Threats floated that French sewage plant management could be dethroned as fees controversy hits the fan.

Observers of life in the Hungarian capital, where public infrastructure projects have a habit of running over-schedule and over-budget, may have been shocked to see Budapest Mayor Gábor Demszky inaugurating the new sewage water treatment facility last Monday on the very day it was supposed to open.

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For the fourth time in the 84-year-old history of the European Swimming Championships, Budapest is playing host to the best water athletes of the old continent.

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Hungary will not “break its back” to meet deficit target.

Hungary will not stick “at any cost” to the 2011 deficit target that the previous government agreed with the EU and IMF, finance minister György Matolcsy said in an interview with news channel HírTV last Thursday. Echoing the recent words of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Matolcsy said that Hungary was striving to regain its “financial autonomy”.

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“We don't just need you to live; you are life itself,” French writer Antoine de Saint Exupéry once said of water.
Sometimes, however, water can also be a threat to life. A study of the quality of tap water and various mineral waters published by Interpress Magazin (IPM) in March found that the fluoride content of Visegrádi mineral water is too high for daily consumption. The producer of Visegrádi mineral water sued IPM on the grounds of libel.

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US family launches lawsuit against Hungary over looted art treasures.

The American heirs of a wealthy Jewish Hungarian banker filed suit with a Washington court last Tuesday demanding the restitution of over 40 works of art, valued at over USD 100 million, that it claims are being “illegally held hostage” by the Hungarian state.

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A 360-degree image of Budapest that is the world's largest panoramic photo is big enough to see people in windows across the capital. The spectacular 71.3-gigapixel digital image – not printed in its full resolution, mind you – has broken two world records and can be viewed online, where it is possible to move and zoom in to see buildings and their occupants.

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Prime Minister’s commissioner accuses former premiers of false testimony.

A government commissioner last week accused two former prime ministers of perjury in connection with a case of alleged corruption over a proposed casino development at Sukoró on the shores of Lake Velence.

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Fidesz was right to stand its ground.

At a time when financial markets are extremely jittery, the IMF’s decision to walk away from its negotiations with Hungary in a way staged to ensure maximum publicity left several questions hanging in the air. It is unclear above all what it hoped to achieve with such a negotiating tactic and whom it thought it would help.

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Spanish developer ran out of patience

A golf village development planned by the Spanish Grupo Milton-Sedesa joint venture, which was involved in the failed Balatonring Moto GP motorcycle racetrack project, was given the red light by Páty last week. The investor failed to buy the properties necessary to build the 1,800-apartment complex, so the municipality 15 km west of the capital revoked its regulation plan.

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Travellers may be rechecked inside Schengen Zone.

The security status of Hungary’s only major international airport, Budapest Ferihegy, has been downgraded to “unclear” following an EU audit, the government’s aviation commissioner Attila Márton said last week.

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Campaigners hope to save Hungary from demographic doomsday.

Hungary’s population is inexorably heading below 10 million, figures from the Central Statistical Office (KSH) revealed last week. While 54,388 people died between January and May, only 37,909 children were born in Hungary in the same period.

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Largest construction site under european skies.

Arriving from Budapest to the left of the M5 motorway not far from the Kecskemét turnoff, a large collection of cranes meets the eye amid the flat monotony of the Great Plain. It is no Fata Morgana mirage: the newest factory of Daimler AG, where annually up to 100,000 of the successor models to the Mercedes A-Class and B-Class passenger cars will roll off the production line from 2012, is being built here.

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The total area of vineyards in Hungary has fallen by nine per cent to 83,500 hectares since 2001, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) reported last week. The figures do not suggest that the death of the Hungarian wine industry is approaching, however.

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Historian handed cheque to help cover court fine.

Historian Krisztián Ungváry was presented with a symbolic cheque for HUF 2 million (EUR 7,091) by Imre Váczi, the creator of the Facebook campaign "Let's pay the fine of Krisztián Ungváry" last Monday afternoon in front of the building of the Supreme Court.

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Heart-breaking conditions in illegal nursing homes.

Three illegally operating nursing homes were closed down last week after residents were found to be living in appaling conditions. Two of the homes were in the small town of Vecsés on the eastern fringe of the capital, the other in Dunavarsány, in southern Budapest.

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Limited victory: Sláger and Danubius remain off air.

A court of appeal last Wednesday upheld a January ruling by Budapest Municipal Court in favour of the commercial radio stations Sláger and Danubius against the national media authority ORTT.

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Hungary’s popular annual swimming marathon – 5.2 kilometres from the north to the south shore of central Europe’s largest lake – will be held this Saturday 24 July, organisers announced last week.

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Series: the contemporary political economy of Hungary.

The Fidesz-KDNP (Christian Democratic People’s Party) government’s recent injunction that all public institutions display a ‘Statement of National Cooperation’ of no less than 50x70 centimetres would be mildly amusing if only it wasn’t true. Unfortunately, it is true and has (rightly) provoked near universal condemnation from opposition parties and the international press. One might ask why Fidesz would promote such a self-defeating, myopic policy bound to delegitimise the party even among some of its own supporters.

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The wettest May on record and a damp, cool June seemed a distant memory last week as a heatwave struck with a vengeance.

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The election of Pál Schmitt as President of the Republic.

By chance the election of the heads of state in Hungary and in Germany fell on almost the same day. There are also noteworthy similarities between the appointments. It is clear that in both cases it will be necessary to modify significantly the picture that one previously associated with the person of the state president and their office.

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“Being verbally abused is part of my day-to-day life. Sometimes my car is even spat on by other drivers in traffic.” The rabbi of the Unified Israelite Faith Community in Hungary, Slomó Köves, says open hostility towards the about 100,000 Hungarian Jews has been growing in fertile conditions in the past few years. In his many visits to other countries he has never encountered one like Hungary.

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