21 May was designated National Defence Day in 1992 because it was on this day that Hungarian soldiers recaptured the Buda Castle after a three-week siege at the end of the spring campaign in 1849.

In its Tuesday report, the bank estimated a real growth of 0.4 per cent for 2023 and 3.5 per cent for 2024 in Hungary. The bank increased its estimate for the Hungarian Gross Domestic Product growth this year by 0.6 percentage points and raised the growth projection for next year by a full percentage point.

In February 2020, the Central Chief Prosecution Office of Investigation pressed charges against two leaders of a Northern Hungarian district office for corruption offences. The officials had requested a bribe of four million forints from the director of a company involved in a highway construction project to unlawfully influence the land office procedure in the second half of 2018.

‘If the European Union views China as a rival, it will lose out. It has become evident in recent years that China has a competitive advantage in many areas of the economy,’ the minister declared. He emphasised that if the EU wants to benefit from its relationship with China, it should focus on cooperation based on mutual trust, respect, and benefits rather than rivalry.

The State Secretary said that since 2010, every year has been the year of families in Hungary. He added that the family support programmes in the country are still work in progress, with the government working dynamically on introducing new schemes as soon as possible.

Ágnes Hornung reminded that the government has expanded and enhanced the family support system year after year to facilitate childbearing, child-raising, home-building, and work alongside child-raising, all with the aim of leaving more money in the hands of families.

Péter Szijjártó stated that one of the main pillars of the government’s foreign economic strategy is the economic relationship with China. ‘Companies like Huawei, which not only invest and create jobs in Hungary but also share technological knowledge and actively support domestic higher education, play the most important role in this,’ he declared.

Hungarian weekend schools are also emerging in the farthest corners of the world, with new locations such as Tokyo, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore launching weekend Hungarian school activities for the local Hungarian diaspora communities.

MCC and Hungarian students from the Carpathian Basin will now gain access to further unique educational and learning opportunities. In addition, the talent nurturing institution will also participate in serious international research projects together with Modul University.

The prime minister said that Veszprém’s performance shows that when Brussels bureaucrats manage to defeat their ‘well-developed Hungarophobia,’ then together, Hungary and Brussels can achieve great things.

Hungary has become a serious film industry hub in recent years and is now a leader in Europe, only second to London, with film production becoming a significant contributor to the country’s economy.

The minister reported at a press conference following the meeting of the Hungarian-Serbian Economic Joint Committee that the contract for the planned oil pipeline, to be established in cooperation between Mol and Transnafta, will be signed at the 20 June government summit.

Porsche Hungaria Kft. and Mercarius Fleet Management Ltd. donated two vehicles to the Hungarian Interchurch Aid in order to help their work in Vizsoly and its surrounding area.

The Hungarian Defence Forces’ JAS-39 Gripen fighter aircraft and H145M and Mi-24 helicopters will fly over the Ludovika campus on Saturday as part of the Ludovika Festival in Budapest.

Ferenc Kalmár said that unfortunately, in recent times, there has been regression rather than progress in the issue of national minorities on a global scale, and the Russo-Ukrainian war has further exacerbated the situation.

The documentary is narrated by Hollywood actress Ema Horvath, who also worked on the prequel series to ‘The Lord of The Rings’.

The price monitoring system will come into effect on 1 July, and is expected to contribute to pushing inflation back to single digits.

The minister held talks with ministers and was part of an energy conference panel discussion, where he emphasised the importance of renewable energy, electric vehicles and nuclear power.

On the first day of his trip to Seoul, László Kövér emphasised that in 2020, 130 Korean companies employed 15,206 people in Hungary, and the Hungarian government has several strategic agreements with Korean companies.

Péter Szijjártó emphasised that except for Germany and China, Hungary is the only country where all three German luxury car brands have factories, and three of the world’s top ten electric battery manufacturers are already present in Hungary.

In her remarks, Minister Varga paraphrased the words of Robert Schuman, one of the founding fathers of the European Union, who said that Europe will either be Christian or not be at all.

Europe and Hungary were fortunate to have a mild winter, but ‘a country’s leadership cannot make an unequivocal bet that this will always be repeated,’ Energy Minister Lantos warned. Therefore, the government has decided to raise the level of the security gas reserve. Previously, the country stored 10 per cent of its annual consumption as a security reserve, which was now raised to nearly 2 billion cubic metres, or 20 per cent of consumption, while consumption itself decreased.

According to Slovakian Hungarian-language website Új Szó’s information, Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová officially announced on Sunday afternoon that she would entrust the management of the country to a technocratic government until the early elections, following a meeting with Speaker of Parliament Boris Kollár and outgoing Prime Minister Eduard Heger.

Some EU member states are looking to abolish the veto power of smaller countries in the area of common foreign and security policies. They argue that this would speed up the process of passing laws, however, there are many hurdles to consider.

‘Belligerents in a war never like to acknowledge that there is some intermediation and thus that there is some work to do together with the other side. And therefore, it is always difficult. In that sense, we didn’t experience anything new in the context of Ukraine.’

Péter Szijjártó welcomed Novartis’ announcement that the Swiss pharmaceutical company is establishing a new regional research and development centre in Budapest, from where it will coordinate its research projects in Southern Europe and Africa.

Hungary and Bangladesh belong to the peace-loving global majority, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a joint press conference with Bangladeshi Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi in Budapest on Friday.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán hosted a working lunch for the European participants of CPAC Hungary, and two special guests.

In his interview with Richard Quest, Péter Szijjártó asked the rhetorical question: ‘Do you think all this would be possible if there were systemic corruption? Because if there is systemic corruption, there is no growth, investors do not come, and they do not bring their money here.’

The prime minister talked about how Hungary has a vested interest in achieving peace in Ukraine, since the war diminishes the value of Hungary and endangers the ethnic Hungarians living in the area.