The Brief History of the Week

The Budapest Times is unrivalled among English-language print publications in the capital for its coverage of the week’s most important national stories, whether they be economic, political, cultural, sporting or among the hundreds of other happenings that go on daily in a major European city. Here, in one concise package, we present some of the important and fascinating news developments of the past seven days.

Rudas expansion proves a point: Tarlós

Budapest Mayor István Tarlós has opened a wellness section of riverside bath Rudas after a HUF 1 billion development. The additions include a panorama sun terrace with a whirlpool tub, a restaurant and four pools. According to Tarlós, BGYH, the capital’s bath management company, was turning losses between HUF 500-900 million before 2010 but will likely close this year HUF 600 million in the black, so “it’s not a surprise that they are able to carry out developments on their own”.

National utility provider up by March 2015

Hungary’s planned state-run, non-profit public utility holding will be set up by March at the latest. The new company, based on Budapest’s gas provider Főgáz, which is now state-owned, will start its operations by distributing power, gas and district heating, and later it will add water supply, sewerage and garbage collection, cabinet chief János Lázár said. The company will offer high-level services at competitive prices and win households over from competing electricity, gas or district heating providers, he said, adding that the government would not apply administrative means to force out competitors. The establishment of the holding company is being coordinated by state secretary Zsuzsanna Németh. Based on European Union rules, the upkeep of the network and supply to consumers will be separate from one another, and thus there will not be any technical obstacles to the provision of services, Lázár said.

Daimler puts a million wheels on the road

Germany’s Daimler has turned out a quarter of a million cars at its plant in Kecskemét, inaugurated in spring 2012. The 250,000th car was a silver right-hand-drive Mercedes-Benz CLA AMG that will be delivered to Japan.

MEP ‘must be punished’ for hosting far-right bikers

Tibor Szanyi, a Socialist Party MEP, must face a disciplinary procedure for hosting a far-right biker organisation called the Goy Motorists in Brussels using EU funds, the party’s deputy leader, Zoltán Gőgös, has said. If reports that Szanyi had spent EUR 2,700 of the European Parliament’s money on hosting 12 bikers as a forfeit for losing a bet with them are true, then he must be punished, Gőgös said.

Frequency sale reapsHUF 130 billion

Hungary’s media authority (NMHH) has announced the sale of frequency licences for a total of HUF 130.6 billion. The sale had been expected to generate at least HUF 104 billion. All four bidders won bandwidth, with the three incumbents, Magyar Telekom, Telenor and Vodafone, taking the biggest blocks, and Digi Távközlési coming away with a smaller allocation. The licences are good until 2034. The sale is expected to speed up mobile data transfer speeds and raise internet penetration, especially in disadvantaged areas, said NMHH head Mónika Karas.

Civil activists occupy empty building

Activists of civil group A Város Mindenkié (AVM, the City Belongs to Everyone) have occupied a building in Budapest that has stood unused for nearly 20 years. The building, in central District VI, is owned by an offshore company. Some 60 AVM activists and supporters were at the site, holding lectures and making music to demonstrate how vacant facilities could be utilised. AVM seeks to focus attention on the fact that many Hungarians have housing problems, whereas hundreds of thousands of properties are not used for any purpose. Many could be made into affordable rentals, the group said.

Police can’t hide behind pixels: court

A Constitutional Court decision that allows publication of photos of police at work without face pixellation ends a decade-long debate and shows that press freedom cannot be restricted, the Eötvös Károly Institute said this week. The rights group said police had won several court cases against media outlets in recent years on claims their right to privacy had been harmed. The practice of blanking out faces on such photos unless consent was given was confirmed by a Kúria decision in 2012. The institute submitted a constitutional complaint against a court decision that found online news portal Index.hu at fault for showing police at a political demonstration without pixellation. The institute argued that police are representatives of public authority and have no right to claim personality protection rights against the media. The Constitutional Court ruled that their faces can be shown on images taken at public demonstrations without consent unless it violates their dignity, such as showing the suffering of injured police.

Veggies down on the city farm

The government is supporting an urban gardening programme for young city-dwellers who plan to produce home-grown vegetables, Lajos Mikula, the head of the association of young gardeners Agrya, has announced. People aged 18-40 with at least seven square metres of growing space – whether on the window sill or in a small allotment – can apply for funding and participation in a training programme. This is part of efforts by the Ministry of Agriculture to return stimulus to short food supply chains and home farming, popular 30-40 years ago, Minister Sándor Fazekas said. The desire for healthy food produce has brought back the appeal of home vegetable growing, he said.

Tax office deals us in for Eurojackpot

Tax and customs authority NAV has approved the participation of state lottery company Szerencsejáték in the EuroJackpot international lottery from this Saturday, business daily Világgazdaság has said. The game is more expensive but with a bigger jackpot than Szerencsejáték’s own games. The Czech Republic and Slovakia are also joining EuroJackpot, bringing the total number of participating countries to 17.