Budapest, January 9 (MTI) – Hungarian authorities levied 1.1
billion forints, or 4.4 million euros, in fines in a crackdown on
rule-breaking vendors of holiday specialties in the final six weeks
of 2007, Government Spokesperson Bernadett Budai told a press
conference in Budapest on Wednesday. During the campaign codenamed “Sparkler”, they seized
merchandise worth over 510 million forints and closed over 200
shops. Altogether 6,200 supervisors carried out 35,000 checks and
imposed fines in 9,000 cases, she said.  Continue »

Budapest, January 9 (MTI) – Hungary’s public finance deficit
appears to have dropped to 5.7-5.8 percent of gross domestic product
(GDP) based on EU accounting rules in 2007, as against 6.8 percent
projected at the start of the year, MTI learned when Prime Minister
Ferenc Gyurcsany and central bank President Andras Simor met on
Wednesday. This was a regular meeting between Gyurcsany and Simor, and the
two discussed public finance and growth figures and projections,
government spokesperson Bernadett Budai said after the meeting. Continue »

Bucharest, January 9 (MTI) – Romanian and Hungarian motorway
experts met in Oradea, N Romania, on Wednesday to finalise plans for
border crossing points on a new motorway connecting Hungary and
Romania, MP Janos Csontos told MTI after the meeting. The Romanian section of the road, called the “north
Transylvanian section” will connect Oradea on the Romanian and
Berettyoujfalu on the Hungarian side. It is scheduled to be
completed by February 2010, Csontos said. By that time, Hungary
should also complete a 30-km section connecting Berettyoujfalu with
the border. Continue »

Budapest, January 9 (MTI) – A signature drive to initiate a
referendum to prevent the involvement of private businesses in
health insurance got underway in Budapest on Wednesday. The initially private initiative has been espoused by a number
of trade unions and NGOs, including the Hungarian Medical Chamber.    The question, approved by both the National Election Committee
and the Constitutional Court, runs as follows: “Do you agree that a
compulsory profit-oriented multiple-insurer health insurance system
should not be introduced in Hungary?”    The goal is to collect the 200,000 signatures required for the
referendum by February 11 when MPs will once again vote on the
health insurance law, which President Laszlo Solyom returned to
Parliament for reconsideration, Istvan Gasko, head of the Liga TU
confederation, told a press conference.  Continue »

Budapest, January 9 (MTI) – Former US Assistant Secretary of
State Richards Holbrooke, the man who brokered the peace agreement
on Bosnia and later served as the United States’ Ambassador to the
UN, met Hungary’s main opposition Fidesz party leader Viktor Orban
in Budapest on Wednesday. The two discussed the future of Kosovo, Hungarian-US relations
and Russia’s role in the region, Fidesz reported. Continue »

Budapest, January 9 (MTI) – The Budapest Stock Exchange’s BUX
index closed trading at 25,699.11 points on Wednesday, down by
412.25 points or 1.58 percent compared to Tuesday’s close. Overall trading amounted to 32.14 billion forints (about 126.5
million euros). Continue »

Budapest, January 9 (MTI) – The liberal junior governing SZDSZ
party will focus on policies inducing economic growth in 2008,
chairman Janos Koka said at a press conference on Wednesday. Koka said that long-term sustainable growth could be attained
through a combination of continued reforms, changes to the tax
system and revamped rules on party financing. SZDSZ supports the soon-as-possible privatisation of all
companies which could be better run by private owners, such as
long-distance bus company Volan, national lottery Szerencsejatek and
a part of the Hungarian power company MVM, Koka said. Continue »

Budapest, January 9 (MTI) – To date 22 MPs from the main
governing Socialist (MSZP) party have received mail containing an
unidentified white powder, MTI learned on Wednesday. A spokesman for the investigative section of the Chief
Prosecutor’s office neither confirmed nor denied this number. MTI reported the first case of suspicious mail received by an
MSZP MP on January 4. The powder that has been analyzed so far was found to be
harmless, but according to the National Bureau of Investigation, the
mail counts as harassment and attempted intimidation of an official,
since the recipients have all been MPs. The sender has not yet been
identified. Most recipients declined to comment.  Continue »

Budapest, January 9 (MTI) – A Serbian and a Croatian human
smuggler and six illegal Albanian immigrants from Kosovo were
apprehended near Hungary’s border with Serbia, police told MTI on
Wednesday. The immigrants, crossing the border together, were detected with
the help of a thermo-sensor camera that operates along the border.
The Serbian man and three Albanians – two women and a child – were
apprehended on Tuesday evening, shortly after they crossed into
Hungary. The other members of the group – three 17-year-old Kosovo
Albanian boys – were driven away from the border by a car with
Serbian-tags and a Croatian woman at the wheel. The car was halted
by police in a nearby village. Continue »

Budapest, January 9 (MTI) – Overcast skies, and high humidity
promise fog and icy drizzle for Thursday. Breezes will be low, excepting in the northwest where the
southeast wind may gust to 39 km/h. Nighttime lows should range from -5 to 0 degrees Celsius,
somewhat colder in the regions with fewer clouds and daytime highs
will be between -2 and +3 degrees Celsius, the National Weather
Service reports. Continue »