Hungary

The mortgage cap will be available to first-time homebuyers under 35 from April 1 until October 31, 2025, conditional on purchases of homes no larger than 60sqm at a price of no more than HUF 1,200,000/sqm.

Minister Varga pointed to the need for lower energy prices and a reduction in the VAT burdens of businesses.

Olivér Várhelyi called enlargement a down payment on the bloc's future peace and economic prosperity.

"If we lose, we lose everything: family protection, defense against migration, economic neutrality and the utility price caps will be finished," PM Orbán said.

Thanks to BYD, the city of Szeged will become one of the thirty largest industrial centres in Europe. This is the view of the Minister of Construction and Transport, who held talks with the mayor of the southern Hungarian metropolis.

Minister Varga said the three "pillars" of the 2025 budget were boosting Hungarians' purchasing power, ensuring affordable housing and scaling up SMEs with the Demjan Sandor Programme.

ELTE University, considered a stronghold of left-wing liberals in Budapest, has distanced itself from one of its professors. He would not allow the political director of the prime minister to defend his doctoral thesis - for political and ideological reasons.

In response to an open letter from Airbnb, the Ministry of Economy explains the planned measures to regulate short-term lettings in Budapest.

The floods are having an impact: State water management employees will receive 30% more pay from 1 January.

The prime minister said the report on the European economy, prepared by Mario Draghi, the well-respected former head of the European Central Bank, at Brussels' request, showed that Europe was on a "suicide" path.