiative

    The minister believes, that there is a necessity to build a Europe based on nation-states, which stems from a real need of society. He explains that this is where caution or even “skepticism” towards the idea of European sovereignty comes from which boils down to a “Europe free from American influence.”

    Czaputowicz warns, however, that any attempts to enforce any kind of singular model of state and society in Europe will result in the “alienation” of several social groups. This would make the European project a “project of elites” and would discredit it in the long run.

  • The Hungarian economy is the star of Central Europe

    Capital Economics said in its latest research that the fourth quarter of the year will probably begin with lower economic growth in most of Central Europe. However, Hungary will continue to show a strong performance.

    Capital Economics regularly publishes its own synthetic economic indicator, the Economic Sentiment Index (ESI), weighted by individual countries’ gross domestic product. The October ESI for Central Europe was 107.4 in October, slightly lower than the 107.5 measured in September. Note that the index is not a percentage, but an absolute number, with values over 100 indicating positive and those under 100 a negative sentiment.

    The fall might be a small one, but it is nevertheless the lowest figure in 11 months. In contrast, Capital Economics says the Hungarian ESI rose to 120.4 from 116.6 in September. The driving factors behind it were construction and industrial output. Capital Economics also expects the Central European region’s average GDP to remain below 4 percent this year. 

  • Macron tries to divide V4

    Macron has accused Poland of breaking the rule of law and has attacked Viktor Orban for “flirting” with Russia. Meanwhile, his photo with Angela Merkel, Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin holding hands has spread worldwide.

    Recently, the French President visited the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Officially, it was meant to be a visit on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Czechoslovakian independence in 1918. In reality, Macron is trying to compensate for his poor internal policies by being active on the international stage: in 18 months he has visited 20 countries.

    Macron is also trying to divide Europe into the “Europe of nationalists and populists” and the “Europe of Progress”, of which he’d be the leader.

    Paris fears the upcoming changes to the European Commission. The countries which Macron is attacking – Italy, Hungary and Poland will be choosing new commissars

    Paris fears the upcoming changes to the European Commission. The countries which Macron is attacking – Italy, Hungary and Poland will be choosing new commissars. This could mean serious change within the eurocratic body. Meanwhile, Macron wants to place himself as the head of the European integration movement and as a supporter of the defense of “progress”.  

    It’s hard not to notice Macron’s arrogance, which is affecting only smaller and weaker EU member states. Yet this arrogance will cost him in the upcoming European Parliament elections. Merkel’s CDU received a catastrophic result in Germany and Macron’s popularity among the French is at 29 percent. Of course, the increasingly exposed “King Macron” would still like to oh so majestically teach others.

  • Sikorski attacks Lech Kaczyński as Independence celebrations near

    “Disgusting. You have lowered yourself to the level of political gutter,” wrote Ziemkiewicz in response to Sikorski’s shameful tweet on the celebrations.

    The Former Polish Foreign Minister compared current anniversary celebrations to those of the 25th anniversary of the fall of communism in Poland and somehow managed to connect it to the Smoleńsk plane catastrophe. He also made a jibe at President Lech Kaczyński who died in the plane crash. The statue of Lech Kaczyński is to be unveiled in Warsaw on November 10th.

    “The whole democratic world arrived for the 25th anniversary of June 1989. For the 100th anniversary of Polish independence we’ll have the statue of a culprit of the Smoleńsk catastrophe,” wrote Sikorski.

    The whole democratic world arrived for the 25th anniversary of June 1989. For the 100th anniversary of Polish independence we’ll have the statue of a culprit of the Smoleńsk catastrophe

    Ziemkiewicz promptly responded by saying that Sikorski has “lowered himself to the level of political gutter.”

    Sikorski decided to go on, however, and replied to Ziemkiewicz by asking whether he believed that “General Błasik’s words “You’ll fit in, go on” 300m above the ground in mist is a “lie”?” “The truth can hurt,” Sikorski added referring to the black box recording of Smoleńsk crash.

    Be silent for God’s sake. If not due to decency, then at least owing to common sense

    Ziemkiewicz struck back by accusing Sikorski of collaborating with Putin to demean the Polish President, propagating hatred and taking away the proper presidential plane, which in his opinion were all causes of the Smoleńsk tragedy. Ziemkiewicz also recounted Sikorski’s errors after the tragedy, by giving the whole investigation over to the Russian side, despite the Russians themselves proposing an international committee.

    “Be silent for God’s sake. If not due to decency, then at least owing to common sense. There are boundaries,” Ziemkiewicz concluded.

  • Portrait of Israel’s conservative “Ice Queen”

    Ayelet Shaked is one of a rare breed: she is a secular female politician, her husband is a career military man. She is an engineer and programmer. She worked for two years in the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and left it together with the founder of the conservative Habayit Yehudi (The Jewish Home) party, Naftali Bennett, currently minister for education and diaspora.

    Even putting aside leftist criticism, we must acknowledge that her views are strongly conservative. She said, for example, that Jewish national rights take precedence over Arab national rights and she is only prepared to give concessions regarding the principle of Jewish majority with regard to individual rights.

    She features prominently in the Israeli press on account of her strong views, youth and measured, almost glacial style that has earned her the nickname of “Ice Queen”.

    Minister of Justice since 2015, in a poll conducted this August she had a 57 percent approval rate, making her the most popular cabinet member. Perhaps even more importanty, Australian businessman Joseph (a.k.a. “Diamond Joe”) Gutnick has publicly declared his support of Shaked. Gutnick was the main financial supporter of Benjamin Netanyahu’s successful first Prime Ministerial campaign in 1996.

    Gutnick

    Joseph Gutnick (picture: Jake Nowakowski)

    She is widely regarded as the conservative politician who is most effective in delivering on conservative political promises and even the liberal Haaretz newspaper is of the opinion that “If Netanyahu has a heritage, then Ayelet Shaked is certainly the heir.”

    (Title picture: Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images)

  • Opinion: The two faces of national sovereignty

    The approaching European elections will demonstrate Europeans’ attitudes towards national sovereignty. It is very likely that alternatives to the current leadership will gain momentum as will national conservative parties and those favoring sovereignty.

    And at this point we already have to face one of the fundamental issues of the European Union.

    “National sovereignty has different meanings in Eastern and Western Europe.”

    Central and Eastern Europe has for many centuries been defined by the struggle between outside influences and national sovereignty. The first Christian king of Hungary was given a wife from the Holy Roman dynasty. The Czechs – being closer to the empire and of lesser military strength, have not been so lucky: they were summarily engulfed in the empire.

    The same happened at the Eastern end: the first Grand Duke of Kiev received a wife from Byzantium, while the Bulgarians were engulfed much the same as were the Czechs. This was all par for the course in those times, but there is a question we should ask nevertheless.

    At a time when the monks of Reichenau illustrated Holy Roman Emperor Otto III’s gospel book with the provinces bringing tribute to him, why did the same emperor – otherwise very much preoccupied with restoring the Roman Empire – allow the Poles and Hungarians to remain independent?

    Mainly because Otto – a visionary of his time – understood that Central Europe was at the meeting point of Eastern and Western influences and was realistic enough to accept that. And here is where the two sovereignty concepts diverge. In Western Europe sovereignty has in most cases been a given for the better of the previous millennium, while Central Europeans had to fight for even provisional independence.

    Thus in Western Europe sovereignty is an abstract concept that must be respected by all decent nations, while for Central Europe it is an achievement gained with great sacrifices. It was perhaps Solzhenitsyn who best phrased this difference by saying that while freedom and wealth weakened the Western character, Eastern Europeans developed a much hardier character under Soviet oppression.

    Tony Blair, the Socialist Prime Minister of Great Britain said in 2003 that the eastward expansion of the European Union will result in radical changes in European politics because,

    Eastern Europeans’ attitudes towards freedom are not warm and cozy, but remain driven by strong sentiments

     

    Paraphrasing Miklós Zrínyi, the 16th century Hungarian military leader who spearheaded the fight against the Ottoman Empire, we can say that the sovereignty of a political community is nothing without the power to assert its interests. And this is what the next European elections will be about.

    Title image: The provinces of Rome, Gallia, Germania and Sclavinia bring tribute to Otto III. (Gospels of Otto III, c. 1000, Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek)

  • Distortion of the migrant crisis

    The first misleading interpretation is in the effort to compare the number of incoming migrants to Europe today and in 2015 (the peak of the migration crisis). The second dangerous tendency is to make heroes from the culprits.

    The argument that, compared to 2015 the migration issue is solved because only a fraction of migrants flow to Europe, is absurd. The Old Continent has produced an incredibly complex economic, social and security problem for several future generations, more precisely a disaster. The cost of integrating migrants will be enormous and we will only bear the consequences of this social experiment.

    The second dangerous tendency is to make rescuers from the culprits of the mass migration crisis. According to some, the European Union or Angela Merkel contributed to the reduction of the number of migrants, while Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had no influence on the drop in incoming migrants. But it is an incredibly false manipulation of latest history.

    It was just Viktor Orban’s policy and the arrival of politicians like Sebastian Kurz and Matteo Salvini that put some defenders of boundless migration to Europe aside or to force them to revise their plans. Without politicians such as Prime Minister Orban, Chancellor Kurz and Interior Minister Salvini and others, mass migration to Europe would continue to this day.

  • ´More Europe´ is not a solution

    Despite the fact that the world is always full of danger, history is nowadays on the side of the majority. Nations are alive without the permission of muddled editorial offices and academic departments.

    In recent years, nations have become the islands of resistance to socially unfair globalization. Similarly, migration and its implications show why it is essential to maintain our national identity. And last but not least, the Babylonian tower called the European Union shows how essential it is for the nation to preserve as much independence as possible.

    However, a significant part of the intellectuals only spread the green-rose ideals of some Western politicians. They support the invasion of an infant society that bothers every clear idea and prefers migrants rather than their own people – the society that simply encourages minorities to question the opinions and lifestyles of the majority.

  • Politicians divided over marriage for gays and lesbians

    A third of the deputies of the ANO movement are for allowing marriages of the same-sex couples, one third is for amending the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms with enactment of marriage only as a bond of man and woman, and a third of the deputies are those undecided.

    Patrik Nacher then came up with a compromise proposal that same-sex marriages should have the same rights as heterosexual couples. But it would not be called marriage. “I take marriage as a symbol, as name of the relationship between man and woman, which differs from another relationship by giving birth to children,” Nacher explained.

    However, there is no agreement across the whole Chamber of Deputies. Almost fifty deputies signed a proposal for marriage of two women or men, by contrast forty other members across the party, headed by Marek Výborný from the People’s Party, signed a proposal to enshrine in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms that only a man and woman have the right to get married.

    Among other parties, the most supportive are the Pirates. The ODS, the Social Democrats and the Communist Party will have a free vote, so the MPs will be able to vote individually. To get the proposal through, 120 MPs and three-fifths of the Senate are needed to vote for it.

  • The end of the Merkel era and the Czech economy

    Angela Merkel’s era at the top of German politics is coming to an end. At the next CDU meeting, where the new party leadership will be elected, the Chancellor will nut run for the post of boss of the party.

    In response to an unexpected step the euro temporarily weakened because markets are concerned about uncertainties about the further direction of the eurozone.

    The markets speculate that the next Chancellor can be somehow less inclined to a policy of austerity and debt reduction. It is therefore possible that the German export machine will weaken, with a negative impact on Czech subcontracting companies.

    It is also possible that the country’s next leader will put more emphasis for domestic, German production. This would lead to the relocation, for example, of a part of Škoda Auto’s automotive production to Germany.

    Merkel’s decision is not potentially bad news for markets only, but also for French President Emmanuel Macron. With the weakening of her position, he must at least for the time being forsake his dreams of reform of the eurozone, including the creation of his own budget as well as the appointment of its own finance minister or the deepening of the banking union.

  • Merkel’s French leave from politics

    The long-foretold twilight of the era of Angela Merkel is slowly becoming a reality. Yesterday, the world was not only shocked by the Brazilian presidential elections won by Jair Bolsonaro,  but also by the “iron chancellor’s” declaration that she will not be running for chairman of the CDU.

    Merkel’s words from past years immediately resurfaced, when she said that one cannot be chancellor without being the head of their party. Merkel wants to remain as chancellor, however. The question is, whether inner-party cabals will allow that. This is the most important question not only for German but also European politics.

    Merkel wants to remain as chancellor, however. The question is, whether inner-party cabals will allow that

    A bit exaggerated, but Angela Merkel was seen as a guarantee of stability in the European Union. The role of Germany, which dramatically increased during her terms as chancellor and Merkel’s unwavering belief in the EU status quo, often forced by her, made it so she was naturally seen as the most predictable EU leader in an otherwise uncertain era.

    Along with her resignation – as some claim – Europe will fall into chaos. This is of course an overstatement and this is rather the fears of liberal forces in the EU, for whom after Obama’s departure Merkel seemed to be the last defender of liberal democratic values.

    The issue is, that many of her decisions, especially during the financial and Eurozone crisis led to the erosion of those values and blew wind into European populists’ sails. The post-crisis EU was in need of bold reforms, which Merkel blocked and created further social and political issues. Therefore, Merkel’s departure may turn out to be a chance for Europe, instead of a catastrophe.

  • Radwańska considers retirement

    Radwańska finished this year’s WTA tennis tour in September. This is her second unsuccessful season in a row. Due to health issues, she rarely appeared on court and when she did, she was promptly knocked out. 

    Polskie Radio Sport reports on Twitter, that Radwańska is out of pro-play for the rest of the season and doubts whether she will return in 2019:

    “This season, Agnieszka Radwańska says enough. Will she reappear on the court next year?”

    tt

    Radwańska has a chronic foot injury, with which “no injections are helping,” says the tennis player. She has also been facing permanent exhaustion and a complete collapse of her nervous system.

    Although Radwańska is considering multiple options, she does not rule out leaving pro-play entirely. Due to an increasingly competitive environment, she doubts whether her health issues will let her keep up with younger opponents. “Everything is so close-fought, that either you give your 100 percent or you swiftly fall out,” Radwańska explains.

    The Polish tennis player – currently 74th in in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking – is a 2012 Wimbledon finalist and had held the number two world ranking.

  • The anti-Polish case of Róża Thun

    The Civic Platform MEP’s characterization of the 2017 March of Independence found in her recent European Parliament resolution is an unprecedented scandal. There is no truth to it. According to Thun’s document, Poland is a neo-fascist country and the March of Independence organization a Nazi association.

    A bigger lie would have to reach the boundaries of the absurd. Just like Róża Thun’s opinions. A similar absurdity would be claiming that Law and Justice (PiS) is secretly preparing a project to create dungeons to imprison opposition members.

    According to Thun’s document, Poland is a neo-fascist country and the March of Independence organization a Nazi association

    Thun is proceeding with her ideas in all seriousness, by euphorically proclaiming that there should be “zero tolerance for fascism!” No one in Europe dares to question the viability of such a claim.

    It is hard to tell exactly why Thun has decided to call the social 2017 March of Independence a march of fascists. As well as why she claims that the March of Independence organization is a neo-Nazi creation.

    This isn’t her first anti-Polish outburst. Others include the infamous movie titled “Poland is standing before a trial – a woman defending her country”, produced by German public television ZDF. Thun, the main protagonist, promoted the idea that democracy is being abolished in Poland and the country is heading for a dictatorship.

    The movie, as well as Thun’s anti-Polish postulates and urging the European Commission to take repressive action against Poland form a dangerous precedence.

  • Poles are for “Fort Trump”

    The Ministry has confirmed that 55 percent of Polish people were in favor of the question: “Are you for establishing permanent US military bases on Polish territory?” Only 27 percent were against the idea.

    MON states that according to 66 percent of those polled, Polish-American relations are good or very good. 14 percent claimed that they are bad. 56 percent said that a permanent US military presence would increase the country’s security. Only 4 percent were against the idea.

    56 percent said that a permanent US military presence would increase the country’s security. Only 4 percent were against the idea

    MON underlines, that as a result, they will opt for NATO and the USA to increase military involvement in Poland.

    Defense minister Błaszczak visiting Washington D. C.

    After an extended Washington meeting on Monday with John Bolton, the White House National Security Advisor, Poland’s Minister of National Defense, Mariusz Błaszczak received information that there is “support for the project ” of a permanent military base in Poland.

    Błaszczak also said that the term “project Fort Trump” is being used more often.